Monthly Archives: February 2024

……………..I was just told the TODAY FOR ONE DAY ONLY……there will be FREE SHIPPING & HANDLING on ALL of my jewelry……..and tomorrow for one day only, there will be 5 EZAY PAYS on ALL of my jewelry.

………………….”SOMRTIMES THE FIRST STEP TO FORGIVENESS IS UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER PERSON IS AN IDIOT”…………….”TO THOSE I OFFENDED IN 2023 TRY TO IMPROVE SO I DON’T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN IN 2024″

………”A look back”…….I recently found this photo in my stash of pictures……It was 1965, and I was 17. I was spending the weekend out at Montauk Point with my brother John……..I remember standing at the very tip of the land at the point of the light house where Long Island ends. It was a perfectly clear day and all you could see was the ocean ahead….What you could also actually see was the curvature of the Earth…….It was spellbinding.

………..”A LOOK BACK”…………Is there a fragrance or scent….that the minute you smell it brings you back to your childhood?………For some it could be a perfume their mother or grandmother wore…….or the smell of a room……maybe a toy like playdough or an electric train…..a balsam Christmas tree….For me….it is……………HONEYSUCKLE……………When I was very young there was a very large natural sand pit where we lived. At the far end of the pit was a large natural, very deep spring fed lake……..It was totally fenced off, and was off limits….and forbidden for us to play there…….That being told to children is like catnip…..My two older brothers used to play there all the time, but they told me I couldn’t go…….I told them if they didn’t let me play there with my friends I would tell my mom and dad on them…..so it became my play ground too…..Funny thing is I never saw them there……it was that big and long. There were houses that bordered the pit that had been there well before the 50s housing boom. Behind one of these old houses there was a hole in the metal fence that we used to sneak through. This very old eccentric couple lived there. The woman had tons of cats, and we used to think she was a witch. She was skinny, bent over, and had wild gray hair…..When she saw us she used to chase us off her property, but as soon as she went inside we came right back and through the hole in the fence. We were sort of like Huckleberry Finn….. The pit had very deep and sloping sides, and we used to take large pieces of cardboard, and use them as a sled sliding down the sand. There was also a tire hung from a tree that my brothers used to swing from, but it scared me so I was never tempted to try it…….Growing on the sides of the pit were lots of wild berry bushes that had sweet tart fruit…….We used to eat them all the time….shoving handfuls into our mouths….never thinking that they might not be good for us or poisonous……..They were delicious……..Also growing all over were wild Honeysuckle bushes and vines………I loved the smell……For me it was intoxicating……..The nectar from the Honeysuckle also had a wonderful flavor that was so unique to the plant. It almost tasted the way it smelled only sweeter. We used to pick the flowers off and suck the nectar from the bottoms of them……I just loved everything about Honeysuckle……When I grew up and moved into the big city I left Honeysuckle and it’s remembrance behind………Not far from me is a chain store called Terrain. They have all kinds of interesting things for the garden and home………They also have the best candles and soaps……..While I was perusing and looking around I discovered HONEYSUCKLE SOAPS and HANDCREAM…..They are the closest things I have ever found that smelled like the real thing…….I was immediately brought back to my childhood, and those happy carefree days before the world became a reality. Every time I go to the store I stock up on the soaps………I put them in my linen draws where I store my sheets and pillow cases……….The last thing I smell before I fall to sleep is………HONEYSUCKLE………It brings me right back to my childhood…………and I am happy.

…………………..The Patriarch of the Rutigliano family, my mother’s father, Giovanni Rutigliano…..He was married to Chiarina Papagni who was at least 10 years younger  [if not more], than my grandfather…..Here he sits exactly as I remember him, at one of the dining tables in the basement of his house on 11th Street and Avenue U in Brooklyn. I remember he always smoked these ugly Italian skinny cigars that looked like someone chewed on them!….and he always had a drink by his side. It wasn’t wine, as he preferred Whiskey. This undated photo must have been taken at the end of a Holiday evening since no one else is sitting at the tables, and the family only used the basement for large gatherings….It was a very large basement with a big kitchen….There was also an apartment at the other end…..My grandfather didn’t speak any English, and I spoke no Italian so all I ever said was “hello Grandpa”…He was 80 years old when I was born!….so he was probably born around 1868 if my math is correct…I know very little about the man , or how he made his money, but he was successful enough to buy a three story building in Brooklyn, and provide for his 9 children….I felt badly that I never asked my mom more about her dad, and I never really got to know the man….There was so much prejudice against immigrants…..Germans….Irish….and Italians …..that my parents didn’t want us to speak with any accent so they never taught us Italian. They wanted us to be Americans. Since my parents came to America when they were very young they learned English in school, and didn’t have any accent. My oldest brother Mauro learned Italian from just being around my father’s dad, who my brother was named for. We lived across the hall from my grandparents in a two bedroom apartment. We moved to Long Island when I was three so I was really never exposed to the language the way my brother was…..My parents later regretted not teaching us. I regretted it too. It would have helped me in my business, and on all the trips I made to Italy over the years….It’s so different today, and children learn second and sometimes third languages from their parents……My grandfather lived a long life, and died in his sleep in his home…..He was in his late 90s. I just wish I knew the man better.