Gossip Overheard Poolside

"           ," she said.

"               ,          ," he responded.

"             !" she exclaimed.

"                                                  ?" he asked.

"         ," she mumbled. "                                       ."

"                                                                                ," he chided.

"           ," she said.

The end.

Skinny at The Emmy's

Are the stars creating a new wave of (scary) thinnification? 

Julianna Margulies from "The Good Wife." Gorgeous.  TOO skinny.

E! News co-host Giuliana Rancic ... eat something!

Anna Gunn from "Breaking Bad" is skin and bones (left) compared to the way she looked at the 2013 Emmy's (right). 

Here is Heidi Klum (and I can't stop staring at her arms).

And Julie Bowen of "Modern Family" tweeted something about having to lose weight to fit into her dress.  Whahh??

These ladies need some meat.

And a few good solid meals.

Empty Nest, New Beginnings

This week, a lot of folks are loading up their cars with the latest binge at Bed, Bath & Beyond and driving their son and/or daughter away to college for the first time.

I completely empathisize with the spate of emotions you are experiencing. But, honestly, going away to college is nothin' compared to their moving out of the house and into their first apartment.

Grab a hankie and read my Huffington Post, 

"Empty Nest, New Beginnings." (Click here.)

You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll wish you had more of their laundry to do ... just this once.

Hold On

Found this shot I took of a surfer on Oahu.
It appears that he, too, is clenching on to the moment.

Summer forever.

Making the Call

                                                                                                 Photo: Livedan330.com
An old friend called yesterday and said, "I was at a nursery over the weekend, saw the dahlias in bloom and thought of you."

So sweet. (And BTW ... dahlias unfurl the most gorgeous late-summer bloom. [See above.])

Which brings us to the point: when is the last time you picked up the phone to reach out to a friend via live voice ... not FB post, text or Instagram?

One of my best friends and I regularly schedule "Telephone Tea," which is setting time aside specifically to chat and catch up.

Make the call. Brighten someone's day.

Snowball Hydrangeas & ... Turkeys??

                                                                               My Weekend Floral Arrangement
It's summer. Right? We're enjoying every single minute, inch, moment of this beautiful August. I'm thinking snowball hydrangeas, dahlias, marigolds ... and for accent, some spearmint vines. 

So what is with Stop & Shop that they're starting to display items for your Thanksgiving table? Did we completely skip Halloween? GMAB. And what about the guy who said he saw Yom Kippur food out in July? WTF? 

Can we just enjoy summer and make pretend it will never end?

I know the colors on this posting clash ... but so does the thought of Thanksgiving with my summer sensibility.

The Fountain of Youth

Feel the spray on your face.
(At any age.)

Robin Williams, 1951-2014

Gentle soul. Brilliant artist. Pure genius. Like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Williams gave us his all. 

We will miss you dearly, Mrs. Doubtfire. 

Hurricanes to Hit Hilo, Honolulu & Other Hawaii Islands

My daughter, who lives near Honolulu, is getting ready for Hurricanes Iselle and Julio. 

The first island in the path of these (respectively) category-1 and -2 hurricanes is the Big Island ... most specifically, Hilo. 

                                                 Photos by Bonni Brodnick

Here is the main street, which was being boarded up today.

          On April 1, 1946, a tsunami blew in from the bay.

The Pacific Tsunami Museum, in downtown Hilo, has a sign that looks like it survived a tsunami. (Which it did.)

Bedford/Pound Ridge RECORD-REVIEW Story About a Son's Tribute to His Dad

Check out this week's  Bedford/Pound Ridge RECORD-REVIEW (August 1, 2014 edition; page 7) for my story, "Former elementary school principal is honored", a tribute to Morris Ottman, 25-year principal of Pound Ridge Elementary School whose generosity to the town is remembered decades later. 

Here's a shot of Mr. Ottman (left) with Herb Pittman, former math teacher at Fox Lane High School, and Buffalo Bob Smith, Pound Ridge resident and creator of "The Howdy Doody Show" at PRES ballfield in 1953. (Remember the show's theme song, "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"? Hit the link and I p r o m i s e you won't be able to stop yourself from singing along.)

Many thanks to Mr. Ottman's son, Tom, for contacting me and sharing such wonderful remembrances of his father and Pound Ridge during the 1950s/60s..

It's my Lucky Day!!!!

I just received the following email. 

"The kind beloved Family of Mr Chris and Mrs Colin Weir announces their donation of the sum 800,000.00 Great British currency to you. Send
Name---
Address---
Mobile #-----
Age-----
Occupation-----

Have a Wonderful day"

I asked my good friends whether they thought this was real or a hoax and they suggested, "Just send your social security number and all of your passwords. See what happens." 

Done.

Another friend told me that I might get the payola faster if I scanned my passport and sent that, too.

Done.

Now I guess it's the waiting game. I'm sure the money is in the mail though.

I wonder how the "kind beloved Family of Mr Chris and Mrs Colin Weir" found me? Doesn't this seriously make you embrace the fact that good things can happen at any given moment??