The Friday 5ive- June 28, 2019 edition

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, where I share five things that caught my attention.

It's been a busy week, with lots of family celebrations- my older son JD turned 31 on June 25th, my mom's birthday was June 27th, and we had a belated anniversary celebration for my husband's parents at their home in upstate New York.

1) My father-in-law took this photo of the Hudson River from the deck of their home. It's so gorgeous, I had to share it with all of you.

The cake from the Cake Box was delicious

2) On Wednesday I attended the White Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Cardinal Dolan celebrated a mass honoring health care workers, and it was so wonderful to see a full house of people gathered together to celebrate and honor the important work they do. The procession down the aisle was accompanied by a group of people carrying colorful umbrellas. Cardinal Dolan joked that when he saw the umbrellas he was concerned that the roof of the cathedral was leaking and everyone laughed.

The umbrella procession

Cardinal Dolan greets the congregation

3) My sign of the week stopped me in my tracks and I laughed out loud. The staff at Olive and Bette's are so clever. And it is hot here.

4) I noticed a new feature on my Echo Show. Alexa asked me if I wanted to use my own photos as background on the Echo Show. I tried it and ever since then, random old photos have popped up. I don't even recognize some of them, and many of them I haven't seen in years. I'm still not sure where they came from. One of them is this photo of The Handmaid's Tale star Elisabeth Moss coming out of her set trailer on the Upper East Side. It was at least nine years ago, and I think she may have been on a location shoot for Mad Men or maybe a movie. We chatted for a few minutes, I told her how much my son and I enjoyed her work on West Wing, and she let me take her photo.

Elisabeth Moss 

5) I started and finished Laura Lippman's upcoming mystery Lady in the Lake, the story of  Madeline, a housewife in 1965 Baltimore who decides that she wants her independence. She leaves her husband, gets a job at a local newspaper, and finds herself involved in the disappearance of a young black woman, trying to find answers that no one wants her to discover. Lippman submerses the reader in Madeline's life and what it's like to work at a newspaper in 1965, and it is a fantastic read. Look for this one in July.

I also started Evvie Drake Starts Over, written by NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes. It's also about a woman looking for a new life. Evvie is packed and ready to leave her husband when he is killed in a car accident. She doesn't know what to do next when she takes in a tenant, a former New York Yankee pitcher who has lost his mojo. It is so charming and I can't wait to see what happens. If you like baseball and romance, this one is for you.

I hope you find a way to beat this heat- have a great week.