Monday, November 27, 2023

Finally...Autumn Leaves!

Finally. Yes, FINALLY, I was able to capture the colors of autumn.

However, I had to go to different parts of Philadelphia and the burbs to find them. The leaves all seemed to change at the same time. And quickly. So, I had to move fast, over a two-week period.

The photographs I am about to share were taken in Chestnut Hill, Bryn Mawr, Ardmore, and various parts of Center City, Philadelphia.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, autumn leaves...🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁

I spotted this brick house in Society Hill along one of the cobblestone side streets. It looks so cozy, comfy, and autumny, doesn't it? I love the windows...

On Thanksgiving Day, I spent a few hours in the park feeding the squirrels. Nope, I didn't feed them turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I fed them cashews.

Take a look...

For those of you who don't already know, squirrels are my spirit animal. And I've labeled myself a squirrel whisperer...

And here is a short video I made entitled: "Squirrel Jam"...

Have a faaaaaaaaabulous week, folks!💗

Monday, November 20, 2023

A Sunday Afternoon With Kelly And Me - (Pizza Margherita, Farmers Market, Bodhi Coffee, And A Cemetery)

I don't know why, but the first thing that popped into my head when giving this post a title was the painting - A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by artist Georges Seurat. Which was the primary focus in a Broadway musical masterpiece entitled, Sunday in the Park with George.

I know, it makes no sense because as you will see, Kelly and I did not spend a Sunday afternoon in a park. Hardly. But we did spend last Sunday afternoon doing all kinds of fun stuff.

The weather could not have been more perfect - sunny and crispy cold. We finally got my kind of weather. And it's about time. I was getting sick and tired of sweating in November.

Please enjoy our Sunday afternoon...

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First stop: Pizzeria Stella

As you all know from my pizza post, I worship it. Especially Pizza Margherita. So, that's what we ordered at Pizzeria Stella. We also split the most delicious romaine salad...

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the pizza and salad when the waiter initially brought them to our table. But we were both so hungry, we just dove into them - chewing and talking the whole time. What was extra special about the romaine salad was that they added a sprinkle of chopped mint leaves, which gave the salad a minty burst of flavor. I will be trying that when I make a romaine salad in the future. Here is what remained of our delicious lunch...

This is me having a foodgasm while eating the pizza. My tastebuds literally reached a climax! The only thing missing was Donna Summer singing Love To Love You Baby...

Next stop: Headhouse Farmers Market

Here are some of the tables filled with fresh produce...

As you can tell from the crowd, everyone was enamored by the little boy in the stroller. Isn't he adorable? What a cute little face! I LOVE💚babies...

I almost fainted when I spotted the table with freshly baked BREAD. If I could live on carbs for the rest of my life, I would...

Kelly gets around the city on her very own electric scooter. She even let me try it, as I almost crashed into the brick pillar...

Next: Caffe' Americano's at Bodhi Coffee (Notice the dog. It looks like he's reading the menu, deciding what he wants)

This place had such a great ambiance. I loved the stools, which were handmade. And the Americano's were excellent. I really liked how they served them in mason jars. So unique...

Local artwork on the walls..

And lastly, a visit to our favorite cemetery. Yes, we both love hanging out in cemeteries, reading the tombstones, and saying hello to all the dead people...

These yellow things were all over the cemetery. We finally figured out they were seeds (HUGE seeds) that had fallen from the trees. At one point, we could hear them falling. It was at that moment I wished I had worn a hard hat...

Beautiful sunlight...

Thanks so much for coming along with Kelly and me. Hope you enjoyed it!

Have a fantastic rest of your week.

🍂🍁 And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 🍁🍂

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

A Fond Thanksgiving Day Memory of Burnt Dinner Rolls

My stepmother grew to be an outstanding cook. And this was a woman, who at the young age of 21, married my 45-year-old father (with three children) and knew nothing about cooking. She was raised in a family with three older brothers, so she was more of a tomboy than a Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart-type girl. She married into my family, who were your typical Moonstruck Italians, where cooking and eating were about as crucial to them as turning "tricks" are to a prostitute.

I’m sure the first question out of my relative's mouths when my father told them that he had asked my mother to marry him was, “But Frank....CAN SHE COOK?” My mother was honest with my father before she married him and said that she knew nothing about cooking, cleaning, or raising children because she was just a child herself. However, she ended up surprising the hell out of herself and my family because she quickly discovered that she was born with a natural ability to not only cook but also maintain a brilliant household. And I’m not just saying this because she was my mother, but she made Suzy Homemaker look like a novice.

Our home always felt comfortable, relaxed, welcoming, and looked spotlessly clean! I am extremely blessed and proud to have had her as my second mother. I never realized this until I got a bit older and began looking back on my childhood, seeing the positive impact she had on my life.

Anyway, getting back to my mother's cooking….

She was one of those people who never followed recipes as they were written but rather took the basic formula and added her twist. She instinctively knew what to add and subtract, creating a culinary masterpiece. She was like an artist - raw and intuitive. And as far as her Italian cooking went, her marinara sauce was so good that it even impressed my father's mother who was extremely critical of Italian food.

Our Thanksgiving Day dinner was always a feast - a cornucopia of soup to nuts. We inevitably ended up having so much food left over that we could eat turkey, dressing, and all the various side dish ancillaries for the next several days. And speaking of turkey, the bird came out of the oven so tender and juicy that it melted in your mouth.

However. And this was a TRADITIONAL, however...

When it came to the dinner rolls my mother always forgot they were in the oven, therefore about six minutes after sitting down at the table and saying grace, the aroma of scorched rolls came drifting from the kitchen into the dining room. Whereupon she'd quietly scream, “OH, DAMN.…I FORGOT THE DINNER ROLLS!!!!!”

She would JUMP up from the table and RUN to the oven door, throw it open, as a large cloud of black smoke came bellowing out like the burning of Atlanta. At which point she would turn on the overhead exhaust fan, which sucked out all the smoke before the fire department ever got there.

God love her!

And I can still remember her bringing those poor little burnt dinner rolls to the table and telling us to eat them anyway because charcoal is good for cleaning your teeth….

I would like to conclude this post with a photograph I found in a box of family photos. Center, is my mother as a young girl standing in front of her home on Woodstock Street in Germantown, Philadelphia. My mother adored animals. Notice the small kitten she's holding and the cheesy smile on her face. Also, notice the expression on the faces of her girlfriends standing on either side.

Don't you just love old film photographs? No filters, no editing, just spontaneous images...

💟 I miss you and your burnt dinner rolls! 💟

Have a fabulous week, everyone! And Happy Pre-Thanksgiving Day!

💗

Monday, November 06, 2023

My Review On Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

Let me start by saying that I had reservations about watching the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.

I honestly thought from the few clips and brief interviews with Brooke Shields I had watched weeks before it aired, that it was going to be another documentary with an Oh, woe is me. Look how much I suffered as a child/ model/actress/celebrity thread running through it. I also thought it was going to be another male-bashing movie with a #MeToo movement theme.

Let me be perfectly clear in saying I believe 100% that any type of sexual harassment is wrong. Totally wrong. And that it should not be tolerated. No one should have to put up with that kind of behavior - child or adult.

However...

I also need to say that I think some of the blaming has gotten out of hand and has moved into the bashing of all men, just for being male. Currently, if a man so much as gives a woman a compliment in the workplace, it is immediately interpreted as sexual harassment.

When I was young, I was never physically assaulted in any way by guys my age. However, I was severely verbally and emotionally assaulted every single day of my school years for being gay. So yes, I completely understand male harassment, particularly when it comes to sexuality.

Yet, as I got older, I never used my childhood experiences as a gauge for all men because I discovered that all straight men are not homophobic. In fact, most of my adult male friends are straight, not gay.

I think it's important to openly acknowledge and discuss our past. But I also think it's important not to allow it to hold us there. Because if we do, that's exactly where we will stay. In the past. A victim; replaying it over and over again.

My thoughts and feelings on the film -

I inaccurately assumed that the Brooke Shields documentary was going to spend the majority of time focusing on all the negative things she went through as a child celebrity. One of them is that she was sexually assaulted by a Hollywood executive when she was in her 20s. Also, her complex relationship with her alcoholic mother and former manager, Teri, whom she eventually fired. Her first husband Andre Agassi's "irrational" behavior led to their emotional and marital separation. And her deep plunge into postpartum depression after her first child.

This documentary is not sugar-coated. Brooke speaks openly about these things and more, yet, there isn't so much as one drop of self-pity or bitterness in her voice. On the contrary, she talks about how these things made her a stronger, more resilient, and compassionate person, wife, and mother of two daughters. She refuses to be a statistic or a victim.

Brooke believes that she had to go through all that she went through to be able to really own this time in her life.

I came away from this film having a deeper respect for Brooke Shields. By the end of the two-part documentary, I felt uplifted, inspired, and deeply moved.

She is someone who I've always admired because of her incredible diversity in modeling, television, film, and theater. And doing them all well.

I had always sensed that Brooke was more than just a pretty face.

And I was right.

She's a teacher, using her own life as an example of how it's possible to take any negative experience and turn it into a positive one.

This documentary is so good, I watched it twice.

And in today's world, with all the pollution the media is trying so desperately to force-feed us nothing but negativity about the human race, this documentary proves them wrong.

If you're looking for honesty and inspiration, I highly recommend 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields'.

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Here are some photographs of Brooke Shields throughout her career. Many of these, I'm sure you'll remember.

As a baby and child...