I like indoor fairy lights, but get tired of constantly changing the AAA batteries, so I took a chance and ordered some solar-powered ones from Amazon (even though Jeff Bezos is totally on my shit list). Where else can you search and compare tons of cheap electronic crap from China and have it delivered within 2 days? Amazon stands alone!
The lights come with small stakes for using outdoors, but they also work well in interior windows that get sun. You just have to face the little solar power packs south. They charge during the day and come on automatically after dark. You can set them to steady or flashing/twinkling mode.
It’s one way to ward off the doom and gloom of early darkness. The sun sets here by 4:30pm now…
I have the best blueberry muffin recipe for you today. It’s pretty easy and the muffins come out really well—every single time. They are moist and delicious.
The recipe makes a dozen full-size muffins. I bake them for exactly 28 minutes in my oven. I use paper muffin cup liners.
Bonus photo of my double-jointed thumb
I got the recipe from my mother originally because everyone always loves her blueberry muffins. She may or may not have got it from The Boston Globe many years ago.
Anyway, it’s a keeper.
Don’t forget to sprinkle the sugar on before baking.
It says 2.5 cups of blueberries, but I always just use one dry pint (the way they come in the store). I’ve only ever made it with fresh blueberries, so I’m not sure how it would work with frozen ones.
First, I learned a new word on Bluesky and it is “kakistocracy.”
Use it in a sentence: “The United States will become a kakistocracy soon.”
Second, I got my tickets for the new Wicked movie starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. We’re going Thanksgiving weekend and I fully expect the audience to be chock full of musical theater kids (young and old) who WILL sing along. My husband said he wanted to go with me, so he’ll just have to deal with it. (I will be one of the singing people.)
Did you get your tickets yet?
Third, I will be spending the day with the world’s most adorable and perfect infant today. I thought my own kids were pretty darn cute, but my granddaughter is off-the-charts gorgeous. And it’s not just me saying that…there is a general consensus that she’s the prettiest little dark-haired, dark-eyed baby that anyone has ever seen! There is absolutely no danger that anyone has to fake it, like Jerry and Elaine did in that classic Seinfeld scene. 🤣
Have a great day, if you can. If not, just keep going.
Quick update from the Great Blue Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Progressive people and institutions are deleting their Twitter/X accounts in protest and joining Bluesky, which apparently is the fastest growing app in the country right now.
I have no idea if I will ever post there, but I did set-up a profile, which you are welcome to follow. I’m @mamag83.
If I’ve interested you at all in my church or Unitarian Universalism through my posts, these are a few accounts you could follow:
My minister: @revlara
My church: @fculittleton
My former minister: @revfredsmall
If you like billionaires, Bluesky has Mark Cuban and he’s oh SO much better than Elon Musk: @mcuban
And finally, if you like astrology, please follow my daughter and order a personalized reading: @lunarxluci. People love them! (She also has large followings on TikTok: @lunarxluci and Instagram: @lunarxluci)
As I’ve mentioned before, I appreciate the state of Florida, mainly for its warm weather, beautiful beaches, and easy access (numerous cheap, nonstop flights) from New England.
The obvious drawback for me (and many liberal New England types) is the politics there. It’s truly a red state now. (It didn’t used to be.) I know people that despise the whole idea of Florida so much that they actually flinch in disgust when it’s mentioned!
But after one delicious Cosmo and a beautiful Florida sunset on a balmy night in February (when it’s snowing and 20 degrees at home), Florida seems pretty fucking great.
I have been to many places in south and central Florida, including some of the Keys, but I’ve never made it all the way down to Key West—the southernmost point in the US. It’s been on my bucket list for awhile now, primarily for the vibes.
Having worked in the arts for many years, I had many gay male friends and co-workers and they always loved Key West. (A good sign) Also, Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote many of his most famous books there. And I’m currently watching Bloodline, with the amazing Ben Mendelsohn, Sam Shepherd and Sissy Spacek, which was shot there. Then of course, there’s the pie. I love Key Lime pie and I’m assuming they have some great places to get it in (on?) Key West. My understanding is that there’s also a heavy Cuban influence there and while I have no desire to visit actual Cuba, I do like the idea of experiencing some of its culture on Key West.
What I didn’t realize before I booked the flights is how tiny it is! It’s only four miles long by two miles wide. That’s like one-tenth of a Nantucket. Teensy! Hopefully we don’t get bored there for a whole week. Please send any Key West recommendations you may have.
So as the United States descends into fascism this winter, I’m going to practice total avoidance and have me some delicious Key Lime pie.
Final note: I did check their voting records and they went Harris, according to ChatGPT. So, I will feel slightly better about spending my money there. It’s a blue bubble area.
Do people think ChatGPT is reliable for questions like this?
I encountered a lot of naked despair, grief and anger at church today. I belong to a liberal Unitarian Universalist church outside of Boston. Many people were absolutely wrecked over the election results, including the minister.
We have many older members (I guess that includes me now at nearly 60) who have been fighting for all types of causes for decades, from the climate crisis to abortion. My church helped lead the marriage equality movement in Massachusetts. (We were the very first state in the country to legalize gay marriage in 2004–twenty years ago!) During the fight, our then minister refused to perform weddings in our beautiful historic church until same-sex marriage was legal. He really took a stand and it helped move things forward. Shortly after the law was passed, he married two longtime beloved church members—two women—in front of of the entire congregation. It was euphoric.
Anyway, I was doing OK at church, holding up pretty well, until the music director played John Lennon’s Imagine during the offertory. Oh man, hearing that just broke me (and a bunch of other people too). She was playing it beautifully on the grand piano (with no vocalist) but of course everyone in our congregation knows the words and was quietly singing along.
I am devastated, but I’m going to try to get over it quicker than in 2016. My conscience is clear. I didn’t sit on the sidelines. I did what I could to try to defeat Trump—marching, calling, writing, donating, posting, rallying, protesting, singing, voting.
For years…years…we did all that stuff.
But Trump won a second term anyway – fair and square. American voters chose a senile pervert and felon over a perfectly good female candidate (again).
It’s time to circle the wagons and focus mainly on my own family. I plan to devote my time and resources primarily to them. I have so many cute pictures of my granddaughter in my phone. If I get down, I’ll just look at them. I am too old to be angry about Trump for another four years. By the time my granddaughter gets to kindergarten, he’ll be out of office. In fact, I’m going to try not to use his name in my blog anymore.
Maybe I’ll get involved again if they try for a National Abortion Ban. Otherwise, I’m just going to huddle up here with my loved ones in Massachusetts, where we will (hopefully) be relatively safe.
And the stakes seem absolutely monumental. Not just for the United States, but for the whole world.
The best advice I’ve seen is from my former UU minister, the Reverend Fred Small. He says, “If you’re feeling anxious (or worse) about the presidential election, I recommend deep breaths, meditation, and this video released last night by the Harris campaign.”
He was right. The video makes me feel better. We’ve got some extremely competent and professional women— like Jen O’Malley Dillon and Dana Remus—running the Harris Campaign. They know what they’re doing.
My get-out-the-vote calls went pretty well today. It was actually kind of fun. I talked to left-leaning voters from Pennsylvania. Many had already voted for Kamala and were willing to reach out to friends and family to do the same. One young man from Erie County, PA told me he wasn’t just excited, he was ECSTATIC to make Kamala Harris the next President of the United States.
So why don’t I feel better? Where’s my joy? Why am I SO anxious?
Because I remember 8 years ago…
Here I am in my cute little pantsuit (which no longer fits) on November 8, 2016, heading out to help elect Hillary Clinton as our first woman president. I was so excited and happy. Joyful!
And then….
Utter despair, bitter disappointment, disbelief, and a huge amount of anger at every single person who saw fit to pull the lever for Mr. Grab-em-by-the-Pussy Donald Trump.
Tomorrow (US Election Day) is going to be rough. I’m going to wear my new KA-MA-LA t-shirt and buy some celebratory champagne, but I also have to prepare myself for the worst. I have Hillary PTSD. Of course I’m hoping against hope that it’ll be a Kamala landslide and red states will start dropping early on. (My fantasy is that Florida miraculously goes blue by 9pm.) But that’s probably not going to happen. It’s probably going to be some sort of a protracted nail biter like Biden/Trump in 2020. (It took four days from Election Day for CNN to declare Biden the winner.)
The one and only good thing about the November 8, 2016 election was that Massachusetts legalized recreational cannabis the very same night. And that is the only reason I’ve made it through the past eight years.
May the Trump Era in the United States of America end tomorrow.
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