Today Is ...

From husband Bill, January 2, 2026, at home

I like profiteroles, as I call cream puffs, especially filled with chocolate pudding. I have enjoyed my mom's profiteroles throughout the decades, since I was a kid in the 1960s, particularly with vanilla pudding. I am not fond of them when filled with whipped cream. I don't like whipped cream in or on anything.

From husband Bill, January 2, 2026, at home

I am an introvert because I have been a writer, editor, researcher, photographer, and page designer, all for print publications and websites, from September 1982 to April 2017. I am an extrovert because I have been a reporter and a salesman; have appeared on stage twice; and continue to create videos of myself for my YouTube channel.

I performed, not read, but performed two of my original poems in February 1990 during a show as a performing member of the avant-garde troupe "The Port Jervis Poetry Society" in Port Jervis, New York. The anniversary show (poetry, folk music, and artwork) was broadcast on public-access television. I joined the troupe shortly after I wrote a story about the troupe for the Newburgh Evening News newspaper in Newburgh, New York.

My father drove about two hours from Long Island, New York, to have dinner with me and then watch me perform. After the show, I asked my dad what he thought of everyone's performance, including mine. His response was an absolutely classic. He said in a concerned, low-volume voice: "You got to get away from these people." I was soon laid off, with the newspaper becoming defunct a couple of years later, and soon secured another job in upstate New York.

In 1991, while working as a reporter for the Olean Times Herald in Olean, New York, based in the Wellsville, New York, bureau, I interviewed the director of a community-theater production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Cinderella." She heard my speaking voice and told me that she needed another baritone singer for the chorus. She asked if I would like to be in the musical. I said "yes," because I typically say "yes" to everything, even though I had never sung on stage before. I had three weeks to learn three songs.

I was a cobbler (shoemaker). I wore white tights; a pink-and-orange satin graduation gown with a leather toolbelt around my waist; and orange makeup on my face, neck, hands, and arms.

From husband Bill, January 2, 2026, at home

I don't particularly like buffets, especially breakfast buffets, but I do like the occasional Chinese buffet. Hint: Buffets have the cheap, filler stuff like bread, pasta, and salads at the beginning of the line so that you fill up on this stuff. So, skip this stuff, and focus on the heartier fare that is deeper down the line.

From husband Bill, January 2, 2026, at home

I am engaging in leg exercises and walking with a wheeled walker with a physical therapist at home, so, technically, I have a personal trainer.

From husband Bill, January 2, 2026, at home

When I was young(er), I was interested in science fiction: Lost in Space, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, etc.

For many years, my favorite movie was "Time After Time" from 1979, when I was 18 years old:

"H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has built a time machine, and he plans on using it to travel to a Utopian paradise in the future. But before he can, Jack the Ripper (David Warner), on the run from the police, uses it to escape and travel to 1979. Wells follows, and enlists the help of a bank teller named Amy (Mary Steenburgen) to catch Jack before he continues his killing spree. As they work together, Wells falls for Amy, even as she has a hard time believing his wild story of time travel." - from Google search

SPOILER ALERT: My favorite line is when Wells puts Jack in the time machine, turns it on, and then Amy asks Wells where he sent him. Wells pauses and says with a serious tone, "Oblivion." I loved that when I was a teenager. As I got older, I began to realize that his response was a bit corny.

Steenburgen divorced McDowell and then married Ted Danson. That was a sad day for me. I thought Mary and Malcolm made a good couple.