Personal Musings

HCR and the Obamas

~ MaryG ~ 31 Comments

Who are you most inspired by?

I’m really leaning on all the brave people helping those of us who pay attention to the news get through the absolute degradation of our country that is the second Trump administration.

We recently got a huge dose of inspiration from the Obamas, with the opening of the Obama Presidential Center last week. Their speeches (especially Michelle’s) are incredible. Watching the follow-up videos of the Obamas greeting families and reading library books to children are fantastic too.

While I was listening to the Grand Opening Ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center, I worked on a watercolor portrait of Heather Cox Richardson that I had started a few weeks ago.

Did you know this mild-mannered American historian gets hate mail and threats for keeping us informed as she does? And yet, she keeps showing up on our small screens and writing her nightly “Letters from an American” which are read by hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of people each day.

She said her 250 for 250 series is a labor of love for the country she loves. Be sure to watch a few of those short videos, when you get a chance.

This painting actually looks a bit better in person than in the photo. I like how the bookshelves and her pullover came out, but skin tones and face contours are really hard. I do like painting portraits, so I’m going to try to find some YouTube tutorials to practice this summer.

Which inspiring figure should I try to paint next? Should I give Michelle Obama a shot? (I’m actually a bit scared to try her at my current skill level.)

Remember names

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

What’s your top tip to be successful in life?

Try your best to remember people’s first names when you meet them or talk to them on the phone. (Yes, the phone! Use it as a phone, young people.)

Then, when you say goodbye (or see them again) use the name.

If you didn’t understand or forgot their name when they first said it, it’s OK to ask them to repeat it – once.

If it’s a difficult name, most people have a trick for you. For example, I met a guy named Goker at my local convenience store. (He works there. I see him a lot.) First time I met him, he said “Goker – rhymes with joker.” Now it’s locked in my brain.

Doing this will make you more engaging, likable, caring, and friendly.

Our fellow humans are really all we have to help us get through this life “successfully.” Learn their names.

Summer Days

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

What’s a book, movie, or TV show that you wish you could experience again for the first time?

I’ve written before about seeing Star Wars and the big movie musicals of the late 70s over and over again. Grease in particular was so fun to see on the big screen for the first time. The “teenagers” in the movie were a few years older than me and they made high school look like, well…a Hollywood musical. What could be better? And it’s hard to explain just how appealing young John Travolta was back in the day.

I had a poster similar to this in my bedroom (though mine was in color).

OK, I looked it up and Travolta was actually 24 when he played Danny Zuko. And Jeff Conaway, who played Kenickie, was 28. (So I was a 13-year old lusting after grown men twice my age.)

Grease, the 1978 movie musical

Ever after

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?

One thing I know about happiness is that it’s fleeting. There’s really no such thing as “happily ever after.” Things will change. They always do.

Here in the United States, millions had a happy day yesterday. New Yorkers reached a state of high ecstasy celebrating their championship basketball team—the Knicks. And we all got to see our inspirational former leader—America’s first Black President—Barack Obama open the new, magnificent Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. All of our living presidents and their wives were there, except the Incompetent Orange Fascist currently occupying Our White House. He was not invited. There were speeches and incredible musical performances by everyone from Jennifer Hudson to Eddie Vedder.

We got reminded of how far we’ve come and what the future could be, if we don’t give up. Michelle Obama’s speech was so beautiful it made me cry. Check it out here.

Combined with all the World Cup joy in Boston and beyond (thank you Tartan Army) and the successful Artemis 2 voyage earlier this year, I’m reminded that Americans can be happy again.

Also, I just read that the correct guy won the special election in the UK yesterday, which is also great news.

Read President Obama’s speech here. For me, the opening of the Obama Presidential Center was the real celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

NYT Cooking’s Salmon with Avocado and Cilantro salad. This is part of my eat more salad to lose weight quest. Unfortunately I followed it up with a big bowl of freshly baked peanut butter cookies and vanilla ice cream.

Recipe

Magic hands

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?

I was just saying to Molly, my church’s Music Director, I wish I could touch all ten of my fingertips to hers and have her piano skills transfer to my hands.

She can play anything—beautifully. She can sight read any piece of sheet music (from classical to pop) and play it perfectly the first time.

She accompanied me on my recent solo performance of a Broadway song and she made it so much better.

I took about six years of piano lessons, but I never got good. Anything I learned to play took hours and hours of practice.

Molly started playing at age 9 and never stopped, She got a B.M. in Piano Performance from Butler University and then an M.M. Collaborative Piano from Boston University. She said going through Conservatory-type training was brutal, but that was when she achieved true mastery.

I’d like the mastery, with none of the work.

I’d play for myself, play for others, maybe join an ensemble, and definitely plop down on those public piano benches and bring joy to the people.

Moral dissonance

~ MaryG ~ 31 Comments

What is one way you have grown this year?

I’ve grown physically fatter this year. I’m not saying I’m fat, but I’m not thin.

The year started out with a very upsetting situation caused by my family of origin. I lost weight over it. Some people might call that the upside (I wouldn’t), but I didn’t mind being down five pounds.

Now it’s all back – and a little more.

I’ve thought about trying those new weight loss drugs, but I hear they take away your appetite and that doesn’t appeal to me at all. I love food, especially dessert.

So, I’m trying to cut back on portion size and eat more salads. I’ve also been swimming laps almost every day, now that the outdoor pool is open for the season.

I always feel guilty complaining about eating too much when hundreds of millions of people, including tens of millions of children, around the world don’t have enough food.

What’s the name for that feeling?

Food guilt…privilege guilt…moral dissonance?

If you don’t have young kids or grandkids, you might not know Miss Rachel. Rachel Griffin Accurso is a wildly popular American educator and YouTube creator whose gentle, research-based songs and videos teach toddlers language, social skills, and emotional development. Miss Rachel uses her massive platform to speak out against child hunger and mistreatment, including in Gaza, Sudan and US immigrant detention centers.

Follow her on social media: @msrachelforlittles (Instagram)

She is one of the good ones.

You do you

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

What is something you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self?

You are not responsible for your sister’s problems. That’s on them. Distance yourself from the dysfunction—now. Pay attention to your own feelings.

Lose the Catholic Guilt. In fact, just bag the Catholic Church church now. You were never really Catholic. You’re a Unitarian Universalist.

I know you think you couldn’t dislike any politician more than Ronald Reagan, but someone so sickening will arise in 30 years, you’re not going to believe it. Pay attention to the seeds of that catastrophe being planted now. Fight them. Observe and use your privilege.

“Welfare Queens” aren’t real.

They’re gonna legalize weed right around the same time as the catastrophe, which will be helpful. Yup, you can just walk in and buy it! And you won’t have to worry that it’s laced with anything.

Go see The Cure live.

Yesteryear

~ MaryG ~ 26 Comments

I read the book that “everyone” is talking about—Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. This debut novel reportedly received a low 7-figure advance and was optioned for a film starring Anne Hathaway before it was even finished. (How does a new author do that?)

In case you haven’t heard, it’s about a tradwife influencer (think Ballerina Farm) who mysteriously finds herself back in the old western pioneer days with no electricity or modern conveniences. The plot twists are compelling and au courant—both in the modern world and in the pioneer one. (Raw milk, going viral, the manosphere, immigrant farm workers, “organic” food, nepo babies, homeschooling, Target—it’s all in there.)

So it’s definitely a page turner, but I can’t say I loved it. The problem is that the main character is so unlikable. And maybe that’s the point. Women my age have been complaining for decades that we were taught to be “nice” and likable above all else. When we grew up, we realized that being nice all the time led to an awful lot of getting taking advantage of, harassment, and even abuse. So we taught our daughters to be strong, confident and to make their own money—in many cases, for their safety. (You shouldn’t need to rely on a man for anything!)

And now there is a myth (I think) that some of those girls then grew up to “hate men.”

But honestly, are there really a bunch of childless “Girl Bosses” running around Manhattan just despising men and their former friends who decided to be stay-at-home moms?

To be perfectly honest, I have said a disparaging thing or two about women in my town who did not do any paid work while raising their kids. Obviously they were fairly wealthy…who else could afford to not work? And I felt that some of them tended to get exceedingly wrapped up in their children’s lives. (Like, the results of travel basketball tryouts could send them into a tailspin for weeks.)

But back to the book…the main character really doesn’t like anyone. Not her sister or the women she grew up with, not her Harvard classmates, not her dumb rich husband, not her babies, not her fans.

It’s almost like the author is saying that women can’t win, no matter what they do.

Maybe they will make the main character more sympathetic in the film. Anne Hathaway can be complex, right?

I’m sure the setting—in the mountains of Idaho—is going to look spectacular.

That’s my two cents. Let me know if you read it.

Real Passion

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

As if to better explain yesterday’s prompt about passion, the universe put me smack dab in the middle of true passion.

Team Scotland is playing their first few World Cup games in Massachusetts and the “Tartan Army” has taken over Boston.

The kilts, the bagpipes, the hats, the songs…these people embody passion.

How adorable is this family from Scotland I met yesterday? It’s blue for home and orange for away, in case you were wondering.

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I do love seeing happy people.

Scotland won, the Knicks won…may the joy of others filter into the collective consciousness—so much so that we completely ignore the trashy spectacle desecrating our White House today.

FDT!

Passionate about me

~ MaryG ~ 29 Comments

What are you passionate about?

I’m still celebrating my own birthday (which was last Tuesday), even though everyone else is over it.

On my actual birthday the weather was spectacular. My son met us at a new-to-me restaurant with a great waterside location. That’s obviously the parking lot side behind us in the picture, but we were looking out onto a lovely lake.
Turnpike Market in Billerica, MA has been nearby for years with this nice view and I had no idea.

The food was good too!

I like when a restaurant knows it’s my birthday, so my husband told them. They didn’t sing to me, but I did get to meet the owner and they sent out a lovely tiramisu for dessert.

Birthday flowers from my very thoughtful son

On Thursday, I got to see my daughter and my granddaughter. Yay!

Loved this gift so much!
And this ❤️

“Birthday week” continued last night with the opening of the new Steven Spielberg movie Disclosure Day. I got a delicious “Passion Star Martini” and fried dumplings beforehand.

Passion Star Martini: Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Licor 43, passion fruit liqueur, mango infused syrup, lime, sparkling wine float

Today I’m making my husband go to a downtown Boston art museum with me.

After that, I don’t think I’ll be able to play the birthday card again until next year.