Category: family

Norman Lear

I saw this cartoon by Bill Bramhall and it really brought memories back of Norman Lear. It’s sad that today’s generation doesn’t know so much about our history, including television history. I still pay for cable! I want to cut the cable, honest, but I can’t figure out if I’ll miss it or not.

Bill Bramhall is the excellent cartoonist for the New York Daily News, you can see his cartoons daily at GoComics here.

I grew up watching all of the Norman Lear shows from All in the Family to Maude to Sanford and Son and of course Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. And there were so many more. He basically created 1970s tv. For awhile there, All in the Family was must see tv. Norman died on Tuesday, he was 101!

I googled a list of Norman’s shows here.

I think our favorite was All in the Family. My mother and I used to mock Archie Bunker all the time. There was one thing that Archie did when Edith would over-talk, he would make believe he was killing himself. He would slowly load a gun and then shoot himself. Or he would tie a noose and hang himself. My mother would do that when I overtalked. She would just suddenly mime one of the actions, and we would both bust out laughing.

There was a period when Mom used to cut my hair and I would quote Archie. There were a few episodes when Archie was out of work due to a strike or something, and Edith would cut his hair, so when my Mom would ask me how I wanted my hair cut, I would say, “Without blood, Mom, without blood.”

And I would also say, “Go around the back, take some off at the top and when you get to an ear for Gawd sake, stop.” I would say God, the way Archie said it, Gawd.

Archie was a bigot and politically incorrect, we knew it. But so did the 40 to 60 million people who watched All in the Family each week.

Here is a list of Archie’s top 10 most politically incorrect comments.

I’m just thinking now, what Norman Lear would have been an excellent person to interview for my 10 With Tom series.

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Small town Greenport, NY

Greenport, NY

There were a lot of us together for Thanksgiving, and then Friday, we went to Greenport, Long Island, not to be confused with Greenpoint which is in Brooklyn.

Greenport is this little old village at the northern tip of Long Island – on the north fork. You can see Connecticut from the shore, which is across the Long Island Sound.

We ran into a guy, who seemed to bore everyone else who wandered off, but he had me interested in the history of the town. He was about 70 and he was visiting from Brooklyn. He told me he grew up there and he was pointing out things in the area – where the old police station was, where the 5 & 10 was, where his uncle worked in a sailing mast shop, etc.

This old building was the hardware store in Greenport, some years back.


He explained the place as if it was Mayberry, with only two officers on the police force at the time.

My family and I shopped and hung out, spending money on Small Business Saturday, but it was Friday.

It was nice, but so far from the city, about three hours in and three hours back. We went to the Hamptons after that for dinner and hung out, then headed back to the city very late.

Usually we would go to the Southampton Christmas parade and tree lighting on Saturday night, but we did Greenport instead.

We enjoyed the non-Starbucks, one-of-a-kind village coffee shop.

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Getting back in the game

Sunday’s triathlon, the bicycle part

I wrote in a previous blog post about getting back into village life, but this past weekend, I really extended myself. it felt like old times.

On Saturday night I went to a family birthday party, it was a lot of fun. As I was leaving, one of the guys in our condo texted me about the elevator – it was stuck. I know how to unstick it, so for the next hour or so, someone else and I worked on it.

Yes, we called the elevator company, but they ended up coming hours later, so we fixed it and I headed out to the family party.

Got home late, but then woke up early Sunday morning to go to a triathlon, my sister-in-law was participating.

I drove out to Key Biscayne where it was, met up with some of my family members and we cheered Laura on. That was a lot of fun, too. It was at a beach I’ve been going to for most of my life, I must have been there 1000 times.

It was beautiful out. I live near there, so it was a quick drive over. Thousands of people were there. It was exciting. Most of the activity was out of sight since they swam, ran and rode a bicycle for 12 miles. But were there there at the finishing line for the bicycle and running parts.

Laura came in third in her category!

My breakfast, avocado toast with egg.


From there we all went to breakfast (in the village) which was nice. I had avocado toast with an egg on top.

After I parted with everyone, I spent a lot of time at the mall looking for jeans – I wanted Levi’s 513s, supposedly the fit is the best, from what I read.

I went all over the place from department store to department store and finally went to the Levi’s store where I was told the 513s are discontinued – I should try the 511 or 514 instead.

I found a pair of 511s at J.C. Penney, and waited for this cashier to ring me up, but he took so long with the previous customer, I just dropped the jeans I chose and left. I wasn’t really crazy about them anyway. And I had time to think while waiting on line.

I made a pit stop at Whole Foods and headed home.

At home I checked the jeans I was trying to replace because I didn’t like the fit and lo and behold, they were Levi’s 513! I spent all that time at the mall looking for a discontinued pair of jeans, which I own, which look like new. I just didn’t like the fit.

So it was a busy weekend. I’m glad to be back in the game.

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Memories

My parents passed away – my Dad last September and my Mom the October before that. The house is still sitting as it was left. I’m not sure what it taking us so long to clean it out. Too many memories maybe, maybe too big of a job. There is 50 years worth of stuff in that house. 50 years this month.

I decided to start going a couple of days a week and try to make a dent. I started with my old room. I’m amazed that so much of my old art from when I was a kid and also from high school and college is still there. Not that anyone would dispose of it, but 30 years ago, Hurricane Andrew struck and the house was inundated with water. There was so much water in the house that the refrigerator was on its side. It was lifted up and thrown over! I guess maybe four feet of water or more was in the house.

The art was on the top shelf of the closet, I’m luckily it survived. Everything below that is gone now, destroyed in the flood.


There were piles and piles of large pads full of cartoons and comic strips I drew and also art from high school and college classes.

Yes, we had nude models in college for figure drawing. I guess we got used to it after the first couple of times.

It’s funny, but I remember this guy’s face from so many years ago. I know, he was naked, but it’s his face I remember. For some reason, it had a familiar look, almost like a famous person or so, so when I look at this I can almost remember him.

Here’s a more detailed figure. These nudes are from college, But one image from high school sticks out. We had to draw a pair of sneakers that were on the table and I remember doing that. I remember how happy I was with the results. I guess I’ll find that in the pile of art I now have.

Not sure who this is, but I don’t remember her being a model. Maybe it was from a book or magazine.

I saw this photo of the Obamas on my mother’s dresser. I don’t remember ever seeing it before.

When I picked it up and read it, I see she must have donated to them or his campaign or something. I was living out of the house by then so I guess I never saw this and she never mentioned it.

My mom loved the Obamas, so did my dad, I was happy to see that she kept the image along with family photos on/in the mirror like people do.

My mom gave to all sorts of charities, she always did. I’m glad to see she donated to political campaigns, too.

One sad thing about the way my parents passed away was that they left the house and didn’t come back in the end. And things are left as if they just walked out of the room.

This looks like my dad’s eyeglasses, just sitting on the side of the bed.

In the kitchen, next to the sink there is a towel and there are two spoons on it, looking as if they were washed and placed there to dry. Just like it was yesterday.

My dad used the dining room table as a desk. All of his papers are there – just as he left them. A pen sits on the pile, just as if he put it down and walked out of the room for a second.

All this reminds me of famous houses I’ve visited – the Roosevelts, Hemmingway, etc. Their personal papers and things were just sitting there, although they were probably set up and placed there. But it gives the illusion that they just walked out of the room for a second. In these cases at my parents’ house, they were really just left as I see them now.

I spoke to one of my brothers. We may start going through the house next weekend, to just start packing things up. We’ll do it as a group to make it go faster, I guess. We grew up up there. It won’t be easy.

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Jasper and Richard

A dog and cat are part of my new Ollie and Jacomo cartoon. They will start showing up in cartoons later this summer.

Jasper is the dog and Richard is the cat. I always liked the name Jasper for a dog and Richard seems quite funny as an animal or pet’s name to me.

Years ago, my parents had a next door neighbor who had a dog named Richard. She would often call out to the dog who was out lost in the neighborhood somewhere, “Richard! Richard!” The first time I heard the lady’s high pitched voice calling, I asked my mother, “Who is Richard, her son? Her husband?” And my mother replied, “Her dog.”

I never got over it, every time she called out to Richard over the years it always made me laugh. I don’t think I ever saw Richard or the lady. I guess I was too lazy to look out the window. I didn’t live there at the time, I had long moved out, so I was just over visiting and I guess I really didn’t want to spoil the image by seeing what Richard and the lady looked like.

That reminds me of that train trip I took where I listed to the old ladies the whole trip and didn’t want to know what they looked like, but did see them in the end and was disappointed. That story is blogged here.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying Ollie And Jacomo. I know it’s started out slow, but I had to introduce the premise. It will pick up now. Here’s today cartoon. It sort of hits home because lately I’ve been noticing that everything seems to be half full or less these days – in cans, packages, whatever. You open the package and wonder where the food is? It’s worse with clear packaging, you really feel gipped.

You can see Ollie and Jacomo at these locations if you would care to keep up with their adventures in Coconut Cove:

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Saying ‘ok’ is okay

I saw this quote and it’s me! I do this all the time. But I didn’t know it was a sign of maturity. I do it so that I don’t have to have a long conversation. It seems easier to just say, “Ok” and leave it at that.

I say “ok” a lot on texts. I also do it because I don’t want to type, or dictate a text. A couple of my cousins sort of mentioned it. They sort thought it was rude for me to just respond, “ok” to their texts.

I do it to be agreeable and to answer a question or statement concisely. There’s a thumbs up thing now, so I can do that rather than even type “ok.”

For instance, I’ll get a text that says, “We’re meeting at such and such place at 2 pm.” And I respond, “ok.” Or they text, “We want Italian food, so we are going to such and such restaurant,” and I respond, “ok.” They have said, “Take the R train because the M train isn’t running,” and I respond, “ok.”

But seeing that they don’t care for those “ok’s,” I’ll sometimes answer, “Ok, looking forward to it,” or “That damn M train is always out of service!” or things like that, just not to be “rude” which I don’t think I’m being, I think I’m being economical.

One interesting thing is that two of my brothers type “okay” when they respond, they spell the whole word out, which I find interesting. I don’t think I have ever done that.


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Getting her bearings

Cartoonist Liz Climo creates cartoons with animals doing cute things. This one stood out to me because it reminds me of my own mother. I think about her every day and I guess since yesterday was Mother’s Day, I really had her on my mind, but I do think of her every day and one instance similar to this cartoon always sticks out in my mind, and I don’t know why, because I have millions, maybe billions of memories of her.

I must have been 8 years old, maybe a bit older and it could have only happened a few times. It must have been summer because my brothers and I were all home from school. And during that summer, early in the morning, I would go into my mother’s room and wake her up. My father had already gone to work, and it was still quite early.

I would wake my mother up and she would roll over groggily and say, “Good morning, do you want breakfast?” And I would say “yes,” and she would sit at the edge of the bed and say, “Ok, just give me a minute, let me get my bearings.”

She never yelled, she never said, “Get out of here, I’m sleeping!” She woke up smiling and happy to see me and I always remember that. I always remember her saying the “get my bearings,” part.

I’m sure she yelled at me a thousand times in my life, but I only remember her being kind and happy.

I don’t know if it happened once, twice, 10 times or what, but that one summer memory is always in my mind and this Liz Climo cartoon really brought it rushing back.

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Vincent’s photos

I was wishing someone a happy birthday today on Facebook, and something new came up – past photos of that person with me, come up along with the birthday wish. This reminded me of my friend Vincent.

Years ago, when Vincent would send Christmas cards, he would include photos of you from the past year. I don’t know if he took the photos deliberately or not, but he would have photos of you at a Fourth of July picnic, or a birthday party or a trip we went on together or whatever.

Usually every December, when you opened your Christmas card from Vincent, out would drop two or three photos of yourself with others, including Vincent (0r not). It was usually some event you had forgotten about, nothing grand like a wedding but always a small event that faded from memory.

I was thinking of Vincent’s photos when the photos popped on on Facebook today, the Facebook photos aren’t current because I don’t take as many photos as I used to. I forget or feel awkward when we’re at a party or event or whatever, I think people may wonder, “What are you going to do with that picture?” But truth be told, everyone is taking pictures every minute of the day, so I wouldn’t be the only one. And 9 times out of 10, they say, “Send me a copy of that!”

Many times at events – with family and friends, I’m tempted to go around and get pics of people. Sometimes I’ll hand my phone to one of my cousins and say, “Go around and get pictures,” but they never do either.

One of my cousins is starstruck and he’s the first to get pics with some famous person or other, whether they want that or not. But I don’t have enough pics of family and friends. I’ve got to make an effort.

I don’t think I have anything from our family Christmas or Easter this past year when we all were together. There was a wedding a few months back, I don’t think I have many from that either.

I’ve got to make an effort to start getting pics of everything.

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An art-filled weekend

Lots of art shows and boat shows and all sorts of things on President’s Day Weekend. I spent a lot of time out and about with family and friends. First day was hot and humid, second day not as bad and on the second day, I seemed to know every other person that walked by, it was nice.

I parked my car far away from the festival, most of us do, so that when we leave, we aren’t stuck in all that traffic which is on top of the events. When I walked back to my car Saturday, I was dying. I was telling people it reminded me of the final day of Naked and Afraid where people are trying to make it to the extraction point and barely making it. I have a habit of not drinking, or eating, and it catches up with me.

We spent a lot of time at the children’s area, both days, where I still have Baby Shark playing in my head, but one area I liked is where there were easels set up and small kids painted. Some of the work was amazing. One eight year old girl did this fish painting that reminded me of Matisse or something similar. Amazing to see how the children created things. I noticed one interesting thing – the kids draw a lot of trees and water, which is what we are surrounded by and interestingly enough, the trees are palm trees! We are in Miami, so they paint what they see, what they know.

I would have taken pictures of the art, but parents don’t like strange men taking pictures of their kids’ art and especially their kids.

The paintings take forever to dry and they don’t offer to frame them which would be a great little business in itself, so after waiting a long time for the things to dry, they just sadly end up in the trash. All that beautiful work just thrown away. Not a good finish to all that creativity.

We had our usual hot tea and scones at the English tea room which is always part of the event, and listened to fantastic music by local bands. One great band had five or six members and I personally knew three of them, which was cool.

I may pop over again today for day three. I usually go all three days only because it’s hard to get back into the neighborhood once you leave due to all the traffic. So we’re sort of stuck here until the circus leaves town.

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Pumpkin pickin’ on the North Fork

We did our usual October pumpkin and apple pickin’ this year, only we didn’t go up to the Hudson Valley, as we usually do, we ended up on Long Island’s North Fork because we were going to a couple of things afterwards on the South Fork – in the Hamptons. Lots of little villages filled the day.

It was gorgeous out, a bit chilly, but gorgeous, we got hot apple cider and pumpkin break and apple cider donuts and pumpkins and apples and such, but it wasn’t the beautiful Hudson Valley, which is the best part of the pumpkin pickin’ each year.

But still, we had fun and then ate in Westhampton and enjoyed a street festival then went to a bar where one of my cousins was performing, he’s a singer. It ended up being a long, but enjoyable day.

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