Yearly Archives: 2023

……………With my Birthday looming around the corner…..I thought it would be fun to post some birthday pictures of the past…….Jac and I lived in Darien Ct. at the time and we had a big pool in the backyard, so someone got me this giant Zebra float…..One of my absolute favorite cakes is a ICE BOX CAKE, which is nothing more than chocolate wafer cookies layered with fresh whipped cream. The cake in the picture was the closest store bought version Jac could find…..Even though my birthday is in July, and it’s not the best time of year to work with whipped cream [which Jac always told me], she would put the air conditioner on the coldest it would get and make my cake…..put it in the frig right away and the next day on my birthday I would eat the whole thing…..YUM>>>YUM>>>YUM…….I didn’t want the whipped cream to go bad…LOL…Maybe I’ll try one for my birthday this July!…..The wonderful lady I’m kissing is Rita Grossman. She was our trimmings buyer at Anne Klein and I adored her!!!! She was my Jewish momma……..During the season when Matzah were in the store, she would hide a box of Matzah in a cabinet just for me! She knew I loved them, and she knew if she left them on her desk everyone would help themselves! She always had a box on her desk as a decoy! Sometimes Rita would bring her young son Phillip to work. He was a sweet young boy. Now he’s all grown up and a face book friend! Rita retired and moved to Florida. I was very sad when Phillip told me she passed away. I can still hear her say….”Lou, I have a surprise for you in my cabinet” I gave Rita one of my “Head Shots”, at her request, which I signed to “my Rita”, and she used to have it on her desk. Whenever I think of Rita I smile……The picture of me and Susan, middle picture on the extreme right shows me holding a metal sign that Susan gave to me. It is printed with…….DEFENSE DE FUMER”…….It’s an inside joke…….Susan and I did “SMOKERS ENDERS” together…….THREE TIMES!!!!….We are still friends on face book and an occasional phone call…..Above, that photo is Connie Francis, my PR girl and right hand handing me that beautiful floral arrangement….She lives in Florida with her husband John, and they have a home in Vermont……At the bottom right is Hannah….Hannah was my fabric buyer for Anne Klein, and we traveled the world together!…….Where ever we traveled Hannah was stopped by customs. It was written on her passport “Place of Birth….Palestine”. At the time there was always trouble in the far east, as there is today…..nothing has changed. Customs in every foreign country would stop and interrogate her! She was a beautiful girl with dark features, and they just profiled her….She used to get really mad, and I would have to say, “Hannah, take a deep breath. They are just doing there job”, but it was still very unfair. She would say, “but Lou I’m  an American citizen!!, and Christian!!…..They assumed she was Muslim which was unfair in its’ self….We were very close. and though we haven’t seen each other in years….we are still in touch…The picture of the two handsome guys in the yellow ties is me and my oldest, and dear friend Maurice. I hired Maurice to design and run the Anne Klein 11 division. Maurice is now in his 80s!……We have known each other since I was 21!!!……54 years!!!!……I spoke to him on the 4th…….I can’t believe this July 23rd I will be three quarters of a century old……………Where did the time go!

…………………I am starting to feel like a broken record, but here I go again!………..Where has the time GONE!?……..The 4th is here again and we are celebrating our LIBERTIES!…………..but, ARE WE?…….I thought our constitution said “ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL”? It seems to me in 2023 that does not apply anymore…..Actually, it’s the opposite as peoples liberties, and their rights are taken away…..I have this foreboding that we are turning the clock back to the dark ages when people were repressed and couldn’t be their true selves…..What is going on, and what is wrong with people, and the way they think?……Is it religion?….or is it prejudice that is rearing its’ ugly head. Certainly the Supreme Court and its’ most recent rulings aren’t supreme in my estimation………This is the time for ALL of us to stand up and be counted for what is RIGHT. People should be left alone to be who they want to be, and not told who they should be…………Vote for LIBERTY people, and do what’s right!!!……Young people that means you too!………..Make the 4th of July mean something again!

…………………..Today, July 3rd, is my sister in law Kathy’s Birthday! I met Kathy over 55 years ago! What can I say…..She is a wonderful, loving mother…..she was always terrific to my parents, and they loved her……She is the best sister I could have hoped for!……My brother lucked out!!!……HAPPY BIRTHDAY……..and MANY MANY MORE!!!!!!

…………………….Every year these strange birds appear on the boulders in front of my home. They sit there from low tide to high tide, and only fly off when the rocks are covered with water. Since these rocks are the highest in the area this is where they come to perch….They have the strangest habits. They will dive into the water for the longest time and pop up eventually swimming back to the rocks……I assume they are fishing….They will stand  on the rocks with their wings spread wide for what seems like hours, drying off…….I don’t know what type of birds these are, but I’m sure one of you know exactly what they are……..When they appear I know for sure summer has arrived!

………………The day Jac and I went to Massachusetts to pick up Samantha the breeder took us into her back yard where she had the puppies in a pen. We hadn’t seen her, but the breeder told us she was the runt of the litter, pure BLACK, and a HELION!!! I spotted her right away! She was indeed little, pure black, and she OWNED the pen!!! She was bullying the other pups around even though some were males and all were bigger than her!…..I bent over and scooped her up. I held her so close to my face that our noses were almost touching. There is nothing like the smell of a little puppy….sweet and innocent. Scotties are known for avoiding looking someone directly in the face……but not Sammy….I looked at her….and she looked at me……then…..she licked my nose! I knew in that instant she was mine……..She was a true Daddy’s girl from that moment on……Jac drove all the way home and Sammy slept in my lap. She loved sleeping on her Daddy….On the 4th of July she was afraid of the booming fireworks……She would get so close to me that if she could crawl inside of me I think she would!……Jac used to get jealous of the way Sammy would climb on me and nuzzle me, and fall asleep on my chest. Jac would say, “why doesn’t she do that to me?”, and I’d reply………..”Sorry Hun, she’s a Daddy’s girl!”