The Northern Lights

~ MaryG ~ 38 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

Atmosphere

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?

I’ve been enjoying reading a good old analog book by the pool this week. The book I’m reading is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

It reminds me of summers of yore, when that’s what we did—we laid around and read books.

Our phones did not distract us from our books, because our phones were home in the kitchen—attached to the wall.

My pool is in a condo community for older people, so there are always several other people sitting around reading real books. When I walk around the pool, I check out the titles of other people’s books. Sometimes people stop and ask each other about the book they’re reading. (This doesn’t happen when everyone is reading on their phone or Kindle.)

So yeah, hardcover and paperback books. They’re not actually gone, but I’ve missed them.

So far, it’s good. Please don’t tell me how it ends.😉

Gratitude post

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

My husband has been suffering from a mysterious set of symptoms since late last month. I’m not going to go into details, but it’s been hard having him feel so unwell again, after a full year of him feeling awful with his two total knee replacements. Hopefully the doctors will help him figure it out soon.

In the meantime, I’m trying to enjoy my own life and stay upbeat, so I’m going to do one of those annoying gratitude posts.

  1. Friends. I’ve got a couple of good girlfriends with whom I can be totally honest. There’s pretty much nothing I can’t tell them. They’ve both known me forever.
  2. Book group. I’ve got an additional group of four wonderful women that I’ve known since the 1990s that are very dear to me. We gather once a month on Zoom to discuss a book, but it’s so much more than that.
  3. Money. I am financially secure. I know I’m lucky to not have to worry about how I’m going to pay for medical bills, car repairs, and other unexpected things.
  4. My own health. I just passed my annual physical and blood tests with flying colors! My only physical problems at the moment are tinnitus and mild hearing loss in the right ear (thanks to COVID, I believe) and heel pain in my left foot (plantar fasciitis).
  5. My kids. Both are independent and doing well as adults living on their own out in this crazy world.
  6. My granddaughter. I get to play with the most adorable toddler on a regular basis. So uplifting!
  7. My church. It’s a real community for me. Even though my husband doesn’t attend, I know those people would be there for us if we needed them. They care.

I spontaneously ordered two copies of this book for my kids last night, after I saw the author on The Daily Show. She sounded extremely sensible and was giving the exact same advice I would give. They might not read it, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. At one point, one of my kids told me that one thing lacking in their high school was a basic financial literacy class.

The decisions and habits people develop around money in their 20s and 30s can make such a difference later in life.

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does make a lot of things easier.

We had a crazy haze all day yesterday due to wildfires in Minnesota and Ontario. Finally, around 8pm, we saw a bit of the sky and lots of orange.

PSA

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments

I don’t think our federal government is keeping us safe.

One area where I don’t trust them at all is Public Health. There’s a literal quack in charge of Health & Human Services.

Therefore, I’m fully embodying my MOM role here on WordPress to warn you about the latest public health threat that sounds awful and is spreading rapidly in the US:

Info sheet from a Massachusetts municipal public health department, which I trust way more than the federal authorities under Trump

This is really going around now and is NOT fun. My sister caught it last week in NYC.

Wash your hands and your cutting boards in hot water & soap.

Scrub your firm fruits and veggies.

Wash all other fruits and veggies under running water for a good long time.

Explosive diarrhea – enough said!

America 250 – Tall Ships

~ MaryG ~ 27 Comments

Did you know that only two US cities are hosting both World Cup games AND Tall Ships this summer?

Can you guess which ones?

I’ll give you a hint. One is where the colonists gave King George a transatlantic middle finger by dumping a bunch of British tea in the harbor. The subsequent British crackdown pushed the colonies towards open rebellion and kicked off the American Revolutionary War in 1775. (Also, it rhymes with Austin.)

The other is a sleepy little town called New York.

Here are a few shots of the magnificent vessels taken from another vessel in the harbor. (The same place they dumped that tea.)

The BAP Unión, the Peruvian Navy’s tall ship 🇵🇪
🇵🇪
The Esmeralda from Chile 🇨🇱 is known as La Dama Blanca (The White Lady). Built in 1953, she’s one of the most famous and largest tall ships in the world.
Portugal’s NRP Sagres (left) 🇵🇹
I think the one behind it is from Spain 🇪🇸
The INS Sudarshini from India 🇮🇳
Cadets in the rigging of the Sudarshini 🇮🇳
The Amerigo Vespucci from Italy 🇮🇹
Ciao Bella 😍
Another shot of the Amerigo Vespucci 🇮🇹 with Argentina’s ARA Libertad 🇦🇷 behind it
The Mircea from Romania 🇷🇴
The Mircea 🇷🇴 with Poland’s Dar Młodzieży (“Gift of Youth”) behind it 🇵🇱
Our resident Tall Ship—the USS Constitution (aka “Old Ironsides”) with Charlestown’s Bunker Hill Monument in the distance 🇺🇸
A shot of the steeple of the Old North Church where, on the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman climbed up and hung two lanterns briefly — a signal arranged by Paul Revere to warn colonists across the Charles River in Charlestown about the movement of British troops. (“One if by Land, Two if by Sea” as goes the line in Longfellow’s famous poem Paul Revere’s Ride)
Our party of four aboard The Valiant—a regular ship, not a Tall one 😉

Did you guess BOSTON as the only other city besides New York hosting both World Cup and Tall Ships?

You are correct!

Yes, but

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

Are you a lifelong learner?

Yes, but I “study” what I want. I got my BA in History and never went back for a graduate degree because they all sounded so boring and cost too much money. MBA? (snooze fest) Law School? (are you joking?) A Master’s in History? (not interested)

And when I was working, I was never big on “professional development.” I only took the required stuff on topics like cybersecurity. All those LinkedIn courses and certifications on business-y topics were available to me, but I hardly ever opted in. I felt like the best way to get better at my job was to do it, and since I was a fundraiser, the proof was in the pudding. I raised millions of dollars for my employers and clients. Nobody cared that I didn’t have an MBA.

Courses I took outside of work included Italian, photography and music (singing lessons). Now that I’m retired, it’s been studio art classes that interest me most, particularly watercolors.

In fact, just yesterday I participated in a 2.5 hour class called “Yoga, Meditation and Abstract Art.” It was my first time using acrylic paint in decades. My abstract piece really wanted to become some sailboats on a green sea, so that’s what happened.

This started as an abstract, but then a couple of sails emerged. “The FDT” is part of the Resistance 😜

Hot tip from Grandma

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What’s one habit that has improved your life the most?

I’m 61. Been married 33 years. I’m retired, after a 30+ year career in fundraising. I’m a mom and a grandma. Both of my parents are still alive and functioning.

The one habit I’ve noticed that improves quality of life for most people is …

I’m literally drawing a blank.

I’d say “walking outside,” but I’m currently dealing with heel pain and haven’t been walking much. (And neither of my parents ever go for a walk outside.)

OK, here’s one small thing: floss your teeth. That’s something I didn’t do through my twenties, until a mean dentist had a talk with me. He basically shamed me into flossing. Now I floss all the damn time.

There are all kinds of health and financial benefits to having healthy teeth and gums. I’m not going to go into them, but you can google it.

I’d say tone down all that teeth whitening and stock up on good old dental floss.

FDT

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it?

Not to bring up politics AGAIN, but I think the period from Hillary Clinton losing the presidential election (despite winning the popular vote by 2.8M), through Trump’s total mishandling of the COVID pandemic (and the subsequent cancellation of my son’s senior spring of high school), to today’s completely surreal dismantling of the post-WW2 order and the subversion of everything I believed my country stood for, under a wildly corrupt wannabe dictator and sexual predator, has been fucking hard.

Hard to watch

Hard to believe

Hard to afford

And it ain’t over yet…

I’m definitely angrier, sadder, and a bit meaner than I was in 2016.

The old me, going to vote for Hillary Clinton in my silly pantsuit in 2016

The Mighty Red

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments

What’s a book you think deserves a sequel?

We read The Mighty Red (c. 2024) by Louise Erdrich for my book group this month. It was my first time reading her. I liked the book and can certainly understand why she’s such an esteemed author.

The Mighty Red is really a portrait of a community along the Red River in North Dakota, where sugar beet farming and processing is the major industry. There are at least 15 different characters, from the local teenagers to the town priest. A tragedy has occurred, but you don’t find out exactly what happened until late in the book.

The last chapter jumps forward ten or so years, so you get a brief look at how things “turned out” for the major characters. But I think it would be interesting to visit this community in thirty years—when the teenagers are approaching 50. Did they stay? Did they go? Did they ever process their grief from the tragedy? Which couples stayed together and which didn’t? Did the farmers embrace a less devastating crop?

The challenge for Erdrich would be imaging a future that doesn’t exist yet. She’d have to create the world they live in without knowing it.

OK, on second thought, she should wait 15 years before writing the sequel. She’s 72 now. She can make it to 87. If it takes her three years to research and write the book, this could be her 90th birthday present to readers.

Louise, take note!

Oh Cruella

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What villain actually had a good point?

I’m definitely going to lose some followers with this answer, but I think Americans are a bit too obsessed with their dogs. I’m not saying that Dalmatian puppies should be skinned and made into nice, soft fur coats like Cruella wanted, but…a coat like that would be real cute. You must admit!

With the red lining, this would be perfect for Christmas Eve. 😉

I feel positively villainous in dog-obsessed America, when I think these thoughts:

I don’t want your small, unleashed dog jumping on me and getting muddy paw prints on my white pants while you yell “Cupcake, stop.”

I don’t want your large, leashed dog—that you can just barely control—to cross the street to say “hello” to me because “Bodie loves people.” I’m good!

And I certainly don’t want your enormous Great Dane anywhere near me while I’m eating an ice cream cone!

Cruella De Vil in the original 1961 version of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians

I’m staying

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Honestly, I just want to live in a world where Donald J. Trump no longer exists (and never did). In the meantime, Massachusetts is as close as you’re gonna get to that ideal in the United States.

Did you know that the Orange Cretin never won a single Massachusetts congressional district over the Democratic nominee in 2016, 2020, or 2024? That’s right, not one district ever fell for his bullshit.

I care about public schools and public health.

And, finally, some exciting news…

There’s a very special new citizen coming to Massachusetts very late this year or in early 2027.

My heart’s in Massachusetts.

❤️