Personal Musings

From Billie Jean to Coco

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why.

Although I haven’t watched much lately, tennis is the sport I’ve probably watched the most. I played on a few tennis teams in high school and was somewhat competitive for a couple of years. I can really appreciate how hard it is to hit a precise backhand and powerful serve.

As a kid, I liked watching Björn Borg (the big brooding Swede) and bratty John McEnroe. But it’s the American women who I’ve really come to appreciate. From Billie Jean King and Chrissie Evert to Venus and Serena Williams (the greatest ever), these women are groundbreakers, leaders, and role models.

And now Coco Gauff. If you didn’t see it, check out her trophy acceptance speech at last night’s US Open Women’s Singles championship. Wow, what grace and respect she showed to her family, supporters, event organizers, competitor, and predecessors in the sport. And she’s only 19! The moment when she thanks Billie Jean for fighting for equal prize money was the highlight for me.

Summer reading

~ MaryG ~ 1 Comment

How do you relax?

I like to lay on the beach with a good book. It’s usually a hassle to get to the beach in New England (driving, parking, etc), but once I’m there, I find it relaxing.

We had a discussion about “summer reads” in my book group. I was reluctant to read anything too traumatic or depressing in August. Other people made no distinction between summer reading and regular reading.

Here’s the book I read at the beach in August. It certainly looked the part. Very beachy!

REVIEW: It liked it. It was a little darker than the cover would have you think. It was a good complement to the “Summer of Barbie.” The main character is a woman (a scientist) severely hampered by the boxes American society forced women into in the 1950s and 60s. There is one central tragedy, but it has a key “summer read” element: a happy ending.

The four-letter word I would give up

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
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It’s JUST. I try not to use it, but I still do. Women tend to use it – a lot. It’s a way to soften the edges. To try not to seem too pushy. To diminish our actual wants/needs/requirements.

“Just calling”

“Just following up”

“Just circling back”

“Just wanted to know”

“Just wondering”

Instead of saying what we really mean:

(Please) return my call

(Please) answer my e-mail

(Please) do what you said you would do

(Please) tell me

(Please) keep me informed

Just don’t use Just anymore—-ok? Was that too pushy?

Yeah, it’s politics

~ MaryG ~ 1 Comment
Daily writing prompt
Are you holding a grudge? About?
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I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that people I know–close family members–voted for Trump. That’s it. That’s the grudge. Sadly, it permanently changed how I feel about them.

Given how excited I was feeling about voting for the first woman president (in my pantsuit) on November 8, 2016, it was the Access Hollywood tape that I cannot believe they overlooked in order to pull the lever for Trump. In 2020, it was just everything. I feel like their decision revealed a fundamental difference in values so deep that I never really knew them.

So now we just don’t talk about anything remotely political, but that’s hard. Small talk can be tedious with people you know (or thought you knew) well. It’s a real rift and that’s sad.

My daughter and me in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2017 after the Women’s March. We’re smiling, but fury was the mood of the day.

Back in the USSR

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
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I traveled to Russia (then called the Soviet Union or USSR) in January 1987 with a group of students and professors from my college. It was a Winter Break trip. We left just after New Year’s Day 1987. It was led by two professors of Russian History with whom I had taken classes. We went to Moscow and St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad), as well as some smaller cities–Suzdal and Vladimir.

I’m sure it was a fascinating trip, but my main memory is of how cold it was. It was really F***ing COLD.

This is the United Press International archives (UPI.com) report from January 8, 1987:

MOSCOW — An Arctic cold snap with temperatures lower than minus 40 degrees has gripped most of central Russia, slowing life in Moscow to a frozen crawl. The daytime temperature in Moscow is now almost four times colder than the average home freezer. A record low of minus 45 degrees hit Leningrad overnight and Moscow recorded minus 39, close to the 1940 record of minus 44. The official Tass news agency said the first week of January 1987 was the coldest recorded in Moscow in 35 years. Auto traffic in Moscow was virtually non-existent as a frozen mist, triggered by the snow on the ground being warmer than the air, rolled over the city. Ice fishermen tried their luck in the frozen Moscow River, but few others ventured outside unless absolutely necessary.

I remember we were warned to keep every inch of skin covered while we were outdoors so as not to get frostbite. We kept bottles of vodka in our chilly hotel rooms which we slugged for warming purposes (mainly). Other memories include eating coarse brown bread with butter and caviar, the museum-like Moscow subway, and fur hats. We all bought fur hats.

Leningrad in the frozen mist on a frozen river
The Moscow Metro
Our group playing outside in Vladimir – very briefly!
A bit of sun in Suzdal

Related post:

Thursday Doors—The Kremlin

Swimming pools, movie stars

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What does your ideal home look like?
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GenXers will recognize “swimming pools, movie stars” as the last line of the theme song from the Beverly Hillbillies, a TV show that was popular when we were young children. Basically, some poor people find oil on their property in Appalachia, get rich, and move to “Cally-phonia” in a dilapidated truck. It was pretty dumb. The theme song was definitely the best part of the show.

From the Beverly Hillbillies to Downton Abby to the Kardashians, I’ll admit to being fascinated by the lifestyles of the very wealthy, particularly their homes. Honestly, most of them do not look that comfortable. They’re too big. Everything is so spread out. Kim Kardashian is basically living in the Louvre. She has to walk miles just to get to the back of her own closet.

BUT, it would really be cool to have a big swimming pool and a view. Those are the two features I would have, if money were no object.

Here are a few photos from a visit to Newport, Rhode Island in July. We toured Marble House, one of the Gilded Age mansions. And yes, of course I watched “The Gilded Age” on HBO and am eagerly awaiting Season 2 starting on October 29. My husband likes to count the number of times the word “luncheon” is said per episode.

Marble House (Newport) – one of the filming locations for Julian Fellows’ The Gilded Age
Marble House dining room – the very definition of “gilded”
Lest you think Mrs. Vanderbilt and her friends didn’t discuss serious things at their luncheons, here are her Women’s Suffrage dishes.

The Bittersweet

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

The last thing that brought a tear of joy to my eye was the final scene in the film A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks.

The film is based on the book “A Man Called Ove,” by the Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, which I had listened to on tape.

SPOILER ALERT

In the final scene, Otto has died of natural causes (rather than by suicide, which he had been planning) when his neighbor Marisol finds him. She is heartbroken, but finds a note with his final wishes. He has left his home, car, and money to her and her young family. He signs the note Abuelo (grandfather) Otto.

Aw.

The childless grumpy old man, whose heart had turned to stone after the death of his disabled wife (tragically crippled while pregnant years earlier), had found a family in his final years.

It’s the happy and the sad mixed together that tends to get me. The Bittersweet.

Tom Hanks in a Man Called Otto

Summer is our Glory in New England

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

Why do you blog?

These prompts are starting to feel repetitive. Here’s an old post I wrote called Why Blog?

We’ve had so many rainy weekends in New England this summer. It’s great that we’re ending on a high note!

Summers are short, but glorious in New England. I know some people really love autumn, but it does not hold a candle to summer. Winter is horrible (unless you like skiing) and “spring” is not a thing. There’s like one warm day in May (if we’re lucky, it’s Mothers Day).

So here’s to New England in the summer.

The “Farm Coast” – Rhode Island/Massachusetts border
Quicksand Pond, RI

An American reacts to the death of Jimmy Buffett

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.
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A brief interview with my husband (age 61) about the death of Jimmy Buffett at 76.

Question: You’ve awoken to the news that Jimmy Buffett has died at 76. How did it make you feel?

Answer: Surprised

Question: What were your overall feelings about Buffett?

Answer: Not a huge fan, but he was kind of a cultural icon

Question: What made him a cultural icon?

Answer: Parrot Heads [his fans], concerts, and songs that everyone knew

Question: Would you say that he was a uniquely American artist?

Answer: Yes

Question: You’ve now read his obituary in the NYT, what was the biggest surprise?

Answer: That he had a Broadway show. Also, I knew he was rich, but I didn’t know he was that rich. [Buffett’s net worth is estimated to be one billion dollars]

Question: Did you ever know any Parrot Heads?

Answer: Yes, a couple from our old neighborhood – I think they were Parrot Heads. The people that lived nextdoor to Pat. Hawaiian shirts, frozen blender drinks, heading down to Gillette [concert stadium]

Question: What do you think his legacy will be?

Answer: I think it will fade away with his fans (people our age and older)

TGIF

~ MaryG ~ Leave a comment

How are you feeling right now?

I’m glad it’s Friday. I work in Boston and things get hectic in late August when all the students move back to the city for the fall semester. We call this time of year “Allston Christmas,” when you can pick up anything from a toaster oven to a Bob Marley poster for free on the curb. Traffic gets MUCH worse. Occasionally, it comes to a complete standstill when some poor parent from the Midwest drives a too-tall rental truck under one of our too-low underpasses and gets stuck. This is called “getting Storrowed” and it happens every year.

Anyway, Labor Day weekend is the calm before the storm—or perhaps it’s the eye of the storm. I liked I.V. Greco’s post about sharing our super moon photos from Wednesday night. It’s so hard to get a good photo of the moon, but I like the sky in this one that I took. Peace.

Moon Sky, 8/30/23