Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
Laughably Terrible
A phone call from a relative can be many things – informative, exhausting, hilarious, or touchingly poignant. When Anne receives a call from her cousin Jan (of Jan and Jan™), it becomes all these things and more, unfolding into a masterclass on family dynamics and the art of conversation.
The episode begins with Anne sharing her discovery of an incredible vocalist named Nathan Farrell who performs a stunning Joni Mitchell cover. This musical appreciation leads to a nostalgic discussion about SCTV, the groundbreaking Canadian sketch comedy show that launched comedy legends like Eugene Levy, John Candy, and Martin Short. Anne and Michael encourage listeners to seek out these classic sketches online, acknowledging how they shaped comedy for generations.
Literature takes center stage as Anne provides candid reviews of recent reads. Elizabeth Strout's "Tell Me Everything" receives high praise for its engaging storytelling and page-turning quality, while Jodi Picoult's latest work is described as "laughably terrible" – a stark reminder that even established authors can disappoint. Gabrielle Zevin's "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" emerges as Ann's current literary obsession, highlighting the perpetual search for compelling stories.
The heart of the episode revolves around Anne's detailed recounting of a phone call with her cousin Jan. What begins as a discussion about cataract surgery evolves into a meandering journey through family connections, mysterious eye diseases supposedly affecting Jews from Odessa, and the economics of QVC shopping. Anne's masterful storytelling transforms this ordinary conversation into an extraordinary window into family relationships, generational differences, and the strange ways we connect with our relatives.
Environmental concerns emerge when Jan shares observations about Florida's drought conditions – dried-up fountains, absent birds, and disappearing wildlife create a sobering picture of climate change's real-world impact. The episode concludes with a poignant acknowledgment of Israel's Independence Day and the ongoing hostage situation in Gaza, reminding listeners that even in a show filled with humor, there's room for reflection on serious global issues.
Join us for this blend of storytelling, cultural commentary, and family chronicles that will have you laughing, nodding in recognition, and perhaps inspired to call your own eccentric relative. Listen now and become part of our extended family.
Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/
I want to know if you've ever eaten in a restaurant in Port Angeles.
Speaker 2:I don't believe, so I've driven through several times. Meanwhile ten years later my niece, the daughter of my sister, is getting married.
Speaker 1:The Anne Levine Show. If you're not listening, you need to be listening. I love this. A whole section of sharks. Oh, Mr Engineer.
Speaker 2:You guessed right it's time for the Ann Levine Show. This is today and everything else is yesterday's mashed potatoes. W-o-m-r 92.1 FM Provincetown.
Speaker 1:And that over there is Michael. She is always right, sitting in a park in Paris, france, reading the news and it sure looks bad.
Speaker 2:They won't give peace a chance.
Speaker 1:That was just a dream some of us had. Hello, welcome to the Ann Levine Show. It's Tuesday, april 29th 2025, and I am Ann and that is Michael over there. Hello, hello, and we're Hello, hello, and we're coming to you from WOMR 92.1 FM In Provincetown Massachusetts.
Speaker 2:That's right. And 91.1 FM in Provincetown, massachusetts, that's right. And 91.3 FM it's WFMR from Orleans and we're streaming worldwide at WOMRorg Org. That's right. The voice and spirit of Cape Cod, that's who we are.
Speaker 1:We certainly are, that's right.
Speaker 2:And we're glad you're here. We're glad's right, and we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1:We're glad you're here, we're glad we're here, we're glad everybody's here. Really glad, joni Mitchell is here.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I'm here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're all here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Joni's here.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I'm playing. It's a beautiful song.
Speaker 1:California, joni Mitchell. It's a beautiful song. I'm playing California, joni Mitchell, and what put me in mind of this is a guy that I found on Instagram. His name is Nathan Farrell, that's F-A-R-R-E-L-L, and you should check him out. It's On Instagram, it's At Nathan Underscore Music and he is An incredible Singer and he did A little cover of this In this key.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I just listened to it over and over and over again and if I had there's only I don't know 40 seconds or something of it on Instagram, if I had the whole song, I definitely would have played him singing it. But I'll be honest with you, you can't tell the difference. Now, nathan, I don't know how many octaves his range is, but I've heard other songs of his. I did a deep Nathan Farrell dive and he's just an extraordinary talent, just an incredible singer and interpreter. Phrasing, and then the range and the keys oh, oh, gives me chills that Nathan Farrell. So check him out. I feel like he's going to explode, which is often how I feel.
Speaker 2:It would make for good television.
Speaker 1:It would yeah, or radio, actually don't you think? Radio, actually, don't you think?
Speaker 2:You know, I think explosions, while really impressive on an audio, on an auditory level are much more a visual kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, if it's a person I don't know, I don't know if I want to see that.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I used to watch it all the time on SCTV Watch. The people get blowed up. Real good, that's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. I wonder how many people out there. Know what SCTV is.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but if you don't, you've really missed something, folks.
Speaker 1:And you can probably still find it on YouTube or something.
Speaker 2:Canadian improv show Sketch show. Sketch show that all of I mean so many brilliant people came from. It's wonderful yeah. Eugene Levy.
Speaker 1:I was going to say Eugene John Candy, andrew Martin, martin Short.
Speaker 2:Martin Short. Martin Short, gilda.
Speaker 1:Radner Paul Schaefer.
Speaker 2:It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's just absolutely nuts, all of them and the funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ugh, incredible show. I miss that.
Speaker 2:If you get a chance, like if you see something on YouTube, just look up SCTV, see if you can find something there because it's worth it. Oh, absolutely, yeah, Absolutely. Oh, I mean that's in the. Yeah, it was the takeoff. The.
Speaker 1:McKenzie brothers Right.
Speaker 2:Bob and Doug McKenzie.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness yes, yeah, and that was Rick Moranis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Dave Thomas.
Speaker 1:Oh, Dave Thomas, right, oh boy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all those people. Yeah, it was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Funny Canadians you betcha Long list, you betcha, you betcha Long list, you betcha. So, speaking of Joni Mitchell, I'm reminded, of course, when I look at photographs of her when she was young, of my sister.
Speaker 2:I'm actually looking at the picture of the album cover, blue here and I'm like oh my goodness, looks exactly like my sister. Yeah, it's your sister.
Speaker 1:I'm actually looking at the picture of the album cover.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Blue here and it looks exactly like my sister.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's your sister. So, yeah, so that's what my sister, elena, of blessed memory, looked like. Yeah, and like exactly. I mean at that age. Yeah, I mean when Joni was that age. So I just want to mention here that Lane and I had the same parents, one of whom, both of whom were quite extraordinary looking, but one was a Swede, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Swede, a dark-eyed, dark-haired, handsome man from Poland, basically of Polish ancestry, polish-jewish. So I grew up Picture, I look like the brown hair, brown eyed, and I was fat. So I was like ricky lake and my sister joni mitchell. It was brutal, brutal. Yeah, I've never gotten over it. No, apparently now ricky lake is looking quite good these days, but is she? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I was trying to think of okay, if she still have a television show, does she still?
Speaker 1:no, yeah, if elena was johnny mitchell, who was I, and I sat here and thought about it and that's what I came up with. How do you think I did? You did all right, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, great. I don't know why you expect me to answer that in any sort of realistic fashion without getting myself in trouble. No, not in trouble, so I'm not going to say anything. Not in trouble.
Speaker 1:I was going to say that if you said, oh, no, way off, you know, then I might have come up with someone else, but I thought I was being judicious by saying Ricky Lake, okay, I mean, she's not an unattractive person. Yeah, I agree, right, so, anyhow, oh, like that. Uh, this week was holocaust remembrance day and I'm going to tell you about a film that I highly urge everyone to see, and it is called the World Will Tremble and it's a film made by a guy named Lior Geller, starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Jeremy Newmark Jones, anton Lesser, david Cross and Michael Fox, and it's incredible. It is one of the most—it's arguably the best film on the topic I have ever seen, and that's quite a feat. And the reason that it is is the acting. It's based on a true story and I won't get into too much of it because it's not fun, but watch this film the world will tremble Incredible acting, incredible cinematography, a story you will not believe, but it is 100 true. And at the very end of the story of the film, you see the documents that this film came from. You see that it's an absolutely, pretty much direct recounting of some stuff that took place.
Speaker 1:Some stuff All right, books I read Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Now, you probably know Elizabeth Strout, if you do. By Olive Kittredge. That was a book I did not dig, particularly Even though so many people did, and there was a series made of it. Who starred in that? Do you remember, michael?
Speaker 2:No, I've got no idea. Olive Kittredge, no, I'm fairly certain it would hold no interest for me, so it didn't stick in my brain at all.
Speaker 1:Oh well, it was. You know, who just was addicted to the series was my brother, jeff. Ah, what you would have thought. At any rate, this book Tell Me Everything was such a delight and such a page turner. And it's so day to day, but not in a boring way, in a way that you really get caught up in the sort of just in life you know, in what goes on every day in a community, in a small town in Maine, in a community in a small town in Maine, and it sort of blew my mind as I went, because I kept thinking, oh my gosh, I want to get back to it. I got to know what happens next. And lo and behold, yeah, I absolutely zoomed my way through it. I recommend it very much.
Speaker 1:I admit that I had started reading it probably a year ago, if not more, and I was meh. But I was looking through my library at stuff I never finished and I thought, well, let me give this one a drive, take it out for a spin. And I'm so glad I did so. I am thoroughly behind it. I am not thoroughly behind.
Speaker 1:However, it's always awful when you read something that you love and then you want to keep reading. You want your next fix and everything pales in comparison. Looking and looking and looking, and I came up with by any other name, by Jodi Picoult, who is kind of in the same oh I don't know category of writer, I would say as Elizabeth Strout, ann Patchett, I don't even know how to well, you know what I mean, if you know. You know, and it sounded great, and guess what? It's terrible and it's laughably terrible. So huge disappointment. Do not stop off there. It's title from Shakespeare called Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zavin, z-e-v-i-n. Excellent, excellent, I'm in it, I'm grabbed, it's got me, it's flipping me around. So, michael over there, what have you got? What have you got for us this week? What have I got?
Speaker 2:Well, let's see. Here's some things that are happening In major headlines. We've got a potential conflict between India and Pakistan. Florida is moving to ban fluoride in public water. There's a rise, believe it or not, in insulin related homicides. What the hell does that mean? Universities are organizing to oppose uh, president, trump other uh notable events include a school shooting in Nashville, but we're not going to talk about any of that stuff. What we are going to talk about is beer chela.
Speaker 1:Just one second, just one second. Can you just at all say what the insulin murders are?
Speaker 2:That's what they are. Okay, okay, murders by insulin.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't get it, but anyway.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? You don't get? What don't you get?
Speaker 1:How do you murder someone by insulin?
Speaker 2:You give them too much and they die. Okay, it's actually a premise of a movie, you know. Okay, what was it? It went backwards. Guy Ritchie, what the heck was it? I can't remember anymore, but yeah, people are being murdered with insulin. So more than it used to be. Someone's made a note of it, apparently. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Medford, massachusetts. They're gearing up for a big big deal. It's Beercella folks, a massive event that organizers say will bring together craft beer lovers and music fans for a festival experience unlike any other. This is going to be on Saturday, june 14th, the Great American Beer Hall in Medford. The Great American Beer Hall in Medford. There's going to be two distinct sessions of the festival, with more than 30 breweries, seven live musical performances, all kinds of entertainment and so on. So going on all over the place. So that's where you want to be, june 14th, medford, massachusetts. We've been there.
Speaker 1:We have.
Speaker 2:I think we've been through there, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, through. I don't think we've spent much time there. No.
Speaker 2:About the amount I wanted to, but beer-chella wasn't happening either. Beer-chella.
Speaker 1:So that's going to be horrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a bunch. I mean it's going to be Boston on a weekend, essentially. I guess that's exactly right Just a bunch of people getting plastered on beer.
Speaker 2:That's right. Nothing more attractive Listening to some music, and yeah, yeah, oh boy. So there you go. June 14th huh, june 14th, that's right.
Speaker 1:Well, everyone put that in your calendar, that's right, however a little closer to today's date.
Speaker 2:Okay, mm-hmm, because we've got this one coming up. Some people know this, some people don't, but let's talk about Cinco de Mayo coming up on the 5th of May. Yeah, and do you know what that commemorates?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, isn't it the War of Spain?
Speaker 2:I mean, I know it's not Mexican Independence Day, which most people think it is, most people do think it is right, yeah, but what it does, it really is not a thing in Mexico at all, unless you're in Puebla, which is where it commemorates a battle in Puebla, in which General Zaragoza bested Napoleon III's forces while fighting with half as many guys. This was in 1862. Huh, yeah, and it was also the first loss for the french army since waterloo. Believe it or not? How about that? Yeah, so, but that is that's what cinco de mayo is truly all about, about the battle of puebla.
Speaker 1:It really has nothing to do with any other sort of mexican independence kind of yeah well, I mean in this country it has nothing to do with anything except guacamole and tequila.
Speaker 2:Right, well, and fajitas, I mean Mexican restaurants do a really big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But also just regular Tuesdays. They do the same thing Taco Tuesdays.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:One more bit of history before we move on, because we are, of course, the most educational show on the radio right now. Yeah, you are. We're going to talk about the GOAT. General George Armstrong Custer was the GOAT of the United States Military Academy at West Point, class of 1861. How about that? Yeah, except GOAT is the cadet who finished last in his class yeah, so it doesn't really carry the meaning that it carries now.
Speaker 1:It's interesting how I'm thinking about Survivor from many years ago, probably 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And when they talked about the goat, it was the worst person. Okay, you know. And of course, now it's greatest of all time.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, yeah, yeah. So, it has changed. It has transformed how we use that sort of I mean because it's now an acronym Mm-hmm, yeah, so anyway. So that's, there's some interesting things for you. There you go. You've learned something today.
Speaker 1:Do you feel educated? I hope so, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do Really.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you do. Yeah, well, I had quite the phone call, quite the phone call with you. Guessed it, jan? That's right, cousin. Jan and I had a conversation.
Speaker 2:Did you?
Speaker 1:speak to both Jans? I didn't, no, I only spoke to primary Jan. Yeah, jan, number one, jam um, who she actually called me um this time around, and I did owe her a call, uh, but you, you have to have time, you have to have time, you have to have time and energy, neither of which I've felt like I had a lot of lately. But anyway, it was quite a conversation, because the first—I had a cataract surgery on one eye in February. January, yeah, february, and that was this week's topic with Jan was cataract surgery.
Speaker 2:Oh, good one yeah.
Speaker 1:So now Jan had his cataract surgery recently. Well, he had it in new york and, um, this has been dragging on for months and months and months. And I'll tell you why. Because this is not new york, this is florida and everything here is terrible. There's no water here, but never mind that right now. So if this was new york Would have been finished One, two, three.
Speaker 1:Dr Rothman, you walked in, he did the thing, you walked out, it was all in his office. Okay, how could I argue with her? She says no big deal, no big deal. And then so we talked about that for a while, no big deal. And then so we talked about that for a while. And then she says now there was still problems seeing, jan was still having troubles, the vision wasn't clear, not 100%, not 50%, not 25%, frankly. So he had YAG Y-A-G. Write that down-G, write that down, yag. All right. So YAG Y-A-G? I found out Now she was describing like it was a LASIK type thing, where I mean, with LASIK surgery, you get a lens implanted and it corrects your vision so you don't have to wear glasses any longer.
Speaker 1:I didn't get that in mine, I just got my distance vision, which was already pretty strong, was corrected, but my reading vision still the same. But if you have all kinds of other problems with your vision which Dr Rothman and not it's because something went crazy with the cataracts. But anyway, let's not tell anyone things they don't want to hear. So Y-A-G is for correcting problems that happen when your cataract surgery goes wrong. That's what I gathered Y-A-G, y-a-g. She spelled it for me several times. And then I heard the story of my granddaughter, my great-granddaughter and my granddaughter, my great-granddaughter and my granddaughter. So and this is on the Italian side of the family I should tell you Well, she's yeah. So she says we don't hear from them Nothing. There was a wedding. We sent a gift.
Speaker 2:And she said.
Speaker 1:Apparently it wasn't up to Paul, because we've never heard from them again now. I so wanted to say what on earth did you send? I didn't, um, but I also know that that's probably why they never we never heard from them again yeah, probably um, there's probably some other stuff, but she said it wasn't up to par.
Speaker 1:So they're disrespectful, rude, appalling. She's mean, there's a problem, there's just awful, something's not right about her. Then my favorite part of this was now every year. So that's her granddaughter, right. And then the granddaughter has children that are heading towards. I didn't totally understand. I guess one of them's having their first communion and then another one's having maybe a baptism, I don't know. There's three kids, whatever. They're all going to church and getting whatever you get, I guess the Catholic. So if they're having First Communions, so she says, and those children? So when she's telling me that this wedding, I'm backtracking a little here. That was the last time they heard from them because our gift wasn't up to par, apparently. Um, I'm realizing, wait, this is a long time ago. And I said when was this? Oh, who knows, 10 years, 15 years. And she said very timely for for each child.
Speaker 1:I went and I bought cards. I bought a card for each child every year. I put money in it and they would pile up on my desk because I couldn't ever get her address. Now, that's freaking hysterical. That is very funny.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to say to say, did you ask their mother? Did you ask your daughter, their grandmother? Um, and I thought you know what better? Better to just let that ride. Yeah, yeah, she was getting very riled, um. And then she was talking about different people in the family that have had women who have had trouble getting pregnant. Now this could be going back 70 years, it could be last year, I don't know. I don't know who the women are, I just know that they're related to her. It could be last year, I don't know. I don't know who the women are, I just know that they're related to her somehow, by marriage probably. But she was saying it's very dangerous she was telling me about one of them For her to get pregnant. She could die because she has a thing, all right okay and um again I didn't pry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't pry, I didn't want to right.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean when you're asking people about a thing you gotta worry, I was getting enough information.
Speaker 1:Yeah, quite frankly. She said you know, so you could adopt. Uh, you know you could try, you could try ivf, you could try all the things, but then you could adopt. Now let me give you an example on qvc what I knew.
Speaker 1:This had to be one of the shopping channels had to come up I know I was at this point thinking, oh my god, we're gonna have a conversation 40 minutes without talking about QVC. So far but well no, she manages to bring it around and she says one of the ladies, and she's lovely, mind you just adopted a child Asian. She adopted an Asian child, beautiful little girl. She shows pictures, the lady, the QVC lady, and, mind you, the child is Asian. Beautiful little girl. Yeah, okay, which you know? You fill in the blanks.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then she said now what she could do, because I had a nephew that did this. I don't know who all these people are, adopted from Russia and I said I don't know why I said this. But I said that's not really an option right now for Americans to go to Russia and adopt children. Yeah, going to Russia for an American right now, for any reason, is ill-advised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, unless of course, you're part of the administration. Even then, part of the administration, yeah.
Speaker 1:Even then. So yeah, if you're going to play basketball, you might end up in the Gulag Archipelago. So you know, no, don't get involved or try to get involved in something over there. So you could. It could be Asian, but not so, I said to her but you could go to Ukraine. Ah, what a mess. Ukraine, ukraine, the war. She went on about it as though she knows that I'm, you know, somewhat well-versed in Ukraine, having spent two years deeply diving into interviews every week with Ukrainians during the war, which I can't believe is still going on. But anyway, I suggested to her that that might be a better route. Well, it's too dangerous there. I guess you stick with Asian. So that's your update on adopting right now.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, stick with the Asians. Yep, that sounds like an episode title to me. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Then she said so then and I couldn't believe it, but it did get there. She said now look, speaking of QVC.
Speaker 2:Of course, yes, yeah, somehow magically, the door was open to the QVC conversation. Yes, it certainly was.
Speaker 1:I was watching this lovely lady and she was selling some lovely blouses and I wanted one, but do you know what they're charging? 57 to 75 plus shipping, and all I could think was was $57 for a nice blouse from a reputable manufacturer Sounds really inexpensive. Is you know that's almost nothing, Pretty much getting away with whatever you're getting away with.
Speaker 2:You're stealing it. Clothing is not inexpensive.
Speaker 1:No, everything is incredibly expensive now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so she's trying to explain to me like, look, I had, lomans, I had and she's telling me the off price stores that we used to have in Manhattan, on Long Island.
Speaker 2:Frugal Fanny's well, that's in.
Speaker 1:Massachusetts. Yeah, no, but Lomans, and there was one other, I don't remember.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking of that kind of place well, lman's had to have closed uh 10, 15 years ago, um, and even that was late. I mean, it lasted way longer than you would have thought it would. But to be at a point now where57 sounds like a lot for a blouse, yeah, plus shipping. The shipping kills her, you know more than anything. And she says I figure out how to get free shipping. I stay on the phone with them until they give it. I stay on the phone with them until they give it, and I can only imagine you know after 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of being harangued. Yeah, they're like you know what, being janned, keep your $9 or whatever it is Right yeah, just don't call us anymore, anyway. Right yeah, just don't call us anymore, anyway. Then we went full circle, which totally amazed. Right back to Jan, not the other Jan, no.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:But we made full circle to as she referred to her as your cousin, genie.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh, I have no idea who that is okay, I've never heard your cousin genie my cousin yeah, my favorite genie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, never heard of her. Huh, I have no idea and I didn't ask know to say how am I related to this person? She doesn't know. Anyway. She says well, you're a cousin, jeannie. Now my grandfather this is how I'm related to Jan.
Speaker 1:My grandfather and her mother were brother and sister yeah so she's she's a great great yeah, exactly, and um, so there are these relatives, but frankly, that part of my father's family I had no very little contact with there were apparently more of them than I knew. I had cousins and aunts and uncles and who knows and who knows. But she said now, uncle Morris, that's my grandfather that she's talking about, remind me again when he died. I said, well, that was in the 70s, and what did he die of this whole thing? And so we got into a conversation about his last years, because my grandmother died when she was very young and I never knew her and my grandfather lived another 12 years or so, 14 years something. Anyway, he was blind, he had two detached retinas and that was something that I never fully understood. No one ever fully understood. Yeah, no one ever fully understood. But my cousin Debbie got a disease in the eyes and it is also. She can barely see, and it's in the genes. Oh no, it's an eye disease, oh no.
Speaker 2:It's an eye disease.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 2:From Odessa.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I mean Odessa, russia, which? Is where my grandfather and her mother were from. And she said now you're her uncle. You never knew him. None of us ever knew him.
Speaker 2:Now, that's Ukraine, by the way. I just don't—you said Russia.
Speaker 1:Well, it was Russia when they—.
Speaker 2:I know. I just want to make that distinction right now in case anybody's listening. We do know, we do know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, want to make that distinction right now, in case anybody's listening. We do know. We do know. Yeah, that it is Ukraine. Yeah, on the Black Sea, that's right.
Speaker 2:Quite beautiful actually.
Speaker 1:Incredible place and I always wanted to go there because I knew that's where my grandfather was from, but anyway that didn't happen. That's where my grandfather was from, but anyway that didn't happen. So she said it's in the genes and it's people from Odessa Get this eye disease. I can't think of what it's called, Uh-huh, yeah. Well, no one can think of what it's called. Well, no, of course not. Because, that doesn't exist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a bit specific really.
Speaker 1:Let's just say it like it is there is not an Odessan eye disease that particularly affected the Jewish population at the turn of the century.
Speaker 2:Well, see, that's the thing. Now, if it affected everybody, that's different. But if we're just talking just mainly the Jewish population, yeah, we keep narrowing it down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it starts to become a little less believable and essentially this is based on the fact that two people in my family had problems with their eyes right, one had detached retinas it was a horrible thing, my grandfather, that he was blinded, but whoever my cousin genie is, right, yeah she is also having eye problems and, from from what I understood, this is now. This is not.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, yeah, Because Jeannie's having this problem right now.
Speaker 1:It's in your genes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you gotta worry about it.
Speaker 1:And she did tell me some other things which actually were quite sad and disturbing, and those are these. Actually, she told me about this other relative, so I don't know who. Again, I'm sorry, I'm not sure who these people are, but someone's sister these people are, but someone's sister. She's a mess.
Speaker 2:She's a total mess. She has cancer of something and she can't keep her head up. Okay, well, that that does sound sad. I you can't keep her head up.
Speaker 1:She can't keep her head up. Yeah, she's in some kind of.
Speaker 2:Almost have a brace or something.
Speaker 1:Nurse, it didn't sound like she does. It sounds like it's just flopping around.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that ain't good.
Speaker 1:Jan described it to me, but she said it's cancer of something. That's a quote.
Speaker 2:Right? Well, of course it obviously is.
Speaker 1:And she's a mess. Yeah, she can't keep her head up.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Which is horrible Head cancer. I know I keep picturing this horrible slash. Hilarious yeah.
Speaker 2:That cancer is wrong, that can't be right.
Speaker 1:No, and I wonder what it is Anyhow. So I said to her Jan, how old is this person? She says my cousin, who's a mess, like anyone I'm related to, isn't a mess, but that's another story. So she says well, now, let me think the brother would have been. She says I'm going to say 89. So, just so we're all on the same page here, this is an 89 year old in a nursing home. Yeah now, it's not fun to have cancer of anything, no matter how old you are, and not being able to keep your head up has to be a horror. And, like I said, I don't know what that means exactly, but it sounds terrible. And to say she's a mess about that yeah, that's pretty telling me.
Speaker 1:It's pretty funny I was like I guess so, um, anyhow. Uh, she did inform me that they're out of water, meaning the town.
Speaker 2:I see.
Speaker 1:Meaning the area in Florida and she's on the East Coast and they're I can't remember Pompano Beach, something I don't know. And she said I am heartbroken because they had to turn off the fountain and that's one of the reasons I moved here, because there was a fountain now I felt bad for her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that, you know. One of the her daily delights, you know and she doesn't have a lot of daily delights, um is her fountain, which is out on the property, out out behind her house, in this, in this uh, what do you call it? Co-op of houses or whatever. But she did say that the birds aren't coming. So she's got her bird feeder outside there's a bird bath. No one's coming. She says you don't even see ducks on the pond. Well, because, like, the pond's pretty much not there. She said I've seen two ducks and two swans, like in the last, I don't know how long, and they're not getting any rain. And so that was disturbing to hear. Because Florida, this time of year the rain starts. Like every day it rains, yeah, every day. In the afternoon you have a little, the clouds roll in, the humidity dumps, everything at once and you have a little rainstorm and it rolls out, and like that every day, yeah, nothing.
Speaker 2:Nothing.
Speaker 1:She doesn't remember the last time it rained, so I was sorry to hear that part, yeah, and that you know the flora and fauna are gone, she said. But in their place I could die, because what is in the area now? Iguanas, iguanas. Everywhere there are iguanas in the house. No, kidding. Well, at that point point I realized she means geckos.
Speaker 2:There aren't, okay, I was gonna say yeah, I mean, geckos are everywhere down there right and there aren't iguanas in her house that is so funny know.
Speaker 1:So I said to her, talking about this whole environmental situation in her neighborhood, I said why don't you get like another birdbath and really get the water going out there and you know, see if you can? Whatever, right, oh God no.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Because you don't know what that might bring Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it might bring things.
Speaker 1:It could be more iguanas bigger iguanas.
Speaker 2:You know, when I lived in Florida, when I was going to school and I used to go out in the morning to go catch the bus, and I'd be standing there waiting for the bus and you would hear this slapping sound. It would be like this little slapping noise and what that was was geckos who were walking around like upside down on the ceiling of, like the patio or the porch roof of neighboring houses in our house and they would fall and they would go splat and hit the hit the sidewalk and they weren't hurt but they would make that slapping noise. It was very funny. It was such a weird sound.
Speaker 1:Well, you should go down and do Jan and Jan a big favor.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, slap some geckos.
Speaker 1:The iguanas, get the iguanas. I don't know where she came up with that name. That's very funny. She said, when we used to go to Puerto Vallarta, we were surrounded by iguanas the entire time, and now it's like that here.
Speaker 2:That's very funny.
Speaker 1:We need that water back. Delightful, hilarious, informative and also sad the part about the flora and fauna.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The fact that the animals aren't around Because we are having. I was telling her. She said said, do you have any animals around there? And I said, oh my gosh, we sure do. I said we've got first of all, I mean as far as birds go, we've got all kinds of birds oh yeah, a ton constantly yeah and michael has bird feeders going and I said to her in fact we've got the usual suspects.
Speaker 2:You know, you got chickadees, you got um cardinals and blue jays and right and stuff like that and gold finches, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I said, but at the bottom of the? And then there's the squirrels and the chipmunks that the bird feeder brings.
Speaker 2:You're right. And the rabbits.
Speaker 1:But a few days ago I'm standing in the kitchen, look out the window at the bird feeder and there's a turkey. Yep, it was late afternoon and there was a turkey dining on bird food. That's right, that had fallen out on the ground.
Speaker 2:It's been a couple of weeks and there's been turkeys around here every day.
Speaker 1:Turkeys everywhere, yeah, and we have deer, we have foxes, we got it all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're very fortunate. Yeah, and it made me realize that when occasionally I long for the days, when my parents had a fabulous place in.
Speaker 1:Sarasota and I would go down there and just have the most wondrous couple of weeks every year. Yeah, yeah, well, that was more. That was, um, what an amazing place, right? And you know, after my mother passed away, that was sold and it was. It was even someone tore it down and put up some new, bigger, hideous thing. But I long for that sometimes and think, ooh, maybe I made a mistake, maybe I should have kept that house. Nah, come on, well, that's the thing. And then I speak to Jan, yeah, yeah, and I realize, no, I made the absolute correct decision.
Speaker 2:You sure did.
Speaker 1:I was actually listening to someone talking about the economy down there and how the tremendous lack of tourism that we have now, yeah, to this country for some reason, um, I wonder, I'm not even gonna say, not even gonna say um, and she this woman gave a whole long funny thing about the lack of tourism and Disney World is doing, I don't know, like 50% less business.
Speaker 2:Isn't that something?
Speaker 1:Yeah, she said, but think about the little restaurants here and there, the boutiques here and there, the nail salons. And she said those places are actually closing. Yeah, and she said you can buy a condo any size, any location for any price. Right now, yeah, down here.
Speaker 2:So uh getting rid of the fluoride in their water yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so dentists will be doing well down there that's right if if they're gonna stick around anyway. Um, I'm really sorry that they're there and I'm really glad we are here. Yeah, me too. And the beauty is the richness of this. Now speaking—I have an adjacent—oh shoot.
Speaker 2:Sorry, sorry about your adjacent.
Speaker 1:I have an adjacent.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, it's been a delight being with you. I'd like to mention that this week is Independence Day in Israel and it is also Veterans Day. Veterans Day and Independence Day are—they hinge how cool. Yeah, it's like one big two-day holiday. It's like one big two-day holiday and Holocaust Remembrance Day was last week and, in light of all of that, it has now been 571 days that the hostages were taken into Gaza, and for the 59 remaining dead and alive Israeli hostages, please put a light on. Every stranger passing by could be the one to see.
Speaker 2:The light inside my heart that's here to break free. Put a light on, let it shine through. Put a light on, I'll find the light.
Speaker 1:Put a light on and make it true. Ah ah, ah, ah ah ah. The world spins wild. Ah ah ah. Find a way. Home, lay home.
Speaker 2:Put a light on, let it shine through. Put a light on, I'll find you. Put a light on and make it true.
