Massachusetts

eat dessert first

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

What is your favorite quote?

I’m not sure who said this originally: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first

But I will always attribute it to my dear friend’s late father. Last summer, at her daughter’s wedding, when I arrived at my seat for the reception, this was my place setting.

And in that spirit, here’s a photo of an amazing dessert I had last night. (I actually had it after dinner, but I was not too full and enjoyed every bite.)

The flavor is “vanilla blueberry crumble” and it is delicious. It’s vanilla with fresh blueberries and graham crackers from the locally famous Kimball Farm.

That’s a small! (I finished it, obvi)

I don’t know if other parts of the country have local ice cream stands that were originally dairy farms operated by hearty, entrepreneurial types who decided to expand into ice cream in the early part of the 20th century, but eastern Massachusetts has many great options. Many have been in continuous operation since before WW2 and the ice cream is amazing.

Here are my top four:

Kimball Farm

Bedford Farms

Great Brook State Park

Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar

PSA

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

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.

Explosive diarrhea – enough said!

America 250 – Tall Ships

~ MaryG ~ 27 Comments

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?

You are correct!

I’m staying

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

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.

My heart’s in Massachusetts.

❤️

Boring ain’t so bad

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

Is a little chaos actually good for us?

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.

I wish I knew

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?

This is a hard one for me to answer. I’ve been dealing with a lot of negative thoughts since the beginning of this year, due to a situation that has forever changed my feelings about my family of origin.

I’ll be interested to read others’ responses.

I guess distraction is one way!

So, here’s a mommy and baby osprey in their very dramatic nest near the beach on the South Coast of Massachusetts:

And some video of the two interacting:

This nearby beach is just over border, so it’s actually in Rhode Island, not Massachusetts.

New England has many beautiful areas, but this one is my favorite. The ocean is noticeably warmer here than in Northern New England and there are never shark sightings like on Cape Cod (knock wood) so you can get in and swim to your heart’s content.

Actually, that’s my answer: swimming is the best way to deal with negative thoughts.

Go for a swim, people!

Support parents

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If you had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, what would you do?
View all responses

If I had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, I would use it to help support young parents.

We’re making things very hard on all young people these days, but especially on those who are brave, selfless and optimistic enough to bring forth the next generation. They deserve all the love and support we can muster. As a grandmother, I feel this is my #1 job in life.

If I could, I would pay off my daughter’s mortgage, buy her family a new car, and fully fund a college account for my granddaughter. And if I could figure out how to do it, I would help out all the other hardworking and responsible young parents out there who could really use a boost.

All photos by Melissa Briggs Photography.

My granddaughter and me
Bubbles are a favorite activity for one-year olds.
Imagine when everything in the world was new to you.
Hi Mommy!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

NO KINGS 3: Proof of Attendance

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Even though I was very cold and took no pictures, evidence of my attendance at NoKings3 has emerged. The best part is that my poster received very prominent placement when I accidentally left it right in front of the speakers’ podium.

My state representative, a moderate Democrat, finally decided to show up at an anti-Trump protest. My district has a good amount of Republicans, so Jim’s been searching for his balls for quite awhile, but he gave a good and rousing speech in front of my very ANTI-Trump poster on Saturday. I consider this a win.

My poster was there during all the speeches, so it’s in a lot of pictures on Facebook.

“Sing as loud as you can” was the instruction from the music organizer.
This is my minister sitting in the chair with a brace on her leg. She is GenX and she is awesome. The world would be a better place if everyone had a minister like her.
It actually is a pretty good poster—one of my best. I just wish I didn’t have to keep making them.

It’s cold in here

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

Yesterday our furnace died. Maybe the blizzard was just too much to keep up with, but it was only 14 years old. It should’ve had a few more years left. Note to everyone: never buy a Maytag furnace. We had several other problems with it before its untimely death.

Fortunately, my husband got right on it and we’re having a new one installed this morning. (K’Ching$$$) In the meantime, it’s cold in here! I’m thinking it’s about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but I have my coffee and my Comfy, I’ll be fine.

Last night we lit a fire in our fireplace and I made s’mores and then put them on top of ice cream for mixing in. It took some effort to crush the s’more and fully mix it with the ice cream, but I did it. It was good. Not as good as the best mix-in I ever invented, but yummy.

The chocolate didn’t melt as much as I would’ve like, but I managed.

Here are some of my post-blizzard pics from Tuesday.

This is the snowbank at the TOP of my driveway—right next to the house. I’m 5’ 8.5” so that’s a lot of snow. The plow guy has no other place else to pile it all up. There’s a flower garden under there, which I’m worried about. Note: I had to balance my phone on a trashcan with my mitten and use “timer” to take this photo. That’s real skill.
My aptly named street
Neighborhood snowbank
I can’t tell if this mailbox is still attached to its post. Sometimes the plows knock off mailboxes and people just shove them into the snowbanks until they can be repaired. People then try to make the town do the repairs, but I know from experience, it’s easier to do it yourself.

In all, we got about 12-14 inches of new snow, but Rhode Island really got slammed. They beat their Blizzard of ‘78 record, with 35” inches in Providence (38” at the airport).

Related post:

Blizzards of Yore