We’re headed to upstate NY today for my son’s college graduation!
As previously reported, I’m very proud of him and he’s generally been a joy to raise, but I’ve certainly made a few sacrifices along the way.
I’ve checked-out the only four audiobooks from the library that were available and short enough to finish during the 6-hour car ride. If anyone has read or listened to any of these books and has thoughts, please let me know.
Bon weekend!
I feel productive when I finish a nonfiction book. Not a memoir mind you, but a real nonfiction book about history or ideas. I’m a fan of novels, so reading nonfiction feels a bit like school—a completed assignment.
Recently, I finished The Persuaders—a NYT bestseller by the American journalist Anand Giridharadas. It’s been on my list for a long time due to recommendations from friends who are more serious activists than me. I wouldn’t say I loved it, but it gave me some things to think about.
In 2022, I read a nonfiction book by the American journalist Mark Leibovich, who now writes for The Atlantic. Leibo is actually an old friend of mine from my post-college party years so I tend to read his stuff. I think he’s hysterical. I enjoyed every single word of his bestseller Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission. Highly recommend. It was an amazing poolside read. Even better with wine.
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I like talking about the zeitgeist—current events and popular culture (especially movies and TV). I also love talking about books with my book group and music with my choir peeps. I enjoy hearing about people’s travels (to a point). I’m not a big sports fan, but if a Boston team is in the playoffs, I like to know what’s happening with that. Go Celtics ☘️! (and Bruins, I guess)
And as anyone who follows my blog knows, I despise Trump with a deep, burning, crimson hatred I’ve never felt for any other public figure in my lifetime, so I’m always up for any conversation which involves trashing him.
Am I the only one with a sign like this on display in my kitchen for the past 8 years?
Last year I read a book about the restaurant industry. It’s called “Your Table is Ready” by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina. It’s a memoir about the author’s experiences working “front of house” jobs (primarily maître d’) in various NYC restaurants. The main takeaway for me was that it’s extremely difficult for a restaurant to get it right and be successful. There are so many variables. And it’s not just the food, it’s the vibe that keeps people coming back. Would you rather walk into a restaurant where someone greets you warmly or one where you’re ignored?
We’ve got two local restaurants we go to a lot. One we call “the fish place.” They have reliably good fresh fish (it’s actually a fish market too) and nice servers, many of whom have been there for years. We typically sit at a table, but it’s got a very popular bar in the back of the restaurant that is not too loud. (It’s funny how “not too loud” has become one of my main criteria for restaurants.) I would describe the vibe as “neighborhood.”
The other is an Asian Fusion restaurant called Karma. The food is delicious and they make a cucumber cosmo that is my favorite cocktail ever. The vibe is younger and hipper than the fish place. Dark with jewel tones, the decor feels exotic (for lack of a better word). It also has a large bar which makes it lively, but again, not too loud.
I recently attended a “live literature” performance. A wonderful actor named J.T. Turner brought Robert B. Frost and his poetry to life. Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874, but his mother moved the family back East after Frost’s father died. He graduated from Lawrence High School (about 30 minutes from here) and spent most of his life in New England. He died in 1963 at age 88 in Boston.
Of course, I was familiar with many of Frost’s poems. They are especially well known here in New England. However, I was unaware of the many tragic events in Frost’s life. While achieving great success in his lifetime, including an unprecedented four Pulitzer Prizes, Robert Frost suffered unfathomable losses and a strong family history of mental illness.
After losing his father from tuberculosis at age 11 and moving to Massachusetts, his mother died of cancer. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.
Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliott (1896–1900, died of cholera); daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983); son Carol (1902–1940); daughter Irma (1903–1967); daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth); and daughter Elinor Bettina (died just one day after her birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937 and died of heart failure in 1938.*
During the performance, I learned that the cause of death of Frost’s beloved son Carol was suicide. He was 38 and a poet, like his father. The actor portraying Frost said that Carol had chosen the woods. Lovely, dark and deep.
I’ll never hear that poem in quite the same way again.
Frost believed, as many do, that poetry is meant to be read aloud and I agree. Here is a recording of Robert Frost reading his poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening.”
*source: Wikipedia
When I was growing up in the 70s, there were not many exciting female book characters. There was Pippi Longstocking, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Heidi, Jo March from Little Women, and the dutiful daughters of The Little House on the Prairie series.
I wasn’t a tomboy like Jo or a sleuth like Nancy, and I didn’t want to be a nurse like Cherry, or be motherless like Pippi or Heidi. And the prairie sisters (though I loved them) had far too many chores.
That leaves all the princesses, witches and bitches, plus the occasional fun nanny, and a fairy or two.
Ugh. No good choices here.
Honestly, maybe Tinkerbell is the best choice. At least she could fly and was a bit naughty – when she wasn’t in her cage.
My entrepreneurial daughter has a quiet confidence beyond her years. She’s not a loud extrovert (that’s more my lane), but she knows herself and what she wants, and focuses on it calmly and deliberately.
She’s in her late twenties and holds down a full-time (remote) job in the biotech industry and runs her own business.
After college, she took her passion for astrology and turned it into a legitimate, profitable business, including all the necessary paperwork like setting up an LLC. Her business is successful because of her hard work and creativity. I’m always impressed with the way she speaks so clearly and confidently in her videos.
If you’re into astrology, check her out on Instagram or TikTok (@lunarxluci).
She and her boyfriend were able to buy a house last year, because of their hard work and determination.
I take no credit. I’m not entrepreneurial. She really did it all on her own. I did read her a lot of books when she was little. She especially loved Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat was one of her all-time favorites. She called him “hat cat.”
Come to think of it, Cat in the Hat was a confident, creative, multitasker…maybe he had an influence?
In case you’re curious, I’m a Gemini ♊️ and she’s an Aquarius ♒️.
Her website: Lunarxluci.com
Sometimes I feel guilty that I read mostly fiction books. Typically, I read a couple of memoir-type nonfiction books each year (i.e. Michelle Obama, Anne Lamott, Prince Harry – couldn’t resist!), but I don’t prioritize the big, serious nonfiction bestsellers, like The Persuaders, which I know I should read.
Still, I learn a lot from novels by great writers. (I realize this is not an amazing revelation. Readers of fiction know this already.) Great novelists do so much in-depth research that you end up learning a lot of stuff, while engrossed in the lives of fictional characters.
Yesterday, I finished “Unsheltered” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver. As with all Kingsolver books, I learned new things about the natural world, but I also learned a few things about Cuba in this one. There’s an endearing character named Tig, a GenZ anti-capitalist who has returned to the US after a year in Cuba. She tells her mother about “the yellow guy” (El Amarillo) in Cuba, which is a government-organized hitchhiking facilitation system. (The facilitators wear yellow/beige uniforms.)
Who knew? I mean, it doesn’t put Cuba on my bucket list or anything, but it’s interesting that they’ve found a way to cut down on all the wasted seats—in all the gas-guzzling vehicles—that are heading to the exact same destinations. American soccer moms could use a yellow guy.
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What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
Now that nearly all my time is leisure time, I need to structure my days to get certain things done. Yesterday, I spent the whole day reading. I finished a 589-page book! I haven’t read a book that long in years. “Great Circle” by Maggie Shipstead is an epic, multi-generational work of historical fiction with two main characters living in different times. My book group is discussing it soon, so I needed to finish it, and I did. (Patting myself on the back)
I used to read long books more often. I think everyone did. GenXers, remember “Evergreen” by Belva Plain? That was 698 pages long and we read it for fun – in high school. It was not unusual to have a huge bestseller in that page range.
Now, with the distraction of smart phones, I think it’s harder to get through a very long book. My diminished eye sight might be a factor too. Reading glasses get annoying after awhile.
I know many people like to listen to books now, which is a good option. My problem is that I fall asleep and have to rewind. If I turn actual pages, I know I won’t miss anything.
What do you think about 500+ page books? Do you still have the attention span to get through them? Are they even a thing for the TikTok generation?
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I know that some people start strict diets in the New Year, but for everyone else, it’s chocolate season. Let’s face it, you’ve now eaten every last Christmas cookie in the house, so when you want something sweet, you’re going to crack open that nice box of chocolates that you (hopefully) received as a gift. (Nobody ever buys a box of fine chocolates for themselves. It’s always a gift.) When you open it on Christmas (or your birthday, or Valentine’s Day), it might not seem that exciting, but you’ll be very glad you got it later on.
As previously mentioned (many times), I have a sweet tooth. As a kid, I remember reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl, while nibbling on a solid chocolate heart I’d received for Valentine’s Day. Reading Dahl’s fantastical description of magical, delicious chocolate, while actual chocolate melted in my mouth, was pretty much heaven for 10-year old me.
My ideal gift box of chocolates contains no nuts as a listed ingredient (because I’m allergic to a couple kinds of tree nuts), but if the box says only “may contain trace of nuts,” that’s OK. Artisanal boxes of chocolates from local chocolatiers like Chequessett or Chocolate Moonshine are good, as are fancy gold boxes from countries like Belgium, France, or Switzerland.
The other great thing about a gift box of chocolates is that it’s yours. You may share it if you wish, but you decide who gets one and when. (It helps to hide it after opening, especially if there are children or teenagers in your house.)
Here’s the box of chocolates I opened last night–a gift from my husband–which entitled him to one chocolate of his choice. I generously gave him first pick. He had a Midnight Swirl (“full-bodied 85% cacao dark chocolate ganache covered in dark chocolate”). I then had a Dark Chocolate Ganache Heart AND a Salted Caramel Lion of Belgium (amazing). Now I have fifteen fine Belgian dark chocolates left, but who’s counting?
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