Personal Musings

Hi Barbie

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Write about your dream home.
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One of the best things about the Barbie movie was that incredible set—Barbie’s Dreamhouse come to life. I loved it! Imagine living in a matriarchal society in your own pink mini-palace—with all your friends nearby—under permanently sunny skies? The only thing I would add is a larger pool. I’d want to be able to swim laps at my dream house.

I’m with Ryan Gosling and everyone else who “could not be more disappointed” that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie didn’t get Oscar nominations for directing and acting. I’m counting on Barbie pulling off an upset win for Best Picture. I want to see Greta up there getting the last award of the night.

Free gift article from The Atlantic:

Why the Oscars Overlooked Greta Gerwig

Related post: Wrong question

Insight Meditation

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
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This prompt reminds me of a class I took in my twenties. I was a couple of years into the working world, living in Boston, and had that feeling like “what’s next?” or “is this all there is?” I was trying to force myself to plan my next move—perhaps moving to a different city would make things interesting? The class was called “Insight Meditation” and the teacher’s name was Narayan.

Narayan was great. She taught us the basics of mindfulness meditation from the Buddhist tradition. We focused on our breath. When thoughts arose, we tried to observe them without judgement. Inner peace and living in the present moment were the goals. Eventually, I realized that trying to force a decision about my next move was not helpful. Although I did not keep up a daily meditation practice, I still think of Narayan’s wisdom.

Be here now.

One day in class Narayan said she had received some fantastic news and was having trouble not thinking about it. She said she was too “blissed out” about it. Her point was that any type of conditional joy (joy that depends on an outside factor – like winning the lottery) is inevitably going to change. She thought that getting too happy/excited about any external circumstance could lead to even lower lows. Deep despair and overwhelming joy are related. Staying on an even keel is better. A goal of insight meditation is to develop of lasting sense of contentment and peace from sources within you.

And guess what? I googled Narayan and she’s still teaching at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center and other organizations. She’s written a book and many of her “Dharma Talks” are online. It’s wild to find her again after all these years. I will definitely be engaging with her wisdom in this new phase of my life. I’m going to order her book today. Maybe check her out, if Buddhism or meditation is of interest to you.

Related post:

Pay attention to the journey

Drawing

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
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For many years I loved to draw and sketch. I did some painting as well. I worked with pencil, charcoal, pastels, and pen & ink. When I painted, I used acrylics. I took many art classes as a teen and young adult in school and at local museums. I remember drawing nude models as early as middle school and we took it very seriously (no giggling).

I think I got discouraged when I took a higher level studio art class as a sophomore in college and got a C+. Up until then, I always got great grades in studio art. The professor seemed to want us to make the leap from realism to conceptual stuff. I guess I wasn’t good at that.

I took a photography class after college, but eventually started to put more energy into music and singing. The thing about music (singing anyway) is that it doesn’t take up much space in your apartment or on your walls. You can sing anywhere. No supplies needed. But sometimes I do miss drawing. I loved it for many years.

I have this one large pencil drawing of my favorite animal hanging in the living room. I did it in a high school art class. Everything else is in the attic.
OK WordPress, you got me to go in the attic. These are two “head studies” in pencil and charcoal that I did in college.
A male nude in charcoal
A still life in pencil
A more abstract pencil drawing
A female nude in charcoal (perspective is hard)

Related posts:

Street photographer

Giraffes

Fawn in Snow

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

What’s your favorite candy?

As I’ve mentioned, I’m a fan of fancy artisanal and European chocolates, but in terms of widely-available American candy, there’s one clear winner and it’s Reese’s. The fact that the two flavors – milk chocolate and peanut butter – taste great together cannot be denied.

I don’t know which Don Draper/Madison Avenue ad agency came up with the original commercials, but they were genius.

1979 Reese’s TV commercial

I have memories of dipping chocolate bars into open jars of Skippy or Jif, just like in the ads. I also remember when Friendly’s came out with their jumbo peanut butter cup sundaes, which had both hot fudge and peanut butter sauce. They were amazing. Freshman year of college, my late friend Carla and I loved nothing better than smoking a joint, then sharing one of those babies at our neighborhood Friendly’s. They definitely contributed to my freshman 15. (Somehow Carla never gained an ounce.)

The Friendly’s Peanut Butter Cup Sundae

Judging from the trick-or-treaters I got this past Halloween, Reese’s have not lost their appeal. They were gone first from my offerings – and I had extras. Again and again, they were chosen over KitKats, Snickers, plain Hershey bars, and White Chocolate with Oreo (Cookies n’ Creme) bars.

Thank goodness my tree nut allergy does not include peanuts, which are technically legumes.

Long live the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Related posts:

The underrated Box of Chocolates

Pay attention to the journey

Box of Wine

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Do you need a break? From what?
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It’s not really a “break,” but one thing I’d like to do is reduce the amount of stuff I throw out or toss into the recycling bin. I feel guilty whenever I get a lunch to go from Panera because of all the packaging waste it creates. I’ve been trying to stay and eat the food in the restaurant more often. (Our Panera is pleasant and sunny.) I rarely buy cups of coffee from Dunkin these days, but I still get the breakfast sandwiches – at least there’s no plastic in the packaging.

Wine bottles are something I was constantly buying and tossing in the bin. One option would be to drink less wine (probably not going to happen). A second option was to get over the stigma and try a box of wine. So, I purchased my first box of wine early last week. It’s “Black Box Tart & Tangy Sauvignon Blanc.” The box contains the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine (3 liters). It cost about $20 and it’s not bad. It’s not great, but it’s decent. Also, it stays fresh in the box, so I think I may be drinking less wine because I’m not finishing it off quickly before it goes bad. I still have a lot of wine left in my first box.

So, I guess I’m taking a break from buying bottles of wine. I’m the kind of person who drinks wine from a box now. I’m open to any suggestions of good boxed white wines.

The boxed wine occupies some premium shelf space in the fridge, but you can slide it around pretty easily.

Fun post from another blogger about the Aussie history behind my box of wine:

Just a tipple

The Before Times

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

The most important invention in your lifetime is…

The internet. It was like that movie title: everything, everywhere, all at once. It really changed everything.

I honestly can’t remember how we did certain things before the internet. Obviously we did them, but how?

Here are some recollections of how we did some things in the before times:

Airline tickets – no idea

Restaurant reservations – called the restaurant

Job opportunities – read the classifieds in the back of the newspaper

Real estate – dealt with human realtors

Banking – went to physical banks, which was always a challenge because of their limited hours; everyone ran to the bank at lunch (or left work early) on payday

Spelling and writing – used a physical dictionary and thesaurus, which came in various sizes. Most homes had at least one huge, heavy dictionary with all the words.

News – watched the nightly network news and read newspapers, which got ink on your fingers

Travel planning – went to the library or bookstore travel section

Shopping – wandered around the mall

Dating – met people at school, work or through friends

Concerts tickets – can’t really remember, but have a vague recollection of calling Ticketmaster – over and over – trying to get through

Learning anything new – got books at the library or took a class

Popular culture (trends, celebrities, fashion) – read magazines; magazines were huge

I was always very happy to receive my monthly Seventeen magazine, especially if Phoebe Cates was on the cover.

The Grammys

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

I don’t know about my ideal day, but last night was pretty much my ideal Grammys. GenX, am I right?

I mean, Tracy Chapman performing “Fast Car” with Luke Combs (her voice still sounds great and she looks fantastic), Annie Lenox singing “Nothing Compares To You” in memory of Sinéad, Fantasia Barrino as Tina Turner, Billy Joel with his first new song in 30 years, and JONI MITCHELL absolutely wrecking us with that rendition of “Both Sides Now” – at age 80, after a brain aneurysm.

Well done, Grammys.

I also give two thumbs up to the new Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop.” It’s about the night they recorded We Are the World in 1985, which won Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson a Grammy for best song.

A seated Joni Mitchell performing Both Sides Now, with Brandi Carlile and other musicians at the Grammys last night 😭
GenX icon Tracy Chapman, age 59, singing “Fast Car” at the 2024 Grammy Awards

Pay attention to the journey

~ MaryG ~ 20 Comments
Daily writing prompt
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
View all responses

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

Is that actually a John Lennon quote or does it just get attributed to him? I don’t know.

In any case, I think that’s the lesson you learn – again and again.

Through age 50 or so, life seems to be all about achieving your goals. Education, career, marriage, home, children. Once you know your life is definitely more than half over (less than 1% of Americans live to 100), you start realizing that life isn’t so much about the destination (or goals achieved), as it is about the journey.

When my best friend from college died in 2022, shortly after realizing her lifelong dream of moving back to New Mexico, I was surprised by the depth of my grief. We didn’t see each other or talk often anymore, but we’d been extremely close for many years and she’d had a huge influence on me.

I got to visit her one last time in Santa Fe, when she was dying. I brought a lot of photos and we when we were scrolling through them, she said things like “we were so happy” and “we were so lucky.” And we were. But back then, we were always planning, dreaming, GOING. We didn’t realize that the good times we were in the midst of would be amongst the most cherished memories of our lives.

So my advice from the wise old age of 58 is to pay attention to the trip you’re on while it’s happening – and especially to your fellow travelers. That co-worker who always gives you great advice may turn out to have been one of the best mentors you ever had. That church you joined, only because you wanted to sing in a choir, might turn out to be your most important source of support in retirement. Those high school best friends that knew your family growing up may turn out be the people you can tell anything later in life because they know it all.

Goals are important, but it’s the unplanned “little” stuff you did along the way that you’ll remember. Pay attention to it all.

Good times with Carla in New Mexico in 1994, when she was about 7 months pregnant with her first child and absolutely glowing with happiness.

Related post:

Insight meditation

Attic, basement, garage

~ MaryG ~ 1 Comment

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

I never get around to cleaning out the attic, basement, or garage. I’ll pick away at certain things – like old toys and books – but only a move is going to make me really clean out those areas.

The attic has a lot of memorabilia. The basement has a lot of toys and photographs. The garage has a lot of tools and equipment.

The garage bugs me the most, because I see it everyday. The basement and the attic are easy to ignore. Out of sight, out of mind.

Next Wednesday is another opportunity to get rid of stuff. All I have to do is lug it out to the driveway by 7am.

This nonprofit organization makes it pretty easy to donate the items listed.

Soups and Stews

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

Lately I’ve been making soups and stews. I’ve been trying out some recipes from NYT cooking. Their instagram feed always sucks me right in.

I use either my slow cooker (a.k.a crockpot) or my 4.5 quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven. I have a green Le Creuset, which I received as a gift from my mother decades ago. Le Creuset Dutch Ovens are a big investment, but in my opinion, every kitchen in a cold weather climate should have one. I can’t believe how many colors they come in now!

Recently, I made the NYT “Old Fashioned Beef Stew” in my Le Creuset. It was delicious. (I got the stew beef at Whole Foods and it was high quality.)

Beef stew underway in my Le Creuset

I also made the NYT Tortellini Soup in Le Creuset, which I really liked and will definitely make again.

Here’s the finished Tortellini Soup. The green is baby spinach. Also, it’s garnished with fresh basil and Parmesan.

Last night, I tried the NYT Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew with Spinach, Lemon and Feta. Obviously I made this one in the slow cooker rather than Le Creuset. I liked it. It has a Greek vibe. It’s very garlicky and has a real kick to it. I might try it again with a few adjustments.

Here’s the chicken stew garnished with crumbled feta and pita chips.
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