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The phone rings and because I love the thrill of not knowing who it is, I don’t have Caller ID. I pick up the receiver. Yes, a receiver on a mounted dial-up phone attached to a wall with a very …
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Ramona Jan
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4/18/23
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I go to the Farmers Market in Callicoon, NY every Sunday where I visit the Bridge Street Bakehouse table. Bridge Street Bakehouse is a small-batch bakery named for their brick and mortar local at 175 …
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Ramona Jan
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4/11/23
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My husband, Andre, and I followed Dr. X through a combination of icy rain and snow to an Indian restaurant in Astoria, Queens. It was a long couple of blocks and during the trek I tried hard not to …
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Ramona Jan
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4/4/23
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Because it’s typically non-invasive and health building, I’ve always preferred an alternative approach to medicine. That’s why I recently sought a Chinese herbalist whom I’ll …
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Ramona Jan
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3/28/23
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Andre, my spouse (sounds like something that comes out of a whale, right?) recently formed the band, Irish Hitmen, with Doug Rogers on accordion and vocals, and Roger Brinkerhoff on upright bass. …
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Ramona Jan
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3/21/23
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“Your cousin, Andrea, held my hand during your uncle’s funeral,” mom began. She’s a man now; a police officer just like her dad was. And she calls herself Andy. Can you pick …
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Ramona Jan
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3/14/23
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At the winter farmers market held in Callicoon’s Youth Center, you can find almost anything; baked goods, trout both smoked and freshly fileted, mushrooms, spirits, cheeses and other dairy …
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Ramona Jan
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3/7/23
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In 1943, 'Project Y,' the Manhattan Project's secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the development and production of the atomic bomb under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, …
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Ramona Jan
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2/28/23
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It’s a long time since I’ve been invited to a wedding. So long that I suspect people don’t really want me at their weddings and probably for good reason. I can be socially awkward …
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Ramona Jan
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2/21/23
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“You shot out like a bullet,” mom says of my slick birthing maneuver on February 14th, 1956. “Because your head was pointy like a bullet.” And then she adds, “Oh, and …
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Ramona Jan
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2/14/23
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Quick as a blackjack dealer, we divvied up the name Venus Fly Trap. Without question, Venus went to Soozie though I secretly felt I could be Venus. And before I begged no, Lisa more than …
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Ramona Jan
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2/7/23
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Mom sends me an old black and white photo of her on a fluffy white pony. In the picture, she looks about four years old, maybe five. The pony is soft and cuddly like a plush toy with a black and …
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Ramona Jan
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1/31/23
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Now that medical marijuana is legal in 39 states (NY and PA included as well as our Capitol D.C.), and is also recreationally legal in 21 states plus D.C., I think we can talk.
I grew up in a time …
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I come home to a message on my answering machine from the big boss at the paper. I figure I must be in trouble…again. After all, I did write about the company picnic, but that was so long ago. …
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Ramona Jan
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1/17/23
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During Christmas dinner with friends, a car, headlights gleaming, stops in front of the house. We’re not expecting anyone else. In fact, we just finished the main course. Someone gets out of …
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Ramona Jan
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1/10/23
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I think we can all agree that it’s time again for a full-length Columbo movie. The first Columbo movie, technically a TV pilot, aired in 1968. The second pilot was released in ’71 and …
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Ramona Jan
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1/6/23
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary. Additional names mentioned are those of her brothers and sisters except for Daisy who was a family friend.
Dec 16th
…
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12/27/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary. Additional names mentioned are those of her brothers and sisters except for Daisy who was a family friend.
Dec 16th
Went …
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Ramona Jan
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12/23/22
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Ah, the inevitable, a notice for jury duty. Like death, they never come at a good time. This one’s for my husband.
“I’ll just tell them I work online and they’ll excuse …
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Ramona Jan
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12/20/22
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In the summer of ’73, when I was still in high school, actor/comedian Charles Nelson Reilly (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir/The Match Game) was on a plane to NYC where he was scheduled to teach …
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12/13/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was born January 28th, 1897 or so she thought. In the late 1800’s people born at home did not typically get birth certificates. With nine Dreher homebirths, all …
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“How much for your mirrors?” asks a stranger about my artistic creations that took hours and days to make, cost mucho money in materials, and happen to be advertised online.
…
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Ramona Jan
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11/29/22
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From my grandmother, Lina Dreher’s, diary when she was sixteen and working in the family bakery in Orange, NJ. Other first names mentioned are those of her siblings.
Nov 16
Nights …
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I don’t understand. I’m ten years old; why can’t I pick out my own shoes? I want the penny loafers, but mom says they’re slip-on shoes and that they’ll slip off my feet …
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Ramona Jan
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11/15/22
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From my grandmother’s diary when she was sixteen and working in the family bakery. All names mentioned are those of her siblings except for the obvious.
Nov 1st
We were quite busy …
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Ramona Jan
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11/8/22
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