Photography

Sea to Table

~ MaryG ~ 26 Comments

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

Summer is far and away my favorite season in New England—my lifelong home. I generally stay within its six states in summer. Why leave? I know it’s been very hot here, but I’m a swimmer. Outdoor pools and oceans beckon me. The water temperature at Rhode Island beaches was 70F last weekend. Perfect.

A plate of fresh, farm-raised oysters at Westport Sea Farms in Westport, MA
Jonathan Richman—a Boston original.
He gets it.

OK, if I HAD to rank them, I’d go:

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Maine

New Hampshire

Vermont

Connecticut

But they’re all great – in the SUMMAH.

Pumpkin spice, stay away!

Lens-Artists Challenge #408 — Over the Top

~ MaryG ~ 40 Comments

Posting for Egidio’s Lens-Artists Challenge: “Over the Top” 🤩

Nature was showing off last night as my oldest friend and I dined at The Boat House restaurant in Tiverton, Rhode Island. (And by oldest, I mean that we’ve been friends since junior high.) This was the view from the window at our table, as captured by my iPhone 15 through a pane of glass.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Does anyone else have this problem: you take multiple photos of the same scene and can’t decide which one is the best? Opinions welcomed. If you were me, would you share photo 1, 2, 3 or 4?

I am also very moved by Egidio’s recent post “Walls that Need no Wall” on his blog Through Brazilian Eyes. It’s about the heartbreaking effects of the massive border wall construction project on nature in “one of the last places in Texas where wildlife still moves freely along the river corridor.” Combined with his great photography, it’s a powerful post.

Just peachy

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

What’s a quote that perfectly describes your outlook on life?

This WordPress writing prompt is basically a repeat of two days ago, with different wording.

As it happens, a commenter on my post eat dessert first (Sambuca from Ontario) planted the idea of peach ice cream in my little brain and I could not stop thinking about how it’s a seasonal “featured” flavor at my local ice cream stand that I have never tried. So, last night, I rectified the situation.

I thought I was ordering the smallest size available (it’s called a “kiddie”) but now I know that I need to order a “mini” if I really only want a little bit.

Ice cream twice in one week. Someone had to do it.

And yup, it was just as delicious as it looks.

eat dessert first

~ MaryG ~ 33 Comments

What is your favorite quote?

I’m not sure who said this originally: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first

But I will always attribute it to my dear friend’s late father. Last summer, at her daughter’s wedding, when I arrived at my seat for the reception, this was my place setting.

And in that spirit, here’s a photo of an amazing dessert I had last night. (I actually had it after dinner, but I was not too full and enjoyed every bite.)

The flavor is “vanilla blueberry crumble” and it is delicious. It’s vanilla with fresh blueberries and graham crackers from the locally famous Kimball Farm.

That’s a small! (I finished it, obvi)

I don’t know if other parts of the country have local ice cream stands that were originally dairy farms operated by hearty, entrepreneurial types who decided to expand into ice cream in the early part of the 20th century, but eastern Massachusetts has many great options. Many have been in continuous operation since before WW2 and the ice cream is amazing.

Here are my top four:

Kimball Farm

Bedford Farms

Great Brook State Park

Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar

Local food

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

What’s a promise you made to yourself that you’ve actually kept?

When this latest poorly-managed public health crisis started, I promised myself I’d patronize our local farmstands more.

Yesterday, we went to two of them and bought lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, and berries.

There’s a slice of pound cake under that pile of berries. And yes, I added whipped cream before eating. 😋

The Lacuna

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

What’s a movie or book that inspired you to travel?

I remember reading The Lacuna (copyright 2009) by Barbara Kingsolver and deciding I really needed to visit Mexico. I was in my mid-forties and I’d never been.

I don’t remember much about the book, but I know that at least part of it was set in Mexico and that Kingsolver is an incredible writer. So we went! I brought the whole family. Even though my son got a stomach bug, my kids still remember it as one of our best vacations.

We stayed in a resort, but it was one with a town nearby that we could walk to.
We took a boat over to Cozumel for a day trip.
My kids with other kids from all over the world at our hotel beach in Mexico (2011)

Gratitude post

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

My husband has been suffering from a mysterious set of symptoms since late last month. I’m not going to go into details, but it’s been hard having him feel so unwell again, after a full year of him feeling awful with his two total knee replacements. Hopefully the doctors will help him figure it out soon.

In the meantime, I’m trying to enjoy my own life and stay upbeat, so I’m going to do one of those annoying gratitude posts.

  1. Friends. I’ve got a couple of good girlfriends with whom I can be totally honest. There’s pretty much nothing I can’t tell them. They’ve both known me forever.
  2. Book group. I’ve got an additional group of four wonderful women that I’ve known since the 1990s that are very dear to me. We gather once a month on Zoom to discuss a book, but it’s so much more than that.
  3. Money. I am financially secure. I know I’m lucky to not have to worry about how I’m going to pay for medical bills, car repairs, and other unexpected things.
  4. My own health. I just passed my annual physical and blood tests with flying colors! My only physical problems at the moment are tinnitus and mild hearing loss in the right ear (thanks to COVID, I believe) and heel pain in my left foot (plantar fasciitis).
  5. My kids. Both are independent and doing well as adults living on their own out in this crazy world.
  6. My granddaughter. I get to play with the most adorable toddler on a regular basis. So uplifting!
  7. My church. It’s a real community for me. Even though my husband doesn’t attend, I know those people would be there for us if we needed them. They care.

I spontaneously ordered two copies of this book for my kids last night, after I saw the author on The Daily Show. She sounded extremely sensible and was giving the exact same advice I would give. They might not read it, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. At one point, one of my kids told me that one thing lacking in their high school was a basic financial literacy class.

The decisions and habits people develop around money in their 20s and 30s can make such a difference later in life.

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does make a lot of things easier.

We had a crazy haze all day yesterday due to wildfires in Minnesota and Ontario. Finally, around 8pm, we saw a bit of the sky and lots of orange.

America 250 – Tall Ships

~ MaryG ~ 27 Comments

Did you know that only two US cities are hosting both World Cup games AND Tall Ships this summer?

Can you guess which ones?

I’ll give you a hint. One is where the colonists gave King George a transatlantic middle finger by dumping a bunch of British tea in the harbor. The subsequent British crackdown pushed the colonies towards open rebellion and kicked off the American Revolutionary War in 1775. (Also, it rhymes with Austin.)

The other is a sleepy little town called New York.

Here are a few shots of the magnificent vessels taken from another vessel in the harbor. (The same place they dumped that tea.)

The BAP Unión, the Peruvian Navy’s tall ship 🇵🇪
🇵🇪
The Esmeralda from Chile 🇨🇱 is known as La Dama Blanca (The White Lady). Built in 1953, she’s one of the most famous and largest tall ships in the world.
Portugal’s NRP Sagres (left) 🇵🇹
I think the one behind it is from Spain 🇪🇸
The INS Sudarshini from India 🇮🇳
Cadets in the rigging of the Sudarshini 🇮🇳
The Amerigo Vespucci from Italy 🇮🇹
Ciao Bella 😍
Another shot of the Amerigo Vespucci 🇮🇹 with Argentina’s ARA Libertad 🇦🇷 behind it
The Mircea from Romania 🇷🇴
The Mircea 🇷🇴 with Poland’s Dar Młodzieży (“Gift of Youth”) behind it 🇵🇱
Our resident Tall Ship—the USS Constitution (aka “Old Ironsides”) with Charlestown’s Bunker Hill Monument in the distance 🇺🇸
A shot of the steeple of the Old North Church where, on the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman climbed up and hung two lanterns briefly — a signal arranged by Paul Revere to warn colonists across the Charles River in Charlestown about the movement of British troops. (“One if by Land, Two if by Sea” as goes the line in Longfellow’s famous poem Paul Revere’s Ride)
Our party of four aboard The Valiant—a regular ship, not a Tall one 😉

Did you guess BOSTON as the only other city besides New York hosting both World Cup and Tall Ships?

You are correct!

Happy Fourth

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

Like nearly every American of good conscience, I have mixed feelings this Fourth of July. The promise of America is faltering under the most corrupt and despicable administration in our 250 year history. The upcoming midterm elections will hopefully spark some sort of a course correction.

In the meantime, there are children and grandchildren; national parks and beaches; fresh cherries and watermelon to be thankful for.

This land was made for you and me.

Here’s a “Cherry Clafoutis” I made with delicious fresh cherries yesterday.

This is a fairly simple and absolutely delicious use of fresh cherries. We got a cherry pitter to make it even easier.

Here’s the recipe from NYT Cooking.

I substituted Licor 43 (vanilla liqueur from Spain) for Kirsch (cherry brandy) in the recipe. And no I didn’t “scrape a vanilla bean” into the cherries—that step was a bit much!

I wish I knew

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?

This is a hard one for me to answer. I’ve been dealing with a lot of negative thoughts since the beginning of this year, due to a situation that has forever changed my feelings about my family of origin.

I’ll be interested to read others’ responses.

I guess distraction is one way!

So, here’s a mommy and baby osprey in their very dramatic nest near the beach on the South Coast of Massachusetts:

And some video of the two interacting:

This nearby beach is just over border, so it’s actually in Rhode Island, not Massachusetts.

New England has many beautiful areas, but this one is my favorite. The ocean is noticeably warmer here than in Northern New England and there are never shark sightings like on Cape Cod (knock wood) so you can get in and swim to your heart’s content.

Actually, that’s my answer: swimming is the best way to deal with negative thoughts.

Go for a swim, people!