iPhone Journal

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What notable things happened today?
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On January 24, 2024, I tried out the new “journal” feature on my iPhone and I’ve added an entry every day since.

I’m finding it’s a good way to keep track of the notable (and mundane) things that happen in my life.

Apparently, the journal lives only on your phone and is not kept in the cloud anywhere. It’s like an old-fashioned diary. It’s meant only for you. There’s no “share to Instagram” button.

I’m finding it’s a handy memory aid. If my mother asks me what I’ve been up to for the last few weeks, I can whip out my journal and jog my memory. I can look back and see which day exactly I got this manicure, or went to the doctor, or talked to my friend Susan.

Occasionally I put some deep thoughts in my journal (things that I wouldn’t share on my blog), but it’s mostly just a quick photo or workout summary.

Here’s my concern: it doesn’t seem like Apple has figured out how the journal will get transferred to a new iPhone, when the time comes. Since the journal doesn’t get backed up in the cloud, when the phone is gone, the journal will be gone too. At least, that’s my understanding.

Please share your thoughts on this new iPhone feature. Have you tried it? Do you like it? Are you concerned about losing your entries when it’s time for a new phone?

Screenshot of my iPhone journal
This is what the journal icon looks like on iPhone.

Outdoor swimming season

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
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This is an easy one for me. I’ve been at the outdoor pool every day that it’s been open since Memorial Day weekend. Starting this week, it’s open every day. The lifeguards are mostly high school students and the seniors are out for summer. Woo hoo!

That’s “my” lap lane in the foreground of the photo.

Related post:

Summer is our glory

Summer

The JCC Pool

Oases for all

A/C

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?
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For most of my life, I lived in homes with no air conditioning. Growing up, we made it through the muggy New England summers with fans and one window air conditioning unit in my parents’ bedroom. Throughout college and my first few apartments, I had no a/c at all. We purchased a window air conditioning unit for our bedroom in our first house.

It wasn’t until we moved into our second home that I experienced the true luxury of central air conditioning. I was 39 years old. Between menopause, global warming, and the extra layer of fat I now wear, I could never go back to A/C-less living.

It’s my birthday and I will not be going to the grocery store.

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If humans had taglines, what would yours be?
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That’s my tagline for today. This is the last birthday of my fifties. My sixtieth year—my sixth decade—starts now.

That’s right, GenX is gonna be hitting 60 in 2025. I found a couple of very 80s concert outfit pics from 1982ish. I saw both the Go-Go’s and the B-52’s live in Boston. I can’t remember which outfit was for which.

Beyond the basics

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

What are the most important things needed to live a good life?

I think books, music and art make life worth living, once basic needs (food, shelter, safety) are met.

I got to go to an art show by a dear old friend from college last night. It is her first gallery show. In college, she was a double major in art history and religion. For decades, she’s worked as a museum educator and administrator.

She always had an artist’s eye and soul. We studied abroad in Italy at the same time and traveled together on our fall break. A fellow blogger’s post about the city of Bergamo (Italy) reminded me of that trip. We went to Bergamo, Parma, Verona, Venice, and Milan.

Her artwork involves deconstructing everyday packaging and reassembling in very cool ways.

A large piece by Julie Bernson on display at Gallery Kayafas in Boston
Julie taking a photo atop the Duomo in Milan in 1985.

Bucket List trip: Grand Canyon

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Who do you spend the most time with?
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A year ago this week, we were in Grand Canyon National Park.

Selfies are hard. This is one of our better ones.
We stayed right in Grand Canyon Village. This was taken just outside our hotel—Thunderbird Lodge.
Shoshone Point—a wild and gorgeous spot in Grand Canyon National Park
Shoshone Point
We even took a helicopter tour—scary at first, but spectacular and worth the price.

This trip was motivated by the death of my close friend Carla who loved the Grand Canyon and whose ashes are spread there. (Carla is the person who set me up with my husband more than 33 years ago.) I would consider it my first “bucket list” trip of retirement, even though I didn’t retire until six months later.

I’m lucky to have a kind and hardworking husband who is willing to travel with me (within reason). He doesn’t love it like I do, but he usually ends up liking the trip a lot more than he thought he would.

Thirty-one years of marriage—that’s a whole lot of time together!

The Grand Canyon lives up to the hype. Go, if you can.

Related posts:

Experiences over stuff

Hot air balloon flight

Sky Bars

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Describe your dream chocolate bar.
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If you’re from the East Coast, you probably know about Sky Bars. The genius chocolate bar with four different flavors buried inside—caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge. In my memory, the vanilla was more like marshmallow.

Here’s a brief history of the Sky Bar from SkyBarCandy.com:

The Sky Bar was invented in 1938 at the New England Confectionery Company (“NECCO”). The molded chocolate bar revolutionized confectionery technology as the first chocolate bar to have multiple different flavored centers. Chocolate bars of a similar molded form had started popping up around the early 1900s, but none had the same internal complexity of the Sky Bar. Recognizing the innovation they had on their hands, the folks at NECCO chose the name “Sky Bar” because flight was the excitement of the day. They chose to launch this new candy bar with a sky writing marketing campaign and they built up anticipation by advertising the upcoming sky writing events. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the era of the family road trip and the vending machine, Sky Bars were seemingly everywhere. Thanks to extensive TV advertising, the Sky Bar was the candy bar of choice for many families, primarily up and down the East Coast. As a result, the Sky Bar evokes special childhood memories for many. It was continuously manufactured by NECCO for 80 years, and after a hiatus of only a year and a half, it is back, and looking forward to the next 80 years and a new generation of Sky Bar fans!

It was always very exciting to see which flavor you’d bite into next.

I haven’t had one in years, but thanks to this prompt, I will be buying one soon. Since NECCO went out of business in 2018, I have my doubts that the new manufacturer will make then exactly the same way, but we shall see. I’ll try to have an open mind.

Long live Judy Blume

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

I remember having “Pat the Bunny” as a very young child.

This favorite book for babies was first published in 1940.

Books by Dr. Seuss and his protégé P.D. Eastman (“Go Dog Go”) were good for both learning to read and being read to. Horton was particularly fascinating, perched on that nest while lazy Mayzie flew off to Palm Beach!

As I got older, nothing beat Judy Blume for real talk about real things that I actually cared about. “Deenie” was a favorite and of course, “Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret?”

Book banners like to target Judy Blume books, which is all the more reason to keep buying them, reading them, and giving them to your kids and grandkids.

Florida resident and bookstore owner Judy Blume tells us how she really feels about her governor.