dailyprompt

Impossible dream

~ MaryG ~ 28 Comments

What’s your biggest dream?

We saw The Odyssey yesterday—the latest blockbuster film from Christopher Nolan. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Oppenheimer, but it’s not like we were going to skip the biggest film of the summer. (As you may have heard, it’s three hours long and cost 250 million dollars to make.)

I did a bit a “research” beforehand (I watched one video and read one article in the NYT), so I knew some basics about: Zeus‘s Law; Helen of Troy; Ithaca; and the Greek gods Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and Hades. I recommend doing that before seeing it or you will be confused.

My husband, who read way more Greek mythology than me as a kid, but didn’t brush up before the movie, was pretty confused. He gave the film a resounding “Meh.” In addition to being confused, he felt that none of the characters were particularly well developed.

My take home message was this: war is hell and (most) men are pigs.

The best scene in the film is when the witch Circe (brilliantly played by Samantha Morton) turns Odysseus’ men into actual pigs. It’s not a subtle message.

And as if to make the point more clear, I read these two bits of news upon my return from the theater:

Pig Trump

Pig Hegseth

As I watched 3,000 year old Troy burn, I couldn’t help but think of Tehran, Gaza, Kyiv, Manhattan and scores of other cities and countries that have seen bombings and other manmade violence in my lifetime alone. Some places are getting drone-bombed right now for God’s sake.

War just never seems to go away permanently. Where there are men, there are wars.

A world without war seems an impossible dream.

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. 😋

My best purchase

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is the best purchase you have ever made?
View all responses

The best purchase I ever made was free.

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.

Things I got from my library:

An education

My closest friend

Sex education

Foreign language instruction

Books

E-books

Audiobooks

Books for my kids

Storytime and other entertainment for my kids

Books to discuss with my book group

Flu shots

Travel resources

Magazines

A quiet place to read

A place for my son to meet with his math tutor

A place to hold a community meeting

A place to buy used books for almost nothing

A place to donate old books

A way to download and read or listen to books on my phone or Kindle without ever leaving my house (aka the Libby app)

All for free

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)

Atmosphere

~ MaryG ~ 28 Comments

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?

I’ve been enjoying reading a good old analog book by the pool this week. The book I’m reading is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

It reminds me of summers of yore, when that’s what we did—we laid around and read books.

Our phones did not distract us from our books, because our phones were home in the kitchen—attached to the wall.

My pool is in a condo community for older people, so there are always several other people sitting around reading real books. When I walk around the pool, I check out the titles of other people’s books. Sometimes people stop and ask each other about the book they’re reading. (This doesn’t happen when everyone is reading on their phone or Kindle.)

So yeah, hardcover and paperback books. They’re not actually gone, but I’ve missed them.

So far, it’s good. Please don’t tell me how it ends.😉

Yes, but

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

Are you a lifelong learner?

Yes, but I “study” what I want. I got my BA in History and never went back for a graduate degree because they all sounded so boring and cost too much money. MBA? (snooze fest) Law School? (are you joking?) A Master’s in History? (not interested)

And when I was working, I was never big on “professional development.” I only took the required stuff on topics like cybersecurity. All those LinkedIn courses and certifications on business-y topics were available to me, but I hardly ever opted in. I felt like the best way to get better at my job was to do it, and since I was a fundraiser, the proof was in the pudding. I raised millions of dollars for my employers and clients. Nobody cared that I didn’t have an MBA.

Courses I took outside of work included Italian, photography and music (singing lessons). Now that I’m retired, it’s been studio art classes that interest me most, particularly watercolors.

In fact, just yesterday I participated in a 2.5 hour class called “Yoga, Meditation and Abstract Art.” It was my first time using acrylic paint in decades. My abstract piece really wanted to become some sailboats on a green sea, so that’s what happened.

This started as an abstract, but then a couple of sails emerged. “The FDT” is part of the Resistance 😜

Hot tip from Grandma

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What’s one habit that has improved your life the most?

I’m 61. Been married 33 years. I’m retired, after a 30+ year career in fundraising. I’m a mom and a grandma. Both of my parents are still alive and functioning.

The one habit I’ve noticed that improves quality of life for most people is …

I’m literally drawing a blank.

I’d say “walking outside,” but I’m currently dealing with heel pain and haven’t been walking much. (And neither of my parents ever go for a walk outside.)

OK, here’s one small thing: floss your teeth. That’s something I didn’t do through my twenties, until a mean dentist had a talk with me. He basically shamed me into flossing. Now I floss all the damn time.

There are all kinds of health and financial benefits to having healthy teeth and gums. I’m not going to go into them, but you can google it.

I’d say tone down all that teeth whitening and stock up on good old dental floss.

FDT

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it?

Not to bring up politics AGAIN, but I think the period from Hillary Clinton losing the presidential election (despite winning the popular vote by 2.8M), through Trump’s total mishandling of the COVID pandemic (and the subsequent cancellation of my son’s senior spring of high school), to today’s completely surreal dismantling of the post-WW2 order and the subversion of everything I believed my country stood for, under a wildly corrupt wannabe dictator and sexual predator, has been fucking hard.

Hard to watch

Hard to believe

Hard to afford

And it ain’t over yet…

I’m definitely angrier, sadder, and a bit meaner than I was in 2016.

The old me, going to vote for Hillary Clinton in my silly pantsuit in 2016

The Mighty Red

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments

What’s a book you think deserves a sequel?

We read The Mighty Red (c. 2024) by Louise Erdrich for my book group this month. It was my first time reading her. I liked the book and can certainly understand why she’s such an esteemed author.

The Mighty Red is really a portrait of a community along the Red River in North Dakota, where sugar beet farming and processing is the major industry. There are at least 15 different characters, from the local teenagers to the town priest. A tragedy has occurred, but you don’t find out exactly what happened until late in the book.

The last chapter jumps forward ten or so years, so you get a brief look at how things “turned out” for the major characters. But I think it would be interesting to visit this community in thirty years—when the teenagers are approaching 50. Did they stay? Did they go? Did they ever process their grief from the tragedy? Which couples stayed together and which didn’t? Did the farmers embrace a less devastating crop?

The challenge for Erdrich would be imaging a future that doesn’t exist yet. She’d have to create the world they live in without knowing it.

OK, on second thought, she should wait 15 years before writing the sequel. She’s 72 now. She can make it to 87. If it takes her three years to research and write the book, this could be her 90th birthday present to readers.

Louise, take note!

Oh Cruella

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What villain actually had a good point?

I’m definitely going to lose some followers with this answer, but I think Americans are a bit too obsessed with their dogs. I’m not saying that Dalmatian puppies should be skinned and made into nice, soft fur coats like Cruella wanted, but…a coat like that would be real cute. You must admit!

With the red lining, this would be perfect for Christmas Eve. 😉

I feel positively villainous in dog-obsessed America, when I think these thoughts:

I don’t want your small, unleashed dog jumping on me and getting muddy paw prints on my white pants while you yell “Cupcake, stop.”

I don’t want your large, leashed dog—that you can just barely control—to cross the street to say “hello” to me because “Bodie loves people.” I’m good!

And I certainly don’t want your enormous Great Dane anywhere near me while I’m eating an ice cream cone!

Cruella De Vil in the original 1961 version of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians