Bonni Brodnick Blog

The peonies were in full-bloom at Bronx Botanical Gardens this week!!!

  Do you have panic attacks of fight-or-flight when you suddenly find yourself walking through a jungle and think you hear warning cries emitted by a macaque monkey? Or the frikkin' sounds of guinea pigs squealing in elementary school classrooms? Or someone CHEWING on an ice cube? Knuckle-cracking, jaw-clicking, gulping, sniffing, whispering, and for some people, even the sound of someone's breathing, can fall hard on hyper-sensitive ears. It’s called   misophonia   and I have it. Click here for "Do you HEAR What I'm Hearing?: The Loudness of Living"

  A QUICKIE LOOK IN MY CLOSET My Family’s Obsession with Buster Brown Shoes Saddle Shoes & Maryjanes reigned supreme Bonni Brodnick · Photo by NostalgiaCentral.com A friend of mine once circulated this question on Facebook: “Does anyone remember getting a new pair of shoes for the first day of school?” My response:   “Hell, yeah! I do!!” She came to the right person. My father (David Kogen) was an executive with Brown Shoe Company for eons. They even named a shoe after him called “The Kogey.” Courtesy of Author’s Archives This is a photo of my father in his Empire State Building office in New York City. From the colorful array of shoes and sandals, we can surmise that this was a Spring/Summer line. Turns out, when I hit first grade, I was “model size,” which was lay term for “shoe sample size.” Can you believe??? I was thrilled. My wardrobe of shoes suddenly expanded to a preposterous amount of shoes for any 7-year-old. The bounty, that I carefully lined up on the floor of...

 Bowie Llewyn. Be silent, my heart.

  T his is the mirror on the back wall of the Music Room at Caramoor . According to Samantha Perkins, in the Rosen House Collections and Archives department, "The mirror is a XVI Century octagonal carved and gilt mirror from Florence. It was purchased by the Rosens from the Italian antique dealer Adolf Loewi. "We have yet to locate the receipt to indicate when It was purchased, but it has always hung in the location where you saw it in the music room. Walter Rosen designed the layout of that wall and placed it there."    Music Room, east wall of balcony (Photo courtesy of Rosen House at Caramoor) Doesn't it look like the diamond broach I wore to that party? Remember? The shape of it and the way it reflects light? You commented on how beautiful the cut was.   I will never forget what you said next. I will always remember what you said next. (Two ways of saying the same thing.)

  My sister, always "the little helper."  Here she is helping my mother play cards.  At 93, Mom may forget a lot of things in-t he-moment but she continues to play a wicked game of Gin Rummy. A true winner!