This article from the Washington Post focuses on better listening, which is an important life skill. But I feel like everyone knows that listening is important. (That doesn’t mean they do it well, but they know they should.) The main tip in the article comes from therapists, but it works for everyone: “If someone is upset, try to listen to what they’re saying and paraphrase it back to them.” It’s called reflective listening.
In terms of underrated skills, I feel like math gets overlooked. And by math, I don’t mean calculus or geometry or even algebra…I mean arithmetic. You know…adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and doing percentages in your head. You really shouldn’t need a calculator to figure out what 20% of your bill is in order to tip your hairdresser or server.
For a year or so, I was doing a daily brain-enhancing app that had both language and math exercises, but it wasn’t free and I didn’t renew it. Still, I’m surprised how much of the math stuck with me.
I worked the jewelry table last Saturday at my church’s country fair. Although we had Venmo set up, most people paid cash. I had to figure out lots of sums and then make change for lots of peoplequickly—all in my head. Honestly, not to brag or anything, but I nailed it 😉. I was just as good as the other lady working with me—and she’s a high school math teacher. I think it was the app.
I need to go find another math (arithmetic) app to keep practicing all the little tricks that make it come fast and easy, when you need it. It’s good “rip off protection” too. You’re harder to scam or take advantage of when you can do arithmetic in your aging head.
This photo is from the jewelry booth at last year’s fair. We had a lot more people this year, including many “hoverers”—women who just couldn’t pry themselves away. My sense was that this was a year to “treat yourself” to some cheap used jewelry because everything else in life is insanely expensive. And we know who to blame for that: 🍊🤡 & his GOP enablers.
If you’re American, for the love of GAWD, make sure you’re registered to vote in the midterms: IWillVote.com
Just to be clear, “86” = impeach and remove from office (preferably to a jail cell). I’m also good with death from natural causes or Melania smothering him with a pillow. I do not condone violence (except for Melania smothering him with a pillow).
Maybe…baking? Or blogging? Or painting watercolors? Or singing?
Nah.
Nobody would pay me money for any of my hobbies, which is fine. I’m no longer an earner. I’ve accepted that. According to my last Social Security Statement, I had reportable income every year from 1980 to 2023. That’s 43 years of paid work. According to financial planners, my husband and I have saved and invested enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement into our 90s, barring runaway inflation or a global financial meltdown—both of which seem highly likely in our current kakistocracy. I’m not really sure I believe the financial planners, but I’m going with it. However, we’re really trying to keep our spending down these days, which brings me back to baking at home.
We tried yet another recipe with our homegrown Bosc pears: America Test Kitchen’s Pear Crisp. I did that thing where I found the recipe on ATK but I didn’t want to pay for a subscription so I signed-up for a 7-day free trial, screenshotted the recipe, then cancelled the subscription before I got charged. Is that wrong?
AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN PEAR CRISP
Ingredients
• ¾ cup coarsely chopped nuts (3 ounces/85 grams) I’m allergic to nuts so I substituted 3/4 cup of oatmeal (it was a genius substitution, if I do say so myself 😉)
• ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour (2½ ounces/71 grams)
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar (1¾ ounces/50 grams)
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Table salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Process nuts, flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor until nuts are finely chopped, about nine 1-second pulses. Drizzle butter over flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles crumbly wet sand, about five 1-second pulses, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides and bottom of workbowl. Set aside while preparing fruit.
Because I substituted oatmeal for nuts, there was no need to use a food processor. I used only a fork to make the topping.
2. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and pinch of salt together in large bowl. Peel pears, then halve and core. Cut each half into 4 wedges and then cut in half crosswise (pieces should be about 1 1/2 inches). Gently toss pears with sugar mixture and transfer to 8-inch-square baking dish.
Not gonna lie, this step was a pain in the neck. My husband bought a tool to scoop out cores of the peeled pears, but forgot he had it, so he did all this work with a paring knife.
3. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Bake until fruit is bubbling around edges and topping is deep golden brown, 27 to 32 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes, and serve.
This is the unbaked version. We ended up leaving it in the oven for the full 32 minutes and pears were perfect. Tender and sweet.
VERDICT: Good. 👍 The topping works well with the pears. I had it hot with ice cream for dessert (yum) and also cold for a snack that actually felt relatively “healthy” with all that fruit and oatmeal. It’s not as exciting as the Dutch Pear Pie or Pear Cobbler, but I would make it again.
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
Sometimes in long marriages you develop certain “areas.” For example, I do all the travel arrangements. My husband is the vegetable gardener. I dealt with the teachers and most of the school stuff when the kids were growing up. My husband deals with the household technology (WiFi, etc). Somehow, I relinquished much involvement in his longstanding interest in buying (not leasing) solar panels for our home. I know I agreed to have him “sign for me” when the contract was finalized. It all sounded good in the 15-30 minutes I spent thinking about it. I mean, it’s a LOT of money to pay out at once, but we will allegedly get it all back in savings within 7 years. And clearly energy prices are not going down anytime soon with Orange Dipshit messing up the entire Middle East (and everything else).
But now the day has come. The guys are on the roof. It’s happening. I mean…I knew it was coming, but it feels a bit “spontaneous.” Like, are you sure you’ve thought this through?
I guess my one day of peace and quiet is all I get after our return from very loud Brooklyn.
I gotta say, this whole situation with the midterm election (and Trump’s plan to undermine it), the mess in the Middle East, inflation, AI coming for us…and on and on…is…STRESSFUL.
Baking with fruit from our own trees is a good counterbalance to the news.
A friend’s trip to Germany inspired me to try making apple strudel for the first time. My husband cut-up the last of our Winesap apples and we used a recipe I found online.
I have very little experience baking with puff pastry. It turns out the timing of when you take it out of the freezer is a key.
There were dots of butter under the top sheet of puff pastry, which I brushed with milk.
After 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven
Amazing. No ice cream needed.
The midterm elections have begun. VOTE like your life depends on it, because it does. VOTE early if you can.
What’s one thing that would instantly improve your city?
We’re having high suburban drama here in my leafy suburb outside of Boston over…trash.
Due to budget constraints and a failed vote to raise our own taxes, the town has implemented a new trash policy whereby every family gets one small trash bin. (Recycling bins are separate.)
It’s proving to be very dramatic and upsetting to a lot of people. If you fill your bin and still have more trash, you have to buy special $15 bags to dispose of the rest.
Since my husband and I are empty nesters, we can deal. For families with young children, disposable diapers alone would fill up about half of these little bins. It’s an actual hardship for them.
In the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively minor problem, but it’s also just another way we’re making life harder for young families.
Conservatives say they want more babies and growing families, yet they continually vote down money to pay for schools and other services that families need.
Typical post in a town Facebook group that elicited 100+ comments and devolved into several online fights
Typical comment from a white guy who thinks he shouldn’t have to contribute to the community because he has no family of his own (gee, I wonder why?) I mean, he doesn’t even “USE THE ROADS.” Maybe he has a Jetsons-style space saucer to get around.
How does your mindset affect your financial success?
One thing that people who are on the other side of the political spectrum from me (my father for one) love to say is that there’s no other country in the world where people can just “have an idea” and make millions of dollars. They say that’s a uniquely American thing.
Here’s an article from the Wall Street Journal that doubles down on this idea that America is great because anyone who works hard can get rich. I’ve also noticed that these same people tend to say Europe is poor and declining. “They don’t even realize how poor they are,” I heard one Conservative acquaintance (another white man) say.
I’m all for people working hard and doing well as a result, but this idea that everyone should just “have an idea” (like opening a hot dog stand) and through sheer grit and a positive attitude make a fortune seems…naive. And also, given who tends to espouse it, the height of privilege.
Thanks to Laurie’s prompting, my husband and I went and got the new updated COVID vaccine yesterday. It was free at CVS—actually, better than free—we each got a $5 coupon. The pharmacist said she had eighty appointments to give the shot yesterday, so people in Massachusetts are taking it seriously.
Sadly, we’re not getting good public health information from our federal government any longer in the United States. Fascists and quacks are running the show. People are actually dying of measles again here in the US, while Dear Leader breaks ground on his Triumphal Arch.
For what it’s worth, I think very old people should retire, especially from Congress.
At age 80, Ed Markey is too old to be elected to a six-year term as a Massachusetts senator. I voted for his 47-year old primary opponent Seth Moulton—a Harvard graduate (Physics Major), multi-term U.S. Representative, decorated Marine Corps veteran, and married father of two daughters.
The main objection to Moulton seems to be that he once said something along the lines of “I don’t want my daughters to have to play contact sports with formerly male athletes.” This seems like a ridiculous reason for Massachusetts “progressives” to throw him under the bus, but that’s exactly what they’re doing, including many of the activists from my church.
So now, I keep my mouth shut. I’m obviously going to vote for Markey over any Republican in the general election.
Markey is a tall old white man (not a known member of the LGBTQ community). He has no children. I believe he served in the Army Reserves during the Vietnam War. My favorite thing that he’s done as Senator was to speak out against the TikTok ban.
Here’s what the New York Times had to say about this race.
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