View From the Hammock brought to you by Purple Frog

      The manager of our favorite restaurant met us at the door early in the morning, winked at my husband, paused with the playful and mischievous smile and flirtatiously danced us to our table.      “Do you think he is gay?”

In Russia, we had one-two suits, two-three dresses, several blouses, a few skirts, and a couple of sun dresses, and never thought we were poor. In America, I filled my closet over the years: ten times more of everything, and I am constantly puzzled what to wear. We are in the time of an economic crisis, and old survival tricks that we practiced once might become needed again.