Music

Missing white lady!!!!

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

I’m sorry that Savannah Guthrie’s mother has gone missing, but GOOD GOD. The media coverage is ridiculous. They actually broke into primetime Olympics coverage of the men’s figure skating—with “Quad God” Ilia Malinin on deck—to tell us that absolutely nothing had changed.

How many Native American women go missing every single year and we never hear a peep from the media about them?

While Nancy Guthrie has been receiving 24/7 coverage, it sounds like things are still really bad in Minneapolis.

Copied and pasted from “The Other 98%” Facebook page:

Minnesota is still very much under assault by Trump’s private ICE army, even after the headline friendly withdrawal of 700 agents. You would not know it scrolling through your feed, where posts from Minneapolis residents about raids, beatings and shootings keep getting flagged or buried while the national press treats the state like a backdrop instead of a crime scene. And now there are early reports that ICE agents may have killed yet another person, adding to the sense that this crackdown is only getting deadlier, not winding down…On the ground this does not feel like “enforcement,” it feels like an occupation that has simply swapped helmets. The numbers have not really drawn down, they have just changed tactics, leaning harder on pre-dawn home raids, unmarked vans, so called “collateral” arrests of bystanders and courthouse stakeouts meant to snatch people when they show up to comply with the law.

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On the bright side:

Randy Rainbow’s latest is a real gem—a perfect Ode to the Sycophants. 😂

Last weekend my church raised over $2,500 for a local non-profit social service organization that supports refugees and immigrants with a fantastic concert by Emma’s Revolution. We also raised $4,500 to buy a used car for a hardworking immigrant family from Afghanistan that several church members know.

Thoughts on Super Bowl LX

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Coincidentally, I’m LX too—same as the Super Bowl.

Last night was a bummer for Pats fans, but hey…nobody ever expected them to make it to the Super Bowl this year. It’s just too bad they were never really in the game. Husband disappointed, but not crushed.

On the bright side, Bad Bunny was awesome. I closed the activity ring on my Apple Watch dancing along. No, I didn’t understand most of the Spanish, but I liked the vibe. My favorite part was the ending where they came dancing straight towards the camera flying all the flags of the Americas.

“The only thing more powerful than hate is love” was the message on the screen above the flags.

It definitely felt like a big F U to Trump and ICE and all that they represent—white nationalism, hate, fear.

And apparently Trump took it like that.

It’s rich that a man who has been credibly accused of raping a 13-year old is complaining that salsa dancing is too “disgusting” for children to watch.

I took my family to Puerto Rico in 2016, because I really wanted to see it. We liked it a lot. Ahead of that trip, I tried to learn some Spanish with an online language learning program through my library. I gained a lot of words, but no real fluency. I did the same thing before a trip to Mexico.

Bad Bunny made me want to give it another shot at some point.

My kids and me on a street in San Juan in 2016
A very hot kitty resting in a tree trunk in Old San Juan in the summer of 2016
A stop on the way to El Yunque National Rainforest in Puerto Rico

Final thought: Brandi Carlile did a beautiful version of America the Beautiful—it would make a much better national anthem.

Watercolors—botanicals 7

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments
This headless design is called Lady Sweet Pea in my workbook.
Poppies
Blueberry branch. I think this is my favorite page in the workbook so far. I really like how the blueberries came out.

Designs from Watercolor Workbook by Sarah Simon (IG: @themintgardener)

Today is my husband’s 64th birthday, which is significant to GenX and older because he’s officially reached the Beatles definition of old age:

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I’m sixty four?”

Also, I hear there’s football a game going on during a Bad Bunny concert tonight. 😉

Go Pats!

The Grammys and the Super Bowl

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

I watched almost all of the Grammys on Sunday night and I really enjoyed them, even though I didn’t know most of the music.

I always like Trevor Noah—the host. (Everyone should read his memoir “Born a Crime” about growing up as a biracial kid in South Africa.) I thought Trevor’s jokes were funny and not too mean. Our whiny-ass, thin-skinned President is suing Trevor over one mention of him in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, even though Trump’s name is reportedly in the newly released Epstein files over 1,000 times!

I liked the fact that the diverse array of artists who took the stage didn’t shy away from talking about what’s going on in the country. Many wore black & white “ICE OUT” pins, including the legend herself—Carole King.

Carole King, one of the all time greatest songwriters

The highlights for me were Olivia Dean and Bad Bunny’s acceptance speeches. Here’s what they said:

Best New Artist Olivia Dean:

“I guess I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn’t be here — I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We’re nothing without each other. Thank you so much.”

I did a little research and learned that Olivia Dean’s maternal grandmother was born in Guyana and emigrated to the United Kingdom as part of the “Windrush” generation — a post-World War II movement of Caribbean migrants invited to Britain to help rebuild the country.  They arrived in Britain between 1948 and the early 1970s on ships like the Empire Windrush.

Bad Bunny, who is Puerto Rican, spoke movingly from the heart. He opened his first acceptance speech by saying “ICE OUT,” which got a standing ovation. He then said, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans. Hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please. We need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it, with love.”

I didn’t stay up to see him win Album of the Year (the first time ever that a Spanish language album got this award), but when I watched later I saw that he dedicated the award “to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.” 

I mean, come ON, if you didn’t love Benito before, you gotta love him now! I really can’t wait to see what he does for the Super Bowl halftime show. Check out the teaser he dropped yesterday.

We already know that Trump and all the American traitors who support him are not in favor of a Latino performer at the Super Bowl, but I think it’s going to be great and just what the country needs.

I will be rooting for the New England Patriots because that’s our team, but I’m not happy that owner Robert Kraft was seen with Trump at the opening screening of the ridiculous “Melania” documentary vanity project. Bad Kraft!! Very Bad!

My own immigrant grandparents, circa 1925

In 1905, my grandfather bravely left Southern Italy alone at age 15 with $12.00 in his pocket to start a new life in the United States of America. Just like Olivia Dean said, “I am a product of bravery.”

Say it ain’t so

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Of all the unexpected bad news out of left field, Catherine O’Hara suddenly passing at age 71 made me cry OH NO at top volume.

Like literally everyone else, I LOVED Catherine O’Hara.

There are currently about one million tributes to Catherine online, so I’m just going to pick one favorite memory to share and that is: I honestly don’t know how we would’ve made it through the pandemic lockdown without Schitt’s Creek and Moira Rose. She was such a bright spot during that awful time. I absolutely loved all of the scenes involving the Women’s Choir (probably because I’m a lifelong Choir Lady myself), but remember her audition? The bizarre scat singing and the shaker egg in one hand. 🤣 How on earth did she come up with that? I often wondered how the other actors made it through even one take with Moira Rose without cracking up.

When Moira Rose auditions for the Schitt’s Creek Women’s Choir:

Thanks for the laughs Catherine, but you left us way too soon! There are so many other Baby Boomers that should’ve gone before you (especially the one in The White House). NOT FAIR. I was so looking forward to seeing you in Season Two of The Studio and whatever else you ever decided to do.

😢

Thursday Doors—Manhattan apartment

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Have you ever received a casual invitation that was likely not meant sincerely? You know, something like “you should come visit sometime”? Welp, I got one of those once and I decided to take the person up on it.

My husband’s cousin (an interior designer) and his husband (an investment firm VP) live in a very fancy Manhattan coop in Murray Hill. We saw them at a family gathering in Massachusetts in 2008 and they “encouraged” us to visit. Looking back now, I really don’t think they meant it. They were childless city folk and we had young kids.

Anyway, I reached out that summer because my friend and I wanted to go to NYC to see Legally Blonde on Broadway with our daughters and get this—they offered us their apartment for the weekend! They were going to be at their “country home” the weekend we were coming, but said we could stay in their city place by ourselves.

We couldn’t believe their place. First of all, it was HUGE. Second, it was decorated in the least kid-friendly way imaginable. There was glass everywhere, Nothing was left out on any surface, everything was completely smooth. There were sculptures (mostly of gorgeous male bodies) on pedestals that would have been deadly if knocked over.

It was actually comical. We were so afraid of breaking anything that we barely moved! At one point, I remember hunting for a coffee maker in their exquisite, smooth-surfaced kitchen (a note said it was in “the appliance garage”) but then just giving up and going out for coffee.

This interior hallway door gives you the vibe of the place—smooth, orderly and very adult.
The huge living room/dining room area
Sculptures on display
A bathroom
The girls sitting very carefully in the HUGE living room (remember this is in midtown Manhattan)
The smooth and baffling kitchen where I couldn’t figure out how to make coffee
Getting cast autographs after Legally Blonde
A fun weekend—and we left that apartment just as we found it. Nothing broken 😅

I realize I’m not using Dan’s Thursday’s Doors in the usual way. I search my photo file for “door” and some door pops up that prompts a memory.

Check out the other cool doors here or just search for posts tagged Thursday Doors.

Watercolors—botanicals 3

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

It’s a winter wonderland here in Massachusetts. No sign of the plow guy yet this morning, but the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl – again. Therefore many New Englanders (husband, son…) are in a much better mood than they otherwise would have been. Go Pats!

And some good news: our whiny-ass, murdering, rapist, senile, spray-tanned orange President has announced he’s not going to attend the Super Bowl because he doesn’t like the halftime performer. He’s probably afraid all those Boston and Seattle fans would boo him into oblivion. In any case, Long Live Bad Bunny!

I’m continuing to work my way through “Watercolor Workbook” by Sarah Simon. If interested, she’s on Instagram: @themintgardener. All designs are hers.

Buttercup Wreath
I like how the “wet in wet” worked out in the lower yellow flower (upper flower was too dry when I added the darker color). I also like the berries. Author suggested droplets of paint rather than brush strokes.
Fiddle Leaf Fig

Unfortunately my paint set doesn’t have one important color for botanicals: Oxide of Chromium. I’m having to make do with Sap and Veridian.

Wildflower Swag
This is painted in the so-called “undefined boundaries” style. It’s fun to somewhat ignore boundaries and let the paint and water do what it will.

Related:

Watercolors—update

Watercolors—botanicals

Watercolors—more botanicals

NO KINGS & more watercolor botanicals

Watercolors—botanicals 5

Watercolors—botanicals 6

Winter 2026

Watercolors—botanicals 7

Watercolors—botanicals 8

Watercolors—botanicals 9

GenX Grandma

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments
Someone conked out listening to GenX hits and shaking her maraca 🪇

Playlist:

When you were Mine – Prince

Alison – Elvis Costello & The Attractions

These are Days – 10,000 Maniacs

My Life – Billy Joel

REM – (forgot which song)

The Cars – (forgot which song)

Pearl Jam – Better Man

In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

These are songs Alexa plays for you when you start by asking for a Prince song you like to dance to.

Any other GenX Grandparents out there? What songs/bands are you gonna make sure your grandkids hear?

Beatles (obviously)

What else??

Anything Goes Week

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is unlike any other.

No school. No work (or less work) for many. Hopefully all the shopping, wrapping and cooking paid off on Christmas and everyone had fun, but now is the time of no chores, no commitments, no challenges.

I told my husband it’s “anything goes” week. If he wants three Godiva chocolates for breakfast, that’s fine. If I want to wear my Comfy and slippers into a store, I will. (My slippers have hard bottoms, like real shoes 😉.)

My high school did the musical “Anything Goes” when I was in junior high in the late 70s, so I never got to be in it. But my friend’s older brother had one of the lead roles. We idolized those older kids and couldn’t wait to get to high school so we could be in the musical too. I still remember all the songs, especially the title song.

Here’s Sutton Foster in the Act 1 Finale of Anything Goes on Broadway. She got a Tony Award for her part in this production.

Merry Christmas

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

OK, I’m back in a good mood now. I had a lovely Christmas Eve.

I felt profound gratitude for four things last night:

1) I have a good son. Mothers of good sons, you know what I mean! Last night my son drove me to church for choir practice and came back an hour later to sit with me during the service, which was especially meaningful as my husband couldn’t make it to church this year due to his knee surgery. My son offers his arm when we walk through icy parking lots together. ❤️

2) SINGING: I just love it. Especially on Christmas Eve at our beautiful candlelight service.

My church on Christmas Eve

3) My husband felt well enough to go out to dinner with us after church. It was his first time in a restaurant since his surgery a month ago.

4) A negative mammogram. Ladies, you know how good that feels. Even if you’ve never had breast cancer, we all have friends or family members who have had it. (I got my results on Christmas Eve at 10pm.)

And now we await the arrival of our “celebrity guest” (as my son is calling her)—my precious one-year old granddaughter and her parents.

My husband preparing his famous Lasagna Bolognese with an ice pack strapped to his new knee

Merry Christmas!