The Northern Lights

~ MaryG ~ 40 Comments

I think a lot of people in the Northeast (including me!) checked off “See the Northern Lights” from their buckets lists last night. This was especially rewarding for those of us who missed seeing them in May. Who knew our once-in-a-lifetime chance would come twice in one year?

The Northern Lights from my very own neighborhood last night around 7:15pm. I was on my way to choir practice and happened to look up.

This feels like a lot of things.

Remembrance

The lights and colors in the sky last night reminded me of my close friend from college, Carla, who died in 2022. She had brain cancer. She really wanted to see the Northern Lights before she died, but was too sick to travel, so her friends and family found a way to project them onto the ceiling in her bedroom in Santa Fe. It was beautiful.

A Sign

I know I’m not alone in feeling a lot of anxiety about the state of the country and the way it feels like we’re never going to go back to “normal” — no matter who wins the election. I’ve never in my life been afraid of a US election, but I’m afraid of this one.

Similarly, I never once saw the Northern Lights as a kid growing up in Massachusetts, but this year, many New Englanders saw them twice! A little girl standing near me last night said, “this is God.” Maybe so. Or maybe it’s a sign of transition to a new era—an era where completely new things happen.

Unknown new things are scary and I have a strong urge to “circle the wagons” and try to protect the ones I love. (I think to myself, “please stay in Massachusetts where you’ll maybe be a bit safer from gun violence, flooding, dangerous reproductive care, crappy public schools, etc.)

But I know that’s not really possible.

My new granddaughter will hopefully live into the next century. She will live out most of her life in this new era, whatever it may be. I want her to feel free, adventurous, and safe to explore the world beyond her home state.

Living in the transitional time

An activist friend of mine left for New Zealand yesterday. She’s staying until the end of the month. She said she just needed to get out of the country for these last few weeks before the election. I can relate. In some ways, it’s all just too much.

Maybe seeing the aurora borealis is the reminder some of us needed to center ourselves and live in the moment. Humans have been around a long time and have accomplished many great things and many terrible things. Even though it sometimes feels like end times are upon us, there’s a decent chance that something great is just around the corner too.

Final thought: just breathe

Related post:

Northern Lights II

Dance walker

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What’s a moment when a stranger completely restored your faith in people?

Several years ago, I passed a middle-aged woman dance walking on our rail trail. She was dancing with wild abandon while walking for exercise. She was wearing big over-the-ear headphones. I have no idea what she was listening to, but I always imagined it was the BeeGees.

I loved it. I’m not sure why exactly, but I think it had something to do with seeing a woman alone enjoy herself so thoroughly and unselfconsciously.

You don’t realize how rare that is until you see it.

2046

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

If your future self could send you one sentence, what do you hope it would say?

I feel like I am my future self. Things are somewhat settled for me. I’m 61, I’m retired, I’m a grandmother, I’m married and I’m going to stay married until one of us dies.

My hopes for the future are all for my kids and grandkids, and for humans in general.

I am beyond horrified at what we’re currently seeing in my country…from the return of measles, to the reversing of the hard won victories of the Civil Rights and Women’s movements, to the alienation of our democratic allies over a wildly ill-conceived war in the Middle East, which is costing us all a shit ton of money and has no end in sight.

I hope 81-year old me can say something like this in 2046:

Dear Mary,

Fear not! After President Trump was found dead on the toilet by his delighted wife, VP Vance was sworn in, but lost in a landslide to President Ocasio-Cortez, who ushered in a new era of democracy, peace, prosperity, equality and optimism, which continues to this day.

Sea to Table

~ MaryG ~ 25 Comments

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

Summer is far and away my favorite season in New England—my lifelong home. I generally stay within its six states in summer. Why leave? I know it’s been very hot here, but I’m a swimmer. Outdoor pools and oceans beckon me. The water temperature at Rhode Island beaches was 70F last weekend. Perfect.

A plate of fresh, farm-raised oysters at Westport Sea Farms in Westport, MA
Jonathan Richman—a Boston original.
He gets it.

OK, if I HAD to rank them, I’d go:

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Maine

New Hampshire

Vermont

Connecticut

But they’re all great – in the SUMMAH.

Pumpkin spice, stay away!

Lens-Artists Challenge #408 — Over the Top

~ MaryG ~ 39 Comments

Posting for Egidio’s Lens-Artists Challenge: “Over the Top” 🤩

Nature was showing off last night as my oldest friend and I dined at The Boat House restaurant in Tiverton, Rhode Island. (And by oldest, I mean that we’ve been friends since junior high.) This was the view from the window at our table, as captured by my iPhone 15 through a pane of glass.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Does anyone else have this problem: you take multiple photos of the same scene and can’t decide which one is the best? Opinions welcomed. If you were me, would you share photo 1, 2, 3 or 4?

I am also very moved by Egidio’s recent post “Walls that Need no Wall” on his blog Through Brazilian Eyes. It’s about the heartbreaking effects of the massive border wall construction project on nature in “one of the last places in Texas where wildlife still moves freely along the river corridor.” Combined with his great photography, it’s a powerful post.

Single motherhood

~ MaryG ~ 26 Comments

What’s something you used to worry about but don’t anymore?

I used to worry that something would happen to my husband before our kids grew up. I worried that he’d die and I’d be left to raise them alone. We never had life insurance policies. (Too expensive) When I had just one child (my daughter), I figured I could manage. Somehow, she and I would get by. After my son was born six years later, I was really dependent on my husband (and his income). I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own without help.

Sometimes now, I just revel in the relief of having them both grown and living independently. I am here if they need me, of course, but they don’t NEED me, need me—in that food/shelter/life/death kind of way—anymore. Phew.

I still worry about my husband dying, but it’s more about me now. How would I change the water filters on my own? Or reprogram the sprinklers after a power outage? Who would watch Masterpiece with me??

Nantucket, 2007
I sometimes found raising two kids hard with two parents on the job—literally, one for each kid. We also had a helpful set of grandparents nearby. Hats off to all the women who raise children completely on their own. Some of them do it so brilliantly, but I’m glad I don’t have that particular worry anymore.

Just peachy

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

What’s a quote that perfectly describes your outlook on life?

This WordPress writing prompt is basically a repeat of two days ago, with different wording.

As it happens, a commenter on my post eat dessert first (Sambuca from Ontario) planted the idea of peach ice cream in my little brain and I could not stop thinking about how it’s a seasonal “featured” flavor at my local ice cream stand that I have never tried. So, last night, I rectified the situation.

I thought I was ordering the smallest size available (it’s called a “kiddie”) but now I know that I need to order a “mini” if I really only want a little bit.

Ice cream twice in one week. Someone had to do it.

And yup, it was just as delicious as it looks.

Bucket List update

~ MaryG ~ 26 Comments

What are your top 10 travel destinations?

Between 2023 and 2025, I was on a real run with my Bucket List. I did all this stuff:

Grand Canyon ✅ 2023

Paris ✅ 2023

Finger Lakes & Hot Air Ballooning ✅ 2024

Outdoor Concert at Tanglewood (summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) ✅ 2024

Yellowstone National Park ✅ 2024

Saw the Northern Lights ✅ 2024 & 2025 (right in our own town—we got lucky, twice!)

Key West ✅ 2025

Ireland ✅ 2025 (my 60th birthday trip)

But I haven’t really been anywhere for over a year now. This is due to my husband’s health. His shitty knees took a turn for the worse after our trip to Ireland last summer. He ended up getting two total knee replacements in 2025/26. If you haven’t heard, knee replacements are a real bitch. After that, he got a mysterious set of symptoms that may be partly related to the knees that I hope are finally subsiding. Fingers crossed! He’s back to planning for the future—he’s mapping out a new vegetable garden and signed a contract to purchase solar panels for our home.

I’m hopeful that we can start to travel again soon. I’ve rebooked a trip to Acadia National Park in Maine, which I had to cancel last year due to his knees.

Nowadays, everything I book is cancellable. For decades, I never canceled a single trip, but now that I’m in my sixties, I know that shit can and does happen. I had to cancel my planned weeklong Dance Camp because I got plantar fasciitis in my left heel. Oh well. These things happen.

My calendar is always marked with the last day I can cancel any trip without losing too much money.

Magical moment in Yellowstone National Park, August 2024, shortly before we became grandparents for the first time

eat dessert first

~ MaryG ~ 33 Comments

What is your favorite quote?

I’m not sure who said this originally: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first

But I will always attribute it to my dear friend’s late father. Last summer, at her daughter’s wedding, when I arrived at my seat for the reception, this was my place setting.

And in that spirit, here’s a photo of an amazing dessert I had last night. (I actually had it after dinner, but I was not too full and enjoyed every bite.)

The flavor is “vanilla blueberry crumble” and it is delicious. It’s vanilla with fresh blueberries and graham crackers from the locally famous Kimball Farm.

That’s a small! (I finished it, obvi)

I don’t know if other parts of the country have local ice cream stands that were originally dairy farms operated by hearty, entrepreneurial types who decided to expand into ice cream in the early part of the 20th century, but eastern Massachusetts has many great options. Many have been in continuous operation since before WW2 and the ice cream is amazing.

Here are my top four:

Kimball Farm

Bedford Farms

Great Brook State Park

Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar

Do-Re-Mi

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What’s a skill you consider basic, that most people don’t actually know how to do?

So many people say they “can’t sing” and it bugs me. Everyone CAN sing, but not everyone can sing in tune. My mother is a non-singer. She said she’s so bad at it that she was told to “mouth the words” to her sorority song, so as not to be heard by whatever audience listened to sorority girls sing songs in the 1950s. I’ve literally never heard her sing.

My husband can’t read music or play an instrument but he can sing — in tune. He will do karaoke in a pinch, if required. I think it’s because he listens to a lot of music and sings or hums along.

That is honestly the best way to learn to sing: Sing or hum along with music you like.

If you can’t find a song you like, then sing this one. It’s the classic.

Julie Andrews taught me

Imagine a world where nobody ever says “I can’t sing,” but instead just joins in with everyone else, I think it might actually fix all our problems.

Obama sings Amazing Grace

Don’t be an Eeyore

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Who is the fictional character you relate to the most?

My husband has a cousin who’s an Eeyore. He just is and, apparently, always was.

I really don’t want be an Eeyore, but it’s hard not to be, if you read any news at all.

Today I hope to snap out of Eeyore.

I think (and hope) I’m more of a Kanga, in need of a quick visit from Tigger to perk up.

Happy Friday.