GenX

Housing

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

I guess the thing I can’t live without is my house. I mean, I could, but it would be tough.

People, of course, matter more than anything else and are irreplaceable.

I feel badly that home ownership seems to be out of reach for so many people—especially in Massachusetts. I love my state, but the lack of affordable housing is a major problem.

Our first house looked a bit “overgrown” when we drove by a few years ago.

My husband and I had very lucky timing. We bought our first house in 1995 when our daughter was 6 months old for 155K. It was an antique house with lead paint, no garage, a leaky fieldstone basement, a horrible old kitchen over a crawl space and 1.5 bathrooms. We sold it 9 years later, in 2004, for 385K with some moderate updates (including the kitchen). It went up 148.5% in 9 years!

It was just plain luck. If we’d waited 5 years, it would’ve been mid-housing crisis and things would not have worked out so well.

Related post:

Stonework

Guilt-inducing dolls

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Do you have any collections?
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As a kid, I had numerous collections—shells, rocks, stamps, glass animals, and dolls…lots of dolls.

I’ve purged the attic of all my old collections (I think), including my vinyl record albums. (That one was sad, but they were warped and I don’t own a turntable anymore.)

The last collection to go was the dolls. I had a few specialty dolls, along with a large collection of Madame Alexander dolls, which were very popular gifts for girls in the 70s. I loved their pretty costumes representing the nations of the world. These weren’t dolls you played with (like Barbie), they were meant to be displayed and admired. They lived on a shelf in my room. Of course, I did play with them sometimes, but I felt badly for doing so. Thinking back, I already felt enough pressure to be perfect and not commit “sins” (as defined by the Catholic Church), so I really didn’t need those dolls tempting me too!

In the end, they were basically worthless. Even though they were in good shape (with their original boxes), a doll dealer gave me less than $50 for the whole lot. I should have played with them all along.

They sat on the dining room table for about a week, creeping out my husband, before I sold them.

The child bride doll (talk about creepy!) was the one I played with the most.
I’m pretty sure some of these costumes would be considered stereotypical or even racist now. You can’t see them in the photo, but the Dutch girl had real wooden clogs. And the Scottish girl had bright green eyes like emeralds. Spain was cool with her black veil. The Indian doll had a red dot on her forehead.

Related post:

I’d rather laugh with the sinners

The love you leave behind when you’re done

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is the legacy you want to leave behind?
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The question of legacy always reminds me of the song “Everything Possible” by Fred Small. I knew Fred when he was my minister in the early 2000s. I heard him perform this lullaby on several occasions and each time it made me cry.

It was especially meaningful during the battle for marriage equality in Massachusetts. We were the very first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004 (20 years ago), but it was a protracted legal and legislative fight. Though it had been written in 1983, “Everything Possible” struck a chord during that time. In our church, Fred took a stand and stopped performing all marriages, until marriage was legal for same-sex couples too. The song became a highly emotional signature anthem for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus.

Recently, Fred tweaked the lyrics to be more inclusive of non-binary people and created a children’s book to accompany the song and further spread the message of love and acceptance.

The chorus is the most beautiful part.

You can be anybody you want to be,
You can love whomever you will
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know that I will love you still
You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around,
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you’re done.

Here’s a beautiful live performance of the song by the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus.

And here’s Fred himself singing the new version of “Everything Possible.”

I’ll definitely be buying this book for my granddaughter, when she’s old enough.

I’d like to be remembered for the love I leave behind when I’m done.

Rev. Fred Small having a chat with a group of children in my church around 2004—the year when marriage equality became law in Massachusetts

More Finger Lakes

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments
Daily writing prompt
How do you feel about cold weather?
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I don’t like cold weather. I especially dislike snow. We have so many places in the Northeast that are spectacularly beautiful—in the summer. The Finger Lakes region (aka the Southern Tier) of upstate New York is one of them.

This area is a very long drive from Boston (about 6 hours), so I made this weekend’s graduation trip to Ithaca a “bucket list” sort of trip. I have enjoyed my many visits up here, but I doubt I’ll be back again.

In addition to the hot air ballooning, we visited the famous Corning Museum of Glass, which many people now know from Blown Away—the glassblowers competition series on Netflix.

Stunning glass sculpture at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY
Corning Museum of Glass

The city of Ithaca, NY is on Lake Cayuga and I’ve seen it many times. This trip, I wanted to see the next Finger Lake over—Lake Seneca. It is equally beautiful and has the cute town of Watkins Glen at the bottom.

The harbor area in Watkins Glen on Lake Seneca

Watkins Glen is also home to one of New York’s most beautiful state parks.

Watkins Glen State Park

There are many wineries in the area, but I had never been to a cidery, so we stopped at South Hill Cider after graduation for a glass of hard cider and a charcuterie board. Lovely spot and their dry, sparkling Baldwin cider was great. I bought a bottle to take home.

The view at South Hill Cider in Ithaca, NY

There’s an expression you may have heard—Ithaca is Gorges. Its deep gorges and their accompanying waterfalls are truly gorgeous, and there are dozens of them all over the region. I had seen the showstopper—Taughannock Falls—on a previous trip, but wanted to check out a couple of others before we left.

Buttermilk Falls State Park
Robert H. Treman State Park
Robert H. Treman State Park
Lucifer Falls at Robert H. Treman State Park

Related:

Summer is our glory in New England

Hot air balloon flight

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

Have you ever broken a bone?

I broke a toe once, really badly. I don’t even like to think about it. It hurt SO much. (I stubbed it on a futon leg while barefoot.) It was wildly out of alignment. My husband had to pop it back into place. OUCH! Doctors can’t really do anything about toes. They just taped it to the one next to it and I limped around until it healed.

Fortunately no bones were broken during our Friday night “bucket list” excursion in Ithaca. The take-off was much wilder than I thought it would be. I was holding on to the basket for dear life. But once we were floating, it was quite magical. I’ve been in a helicopter before, but this was different. It’s as close as you can imagine to being a bird. So very many shades of green. The bottom of the basket occasionally scraped on some tree tops. “No problem,” said our pilot Dar. “Basket cleaners,” he called them. And then handed us some leaves. 🍃

My husband and son got put to work on both takeoff and landing. I took pictures and videos.

Three people were already pre-loaded in the basket at this point. The rest of us scrambled in over the sides, once “Captain America” was upright.
Up we go, with Dar’s hand on the “flame throwers” (which were a bit loud, when in use)
We floated over some waterfalls in Ithaca’s Robert H. Treman State Park
The magic of floating in the air and Dar thanking his ground crew.
I really did not want to drop my phone, but eventually I relaxed enough to hand it to a fellow passenger from Pennsylvania. He took this nice pic.
Group selfie with Dar
Farms and fields and Lake Cayuga in the distance

I think we were all a bit nervous about the landing. Once he found a good spot, Dar had the heavier people, including my very strong husband, move to one side of the basket. We all crouched down with all body parts inside the basket. We dragged on the ground for a bit. My husband got out and helped hold us down, which he said was hard. (He got a rather large bruise as we attempted to “jump” the basket up and over a small ditch. Inside the basket, we actually jumped up and down.)

When instructed, I did not waste any time grabbing the bars and vaulting myself out of the basket in a move that my son described as “wildly athletic.”

My son was instructed to run out into the field and help the ground crew pull down Captain America.

The landing
My son and the ground crew pulling Captain America back to earth
Everyone helped put Captain America back in his bag.

We celebrated with a roadside champagne toast and then the ground crew drove us back to our car!

Related post:

Experiences over stuff

Graduation & Audiobooks

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What sacrifices have you made in life?
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We’re headed to upstate NY today for my son’s college graduation!

As previously reported, I’m very proud of him and he’s generally been a joy to raise, but I’ve certainly made a few sacrifices along the way.

I’ve checked-out the only four audiobooks from the library that were available and short enough to finish during the 6-hour car ride. If anyone has read or listened to any of these books and has thoughts, please let me know.

Bon weekend!

The Big Easy

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?
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I’ve got a WEK “big easy” shirt that’s at least 20 years old, possibly 25. I’m pretty sure my mother gave it to me. Judging from the comments in the reviews, other people love it as much as me and have had theirs just as long.

It was originally a light lilac/periwinkle color. The sleeves now have a few holes. I have no idea why they have holes. It’s not made of wool (therefore the holes are not moth-made). I guess it’s just old.

I wear it on a daily basis as a sort of a house coat. It’s the perfect weight for a layer. I try not to wear it out (other than to the mailbox), but sometimes I end up wearing it to do a local errand.

My oldest shirt in portrait mode.
Deep post, huh?

Leader/Follower

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Are you a leader or a follower?
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This prompt gives me pause.

I mean, I like to think of myself as being a serious person that people listen to, but I’ve not held many traditional leadership roles in my life. I can’t think of one committee that I ever chaired or co-chaired. Maybe that will change, as I’ve been appointed to my church’s executive team for next fiscal year.

At work, I was always a respected “individual contributor” (as they say in HR). I never managed a team.

With my family, I’d say I’m pretty much the leader (CEO), with my husband as CFO (and let’s face it, CTO—I’m clueless about technology), but with my son soon to be fully launched, I may be in more of an advisory role soon.

With my activist volunteer work, I’m definitely a follower. Tell me who to call or write, and what to say, and I’ll get it done. I respect the work of the smart and serious activists in my community and I gladly follow them. We’re united in our mission to create a blue wave in 2024 and save democracy from the MAGA cult. We’ve got new and different people showing up every week (including men—yay men!), plus many helping out from home.

Can you tell who the leader of this group is? It’s Denali (front right)—an experienced, passionate activist who has been organizing since the 60s. She even gives us tips on how to quickly apply stamps. 😉

Froot Loops

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
List your top 5 favorite fruits.
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Just kidding, everyone knows there’s not one speck of real fruit in Froot Loops.

This is one of the many jokes in Jerry Seinfeld’s new film “Unfrosted” on Netflix, which I recommend if you’re an American between the ages of 55 and 70.

Did your mother watch Jack LaLanne on TV—or even own one of his “calisthenics” records—like my mom did?

Did you ever make a newsprint transfer with Silly Putty?

Did you have a Milk Man?

If you ever ate astronaut-inspired “food” or grew Sea Monkeys in a fish bowl, this movie is for you!

It’s basically 90 minutes of non-stop jokes and cultural references to our 1960s childhoods. The premise of the film is the battle between Post and Kellogg’s over the race to invent a breakfast pastry kids will love even more than sugary cereals like Frosted Flakes or Froot Loops. (Spoiler alert: Kellogg’s wins with the ubiquitous, sugar-filled Pop Tart)

I don’t typically like the comedian Bill Burr, but he’s really funny as JFK in this movie. Plus, there’s a ton of other celebrities in roles both large and small.

My generation ate bananas (sliced up into cereal), apples, and dry navel oranges. In the summer, there was watermelon and the occasional strawberry shortcake (especially on the Fourth of July). I’ll stick with those as my top five fruits. Thank goodness the citrus options have improved!

A fun time in 1968

Calcium

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?
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So, according to my doctor (who I saw last week), I’m supposed to be getting 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily. That seems like a lot! I’m not a fan of those chewy calcium supplements, so I should try to get it from food.

Ballparking this:

Broccoli: 100mg

Spinach: 100mg

Dried figs: 100mg

Orange: 50mg

Yogurt: 300mg

Cereal: 130mg

Cheese: 170mg

Total: 950mg

You know what this means, don’t you? I need to start drinking milk.

Bleh.

One 8oz glass of milk: 300mg

Everyone knows there’s only one thing that makes milk tolerable – and that’s chocolate. And no, I don’t drink chocolate milk.

I like my milk with fancy chocolates—also unfancy ones, if that’s all I have. Reese’s happen to go great with milk.

So, I will be adding both nonfat milk—and more chocolate—to my diet.

Here’s the selection we picked up at Trader Joe’s the other night.

That chocolate bar on the left has 120mg of calcium in it. It’s a win-win.