Author Archives: AlexLevy

There was a car slowly cruising up and down Woodside Avenue, and having nothing better to do, having just finished mowing my lawn, I watched it.  I felt rather mellow, as a cool, well-prepared martini tended to make me feel … Continue reading →

Abi came to us by way of Sol, my father-in-law.  It seems that someone owed him some money, and managed a barter arrangement in which Sol wound up with the crazy dog, which at the time no one knew to … Continue reading →

In Ridgewood, organized sports was a religion, and its first manifestation occurred when boys were ready to participate in the Tiny Tots program, a baseball program for seven and eight year olds.  Later there would be Biddy Basketball, street hockey … Continue reading →

The house facing us on the other side of the street, was cursed.  Every family that moved into it wound up divorced.  Strange, but true.  Yes, there were a couple of other houses on the block that had seen a … Continue reading →

Learning to be suburban took a while.  I had to learn to grow grass just so that I could cut it down again a week later, and I did become the local expert on organic lawn maintenance.  Actually, what made … Continue reading →

I’ve no idea  how it is elsewhere, but in our family the most stressful time of the day was just before supper.  Possibly it was simply that five of us, in addition to Abi, all being together in the same … Continue reading →

If you want to get to know your neighbors easily and informally, get a dog.  A puppy might even be better, as you have to walk it more often.  It is absolutely amazing how many people you meet just walking … Continue reading →

Settling into a new community can be a daunting experience.  You buy a house after learning something about the community in which you will be living, but you really don’t have any friends or neighbors there, at least at first.  … Continue reading →

Besides having been vandalized our new house came with its own story.  We had bought the house from a very nice woman who also happened to be a real estate broker.  She had modernized the kitchen with money from an … Continue reading →

We had moved to Teaneck because we needed more space for our growing family and because I felt insecure living in Manhattan without rent controls in place.  We had also settled in Teaneck because it was politically liberal and it … Continue reading →