Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, I've started thinking about the lazy hazy dog days of summer. And when our videographer Zachary emailed me about this really interesting “sunset” phenomenon called the Manhattan Solstice or “Manhattanhenge” as it’s been dubbed by the head of the Hayden Planetarium here, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, I was intrigued.

When Valentine's Day rolls around, I think of puppies. Maybe the folks at Westminster Kennel Club do too, because every year around this time they sponsor their big dog show. It's held in Madison Square Garden, just a couple of blocks away from our office.

I came across an entry in a website called “Daily Routines” about how writers, artists and other interesting people organize their days. (This was a link from another of my fave sites veryshortlist.com.) At 5 a.m.

When we heard yesterday that a commercial plane had gone down in the Hudson River we hoped and prayed the passengers and crew would get out safely. It wasn’t for almost an hour that there was news that 155 crew and passengers, everyone, was alive! Our governor and mayor credited the pilot for his masterful skill in landing the plane and the passengers for keeping calm. "We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson," Gov. David Paterson said.

It was Christmas Eve, my Dad’s birthday, and I had just learned he had only weeks to live. I don’t know how many times he bounced back from cancer, but this time it wasn’t to be. I was scheduled to fly to Florida to spend the holiday with him. Now it would be a radically different kind of Christmas. I didn’t know what I was headed for. Certainly sadness. 

You may have seen our story in the December issue called The Good Book Santa about Santa Cliff Snider of High Point, North Carolina. He was so jolly and kind! There’s something a little bit different about Santa Cliff. He keeps names of children who visit him in a little red book and says a prayer for each.