Nancy Ruhling's Astoria Characters

Standing solidly with her hands on her hips, Anita Del Greco surveys her garden. Anita’s from Orsogna, Italy. She notes the ripening fruit of the fig and peach trees, the big blooms of the hibiscus and the steady progress of the oregano, parsley and rosemary. Her little piece of paradise fills the empty lot next to the three-family house she owns. She bought the properties for $73,000, which, in 1976, was a considerable sum, especially for an unmarried working woman. The garden’s…

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If you add up all the hours Kara McCurdy works each week, you hit the big 8-0. There are the 40 she puts in Mondays through Fridays as a New York City nanny, and there are the 40 she logs in while working on her weekend wedding photography business. Kara, an upbeat woman with baby-bouncy curls who was up until 2 a.m. editing photos of a happy couple, says her schedule isn’t as suicidal as it sounds. “The 2-year-old I’m a nanny for still takes three-hour naps every day,” she…

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Eddie is eager to go for a walk. Jacqueline Rivera puts on his collar and grabs his leash. They’re off. Eddie bounds down the polished granite stairs of the fourth-floor walkup, allowing Jacqueline to follow him at a discrete distance. Eddie, a little dog with a big underbite, is from South Carolina. Seven and a half years ago, he was in a kill shelter when Jacqueline found him online and volunteered to foster him. She succumbed to the canine and his canines in only two days: It seemed…

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She’s a singer, and he’s a guitarist. They met while he was playing a gig, but it was a cord instead of a chord that brought them together. Micah’s a guitarist. Jane Burgess was a junior in high school when her brother, a pianist studying at West Virginia University, invited the family to one of his performances. He told her to arrive early, saying that he thought she would like the guitar player, a high school senior named Micah Burgess. She met him, she liked him, and she…

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It’s time for a walk. In addition to a leash, Susan Joy Rippberger grabs a canvas travel case. She puts her little black dog inside it and heads out the door. Tiburcia, or Tibu for short, is Susan’s constant companion. The 7-year-old-dog, a Yorkie/ Chihuahua mix, is the size of the squirrels she chases. Tibu, whose Spanish name means “the place of the pleasures,” goes to work with Susan (up until recently, she had a position with a school in Brooklyn). Tibu goes to…

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