Photography

America 250 – Tall Ships

~ MaryG ~ 25 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 ~ 17 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!

Pasta alla Gricia

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?

I don’t really like this prompt.

To me, the most memorable ending of any book I’ve ever read was the final scene of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. I wouldn’t change a thing.

In the spirit of being grateful for FOOD, here’s a photo of a “Pasta alla Gricia” that my husband made last night. He used guanciale (pig’s jowl) that my thoughtful son got him from an Italian store for Father’s Day.

Did I tell you that my husband’s first name is Mario and he’s of 100% Italian ancestry?

Recipe

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.

Giant Bubbles & Working Knees

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

Further proof for my knee-replacement-considering friends that my husband is truly bouncing back. He made giant bubbles with our granddaughter last Thursday—so ten weeks post op. It was a long damn ten weeks.

You can see that left knee is still a bit swollen and red, but hey…if he can do stuff like this, it’s WAAAY better.
The 6-month post-op right knee looks almost totally normal now except the scar, which isn’t too bad. The knee does “click” a bit when he walks, which is freaky but normal, according to the doctors.

He’s still not completely off the pain meds, but they’ve been put away in a drawer and I think he’ll be able to stop taking them soon. They substituted Tramadol for Oxy and he takes one only at night now. One of the tips he gives others for TKR recovery is to just take the opioids. It’s so damn painful post-op that you will not be able to do your physical therapy without them. And PT is KEY to ending up with a good working knee. And my further tip is to make friends with cannabis. That’s gonna help you need less of the hard stuff.

If you don’t live in a Recreational Weed State, then get your medical license. It’s pretty simple to do in most states. If you live in Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska or Wisconsin, then bummer for you. WTF with those states!

And yes, my granddaughter is completely adorable. She’s even cuter from the front but since my blog is public, I don’t post pics of her face.

GIANT bubbles are cool and honestly, so is my husband. Hate to admit it, but it’s true. (I always wanted to be the cool one.) There were many times when I wished I’d married more of a goody-two-shoes/nerd, but hey….we stuck it out and now we get to be grandparents together. 😊
He chooses to be called NONNO, like my late father-in-law. (That’s Italian for grandfather.) But I did not want to be called Nonna (that’s for old ladies in support hose), so I’m just a good old American GRANDMA 👵

Support parents

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If you had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, what would you do?
View all responses

If I had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, I would use it to help support young parents.

We’re making things very hard on all young people these days, but especially on those who are brave, selfless and optimistic enough to bring forth the next generation. They deserve all the love and support we can muster. As a grandmother, I feel this is my #1 job in life.

If I could, I would pay off my daughter’s mortgage, buy her family a new car, and fully fund a college account for my granddaughter. And if I could figure out how to do it, I would help out all the other hardworking and responsible young parents out there who could really use a boost.

All photos by Melissa Briggs Photography.

My granddaughter and me
Bubbles are a favorite activity for one-year olds.
Imagine when everything in the world was new to you.
Hi Mommy!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Progress

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

Despite continued pain and swelling, my husband is attempting to get on with his life after two total knee replacements, the second of which took place on March 16.

Gardening is something he always liked and is good at. I’m very pro-gardening for him. I think it’s healthy and without the excessive strain and physical danger of his other hobby: powerlifting. (It’s like, you have two artificial knees dude…would you just not.) But as most people in longterm marriages know, you cannot control the other person. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do and you gotta decide if the good outweighs the bad. (You’re free to go, if you’re not into it.)

Therefore, I’m happy to report he planted a bunch of dahlia bulbs, trimmed some shrubs, planted my spur-of-the-moment purchase of a lovely lupine in bloom, bought some clones from the dispensary, and potted up two of them as gifts for our kids. This represents a small but significant return to gardening. Yay!

My new lupine, expertly planted by my husband who got his BS in Botany.
We bought 3 types of clones at our local dispensary’s big plant sale: The Hive (Honey Banana X Papaya), Terpgasm (Sin n Juice X Udder Madness), Tail Dragger (Alligator Wine X Pearl Cadillac)

Don’t you just love the names of weed strains 🤣

Q: Why are weed plants called clones?

A: Weed plants are called “clones” because they are literally exact genetic replicas of a parent plant (called a “mother plant”). Instead of using seeds, growers cut a branch off a thriving plant and encourage it to grow its own roots. 

_______________________

UPDATE: photos of my husband kneeling for my friends considering arthroplasty

Right knee was replaced November 24, 2025
Left knee was replaced March 16, 2026
He says it feels weird to kneel but doesn’t hurt.

Supporting parents over non-parents?

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

Sharing financial resources is a zero sum game. Someone’s gain or increase is going to be someone else’s loss.

Do you think parents of adult children have an obligation to financially help the ones with children of their own more than the ones who do not have kids? Or do you think parents should always maintain total equality in the ways they divvy up their support to adult children?

I have been on one end of this dilemma for over 30 years. I’m the one who stayed married and raised a family. My sibling had a lavish wedding (in two locales), but quickly divorced and had no kids. She never found a career she enjoys and is frequently unemployed, despite being very highly educated.

Now I am temporarily (hopefully) on the other end of it. My son currently only has himself to take care of and my daughter is building her family.

Hypothetically, if you had 10K to share at Christmas, would you give each one 5K? Or would you take into account the selflessness and outrageously high cost of raising a child through college and tip the scale towards the parent?

I think maybe you can tell which way I lean, but I know that there are strong counter arguments.

If you’re childless and found out your parents gave your sibling more money than you in their estate plans, how would you feel? Would you feel as if they didn’t value your life as much as theirs? Or would you understand that grandchildren were factored in?

What about an opposite situation, where parents support a single, childless adult daughter more than another one who had the benefit of a husband’s income? Do singles deserve more support than those who married and raised children?

Curious for your thoughts.