it's a mad, mad world

it brings me great joy to see my children continuing down the mad path forged by their father.

i LOVED mad magazine when i was a kid. and if i were still now able to actually stay awake at night, i'm sure i'd enjoy reading a copy before bedtime.

i, or rather, my mother, saved all of my back issues, and passed them along to jared. they are stacked in piles in various parts of his room - maybe a fortune in the making? probably not, but a great 'read' nonetheless.

jared has had a subscription himself for some time now, really relishing the sarcastic humor - an lo an behold, i've even caught jane on a number of occasions, reading silently with her glasses on (snickering). even she digresses.

'the gloves are off' political satire, spy v. spy, the lighter side of ... all our favorites! and there's always a pearl at the end - the foldover back flap, revealing in text and image a final thought for you to carry with you. it's maddening, in the most delicious way possible!

h

marlee tyler moore

totally crazy!

marlee tried on every item in jane's closet yesterday, much to our horror ... both at the tornado-like wake she left behind, and also because she is 'mature' (euphemism) enough to wear all of this stuff!

pictured above, an mtm-like hat that would have done minneapolis proud! knitted by her grandmother grace some time ago, it reared it's (not ugly) head yesterday, from the depths of the cave formerly known as mom's wardrobe.

we kind of thought we could see this little number sailing through the air, right out of mary's hands ...

h

go to great lengths

today, i was delighted to receive this email from pantene's beautiful lengths, in honor of marlee's recent participation in this program:
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dear pantene beautiful lengths supporter:

pantene and pantene beautiful lengths cannot thank you enough for your help in making pantene beautiful lengths such a successful program. since the campaign began in july of 2006 it has received more than 24,000 generous ponytail donations including those of actress diane lane, oakland A’s star nick swisher and, most recently, two- time oscar winner hilary swank. because of these heartfelt donations this program has distributed 2,000 free real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment – with more to come!

the excitement continues as we enter the second year of the pantene beautiful lengths campaign! a portion of the proceeds from every pantene purchase is now going towards pantene beautiful lengths to help create wigs. in addition, hilary swank is the campaign spokesperson and is encouraging others to join her in creating awareness by growing, cutting and donating their hair as well as becoming members of the million-inch chain. by joining this chain, you will continue to strengthen this program and all that it does to help women with cancer. visit www.beautifullengths.com to check out new photos and links, the million-inch chain, and enter to win a trip to new york city!

wishing you health and happiness,

pantene beautiful lengths

hair today, gone tomorrow

originally posted in august of 2007
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she did it!

te kids came home from camp on sunday, giving hurricane dean a run for his money ... or is it a tornado???

back in action - meals, laundry, life, mess, spills (think exxon valdez, with the same repercussions), dentist, doctor, ortho ... well, you get the picture. it's a quick turnaround, your basic 48 hour layover in NY then a hop across the pond to tel aviv tomorrow. so the point of this entry is a short hello, wishing you all a great end to summer (hope it warms up here, a little beach weather would take the edge off), and a quick 'a bientot' to all - we depart for a 10 day spree in israel midday wednesday (a rambling blog cannot be too far behind).

so i leave you with an impression of my own impression of my daughter marlee today. she informed us that she was cutting her flowing locks, but seriously cutting them - went online, researched pantene's new program to create real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair in their battle with cancer, and decided that she wanted to be a part of this (all this from a girl who's last real haircut was a result of a misguided attempt at imitating barbie-esque hairstyling in a self-inflicted manner).

so armed with the paperwork and the requisite clean, product-free hair, off she went to gina with mom and courage. we happened to be near by (all the boys needed a trim/complete overhaul too) so we peeked in to find marlee with an abbreviated version of her former self.

we are so proud of her and as we embark on our journey to the middle east we hope you'll follow the adventure, comment, and think of the many women like marlee who are reaching out to their counterparts who are struggling, battling, and hopefully always succeeding in their efforts to battle cancer.

by the way, many thanks to gina and new york hair for facilitating this program - they even waived the fee for the cut and styling as their own 'contribution' to the endeavor.

thinking of all of you, and if you can, please do visit pantene's program at:
www.pantene.com/en_US/beautifullengths/index_home.jsp

next post to follow from jerusalem -

harley

sand band

60 degrees and sunny - fire island ...

sunday breakfast in the city, back to long island to pick up the - uh, little ones - and out to the beach for a walk ... past the memorial to twa flight 800, a sad memory ... onto the atlantic shores, post hurricane ... balmy, rough seas, peaceful ... restored for a new week

h

don't give me lip

tom selleck did it. mahmoud ahmadinejad did it. don adams did it briefly on get smart in his role as agent 86. jason schwartzman made it popular in the darjeeling limited. ryan gosling did the same in lars and the real girl. even lucille ball did it (for laughs!).

so why can't i do it, at least in peace and quiet. all week long i've been getting lip from my family for the doing the same thing as my famous (and infamous) compatriots listed above.

i'm talking about my mustache. what is it about this little sprouting of facial hair that inspires such passion? my wife and kids have not stopped, and frankly, you CAN blame them. okay, i get it - i do have the longest mutton chops in north america (my transatlantic rival is chef alain passard of l'arpege in paris) ... so it's not SUCH a big jump to the middle of my face.

but boy, oh boy, have i gotten 'rotten tomato' reviews from my nearest and dearest.

if you can't shake things up a bit with a hirsute attitude, what's the hope for changing the world?

maybe jane will pull a 'samson and delilah' while i sleep - the kids have likewise threatened a 'drake and josh' stunt mimicking this biblical story also ...

h

mr. president

sadly, andi's bid for president of walt whitman elementary school was foiled today - despite having made it through the runoff to the final stages of voting, he was marginally defeated in the open ballot which took place after the candidates addressed their peers!

we are very proud of andi's efforts and hard work, and appreciated his left-leaning platform (equality for all! root beer in the water fountains!)...

click here to watch andi's electoral proposals on youtube -

from the (almost) first father,

harley

(peace!)

concentration

as if household chores are not mind-numbing enough, our lovely swedish friend decided that she wasn't going to help us this week. the asko front-loading washing machine, aka our savior/arch-enemy broke down ... waterlogged clothes, mini-flood on the floor (where's fema? i guess 'brownie' isn't doing a heck of a job after all!)

so, we finally got it fixed today, thankfully, although we were told it's on it's way to a slow and untimely death - wahhhh! 4 loads later, we managed to work our way through the back log. i folded and folded during an hour of 'ugly betty', finally making my way down to the dreaded socks.

i just couldn't get to them, and jane asked why i always leave the socks undone. just looking at all of those colors, styles, sizes - it's too much! too overwhelming!!! like a game of concentration - flipping the cards, what matches what, etc. - ugghhhhh!

time for 'the office' and a glass of wine -

h

candy with andi

what a sweet way to start the day!

as always, i drove andi to school this morning ... he had to be in a bit early, and despite having hallowe'en in the air, he was dressed as always - sweatshirt, jeans, etc.. when pressed why he was not wearing a costume, knowing full well that his class was having a little celebration today, he whipped out a handmade NYPD badge - colorful, bright, and precise - and answered that he was going as an undercover agent ...

as we got into the car, he ecstatically informed me how much he 'loves days like today'. he told me that when it is slightly cool, and you can see your breath, and the sun is out, it is obvious that it's going to be a great day - that, in fact, you'll be 'jolly' even if something goes wrong! recess will be great because it's perfect soccer weather, there's a party at school, and everyone is going to be in a good mood ... and there will be lots of candy, one of his principal food groups!

don't you wish you were ten again?

h

mrs. jones - we've got a thing, goin' on ...

dear friends -

many of you know our little ones - jared, andi, & marlee (JAM) - and the kind of sticky situations they often find themselves in ...

i shall regale you with anecdotes which spring forth from the children who hath sprung forth from our loins ... sort of an airing of dirty laundry - nothing that a front loader and a bottle of high-energy tide won't take care of.

life with JAM is never boring, often titillating, and almost always hair-raising (for those of us who are not bald, hair transplanted, brazilianized, or other wise follicle-challenged) ...

stay tuned for adventures which would surely be the bane of shirley partridge's existence.

love harley