On the prowl

Today I went to two estate sales with my mom and I bought... nothing.

My mom scored. She bought three pairs of pants! Although they are a little bit big (a most excellent problem to have).

But me, I just did not find one thing. I considered an ornate egg timer that caught my mom's eye. It was just $3. But sometimes you have to attain critical mass in purchases. It was not worth waiting in line just for this one item.

There was also a tea kettle I considered for $2.50. It was iridescent purple sort of like this...

... only with a green top. There was a problem however with how you opened it. Perhaps something was missing but you had to reach down to the spout and open the thing with your thumb, and all I could think was I would be getting steam burns all the time.

How would I be able to sit down at the piano and play like Leonard Pennario if I had steam burns on my hand?

Then again at least I would have an excuse. "That darn teakettle! It is the reason I do not sound like Pennario."

There was one garage sale but what it was, this woman had this cute little house, with a cute little garage, and she had done up this garage to look like a cute little gift shop. She had it arranged just so, with Victoria magazines on a table, jewelry draped here, old greeting cards arranged there. Glass lamps arrayed on a table, a chest full of books on decorating. This was on Huxley Drive in Snyder. I name names!

And this woman is sitting there, looking pretty, in the middle of her things. I took this picture of her.

There were no price tags. My mother and I do not deal well with that situation and she waited impatiently outside while I chatted with the shop owner. That is what she was, a shop owner. Not a garage sale holder!

Anyway. For me it was an ultimately fruitless day.

But as I said last week, the season is just starting!

Say cheese

Today was an up and down day for me at work but it is funny, the things that can cheer you up! You must be on the lookout for these things.

No. 1, before work I listened to Leonard Pennario playing this Hungarian Rhapsody.

Another thing I did, I went to the gym at lunch time and took a quickie Zumba class which was fun because they did all these hip-hop moves I do not usually do. Ha, ha! No one is less hip than I am and here I am hip-hopping. More importantly, after the class I took a long shower. That shower made me feel so much better! Then I walked back to the office in the sun with my hair wet. I know, I know, I looked like a slob, but it felt great.

One more thing that has me laughing. I was on the Kensington, on my way to my mom's. And I was brooding over something work-related.

And all of a sudden -- well, you are going to laugh because it is the oldest and dumbest trick in the world. This school bus, this cheese bus, passed and in the back window were all these laughing little school kids waving at every driver that passed, trying to get our attention. They were waving frantically at me and I waved back and started laughing.

Then I just kept laughing!

Because remember when you were little and used to do that?

Some things never change!

What's the buzz?

Howard and I have seen our first bugs.

Yesterday he saw a big hornet. And we are not talking this.

This was an actual hornet that Howard saw! And it was huge.

Meanwhile I was at my mom's and I saw a big bumblebee.

And it was not this kind of bumblebee!

It was real! And you saw it before you heard it. It was like an airplane! It went buzzing benignly around both of us and then trundled off into the back yard.

All these cars named after bugs. Imagine you worked at an advertising agency and you were charged with coming up with a bug brand name for a car, a bug name that had never been used. What would you choose? That is a question for when you are lying awake at night. I might try it instead of thinking about Pennario.

Meanwhile, the buzz is that this will be a big summer for bugs.

You read it here!

Veiled references

I was Web logging in a hurry yesterday and I am worried I sounded as if those little girls at church were overdone, overdressed, overcoiffed. They were not!

They looked very polished, is all.

And it stands in my mind in sharp contrast to my wedding which, I was flying by the seat of my pants the way I am with everything in life.

That princess-y picture, it's hilarious ...

... but I got it off of a kids' gear site called, ahem, Butterfly Kisses. It was not a Catholic site or anything. I have to say, I did not see any hairdos like that at St. Anthony's. St. Anthony's where Leonard Pennario was baptized is a very conservative church and the kids there looked sweet and not spoiled.

It is just that at church yesterday, honest, I was awed by the how divine these little girls looked. And there is a definite parallel, let us admit it, between First Communion outfits and bridal outfits. There is supposed to be. There is that image that Scriptures gives you of Christ as the bridegroom. It is not just a Catholic thing. There is this duet by Bach that is supposed to be between Christ and the soul. It is this erotic love duet. Listen, hear for yourself.

Ahem.

Anyway, yesterday I started looking at these impeccable little girls and brooding about my wedding and how I did not ... well, this is embarrassing to admit but I did not even have a hairdo planned. My sister Margie French-braided my hair.

I am such a goof!

That and, I had not tried on my gown at all in the year or so preceding the wedding. It almost did not fit me! I had put on a couple of pounds ... other brides lost weight, I gained weight! Since then I have taken the weight off but that day, I was like Scarlett O'Hara, holding on to the bedpost. Squeeze! Suck it in, as they tell us in Zumba class.

That wedding day! I mean, I am glad it happened and everything, but boy, was it stressful.

At church we blew the opening procession. There was a mix-up and the priest, Father Butch, he gave the signal too early for the flower girls, my nieces Rosie and Millie, to start walking down the aisle. I followed, clinging to my Uncle James Phillips who was giving me away. Thank God for my Uncle James and Aunt Marce. Were it not for them I think I would have died.

When we reached the front of the church, that is a moment I will never forget. My brother Tony was playing the organ and he was mad over the mix-up so he just kept playing and playing. He was going to play the music the right length even if we were all just standing there.

So we all stood there looking up at the saints and angels with Father Butch rolling his eyes. Ha, ha!

This all happened at St. Gerard's Church ...

... which has been in the news because it is being moved piece by piece to Georgia. Gerard's is in a bad neighborhood so the bishop closed it. That reminds me of something else. The morning of my wedding, the church was robbed. Someone ran off with the collection basket, if I remember correctly. The good news was, they got it back! Church ladies pursued the robbers down Bailey and nailed them.

Howard said all he can picture is righteous African-American church ladies persevering and winning the day. That was about the size of it!

Speaking of the size of it brings me back to the topic of my wedding dress. That night at the reception, a wild affair at my house, someone spilled chili down the front of it. I had thought I was the one who did that but just the other day my friend Lizzie said no, someone else did. Well, whoever spilled it, there I was with this huge chili spill down the front of this beautiful white gown.

But here is the miracle: Somehow it came out! A group of my girlfriends got into the bathroom with me and worked on it and made it disappear. That still seems a little funny to me, you know? How in the world do you get a gigantic chili stain to disappear? But it did.

Ah, the memories!

They all come flooding back whenever I see a white veil!

Satin dolls

Today was First Communion day at my church and I could not believe the little girls in their white dresses and veils.

They were better put together than I was for my wedding!

The picture above is from the Internet but I mean look, she has an actual hairdo. I did not have a hairdo like that when I got married! The girls at St. Anthony's did not look quite so worldly as in that picture but still, amazing. So beautiful and so elaborately clad!

In his sermon the padre made note of it. He said, "It is so nice to see the girls dressed like little princesses, with tiaras in their hair. And the young men dressed like young men."

Ha, ha! I liked that. It is rare to see young men dressed like young men.

Then the padre reminisced about his childhood in Northern Italy.

It was funny but here is something I noticed. Other than the children being dressed up and making their First Communions and some remarks in the sermon, the Mass was exactly as it was every other Sunday. There was no more reference to the First Communions after the sermon. The children received Communion with no fanfare and the hymn -- the only hymn, because this is, ahem, the Traditional Latin Mass, and we have only one hymn, at the end -- was "On This Day, O Beautiful Mother" because it was May.

Get used to it, kids.

It is not about you!

Still I have to say, a fine group of First Communicants. Very well turned out.

It occurs to me I should look up where Pennario made his First Communion. I do not think it would have been at St. Anthony's. I think it would have been at Holy Angels. I will call them and check. He must have dressed up mighty fine, if I know Leonard and I think I do.

And so into another week.

I am not ready!

The season opener

Today my mom and I went to our first two garage sales of the year!

I got a round Crock Pot which looks vintage but I believe is a reproduction because it has a high and low setting. Old Crock Pots did not. They had only Off and On. Also the ceramic insert comes out. That is a must in my book. Normally when it comes to vintage I prefer the real thing. But Crock Pots are an exception! It is hard to wash a Crock Pot correctly if the insert does not come out.

I also bought a pile of clothes. "All the clothes are a dollar," this guy said. Music to my ears! Apparently he was selling off his wife's or daughter's clothes, fine by me. I got a bunch of beautiful sweaters and tops in colors I love, black and coral and gold and pink and pale green.

It is funny about me and garage sale clothes. Remember that wonderful sale on Harlem Road that I went to twice, and where I found all those treasures? That is it pictured up above.

One of my friends was telling me about how once on Thanksgiving her dog was once going from the kitchen into the dining room when someone was going by carrying a turkey, and a big piece of the turkey fell off the tray. The dog instantly devoured it. What a treat! And ever since then she has noticed that when the dog is in that doorway, the dog always looks up. As if lightning is going to strike twice.

That dog remembers that treat!

And somehow it is always alive in the dog's mind, the possibility that it could happen again.

I am like that whenever I drive down Harlem Road!

I always look wistfully in the direction of that sale. As if it could happen again.

As if that sale could reappear like Brigadoon and I could score more.

La la la la la la la.

Back to the real world. My mom and I also went to one estate sale today but I came up empty-handed, alas. It was too bad because it was an interesting estate sale. The people were a lawyer and his wife who were downsizing, moving to a smaller place. The books they had -- Dickens, Thackeray, "Wind in the Willows" -- showed they had fine taste in literature. They also had several books about music which makes me certain that at one time they had had Leonard Pennario records. Alas, the records must have fallen victim to an earlier downsizing.

Or, more likely, the couple hung onto their Leonard Pennario records. That is a very real possibility.

We open the season on a nice note.

Double your pleasure

What a week for news! Osama bin Laden captured, Prince William married ... and Tops doubling coupons up to $1!

This last event is especially newsworthy in Buffalo. Last night my mother and I were discussing its ramifications. I have recently fallen beneath the wheel as far as coupons go. It is hard to be a coupon expert and write the authorized biography of Leonard Pennario, both at the same time. So I have begun clipping my coupons at my mom's house, just idly, while we talk. I dump the circulars into an Albrecht Discount bag...

... and then I cut them and sort them.

Last night after Pilates class that is what I was doing. And my mom was mentioning that my sister Katie would be coming one day this week and they were planning to go together to the spanking new Tops. I may have mentioned this Tops before. We are all preoccupied with it.

I said, "You should tell Katie they are doubling coupons this week."

Katie lives life in a vacuum. A couple of weeks ago she had no idea who Prince William is or that he was getting married.

My mom said, "I don't know if she has any coupons. She doesn't get the newspaper."

Not getting the paper does put you at a disadvantage when it comes to coupons, not to mention you do not get to read my deathless prose.

Right about then the phone rang and it was Katie. My mom excitedly told her about the coupon doubling.

"Do you have any coupons?" she asked.

Katie said, "I have one."

One coupon???

Who has only one coupon??

What is it for? That is what I would like to know. Reynolds Wrap? Colgate? Redpack tomatoes?

I mean, I am just curious!

My story ends happily. I left my mom's and impulsively swung by that Tops on the way home. I used all four of my coupon doublers! I got great Italian canned tomatoes, big 28-ounce cans, three for a buck. I got a big tub of butter spread free. My mom had already scored that bargain and said it was good.

I also got Xtra laundry detergent for $1.50 each, two of them. And something else. I will think of it.

Couponing is a pain. Even my mom says so. But when you can score big with minimal effort, it is one of those little things that brighten your day.

An otherwise dull trip to the store sparkles!

On the ball

Today I went to a Pilates class. It was not with that teacher who was teaching me yoga before. It was with another teacher. I did not retain her name.

I am afraid to go back to that other teacher. What if she asked me why I was not staying for her yoga class? I remember last time her telling me that the yoga class was better. The other students told me that too.

What am I supposed to do now, say, ahem, no yoga, I'm Catholic?

"I'm sorry, I am allowed to go to Pilates but not to yoga."

That would go over great!

Howard says I should just say my mother will not let me do it.

Honestly, I sat there at work today worrying about this. I told myself Mary, you can go to her Pilates class. She probably will not talk to you. Even if she talked to you she might not ask about why you have not been in her yoga class.

But still. But still.

I could just picture her asking me about that. In that commanding tone she has.

I  could not go!

So I went to another Pilates class. Not hers. Someone else's. The good news is, the class felt good. These stretches etc. are good for you. Only once did I cause trouble. By mistake I stretched out and hit the hands of the gal next to me. Both of us started laughing and we moved our mats. It is a crowded class. The Buffalo Athletic Club is just packing us in like sardines.

It was a relaxing hour with soft guitar music playing, boing boing, de-boing boing.

Herewith, a Joseph Pilates photo album.

Here is our friend Pilates at 57.

And at 59.

Here he is a little bit older. He is 82! He is as old as Leonard Pennario was when I knew him. Pennario would get a kick out of hearing about my Pilates classes. Sometimes I still wish he were around so I could tell him stuff.

Is Pilates standing in the snow? It looks that way.

Maybe I will be strong like that now that I am studying Pilates instead of yoga. I will be able to go where I want and stand wherever I like barefoot whether there is snow there or not.

I will be a changed person!

The May Top 10

This being May, the month of our Mother, I wore blue Zumba pants to class this morning.

I could not help noticing that there was a preponderance of blue at Zumba class. Surely we were all on the same wavelength!

The weather is not exactly great but I am in the spirit. I am going to pay tribute to May and to the BVM by listing my Top 10 May songs. That is an abbreviation I love, BVM! It is Blessed Virgin Mary. I am sure there are some songs I forgot but here goes.

1. On This Day. I am laughing and laughing at this video. I love the little pumpkin standing there with the book as big as she is. The photographer likes her too because he keeps zeroing in on her. The Blessed Mother business is always especially big among girls and women because she is one of us.

2. 'This the Month of Our Mother. This is a kind of robotic, goody-goody video but it was the only one I could find of this song. My whole life long, this will bring back being a little kid.

3. "Bring Flowers of the Fairest." Here it is, the biggest May classic of all! This is funny but I find myself singing this to myself a lot throughout the year as I am driving in the car, getting dressed for work, whatever. I love the Irish accent of the singer in this video. The Irish have such a great singing tradition. I wonder now that I am listening to this if this is an Irish song. The graceful leaps in the melody make me think it is. "Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May." Come on, lapsed Catholics, get back with the program, get to a May crowning this May. Buzz me. We'll go together.

4. "Hail Holy Queen." The video is Asian but this hymn is German, with its fine solid melody. "This is what Catholic church music is supposed to be: devout and robust." Devout and robust! That is classic. And true! This choir really goes at it. I love it.

I hope everyone appreciates the effort I am putting in, finding the finest Mary videos! Where else would you find this? Let's continue ...

5.) "Immaculate Mary." The French have scored a huge classic with this one, the Lourdes hymn. I once played it on the organ in France! But that is a long story. Hahahaaa.. I am addicted to YouTube comments and there is this really sweet comment on this hymn from a girl who is apparently Presbyterian and is saying she is going to become Catholic the minute she turns 18. Do her parents know about this? Bet not!

6.) "Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary." This old German song was such an old chestnut when I was growing up that I do not even know the words. It was too old for us to sing in the hip 1970s. But I love the melody and apparently I am not the only one. Beautiful melody. Beautiful.

7.) "Ave Maria, Oh Maiden, Oh Mother." This is not the famous "Ave Maria." It is the Star of the Sea song. "Sinless and beautiful star of the sea." I have an idea this is Polish but I am not sure. Anyway a beautiful square old song, the best kind. And a square old video, the only one I could find. Someone soared like an eagle and recorded it at Mass.

8.) "Sing of Mary." I always loved playing this back in my church organ days. This is an American, Appalachian hymn. I like its lovely, weaving melody. Someone made this piano version of it that brings out its simplicity. Here is another modern artistic version. People really get into making these videos! They do a beautiful job. This one is a little kitschy but under the circumstances that is allowed.

Two more slots and we can have the Mary Top 10! What am I missing?

9.) Schubert's "Ave Maria," we have to get this in here somewhere. Here it is with the Roger Wagner Chorale, who were on Capitol Records at the same time Leonard Pennario was. And you were wondering how I would work Pennario into this! This is how.

10.) We are offroading now from traditional songs we all know but here is a rocking "Regina Coeli" by Mozart. Regina Coeli means Queen of Heaven. As long as we were at it here is another, earlier "Regina Coeli" by Mozart. He must have liked this prayer. This early version is so sweet. It is such quintessential early Mozart.

I would say I have kicked this May off to a good start!

Now if the weather would only cooperate.

"Be the fairest of seasons, sweet May."

Hint, hint!

Think of England

My mother was up at 4 a.m. tuning in to the royal wedding. Me, I was not that hard-core.

I awoke at the first glimmer of dawn but went right back to sleep.

Then when I got up it was torture because Howard wanted me to look at this and this and this on the Web, none of which was the royal wedding.  

I had to wait until he was in the shower!

Then I flew to the computer and at least I watched the processional. Fascinating! That unnerving camera angle at the end takes you up to the rafters of Westminster Abbey, looking down about a mile to where Prince William and Kate Middleton are standing.

I liked getting a look at the gown. This is funny, I saw it described as ivory but in the picture above it looks white. Ivory is not quite the same as white!

I also liked hearing the music which, if you are a crazy music nerd like me, you can read about it here.

That must be Kate's dad walking her up the aisle. He is cute. I assume that is her dad. I really know very little about her family other than that her mother is an airline stewardess. Other people say flight attendant. I say airline stewardess! That would be she in the white hat at about 4:07. The look on her face is touching.

Imagine what is in her mind. Her daughter could wind up Queen of England.

I have to say this, something about this seems wrong-headed to me. If you are going to go with a royal family certain rules must be adhered to and I do not think a prince should be marrying the daughter of an airline stewardess. I think it is imprudent, let us say, to detract from the royalty mystique.

The good news: You're a prince. The bad news: You should marry a princess.

Here is another opinion of mine sure to be unpopular. This morning I read in the paper that a British poll revealed that most Englanders, I forget the proportion, think that when Queen Elizabeth's reign ends, Prince Charles should step aside and let Prince William be king.

Um, excuse me?

No!

What, they think they can pick and choose their monarchs? That is not the way it works.

Besides which, you know what, you could do worse than Prince Charles. I do not agree with him on a lot of his wacky green issues but at least he thinks about things. He loves classical music. I am sure he knows who Leonard Pennario is which, I do not think you can say the same about Barack Obama. 

And even if you do not like him over there in England, if you want his son instead because his son looks good on TV, guess what? You are stuck. Sorry.

Wow, this has been fun. You have to say this for the royal family.

They are endlessly entertaining!

Stormy weather

Just now when I got up and went out to get the paper it looked like this beautiful spring morning. It was so pretty that I even ended up daydreaming about this Mahler song I love. However! You could see the dark clouds on the horizon over the park. And sure enough they came rolling in.

Now the sun is on again, off again. The wind is blowing. Well, on-again, off-again sun is better than nothing. At least there are still patches of blue sky.

Ha, ha! From the nearby group home the guy who swears all the time is swearing.

"Sh--! Sh--! Sh--! Sh--! Sh--! Sh--! Sh--!"

That was him just now!

It is like the call of a strange bird!

"Oh, WTF!"

"YOU BASTARD!"

Now the morning is quiet again except for the clouds rolling around and the winds picking up. We are having a most dramatic spring, that is for sure.

I feel terrible for other towns. There has been a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Howard is worried about a friend of his who lives there.

Tuscaloosa, Ala., is a tornado town. The one time I was in a tornado was in Tuscaloosa. My brother George and I were in a rental car driving somewhere or other. I have spent a lot of time in rental cars with George. The only rival he has in that department is Leonard Pennario. Pennario and I spent a lot of time together in rental cars too.

Anyway, George and I were in Alabama, and we had the radio on, and the radio told us to beware of a tornado in Tuscaloosa County.

"Ha, ha!" we laughed.George and I always mocked things out when we were on road trips in rental cars.

Then about two seconds later we passed a sign. "Welcome to Tuscaloosa County," it said.

And as if on cue it got black as night!

It was like "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure"!

Whatever we were in, it must have been a tornado. We did not actually see the tornado but my guess is, if you do not see it, it probably means you are in it. We ended up pulled over to the side of the road, craven and whimpering. Nature has a way of dealing with people like me and my brother George, that is for sure.

Imagine seeing a tornado. Looking at the picture above I realize I have never actually seen one. This huge funnel coming down from the sky. Like a big vacuum cleaner. Imagine it picking you up in your car and hurling your around.

Prayers for the people in Tuscaloosa.

It is a tornado town.

East of Easter

This morning I noticed something. You know how once in a while I rank my accomplishments in order of how proud they make me feel? Here were my accomplishments between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. just now:

Located picture I was looking for of Pennario with the pianist Aldo Ciccolini, and it took just two minutes illustrating my top-flight organizational system: 25 accomplishment points.

Was able to fit picture into frame in appropriate chapter and make it look real pretty: 50 points.

Finished brilliant and insightful chapter about recording industry in the 1950s: 100 points.

Finished eating asparagus frittata: 10,000 points.

I have all these post-Easter leftovers that have to be dealt with just right. It is like playing Sodoku -- you cannot repeat yourself, yet everything must be used up. With the leftover ham I have already made ham jambalaya (Monday) and black bean soup (Tuesday). The black bean soup used up an avocado that was not ripe on Sunday.

Ham also went into enchiladas. I forget what day that was.

What next?

That is the question!

Split pea soup is too close to black bean soup plus with me it is a danger. I cannot stop eating split pea soup. I will eat it nonstop until the whole pot is gone. It is just the way I am wired and that is why I no longer keep split peas in the house. They are like doughnuts would be to a normal person.

Perhaps a pasta dish with ricotta and ham. I have this ricotta so I would get points for using that up. And there is leftover whole wheat penne pasta.

I guess I should not discount the good old-fashioned ham sandwich.

Challenges, challenges!

To the max

Last night after Easter I was so maxed out that I could not sleep. It was funny, I had just had three days of no Leonard Pennario book, no Zumba, nothing that is usually part of my day. All I was doing was food shopping and cooking and Holy Week.

Then we had the big Easter dinner. It started around 4 p.m. and went until around 10 p.m. After everyone went home I cleaned up. I am not happy going to bed after a party until everything is cleaned up. After that I went to bed. I read Earl Wild's memoirs for a little bit which usually gets me relaxed and laughing but last night, nothing worked, I was still wide awake. Which was not good, because I had a long day today, including a concert at night.

I could not sip any whiskey or anything because I had already drunk enough wine to sink a battleship, just sipping it here and there over the course of the long day. I worried about that too. That was a lot of wine to drink and up until then I had been so good.

Then I thought of Dream Water. It is this weird product that got handed to me. Someone gave me a few sample bottles a while ago. They wound up in my hands.

Dream Water are these little 2-ounce bottles of flavored water that have some kind of herbs in them.

Has anyone ever tried this stuff? I was looking for reviews on the Internet and could find nothing, at least nothing readable or that looked as if it had not been paid for by whoever makes Dream Water. I had no choice but to go ahead and try it for myself.

I downed one little bottle maybe a month ago. I cannot remember why I could not sleep but it was some extreme situation. The Dream Water tasted like Kool-Aid. I felt like an idiot drinking it. Then I went to the computer and started horsing around with I forget what.

And all of a sudden I was just yawning like crazy. And wiping my eyes. I was fading! I went to bed like a sleepy toddler and I was down for the count.

Last night I thought, I will try another bottle of that. And guess what...

The same thing happened!

That stuff works!

This morning I awoke feeling great! I was dreaming about work. But it was not like a stressed-out work dream. In my dream I was moving forward stepping on heads. I woke up all energetic and optimistic. All the wine I had drunk had been forgiven! Plus Lent was over. Life was beautiful.

Today I managed to work in a Zumba class between work and the concert I went to which was David Finckel and Wu Han, a cellist and pianist husband and wife team. No Dream Water tonight. I will not need it!

But it is nice to know it is there.