I knew the fifth anniversary of OTBKB was coming up. I thought I would have my new, improved site by then. THEN I realized that the site makeover was delayed. Then I forgot about the anniversary altogether.

But then I remembered and I looked it up this morning. And September 18th, 2004 was the day that OTBKB started. That was the day of my very first post on blogspot.com

Happy Anniversary OTBKB! The traditional fifth anniversary gift is made of wood. Pictured is a Welsh Lovespoon.

Here's how it happened: I was meditating in my office and when I got up I thought:  By golly, I want to start a blog (and what is a blog anyway?).

My son Henry, who was 12-years-old at the time, had a blog on blogspot and I went to his blog and found out that in three easy steps I could start my very own blog.

Within minutes I came up with the name: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, a play on the title of Thomas Wolfe's famous story originally published in The New Yorker, "Only the Dead know Brooklyn." And then the names of my autobiographical characters: Smartmom, Hepcat (though back then it was Hepcat-Daddy-O,) The Oh-So-Feisty-One and Teen Spirit. 

Then I sat at my desk: What do I do now and what do I want this to be? Here's the very first post.

BUSY SATURDAY IN THE SLOPE

This morning, Smartmom took care of some recent "kitchen problems." The
old man who fixes stoves came by to fix the oven which hasn't been
working in weeks. Later, the cheerful exterminator stopped by. Smartmom
told him about the wheat moth problem but he said there's nothing he
can do about it — he specializes in roaches and mice. "You got to go
to the sauce," he said. Smartmom thought he meant that there was some
sauce that is especially delicious to wheat moths. Actually, he was
saying THE SOURCE in thick Brooklynese and pointed to a box of rice,
and other boxes of grains. "If you see nests in there, they gotta go in
the garbage," he said. Note: Smartmom had already thrown out ALL open
boxes of grain and had emptied and scrubbed the cabinet. She's also
using Pantry Pest traps bought at the PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP.

Speaking of unpleasant insects, a downstairs neighbor came up to
say that his son has Lice and that the 7-year-old Oh So Feisty One, may
have it too because she played with his son the other day. Oh Joy.
"Have you been physical with X downstairs?" Smartmom asked the Oh So
Feisty One. "Not really," she answered, "But he did put his fingers
through my hair." Yeesh.

Smartmom and the Oh So Feisty One may be
takin' EASTERN CAR SERVICE to see the go-to Orthodox Jewish lady in
Boro Park with 10 children who is NYC's de-facto lice expert—she's even
been profiled in THE NEW YORKER. Now how's that for credentials?

The Oh So Feisty One and 13 year old Teen Spirit (TS), managed to
get along so well today that Teen Spirit actually invited her to join
him on a trip to 7th Avenue. That meant big fun: reading Manja books at
Barnes and Noble, eating glazed donuts at the MOJO CAFE, browsing video
games at Game Stop and looking for the latest Bare Naked Ladies at
SOUND TRACK (only local stores get all caps. Not mega brands.)

Meanwhile, Smartmom raced to get her eyes checked at VISIONS on
Lincoln Place. The optometrist thinks her middle vision is going a bit.
But he's not sure if she needs to start wearing corrective lenses and
told her to think about it. Huh? Smartmom had a quick lunch at OSHIMA,
the tasty sushi place on 7th Avenue between Berkeley and Lincoln that
used to be a Zen Palette type of place. The new owners are super
friendly—they have an adorable little boy who hangs out there most days
when he is not at school.

Hepcat Daddy-O met Smartmom at OSHIMA on his way to VISIONS,
thoughtfully schlepping out in the rain to get TS's broken eye glasses
fixed (because Smartmom forgot to bring them and TS says he's blind
without them.) Hepcat Daddy-O didn't bother to tell Smartmom that her
eyes had huge brown and yellow circles around them from the eye drops
the optometrist put in there. Oh well. The nice Japanese people didn't
say anything either. More on that later.

After VISIONS, Smartmom and Hepcat Daddy-o stopped at the COMMUNITY
BOOKSTORE which smelled of clove incense. Hepcat Daddy-o skimmed Art
Spiegelman's new "In the Shawdow of No Towers," and Smartmom bought a a
book by poet Louise Gluck. She stepped on the owner's dog, who was
sleeping in the fiction aisle. Love the homey feeling in that
bookstore. CYNTHIA OZICK will be doing a reading there on October 19th.

Smartmom picked up a bottle of Merlot at SHAWNS, the liquor store
on 7th between Garfield and Carroll. The blue haired girl who works
behind the counter wasn't there today. Smartmom ran into a neighbor
from the building next store who said, "What did you do to your eyes?'
The neighbor looked truly alarmed.

Smartmom explained.

The Oh So Feisty One (OSFO) and TS were already back from their 7th
Avenue sojourn when Smartmom got him home. He: finishing the Ramen
noodle soup he prepared for himself (and spilled all over the kitchen)
She: listening to a CD of her favorite music that Teen Spirit created
for her this morning. B-52's Rock Lobster, Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs.
Robinson, and the Ramones are the high points. Dance Dance Revolution
and Hilary Duff are there too. After a bit, OSFO and TS decided to hit
Seventh Avenue again which gave Smartmom time to read her first
subscription copy of THE NATION. She also had the wherewithal to take a
nap.

She ain't Smartmom for nothing.

TS, OSFO, and Best Buddy (TF's best friend) are in TS's tiny
bedroom being rambuctious. Grumpy Hepcat Daddy-o is cooking up some
Italian turkey sausage from the COOP and making a delicious spaghetti
dinner (recipe to come). Hepcat Daddy-o has never gotten used to the
elevated sound level of children. Just a minute ago, TS went out again
to PARK SLOPE BOOKS around the corner looking for a used art book with
a picture of "The Last Supper" in it—he's reading "The Da Vinci Code."
We should have a picture of "The Last Supper" around here. Yeesh.