With the Milan-Cortina Olympics about to start, we’re going to be seeing many shots of Milan’s iconic Gothic-style Duomo.
This reminds me that I visited Milan in 1985 with my friend Julie during our semester abroad in Italy. We climbed up to the rooftop terraces of the Duomo. Back then, you didn’t need reservations or special tickets to go up.
I love it when photographic evidence of my foggy memories actually exists!
Here’s a photo I took of Julie taking a photo through a doorway atop the Duomo in Milan 40+ years ago. Julie is a great photographer so I’m sure she got a wonderful, artistic shot. But I like my pic too. Her red coat looks cool. And you can see some of the over-the-top decorative elements of the roof. Those endless spires remind me of wet, drippy sandcastles.
This is the first winter in forever that I’m not going to Florida for at least a week. I’m staying here in the cold with my husband—and his new knee—for the entire winter. And it sure is a cold and snowy one. We have a huge snow bank in our driveway and major icicles hanging off our roof. I’m worried about ice dams causing leaking into the house (so far, so good).
There’s a garden under that huge pile of snow. The plow guy has no other place to put the snow. I hope at least some of the plants survive.
On the bright side: I get to see my granddaughter today 😁 Also, the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, which is a big plus if you’re married to a huge Pats fan. The Super Bowl is on his birthday too. Also, my church is hosting an Emma’s Revolution concert Friday to benefit a local immigrant and refugee justice organization. It’s going to be fun.
Yesterday, I watched some of the congressional testimony from people whose lives have been ruined by ICE, including Renee Good’s two heartbroken brothers. Not a single Republican congressperson attended the hearing. I watched Aliyah Rachman—a woman with a traumatic brain injury—testify to the most horrific capture and treatment by ICE that you could possibly imagine. The conditions in the detention centers are subhuman, with living human beings referred to as “bodies.” Watch her testimony here.
My husband has signed on to get his other knee replaced in mid-March, so that’s going to….in a word…suck.
But back to the bright side: we moved an old treadmill from the unfinished side of the basement to the “nice” side of the basement and it still works fine. So I can “take a walk” even when the weather prevents me from going outside. I’m currently rewatching the entire originalSex and the City series while I’m treadmilling. I’m on Season 3.
I’m getting closer to the end of my watercolor botanicals workbook and I decided I’d like to keep learning in a class with a teacher. Last night I found a class at a different community arts center (even closer to my house than where I took my first watercolors class last fall). There was just one opening left, so I registered. I had hesitated to register earlier, because the class focuses on learning to paint one particular subject, which sounded kind of silly. But last night as I watched All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, I decided that painting “soft, cute and fluffy baby farm animals” might be just what I need in the Winter of 2026.
Peony and wildflowers from my Watercolors Workbook
I watched almost all of the Grammys on Sunday night and I really enjoyed them, even though I didn’t know most of the music.
I always like Trevor Noah—the host. (Everyone should read his memoir “Born a Crime” about growing up as a biracial kid in South Africa.) I thought Trevor’s jokes were funny and not too mean. Our whiny-ass, thin-skinned President is suing Trevor over one mention of him in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, even though Trump’s name is reportedly in the newly released Epstein files over 1,000 times!
I liked the fact that the diverse array of artists who took the stage didn’t shy away from talking about what’s going on in the country. Many wore black & white “ICE OUT” pins, including the legend herself—Carole King.
Carole King, one of the all time greatest songwriters
The highlights for me were Olivia Dean and Bad Bunny’s acceptance speeches. Here’s what they said:
Best New Artist Olivia Dean:
“I guess I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn’t be here — I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We’re nothing without each other. Thank you so much.”
I did a little research and learned that Olivia Dean’s maternal grandmother was born in Guyana and emigrated to the United Kingdom as part of the “Windrush” generation — a post-World War II movement of Caribbean migrants invited to Britain to help rebuild the country. They arrived in Britain between 1948 and the early 1970s on ships like the Empire Windrush.
Bad Bunny, who is Puerto Rican, spoke movingly from the heart. He opened his first acceptance speech by saying “ICE OUT,” which got a standing ovation. He then said, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans. Hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please. We need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it, with love.”
I didn’t stay up to see him win Album of the Year (the first time ever that a Spanish language album got this award), but when I watched later I saw that he dedicated the award “to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.”
I mean, come ON, if you didn’t love Benito before, you gotta love him now! I really can’t wait to see what he does for the Super Bowl halftime show. Check out the teaser he dropped yesterday.
We already know that Trump and all the American traitors who support him are not in favor of a Latino performer at the Super Bowl, but I think it’s going to be great and just what the country needs.
I will be rooting for the New England Patriots because that’s our team, but I’m not happy that owner Robert Kraft was seen with Trump at the opening screening of the ridiculous “Melania” documentary vanity project. Bad Kraft!! Very Bad!
My own immigrant grandparents, circa 1925
In 1905, my grandfather bravely left Southern Italy alone at age 15 with $12.00 in his pocket to start a new life in the United States of America. Just like Olivia Dean said, “I am a product of bravery.”
Of all the unexpected bad news out of left field, Catherine O’Hara suddenly passing at age 71 made me cry OH NO at top volume.
Like literally everyone else, I LOVED Catherine O’Hara.
There are currently about one million tributes to Catherine online, so I’m just going to pick one favorite memory to share and that is: I honestly don’t know how we would’ve made it through the pandemic lockdown without Schitt’s Creek and Moira Rose. She was such a bright spot during that awful time. I absolutely loved all of the scenes involving the Women’s Choir (probably because I’m a lifelong Choir Lady myself), but remember her audition? The bizarre scat singing and the shaker egg in one hand. 🤣 How on earth did she come up with that? I often wondered how the other actors made it through even one take with Moira Rose without cracking up.
Thanks for the laughs Catherine, but you left us way too soon! There are so many other Baby Boomers that should’ve gone before you (especially the one in The White House). NOT FAIR. I was so looking forward to seeing you in Season Two of The Studio and whatever else you ever decided to do.
As Shelly told me, arthroplasty recovery is gruesome. Between the bruising, the swelling, the pain and the really gross incision, it’s a major yuk…especially for the medically squeamish.
I was pretty stressed out dealing with my patient this weekend. Sadly, that resulted in me getting overly annoyed in a couple of situations. (The only one I feel badly about is the pharmacy tech at Walgreens—it wasn’t her fault that their printer didn’t work and she couldn’t give me his prescription.)
I appreciate the many great suggestions I got for Bingeworthy shows during this time of very little activity for me and my patient (aka my husband).
I am pleased to report that we have found a worthy successor to Poldark and it is…drumroll please…The Diplomat (also on Netflix). Although it’s not a period piece like Poldark, it’s got a lot of the ingredients we like: Europe; excellent actors (many of whom are inevitably Brits); good writing; good production values, and very little violence. There are 3 seasons out (22 episodes) with a fourth in production. As everyone knows, Netflix releases entire seasons at once, so all shows are bingeable.
In the non-binge department, we are enjoying Pluribus on Apple TV+. I believe they drip those out on Fridays. It’s my understanding that Vince Gilligan created the show specifically for its star Rhea Seehorn. She’s so good in it. And she’s an American playing an American (not an incredibly talented Brit playing an American—a pet peeve of mine!)
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
American actress Keri Russell in The Diplomat on Netflix
Another very good American actress: Rhea Seehorn in Pluribus on Apple TV+
What are you watching and/or reading to escape paying attention to the fall of democracy?
My husband and I just started season 5 of “Poldark”—the period drama from Masterpiece. We were watching it in Passport (the PBS app), but Netflix just acquired it, so you can watch it there. Highly recommend (if you like period dramas). I’m a longtime Masterpiece lover, but somehow I missed Poldark when it originally aired. It takes place in the late 1700s, with the main character (Ross Poldark) having returned to Cornwall from Virginia, where he was fighting for the British in “the American War.”
Ross and Demelza Poldark will win you over as they gallop across the cliffs of Cornwall, which look very much like Ireland to me.
Also, we recently read “A Visit from the Goon Squad” (copyright 2010) by Jennifer Egan in my book group. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2011, but I had never read it. This genre-blurring book traces the lives of a GenX record-executive and his young assistant across decades of cultural change, interlocking thirteen short stories into a vivid mosaic of time, music, ambition and memory. I liked it so much, I read “the sequel” The Candy House, which came out in 2022. I can’t really explain it, but the term “sequel” is not particularly apt in this case. It’s more of a prequel & futuristic running out of the stories from Goon Squad. Highly recommend if you’re between 50 and 70 years old and find the zeitgeist interesting. Even if you simply enjoy saying the word zeitgeist, I think you will like these books.
Knowing me as you do (😉), please let me know if you have any other recommendations.
With increasingly unhinged far right authoritarians running the show here in the US, it’s hard to stay calm. Due to the Kirk assassination, many people will no longer be able to speak their minds due to promised retaliation by the government. And I don’t just mean talk show hosts and journalists. Teachers, doctors, university leaders, nonprofit administrators and regular old corporate employees are losing their jobs over what they say.
Here’s Commander Waterford and Commander Putnam lying about left-leaning organizations promoting violence and telling us their grand plan for Gilead.
Therefore, if you are able, I recommend escaping to the great outdoors or, if it’s raining, the great indoors—a big-ass movie theater with reclining seats, Dolby Atmos sound, and a bar.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sold-out premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. If you ever loved the show, you won’t want to miss the final installment set in 1930. Downton looks amazing on the big screen and your old favorite characters all make appearances, even the deceased ones. Not to give too much away, but acceptance of divorced women and gay people into polite society is a major theme.
You will be reminded that time marches on and progress has—and always will be—a matter of more inclusion, rather than less.
As I’ve already mentioned, I’m 💯% Team Rosie so I watched her interview on 60 Minutes Australia with great interest.
I did not love the guy who interviewed her. He seemed smug. (And what the heck is a “jelly” in Australia. Was that some sort of an insult in his opening? Maybe Brizzy May can explain.)
I thought Rosie did pretty well under the circumstances. She still managed to be funny and light in a very serious situation. She’s basically a United States artist and citizen living in exile due to fear of retribution from the President of the United States. It’s so fucked up.
Like Sex and the City, Rosie O’Donnell is very aligned to me culturally.
In case you don’t remember the 1990s, Rosie O’Donnell was HUGE—one of America’s biggest cultural figures. Her daytime talkshow The Rosie O’Donnell Show won multiple Emmys and the media nicknamed her “The Queen of Nice.” She was truly a household name. I watched her a lot. She adopted her first child Parker in 1995, the same year I became a mom. She kept me company during the day when I was home with my kids. She was funny, kind, warm and loved Broadway musicals like I did.
In the 2000s, her image shifted as she came out publicly and became a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, which made me like her even more. Later, when she was on The View, I didn’t watch her as often because I was back working, but I know that’s when her public fights with Donald Trump really ramped up. My recollection is that it was primarily a beef between two New Yorkers that had history and absolutely hated each other in a way that only two New Yorkers can.
Well, lo and behold, thirty years later, Trump is the most authoritarian President the United States has ever seen and Rosie has escaped to Ireland.
In fact, since I discovered her TikTok and Substack shortly before my trip to Ireland, I’ve been following her time abroad closely. She seems to really love living in Dublin, although she misses her family. I even went to the Dublin comedy club where she had been practicing her act for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By all accounts, she was a smashing success there. She plays Australia next.
I’m happy for Rosie that things are going well for her abroad, but I’m very aware of the absolutely dystopian reasons she left the country.
We are in uncharted waters now.
We live in a time when an American President publicly threatens to revoke a natural-born American’s citizenship for no reason other than that he just really fucking hates her.
Tom Cruise on The Rosie O’Donnell Show (and BTW, good on Tom for declining to accept a lifetime achievement award from Orange Mussolini at The Kennedy Center)
Predictably, I was a fan of Sex and the City and have eagerly watched all three seasons of the reboot—And Just Like That. (I saw both of the Sex and the City movies too.) We now know that this will be the final season of And Just Like That, so fans are getting ready to bid goodbye to Carrie Bradshaw forever.
My obvious connection to the show has been that I am the same generation as the main characters. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis are my age exactly—sixty. They are among the group of actresses born in 1965 that I tend to keep tabs on.
I know there are plenty of haters out there, based on very legitimate criticisms of the show, but for me Sex and the City was like an alternate reality. By the time the show first aired in 1998, I was married with a three-year old, living in a somewhat dilapidated antique house in suburbia. What if I hadn’t gone that route? What if I had had the gumption to leave Boston for the real city in my twenties, like several of my friends? Would I be dashing around Manhattan in a tulle skirt, going to art openings and brunch?
The 60-year old versions of the characters in the reboot, still living in Manhattan in fabulous clothes, have been dealing with some relatable GenX problems from bouts of vertigo to ageism at work. Still, they’ve kept it mostly light and escapist. Even when Carrie’s husband (Mr. Big) drops dead in the shower, I wasn’t exactly heartbroken. The female friendships are still central. New York City is still central.
We’ll see what the final two episodes bring. How will my life in an alternate universe turn out?
SJP as Carrie Bradshaw in Season One of Sex and the City (1998)
Me hosting a rather cramped birthday party in our living room in 1998
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