I don’t think our federal government is keeping us safe.
One area where I don’t trust them at all is Public Health. There’s a literal quack in charge of Health & Human Services.
Therefore, I’m fully embodying my MOM role here on WordPress to warn you about the latest public health threat that sounds awful and is spreading rapidly in the US:
Info sheet from a Massachusetts municipal public health department, which I trust way more than the federal authorities under Trump
This is really going around now and is NOT fun. My sister caught it last week in NYC.
Wash your hands and your cutting boards in hot water & soap.
Scrub your firm fruits and veggies.
Wash all other fruits and veggies under running water for a good long time.
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?
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 😜
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.
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
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.
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
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Honestly, I just want to live in a world where Donald J. Trump no longer exists (and never did). In the meantime, Massachusetts is as close as you’re gonna get to that ideal in the United States.
Did you know that the Orange Cretin never won a single Massachusetts congressional district over the Democratic nominee in 2016, 2020, or 2024? That’s right, not one district ever fell for his bullshit.
I care about public schools and public health.
And, finally, some exciting news…
There’s a very special new citizen coming to Massachusetts very late this year or in early 2027.
I’m not sure chaos is good for us but it is unavoidable. Everyone, no matter how privileged, will experience some chaos.
My grandmother, who came from a very poor immigrant family and lost her husband suddenly in her late thirties with four children to feed, used to say “be grateful for boring days.”
Rare photo of my grandmother (at the sink) at some point after her husband died of complications from what should have been a routine surgery. The family thinks he was simply neglected by hospital staff who treated him as a second-class person because he was an immigrant. My grandmother was born on Christmas Day 1902 and was a widow for over 50 years.
One thing I really like about following a variety of blogs is the geographic diversity. I obviously like all the writers behind the blogs I follow—and actually consider many of them online friends—but beyond that, it’s so cool to get updates from all over the English-speaking world.
For example, Shelly just gave me a great tour of Madison, Wisconsin (a place I’ve never been). And I’ve loved seeing the Seattle area (another place I’ve never been) through recent transplant Stephanie’s eyes. And CJ lives so far north in Canada it makes my city (Boston) seem positively tropical.
The one native English-speaker who uses the most different English than me is my friend May in Brisbane.
“Australian” English is wild and sometimes I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about. They’ve got animals, plants and birds down there that I’ve never heard of. Plus, the slang is so…colorful. Sometimes I put her words into Google. “What does an Australian mean when they say…” or sometimes I just ask her to explain.
Plus, the seasons are opposite down there. (I guess I knew that before, but when she’s sweltering at the beach and planning a cool “Christmas salad,” I actually get it.)
She’s a huge reader of authors from her own country and she loves visiting quirky little Australian towns. She loves her country’s history and culture—especially Errol Flynn and the unsung women heroes of WW2. She goes to lots of live theatre and tackles lots of interesting projects like turning her father’s diary of the war into a book. Plus, she’s a retired grandma like me—a “retirement mentor” if you will.
I honestly know more about Australia (they call it “Oz” you know!) from May than from any other source.
Cheers to all of our blogs making the world seem a little closer.
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