One positive change I made during the pandemic was in my kitchen. I finally had my 1980s wood grain kitchen cabinets painted Benjamin Moore Linen White. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I spend a lot of time in and near my kitchen (it’s one of those kitchen/family room combos) and having it be light and bright makes me happier.
I don’t know what took me so long. I kept thinking I had to have the cabinets ripped out and replaced. Painting was so much cheaper.
Related post:
We had a good eclipse! We headed out to the back yard about 2:15pm with some wine, weed, and snacks. We put Alexa in the window and asked her to play “eclipse songs” which she did.
We could clearly see the eclipse with our special glasses on, but we discovered that it was very difficult to get a picture of it, even with the glasses covering the camera lens, but we tried.
The temperature dropped noticeably as the sky darkened more and more. It was strange.
We could still clearly see our shadows, but the light was eerie. A sunset from above.
We decided to shut off Alexa at the point of maximum coverage (about 94%, I think). The last song she played was “Walking on the Moon” by The Police, which was perfect (a GenX classic). The animals got really quiet too. But then suddenly, a Barred Owl hooted really loudly. It startled us. And then another owl answered. It was pretty wild. I pointed my video camera towards the woods and I caught the sound when it happened again. Listen:
The owls really added to our eclipse experience, making it quite magical and mystical. I thought about how this is a time of transition for us.
All in all, a fun afternoon. Something different. It was also fun getting pics from the rest of the family in various locations and seeing all the posts online.
My daughter and her boyfriend managed to get this nice pic about an hour southwest of us:
About an hour after the eclipse, our woodchuck appeared for the first time this season. He’s been living under our shed for several years now. Hello friend.
I recently attended a “live literature” performance. A wonderful actor named J.T. Turner brought Robert B. Frost and his poetry to life. Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874, but his mother moved the family back East after Frost’s father died. He graduated from Lawrence High School (about 30 minutes from here) and spent most of his life in New England. He died in 1963 at age 88 in Boston.
Of course, I was familiar with many of Frost’s poems. They are especially well known here in New England. However, I was unaware of the many tragic events in Frost’s life. While achieving great success in his lifetime, including an unprecedented four Pulitzer Prizes, Robert Frost suffered unfathomable losses and a strong family history of mental illness.
After losing his father from tuberculosis at age 11 and moving to Massachusetts, his mother died of cancer. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.
Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliott (1896–1900, died of cholera); daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983); son Carol (1902–1940); daughter Irma (1903–1967); daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth); and daughter Elinor Bettina (died just one day after her birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937 and died of heart failure in 1938.*
During the performance, I learned that the cause of death of Frost’s beloved son Carol was suicide. He was 38 and a poet, like his father. The actor portraying Frost said that Carol had chosen the woods. Lovely, dark and deep.
I’ll never hear that poem in quite the same way again.
Frost believed, as many do, that poetry is meant to be read aloud and I agree. Here is a recording of Robert Frost reading his poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening.”
*source: Wikipedia
When I was growing up in the 70s, there were not many exciting female book characters. There was Pippi Longstocking, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Heidi, Jo March from Little Women, and the dutiful daughters of The Little House on the Prairie series.
I wasn’t a tomboy like Jo or a sleuth like Nancy, and I didn’t want to be a nurse like Cherry, or be motherless like Pippi or Heidi. And the prairie sisters (though I loved them) had far too many chores.
That leaves all the princesses, witches and bitches, plus the occasional fun nanny, and a fairy or two.
Ugh. No good choices here.
Honestly, maybe Tinkerbell is the best choice. At least she could fly and was a bit naughty – when she wasn’t in her cage.
I’d have to go with cats as both the best and the worst.
When they’re good, they’re oh so good.
But when they’re bad, they’re awful.
Runner-up: dogs (same reasons)
Related post:
If someone would pay for my airfare, hotels, and daily spending budget, I would gladly write reviews of my accommodations and travel adventures for free. That’s right – I’ll let you know what I think for free! (Also, I’d want to be able to bring a companion on my trips – also for free.) I’m sure Condé Naste will be calling any minute.
Speaking of travel writers, I happened to receive an e-mail with this review of the maiden voyage of “Icon of the Seas” (the world’s largest cruise ship) as I was writing this post. It’s written by the novelist Gary Schteyngart, who didn’t exactly love the voyage (as you might imagine), but it’s a funny, in-depth look at the most anticipated cruise ship experience since The Titanic.
I was not a jock. I played some competitive tennis and ran a bit of track, but I never played any true team sports. I was a good swimmer and eventually a lifeguard, but swim racing was of no interest.
I loved both of the dance-y sports—gymnastics and figure skating—until they got hard. At one point, I could do both front and back walkovers and a front handspring. (A back handspring was too hard.) In skating, I progressed to the point of doing one competition in a hand-sewn skating dress made by my mother. Figure skating to music was fantastic and freeing, but I did not enjoy being judged.
My Olympic heroes were Nadia Comaneci (the Romanian gymnast) and of course, Dorothy Hamill. Both made their marks at the 1976 Olympics when I was ten or eleven. Nadia with her perfect tens was a bit of a mystery because she was from a Soviet block country, but Dorothy was EVERYTHING. All-American and perfect in every way, she was the ideal. And yes of course, I got the haircut, but it never looked as good on me (or really anyone other than Dorothy). She was America’s best Olympic hero ever and I will never be convinced otherwise.
So yeah, give me the opening & closing ceremonies and figure skating in the winter, or gymnastics in the summer, and I’m good.
I’m not a big masking fan. I mean, I was at the beginning. I was adamant. Then the vaccines came out. I got them, including all the boosters. By summer 2022, I was pretty much done with masking, so I threw caution to the wind and came down with COVID in early October after attending a funeral unmasked. I did not get terribly sick, but I did take Paxlovid because people said it helped if you started on it early. My husband also came down with it, but wasn’t too sick. He also took Paxlovid. Unfortunately, I ended up getting bouts of vertigo about ten days in (when I was otherwise feeling OK) and then had a lot of trouble with my hearing and tinnitus that still has not fully resolved.
For this reason, I really do not want to contract COVID again, but masking is just not fun. My husband had a cough in January and did not want to test because he didn’t want to mess up his gym schedule. Finally, when the cough was keeping him up at night, I forced him to test and it was COVID. I moved to the other bedroom and made him wear a mask at home for a few days. I did not come down with it. (Maybe the boosters actually worked.)
I’ve worn masks a few times recently. When I was going to Florida to visit my elderly parents in February, I wore a mask most of the time in the airport and on the plane. I also wore a mask at church when I had a cold that was not COVID a few weeks ago.
Basically, my tolerance for unmasked sick people is lower now. If you’re obviously coughing and sneezing, I don’t want to be near you. I wish sick people would either stay home or wear a mask. (Apologies to allergy sufferers.)
I was listening to a local talk radio show in my car a few weeks ago and the topic was “hurkle-durkle.” The hosts described it as a time to briefly lie around in bed (awake) before rising and starting your day. People were calling in to discuss the pros and cons. Mostly everyone seemed to be having fun just saying hurkle-durkle in every possible way. “Once I’ve hurkled my last durkle, I have to get up and feed the cat.”
I missed the beginning of the show, so I didn’t hear where the term came from or why they were talking about it, but I’ve since googled and learned that it’s a 200-year old verb meaning “to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up and about.” It comes from Scotland (no surprise!) and apparently TikTok brought it back.
In any case, I’m PRO hurkle-durkle, but not for a full hour. I like about 20 minutes of hurkle-durkle. Typically I do a couple of in-bed yoga stretches, before launching my feet onto the floor. I like to do Apanasana (one or both knees to chest) to stretch out my lower back.
I wonder what word the Scots would come up with for a stretching/yoga hurkle-durkle? I’ve got nothing.
Related post:
I think law enforcement cracked this case long ago. It’s the fingerprints! Book ‘em, Danno.
![A logo for "50 Happens," [a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren] [who embrace life's challenges with humor and resilience], [featuring a modern and uplifting design] [that embodies strength and positivity] [with an elegant and playful style] [and a harmonious blend of colors like pink, fuchsia, purple, and blue].](https://50happens.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/img-5uorrxvwartomopcpuhjfjd0.png?w=300)
50 Happens 