Shows
Monday MusingsJuly 21, 2025July 21, 2025 - we'll be taking a break!
Continue reading July 21, 2025 at Tulis McCall.
2025-07-2101 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Women are not GUYSI am feeling vindicated today so watch out. I heard an interview with Alice Walker the other day and the interviewer referred to her relationship with another female writer and used the term “you guys”. Walker stopped him cold. She said, “I don’t like to be referred to as a guy.” The interviewer apologized and said he was not even aware he had used that phrase. “Most people aren’t.” she said.
Newsflash - I have been saying this for years!
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Women are not GUYS at Tulis McCall.
2025-07-1403 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Do SomethingOur collective batteries need charging. Do something that makes you happy. Sounds silly but happiness is contagious and builds strong bones 12 ways. Happiness is better than Wonder Bread.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Do Something at Tulis McCall.
2025-07-0705 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Primary Promo Flier Pollution!!!So now that our New York City primary season is over we are faced with another enormous decision – what to do with all the political fliers we got shoved into our mailboxes over the past few weeks.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Primary Promo Flier Pollution!!! at Tulis McCall.
2025-06-3004 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Hot Enough For Ya?Hot enough for ya? That’s what we used to say to each other back in the day. That was all you could say because nobody HAD air conditioning.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Hot Enough For Ya? at Tulis McCall.
2025-06-2304 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Let’s Play Hooky!Let's play hooky! ALL OF US!
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Let’s Play Hooky! at Tulis McCall.
2025-06-1600 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Annual Plea ~ Tony Awards for Understudies and TechiesWHY people are missing shows is their business, but the people who step into their shoes deserve more than a pat on the back and a “thank you so much.” They deserve recognition and a big fat award. Come on American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. Belly up to the bar. Tonys for Understudies.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Annual Plea ~ Tony Awards for Understudies and Techies at Tulis McCall.
2025-06-0904 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Memorial Day Part TwoOn Memorial Day my father picked peopnies from his mother's garden and drove them and us to the cemetery.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Memorial Day Part Two at Tulis McCall.
2025-06-0205 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ My Memorial Day Move 1976As Thomas Wolfe said, “One belongs to New York instantly. One belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.” In this case that would be nearly 50 years.
What’s your story?
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ My Memorial Day Move 1976 at Tulis McCall.
2025-05-2606 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ The Shortstop and Time TravelThe Shortstop is the one to keep your eyes on because the shortstop has one foot in the present and one in the future and one in the past.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ The Shortstop and Time Travel at Tulis McCall.
2025-05-1904 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ The Gift of Many MothersMay 12, 2025
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ The Gift of Many Mothers at Tulis McCall.2025-05-1205 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Hope v. Hell – 2023 RevisitedI was not raised to be hopeful. I was raised to be Catholic. We were an Irish Catholic family, unless you count my dad who was Methodist but not showy about it. He and my mother were married in the 1940’s when mixed religion marriages were frowned upon. That being accomplished there not much to discuss, philosophically speaking. He was a Christian. We were Christians. Not much difference in Point of View except that my Dad’s God didn’t care whether or not my Dad went to church. Our Catholic God, on the other hand, was a bit of nit...2025-05-0505 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ The Peepers ReturnIt is the season of the peepers. In high school the peepers came in partnership with the spring concert for which we rehearsed weeks and weeks in advance. Everyone who wanted to get in GOT in. Music was a leveling agent. “Here are the notes. Sing them.” And if you weren’t so good at it, the teacher put you next to someone who was so you could get a leg up.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ The Peepers Return at Tulis McCall.2025-04-2805 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ New England Easter-Time Memories“The Ten Commandments,” THE MOVIE. I was six years old and I had it bad for Charlton Heston. Seriously who wouldn’t? His hair turned from short and dark to majestic and long and grey then white and WAVY. Heston was buffed and spent a lot of time without a shirt. He was also tan and righteous. What 6 year old girl could resist that.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ New England Easter-Time Memories at Tulis McCall.2025-04-2105 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Bronchial Yak has sidelined me. This archived entry on KINDNESS may be just the remedy in more ways than one…...this epidemic of good deeds and dispositions was out of my control. I put down my book and watched as the Samaritans began to multiply out on the street. A pizza guy stopped to hold a door open. A woman stood still while her dog said hello to a puppy. A man on his phone paused his call and executed a tiny soccer move to stop something rolling down the street being chased by a panicked teenager....
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Bronchial Yak has sidelined me. This archived entry on KINDNESS may be just the remedy in...2025-04-1405 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Edward R. Murrow’s Words Still True...We will not be driven byfear into an age of unreason... We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty..." Edward R. Murrow, March 9, 1954
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Edward R. Murrow’s Words Still True at Tulis McCall.2025-04-0704 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ My Father Was An April Fool (Revisited)My father was born on April Fool’s Day. Once I was old enough to understand the ramifications of that I imagined the doctor telling my grandfather he had a son and wondered if Grampy might have asked if this was an April Fool’s joke.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ My Father Was An April Fool (Revisited) at Tulis McCall.2025-03-3105 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ That Old Springtime Depression Remedy: Operation Daffodil Rescuewhat happens every single time I take a power walk in my neighborhood park is this is: I come home feeling better. Even if I don’t want to.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ That Old Springtime Depression Remedy: Operation Daffodil Rescue at Tulis McCall.2025-03-2304 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Pandemic Anniversary And The Resistance"Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Only engage and the mind grows heated; begin and then the task will be completed.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Pandemic Anniversary And The Resistance at Tulis McCall.2025-03-1705 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Daylight Savings Kerfuffle ~What’s The Point?I don’t know about you but this year Daylight Savings nonsense has knocked me ass-over-teakettle. I was never phased by this before.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Daylight Savings Kerfuffle ~What’s The Point? at Tulis McCall.2025-03-1003 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ A Summer Story to Sooth Us AllPeter Gilman appeared at the farm every summer around the time the green beans were heavy and the hay was ready to be harvested. When the hay was ready, it had to be cut and put in the barn before the rain came. Rain was always needed but rain was not always a friend. Wet hay was wasted hay.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ A Summer Story to Sooth Us All at Tulis McCall.2025-03-0304 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Thank You – EncoreFebruary 24, 2025
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Thank You – Encore at Tulis McCall.2025-02-2405 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Presidents Day For USFebruary 17, 2025
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Presidents Day For US at Tulis McCall.2025-02-1705 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing – Mid-Winter Blues? GET OVER IT!Sometimes the way to cure the blues is to pay attention to something other than the blues. And there could not be more of a no-brainer than to pay attention to the light. Get Over Yourself and pay attention!
Continue reading Monday Musing – Mid-Winter Blues? GET OVER IT! at Tulis McCall.2025-02-1004 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Looking For A Job? Consider A Cabinet Position. You Could Qualify!I have been encouraged by the list of new Cabinet Members. Looking at the job descriptions in combination with their qualification because I feel like their appointments opens up a whole new avenue for anyone searching for a job. Like ME.
Secretary of Agriculture – LOVE plants and I have several friends with serious green thumbs.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Looking For A Job? Consider A Cabinet Position. You Could Qualify! at Tulis McCall.2025-02-0305 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ A Visit From The Noro Virus aka La GrippeA visit from the Noro Virus aka La Grippe aka Stomach Flu will knock you off your pins!
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ A Visit From The Noro Virus aka La Grippe at Tulis McCall.2025-01-2700 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ January CrisesHere is the thing about pointing fingers – we all learned how to do it when we were little. Like we all learned to say “Are We There Yet?” Or “Got you back last.” Or “Did not. Did so.” Or I didn’t touch him.” Maybe what we need is a few old fashioned mothers who would call time out.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ January Crises at Tulis McCall.2025-01-1303 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Aspire To Be EVERYTHINGThe internet and libraries are filled with books that all say the same thing. Do something. Choose optimism. Or as my mother used to say, “Don’t think. DO.”
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Aspire To Be EVERYTHING at Tulis McCall.2025-01-0604 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Between The Old And New Yearwe are leaving 2024. We are awash in tasks that need finishing because the date tells us so. Like the monitors in school exams would tell us “Pencils Down. Hand in your papers.” There is no negotiation. No bargaining. The year 2024 is winding down and we must move along with it.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Between The Old And New Year at Tulis McCall.2024-12-3003 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Jesus v. Santa ~ And The Winner Is…If you are raised Catholic, at some point you have to choose. Jesus or Santa. At a certain age you are expected to put away childish things and throw Santa under the bus.
But here’s the thing. I knew Santa Claus way before I knew Jesus. He came to my house. He came to my house while I was sleeping and left me presents.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Jesus v. Santa ~ And The Winner Is… at Tulis McCall.2024-12-2307 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Lessons From Christmas At The Met Museum 2022 ~ RevisitedIn the main hall I counted at least 25 children under the age of 4. Many of them were bleating like unhappy goats or bucking against their parents’ arms like small wild beasts – attempting full body flips and aerial launches. Parents were soothing and transferring the unruly charges from one adult to another. Even grandparents were enlisted.
The Met had turned into a Day Care Center at the stroke of Saturday 2 PM.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Lessons From Christmas At The Met Museum 2022 ~ Revisited at Tulis McCall.2024-12-1605 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ The Advantages and Perils of Floor FilingI shred. Something comes into my house with my name and address on it, it visits the shredder. I also shred notes, story ideas and half baked attempts at writing something. A lot. I shred a lot.
Before anything hits the shredder in my office, however, it gets filed. On the floor.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ The Advantages and Perils of Floor Filing at Tulis McCall.2024-12-0904 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ The Case for Toto As Hero“The Wizard of Oz” showed up again over the holiday. I used to watch it every year when I was a kid. Ours was a black and white TV, however, so I never knew “Oz” was in technicolor until I saw in a concert hall in college. Kansas was Sepia and Oz was technicolor. Talk about a life changer!
Watching “The Wizard of Oz” as an adult, I have concluded that OZ belongs to Toto not Dorothy – like “Cinderella” belongs to Gus-Gus. But that’s a story for another time.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ The Case for Toto As Her...2024-12-0205 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Annual Turkey TributeSomething people may not know about turkeys of the wild sort is that they are tricky – disposition wise. Live near a wild turkey and you take your chances. They consider themselves noble and above your pay grade.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Annual Turkey Tribute at Tulis McCall.2024-11-2504 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ ZzzzzzzzzzzzzHello! I am sleeping. After focusing full time on rehearsing and performing in "In The Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot" at Playwrights Horizons here in NYC since September 3 - well believe me when I tell you that I am enjoying having an appointment free slice of time! See you next week.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Zzzzzzzzzzzzz at Tulis McCall.2024-11-1801 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Post Election Advice From André De ShieldsWell, it’s been a crappy week. We live in a country filled with stupid people who have been duped by a snake oil salesman. It is a vexation of extreme magnitude.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Post Election Advice From André De Shields at Tulis McCall.2024-11-1103 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Election ~What Tune Do We Want to Play?I am suggesting that we hold a clear vision of the community we want to be a part of and then pull in the folks who want to play in that sandbox. I am suggesting that we believe in our own selves and see what happens.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Election ~What Tune Do We Want to Play? at Tulis McCall.2024-11-0403 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musings ~ It’s Opening Night!It's Opening Night! Woo hoo!!!!
Continue reading Monday Musings ~ It’s Opening Night! at Tulis McCall.2024-10-2801 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Audition 101 – 2023 RememberedAt an audition we enter the room, and begin the first part of our performance. We act as if we were normal (when everyone knows this is not true).
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Audition 101 – 2023 Remembered at Tulis McCall.2024-10-2004 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Grownup EnvyWhen I was little all I wanted was to be a GROWNUP.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Grownup Envy at Tulis McCall.2024-10-1405 min
Monday MusingsMonday Musing ~ Take A Break From Your Life (Revisited)We need the kind of break we can plan ahead, where we can float about in a kind of recharging gell. Or use our noggin to think about things slowly and calmly – like a mental and spiritual massage.
Continue reading Monday Musing ~ Take A Break From Your Life (Revisited) at Tulis McCall.2024-10-0706 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Melinda And Her Garden GuestMelinda's eyes sparkled when she set them on you, and once settled she could pretty much talk you into anything. Not that she was conniving. She just had a perpetual case of inviting-itus. “You have to taste this.” “You have to see this.” “You have to smoke this.”
And then there was the spider.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Melinda And Her Garden Guest at Tulis McCall.2024-09-3006 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Young and Stupid: The Trade-OffYou can't be young and not stupid. It is a trade-off.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Young and Stupid: The Trade-Off at Tulis McCall.2024-09-2303 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Keep Moving...here is to the New York drivers who don’t know where they are and keep on moving. May we all take a page out of their travel guide. Chances are, if you keep moving, being lost will be an adventure.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Keep Moving at Tulis McCall.2024-09-1604 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ CORRECTION September 11 Remembrance from 2023 ~ Danny’s Story... on 911 Danny the bartender in front of me was 11. “I was just a lad,” he said. “Can you imagine?”
... On 911 I was 51. That made Danny the bartender 40 years my junior. Forty years. And here he was the little pipsqueak pouring me a glass of wine. What was going on here? As they say in the old country – I was gob-smacked.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ CORRECTION September 11 Remembrance from 2023 ~ Danny’s Story at Tulis McCall.2024-09-0907 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ CORRECTION September 11 Remembrance from 2023 ~ Danny’s Story... on 911 Danny the bartender in front of me was 11. “I was just a lad,” he said. “Can you imagine?”
... On 911 I was 51. That made Danny the bartender 40 years my junior. Forty years. And here he was the little pipsqueak pouring me a glass of wine. What was going on here? As they say in the old country – I was gob-smacked.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ CORRECTION September 11 Remembrance from 2023 ~ Danny’s Story at Tulis McCall.2024-09-0907 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ Labor Thoughts on Labor Day (Summer Recess Continues)You weeren's born. You were evicted. Your mother had to work to get you here. Why do you think they call it "Labor?"
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ Labor Thoughts on Labor Day (Summer Recess Continues) at Tulis McCall.2024-09-0204 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ Lifetime Membership Considerations (August Recess Continues)The other day I signed up for a Lifetime Membership for a Meditation App. It seemed like a no-brainer, until I heard myself think, “Wait a minute – how long would I have to live to make this lifetime membership worthwhile?”
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ Lifetime Membership Considerations (August Recess Continues) at Tulis McCall.2024-08-2604 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ My Life Is A Quiz Show (August Recess Continues)My life is like a quiz show. I have so many names, places, things, summer vacations, Christmas Carols stuffed into my head that it is difficult to sort through them all on a moment’s notice. More and more I depend on the kindness of strangers.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ My Life Is A Quiz Show (August Recess Continues) at Tulis McCall.2024-08-2004 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ How Stupid Am I? (August Recess Continues)“Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.” Someone said that somewhere and it is now on coffee mugs all over the planet.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ From The Archive ~ How Stupid Am I? (August Recess Continues) at Tulis McCall.2024-08-1103 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ From The Archive: “Kindness Takes Time” FYI ~ I Am Taking August Off (French, Oui?)this epidemic of good deeds and dispositions was out of my control. I watched as the Samaritans began to multiply out on the street. A pizza guy stopped to hold a door open. A woman stood still while her dog said hello to a puppy. A man on his phone paused his call and executed a tiny soccer move to stop something rolling down the street being chased by a panicked teenager. And when I asked the angel bus driver how close he got to my desired street he said, “I will stop there for you. I have time.”
2024-08-0505 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Budgeting 101 Reprise ~ With Advice On Aging ~ I Needed To Hear This AGAIN!Creating a budget is just like aging. Nobody tells you anything except the people who whisper, “Don’t get old,” which is not a conversation starter. There is no guidance. You sleep through a few stops, and when you tell the conductor you would like to get off and take the train back a bit, you are told there is no getting off the train. Just like you cannot unspend your money. There is only forward motion. You’re stuck.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Budgeting 101 Reprise ~ With Advice On Aging ~ I Needed To Hear This AGAIN! at Tulis...2024-07-2906 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Women Are NOT GuysI am feeling vindicated today so watch out. I heard an interview with Alice Walker the other day and the interviewer referred to her relationship with another female writer and used the term “you guys”. Walker stopped him cold. She said, “I don’t like to be referred to as a guy.” The interviewer apologized and said he was not even aware he had used that phrase. “Most people aren’t.” she said.
Newsflash - I have been saying this for years!
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Women Are NOT Guys at Tulis McCall.2024-07-2203 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Tony Awards for Understudies – Yea Or Nay?WHY people are missing shows is their business, but the people who step into their shoes deserve more than a pat on the back and a “thank you so much.” They deserve recognition and a big fat award.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Tony Awards for Understudies – Yea Or Nay? at Tulis McCall.2024-07-1504 min
Monday MusingsStick Your Neck Out ~ An Essay From 2023 I Needed To Hear AGAINThis is an essay I wrote in March 2023. When there is a positive patch in your life - think back on how you got there. You stuck your neck out. That's how.
Continue reading Stick Your Neck Out ~ An Essay From 2023 I Needed To Hear AGAIN at Tulis McCall.2024-07-0805 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing – Where Did The Telephones Go?What happened to following up with a phone call? Follow up phone calls or checking in phone calls or confirmation phone calls or gossip calls or “Can I come over?” calls or “I’m asking you out on a date” calls, or “Got time for a drink this week?” calls or plain old, “I miss you” calls.”
What happened to them?
Continue reading My Monday Musing – Where Did The Telephones Go? at Tulis McCall.2024-07-0105 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The Mulberry Tree MessageRemember the Mulberry tree scattering her ripe berries on the sidewalk so that someone will see the message in the mess and look up. It only took me 15 years to figure that one out.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The Mulberry Tree Message at Tulis McCall.2024-06-2405 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ You “Wanna”?Last week I got three emails from three adult human beings with whom I am taking online classes. Yes these are teachers. Leaders with followings. People a person might look to for guidance.
Here is the deal - In each of these emails from three different people the subject line of said emails featured the word WANNA! W-A-N-N-A “Wanna Work With Me?” “Wanna hop on Zoom?” "WANNA"? Seriously???
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ You “Wanna”? at Tulis McCall.2024-06-1704 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Secrets Of The Everything DrawerThe Everything Drawer - You know you have one. Everybody has one. Right NEXT to the silverware drawer OR the gadget drawer where you keep the wine opener and the candle stubs and the used corks.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Secrets Of The Everything Drawer at Tulis McCall.2024-06-1005 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Memorial Day Part TwoLong ago - Memorial Day did not give you a long weekend. It was on May 30th and the next day was May 31 and you went back to work or school or Saturday chores or Sunday church. We filled Memorial Day full to the brim and returned to life the next day.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Memorial Day Part Two at Tulis McCall.2024-06-0205 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Memorial “Moving” Day 1976MOST EVERYONE who lives in New York City has a "Moving In Story." This is mine. Memorial Day 1976.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Memorial “Moving” Day 1976 at Tulis McCall.2024-05-2806 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The Shortstop and Time ManagementThen whammo – you wake up one day and someone has handed you a Medicare Card – with YOUR name on it. Not you parents’. Not your boss’s. YOUR name. And where are you? You are rounding Second heading for third. And what is going on? Memories, folks. Memories that you didn’t even know you had.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The Shortstop and Time Management at Tulis McCall.2024-05-2004 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Mother’s Day: Let’s Talk…But Peggy, Betty, and Marylou cherished me unconditionally. From them I learned how to feel love, because I was loved. They taught me there are two kinds of mothers – the one you are born to and the ones that choose you. The ones who love the wayward travelers. I bet you’ve chosen a few yourself, right? Good for you – AND them.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Mother’s Day: Let’s Talk… at Tulis McCall.2024-05-1305 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ “I Didn’t Know” ~ A Brief ReviewI didn’t know how young my parents were. I didn’t know how little they knew because they were so young. I didn’t know that they were winging it. I didn’t know that they didn’t have a plan or a treasure chest of facts and knowledge and certainty. I didn’t know that every day they woke up in a house with five kids all going in different directions.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ “I Didn’t Know” ~ A Brief Review at Tulis McCall.2024-05-0603 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The Artichoke and World Peace... if we humans can go to all this length to consume a thorny clubbed vegetable that tastes like nothing ... and if there are actual farmers who get paid to grow these plants, and in turn, people who will pay to eat them – how is it that world peace eludes us?
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The Artichoke and World Peace at Tulis McCall.2024-04-2904 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The Season of the Peepers ~ RevisitedHighschool. We had no idea or vision of the future, and the thought of being 70 or so and looking back was not on our agenda. Being there in the parking lot, leaning against one car or another, no one smoking or drinking, sharing gossip and the tiny markers in our lives that seemed enormous, with the peepers as our background music, that was a place we felt safe and hopeful. You bet we dawdled.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The Season of the Peepers ~ Revisited at Tulis McCall.2024-04-2205 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Marilyn Maye Spends Her 96th Birthday HERE.Having seen Marilyn Maye many, many times for over a decade I know in advance there will be at least one point where she will leave me face down sobbing in my soup (should there be any around). That is because she has reached into me and touched my poor, poor heart. I know this and I look forward to it. Maye reminds me that I am alive and there is a lot of living to do. Sobbing in my soup is small price to pay.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Marilyn Maye Spends Her 96th Birthday HERE...2024-04-1504 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The Cure For Writer’s BlockAs a public service I am offering is a sure fired remedy for Writers Block. Here it is. Stand on your head until the words fall out onto the floor.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The Cure For Writer’s Block at Tulis McCall.2024-04-0804 minMonday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ My Dad Was An April Fool ~ RevisitedAnd not for nothin’ but my dad was the guy who showed up when I dislocated my knee, sprained my ankle, sliced my hand open on a broken jar, fractured my wrist – and oh year, cracked up more than one car. He was the guy who knew exactly what to do when I was in a pickle – which happened more than once.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ My Dad Was An April Fool ~ Revisited at Tulis McCall.2024-04-0105 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing – Free Advice Anyone?Wouldn’t get too comfortable on that bar stool if I was you pal – another round is not a good idea.
Continue reading My Monday Musing – Free Advice Anyone? at Tulis McCall.2024-03-2603 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ Who Broke The Cookie Jar? ~ Listen UP!First of all I did NOT break the cookie jar. And I know you don’t believe me because you never believe me, which is so totally unfair. I don’t even like cookies so why would I be even near there? I wasn’t near the cookie jar. I wasn’t even in the house.
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ Who Broke The Cookie Jar? ~ Listen UP! at Tulis McCall.2024-03-1803 min
Monday MusingsMy Monday Musing ~ The GetAwayWhat I am looking at here is, I think, a real money maker. A resort called The GetAway. The slogan would be "Get Away from everything – including you.” Because that is what it would be, a place to get away from yourself. Am I right?
Continue reading My Monday Musing ~ The GetAway at Tulis McCall.2024-03-1104 min
Monday MusingsAging – What Changes and What Stays The Same ~ March 4, 2024Aging is a change we don’t notice until we do. And we are selective in our noticing.
Continue reading Aging – What Changes and What Stays The Same ~ March 4, 2024 at Tulis McCall.2024-03-0404 minMonday Musings“Thank You”- Never A Bad Idea ~February 26, 2024...when we don’t thank someone, we are breaking a circuit. If someone gives you something they are sending you energy, an electrical current, and if you don’t acknowledge it is as if you are leaving a live wire out there dangling in the wind, which is not only a waste of energy but a little bit dangerous.
Continue reading “Thank You”- Never A Bad Idea ~February 26, 2024 at Tulis McCall.2024-02-2605 min
Monday MusingsLife Is A Day Care Center ~ Monday, February 19, 2023There are times that I feel as though I am not alone in here, in this life and in this body. On those days my life feels like an internal day care center. A day care center on a ranch in Nowhere Montana or Wyoming or some other state that has the Big Sky.
Continue reading Life Is A Day Care Center ~ Monday, February 19, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2024-02-1903 min
Monday MusingsShare My Birthday? I Don’t Think So ~ Monday, February 12, 2023I was only 6 but I knew when things were right and when they were not right, and this girl could not have the same birthday as me because that was not right.
Continue reading Share My Birthday? I Don’t Think So ~ Monday, February 12, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2024-02-1203 min
Monday MusingsCelebrating “I Forgot Day” ~ Tuesday, February 6, 2023I forgot my Musing on Monday February 5. Then forgot that I forgot! Woo Hoo!
Continue reading Celebrating “I Forgot Day” ~ Tuesday, February 6, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2024-02-0600 min
Monday MusingsLike…Like…Like, Right? ~ Monday, January 29, 2023LIKE is not a filler to slip in when you don’t trust the silence between your words. Let me give you a hot tip here: Silence is much more intriguing to your listener than the word LIKE dribbled throughout your speech like a sour perfume.
REMEMBER What comes out of your mouth is as important as what goes in.
Continue reading Like…Like…Like, Right? ~ Monday, January 29, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2024-01-2905 min
Monday MusingsThe Good Bits Of The Past Lift You Up In The Present ~Monday, January 22, 2024And you may be staying put because life has just taken a swing at you and connected. Life is overwhelming or depressing or scary or anxiety making. And you need a pick me up. So how about this - you airlift yourself up using your jet pack and you go visit these smoke signals memories and you pick out the really good memory bits as if you are pulling clean socks out of a laundry basket.
Continue reading The Good Bits Of The Past Lift You Up In The Present ~Monday, January 22, 2024 at Tulis McCall.2024-01-2204 min
Monday MusingsMartin Luther King, Jr. Birthday – A Holiday In Deed? Not Quite.Things are gently sliding back to the way they were. You know, the good old days where the people in the audience and the people on stage were white and the ticket prices were so high that people went into debt to afford them.
Continue reading Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday – A Holiday In Deed? Not Quite. at Tulis McCall.2024-01-1504 min
Monday MusingsGive January A Break ~ Monday, January 8, 2023Continue reading Give January A Break ~ Monday, January 8, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2024-01-0803 min
Monday MusingsReflections on The New Year and The Dark ~ Monday, January 1, 2024Continue reading Reflections on The New Year and The Dark ~ Monday, January 1, 2024 at Tulis McCall.2024-01-0104 min
Monday MusingsChristmas at the MET ~ Monday, December 25, 2023The Metropolitan Museum is many things to many people. Artistic oasis, a way to pass the time, day-care, rejuvenator, obligation, neutral ground for those awkward discussions, hidden fish. Pop in – trust me. You will be entertained. You might also like the artwork.
Continue reading Christmas at the MET ~ Monday, December 25, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-12-2506 min
Monday MusingsJesus v. Santa ~ Monday, December 18, 2023Lookk I don't know where hope comes from. I just know it is real because every Christmas Eve I go to bed and listen. And every Christmas Eve I am prety sure I fall asleep to the sound of sleigh bells. Listen... listen... listen... Can you hear?
Continue reading Jesus v. Santa ~ Monday, December 18, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-12-1806 minMonday MusingsTOTO TOO ~ Monday December 11, 2023Watching “The Wizard of Oz” as an adult, I have concluded that OZ belongs to Toto not Dorothy – like “Cinderella” belongs to Gus-Gus. But that’s a story for another time.
Continue reading TOTO TOO ~ Monday December 11, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-12-1105 minMonday MusingsThe Case For Taking A Break From Your Life ~ Monday, December 4, 2023My parents were a little nutty on account of having lived 30 or so years without a break. Born in the 20’s, lived through the Depression and WWII, then marriage and then kids. And they had to be alive that whole time. Can you imagine doing anything, other than breathing, for 30 years without a break?
Continue reading The Case For Taking A Break From Your Life ~ Monday, December 4, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-12-0406 min
Monday MusingsHow To Shoot Yourself In The Foot ~ Monday, November 27, 2023A tip on how to lose friends and not influence people or influence them in the way you didn’t mean to. It is so easy.
Attack the Library. Not just any library. Attack the Lion Library – that is what we call it. Where the two lions – Patience and Fortitude – keep watch.
Continue reading How To Shoot Yourself In The Foot ~ Monday, November 27, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-11-2704 minMonday MusingsTurkeys Revisited ~ Monday, November 20, 2023Something people may not know about turkeys of the wild sort is that they are tricky – disposition wise. Live near a wild turkey and you take your chances. They consider themselves noble and above your pay grade.
Continue reading Turkeys Revisited ~ Monday, November 20, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-11-2004 min
Monday MusingsCousins ~ The Gift That Keeps On Giving ~ Monday, November 13, 2023Cousins are an odd lot. Not as close as siblings, which can be a good thing because there is less baggage. They show up on special occasions most of which are pretty good – summer holidays, weddings, even funerals can be good for a few laughs. You share invisible strings that are attached at a very young age with a gentle touch. So gentle that you don’t know they are there until someone tugs at them.
Continue reading Cousins ~ The Gift That Keeps On Giving ~ Monday, November 13, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-11-1304 min
Monday MusingsSorting The Past With An Eye To The Future ~ Monday, November 6, 2023That is the thing about sorting. It makes everything so messy. Yesterday I spent 30 minutes looking for an old photo of me and when I found it the THIRD time, I taped it to the wall.
Continue reading Sorting The Past With An Eye To The Future ~ Monday, November 6, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-11-0604 min
Monday MusingsThe Artist’s Way (Continued) ~ Pace Yourself ~ Monday October 30, 2023I met a man at a party the other day who said he tries to get in 8 miles a day. Three in the morning and five in the afternoon. THAT brough me up short. How was that even possible I asked. Oh, simple he said – We (he and his dog) walk from 122 Street down to the reservoir and back. Reservoir? I thought. There is a reservoir in New York?
Continue reading The Artist’s Way (Continued) ~ Pace Yourself ~ Monday October 30, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-10-3005 min
Monday MusingsTurnip As Torture ~ Monday, October 23, 2023It’s not that I hated turnip. I didn’t hate it. Turnip made me gag. There is a difference.
Continue reading Turnip As Torture ~ Monday, October 23, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-10-2306 min
Monday MusingsThe Artist’s Way: A Hail Mary Pass ~ Monday October 16, 2023It will not do for me to be hopeless and less-than. It will not do for me to decide that things are on a downhill journey that is impossible to rectify. It will not do to be friends with disappointment.
Continue reading The Artist’s Way: A Hail Mary Pass ~ Monday October 16, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-10-1606 min
Monday MusingsRevelations Saved and Lost ~ Monday, October 9, 2023I had a revelation the other day That WOULD have changed my life if I had remembered it. I did not. I have forgotten it.
Continue reading Revelations Saved and Lost ~ Monday, October 9, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-10-0905 min
Monday MusingsCovid – The GIfts That Keeps On Giving ~ Monday, October 2, 2023What about you? Have you been visited recently by the Covid team? I would love to do a totally non-scientific survey. In the meantime – wash your hands.
Continue reading Covid – The GIfts That Keeps On Giving ~ Monday, October 2, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-10-0204 min
Monday MusingsFirst Grade Lessons ~ Monday, September 25, 2023My first grade teacher was Miss Beatty and her room was the center of my universe. She was a short woman – even at 5 years old I knew she was closer to my height than my parents. On the first day each of us was ushered in by our mothers as if we were passengers on a gangway headed to an outbound ship. Which was kind of true. That grammar school ship was sailing and although we would return, we would never be the same.
Continue reading First Grade Lessons ~ Monday, September 25, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-09-2505 min
Monday MusingsSchool Days ~ Monday, September 18, 2023This school with the brown linoleum hallway floors and the globe lights and the pencil sharpeners and the long wands that were topped with window latches for opening and closing the windows, and the cloak rooms and the chalk boards. This was the place I returned to every September for nine years. From age 5 to 14. I loved it more than my own home.
Continue reading School Days ~ Monday, September 18, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-09-1804 minMonday MusingsSeptember 11 ~ A Surprise Take On An Old Tune ~ Monday, September 11, 2023,Danny, was 11 on 911. He had been, for a few hours and without knowing it, a child in danger of losing his parents. And there he was, standing at the bar, having traveled though 20 years, sharing his story with me, a stranger. Something that happened 20 years ago had come full circle and placed me and Danny at an intersection of immense specificity. An 11 year old boy whose parents dodged a bullet and an older woman who had never given his generation a thought.
Continue reading September 11 ~ A Surprise Take On An Old Tune ~ Monday, September 11, 2023, at Tulis McCall.2023-09-1107 minMonday MusingsLabor Thoughts on Labor Day ~ Monday, September 4, 2023Labor. Never been in it – the baby making part. I have, however, spent plenty of time in the labor for money part. As to the baby making – all I can say is that, I was involved in it in the sense that I was born. Which when you think about it is an odd word for what happens, or what I am told happens because I don’t remember one bit of it.
Continue reading Labor Thoughts on Labor Day ~ Monday, September 4, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-09-0404 minMonday MusingsAnatomy Of An Audition ~ Monday, August 28, 2023For every 1-2 minutes that we are given in an audition, we spend 3-4-5 hours working on that monologue, conjuring, sifting, adjusting.
Continue reading Anatomy Of An Audition ~ Monday, August 28, 2023 at Tulis McCall.2023-08-2804 min