Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

I suppose this could just as easily be titled the joy of going home but no, not really, because I’m not going home.  I’ve lived in the Twin Cities twice as long as I lived in Chicago so home is Minnesota not Illinois.  Yet I will always be from somewhere else. As I compose this draft, the Spousal Unit   (™)  and I are riding the CTA Orange Line  with a transfer to the Blue Line  from Midway out to, well, where I was last from before moving to Minnesota .  I screwed up our plane reservations and booked us into Midway rather than O’Hare.  When my sister noticed, my only option was to repurchase the ticket so I decided we’d take the CTA out to O’Hare.  This will take us longer than it did to fly from MSP to MDW.  I’m not upset about it, though.  Because there is joy in being from Somewhere Else. When you return, every sense is assailed by the somewhere else left behind and indelibly etched in you.  For me, it begins as a small...

Recently I read an article whose headline drew me in.  It was about how not to get caught up in negative thinking.  The bottom line, according to this author?  You have a choice.  Either stay in the cycle of negative thought or decide to break the cycle.  No middle ground. More simple put, in the words of Yoda: Do or do not.  There is no try. (An aside here: if you are a Star Wars fan and have not already sprung the $6.95 a month to subscribe to Disney + streaming, do so, IMMEDIATELY.  There is no try.  Then set aside a couple hours, since you are not caught up, to watch The Mandalorian where you will coo, ooh and ahh over the most adorable character in the Star Wars universe—Baby Yoda.) I was looking for something with a tad more heft, as this is what I teach in most of my classes.  You always have a choice to make it better, even if only in increments.    Celebrate what you can do rather than focusing on what you have decide...

A great portion of the country is poised to experience the coldest Veterans' Day on record tomorrow.  For Minnesotans, this simply means a somewhat early arrival of the inevitable. Perhaps you heard the state chuckling on Halloween when parts of the Midwest, but not us, had a couple inches of snow rain on their Trick or Treat parades.  Bwaaahaha, we chortled.  Halloween Blizzard, 1991 ?  That stayed on the ground until the spring, didn't melt a couple days later?  Been there, done that. Yes, Minnesotans are a hearty bunch when it comes to winter weather although, upon some questioning, you do discover that many a Minnesotan will confess to cocooning during the coldest months.  Since retirement, we get a cord of fireplace wood in late October and it very well could be that I will burn through most of it before leaving for Florida at the end of January. Regular readers, and Facebook followers, will know that I am a Flip Flop kinda girl rather that one w...

There are those teachers who made an indelible mark on your educational career--some for the better, others for the worse.  I've been fortunate to have more of the former than the latter.  Lately, I've been revisiting memories of Miss Sheila Creighton (aka Mrs. Perrone) and the class I was extremely lucky to take from her at Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago.   The class was U.S. History.  Miss Creighton had the highest standards of about any teacher at NDHS.  It was lecture with sidebars where she shared her extensive knowledge of the subject.  She outlined her presentation on the blackboard and it was a challenge to keep up with her.  I loved it, especially when we studied the US Constitution and the branches of government.   Any surprise those memories have been popping up? Many reasons currently exist to question what the hell is going on in our government these days.  Recalling what I learned about the Constitut...

When I plant my garden, I talk with the plants.  First, I welcome them to the garden, introduce them to their neighboring plants.  They are warned against the rabbits and deer who after lo these many years, still have not gotten the message that meals and snacks are plentiful in other parts of the yard.  I assure the plants they will be well cared for and thank them for all they will provide this season.  During the summer, I frequently encourage them, saying, "Good job!" when seeds burst into plants or plants put forth flowers, then fruit.   When I pick the tomatoes or beans or dig up the potatoes, I say, "Thank you, God, for the garden."   The vegetable garden is pretty much in the driver's seat as far as when the show is over for those plants.  We enjoy the bounty as long as it continues, never taking it for granted.  In my opinion, nothing tastes better than something which goes directly from the backyard to the dinner plate. ...

Earlier today, on NPR, Mitt Romney, the sole Republican willing to say that what the President is (and has been) doing is "troubling," was asked why none of his Republican colleagues are speaking out against the President's words and actions.  Paraphrasing, here's what he said: "Power.  Republicans control the White House and the Senate.  They don't want to give up their power. Mitch McConnell, the Majority Level, gets to say which bills will and will not be heard.  That's a lot of power." My heart sank, in similar fashion to when I attended the Presidential Forum on Gun Safety.  There, Democratic candidates for their party's nomination, one after another, confirmed that when the President says, "We need to pass laws on improved background checks," Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA, tools into the Oval Office the next day.  Wayne tells Donald, no, you're not going to pass laws on improved background checks, Donald says, oh, o...

This has taken me over a week to write due to the intervening of life. Many segments of our society mark the passage of time with an interesting combination of the change in seasons and activities associated with that.  Retail, in my opinion, takes this to the extreme.  For example, following the 4th of July, all summer apparel and merchandise goes onto the clearance racks and shelves.  Whoa betide those seeking sleeveless garments in August!  And don’t get me started on the real Pass Over: Thanksgiving.  Should you spy any turkey related items in the stores, my suggestion is you purchase it immediately because by next week it will have been shoved aside for everything Christmas. The Education Community has 3 seasons: school in session, breaks and summer.  They have been seen to avert their eyes in denial when passing by the Back to School displays in July.  Yet there is a palpable, electric excitement at the back to school convocations and especia...

I've been meaning to write this all week, but was a little busy.  I did take my computer over to Bridget's where I was on Sloane and Ace patrol for a couple days.  What was I thinking?  I used to write after my kids went to bed, but that was back in the day when I was a Mom, not a Grandma who crawled into bed with the baby as soon as Sloane was tucked in for the night. Onward. Last Saturday, Jeanie (I'm going to stop referencing her as my friend Jeanie because by now you should know she's my friend) and I attended the Presidential Gun Sense Forum, sponsored by Everytown for Gun Safety; Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. I was overwhelmed at the event, not so much by the messaging (all the candidates are in favor of stricter gun laws) but by seeing one after another after another of the candidates in person, maybe 50 feet away.  Gillebrand.  Buttegieg.  Klobuchar.  Hickenlooper (...

I've been arguing with myself all day about writing this and finally decided to go ahead, but try to keep it short. Yesterday was our 46th wedding anniversary.  The weather was pretty close to perfect.  Our daughters and their children all came over (He Who Must Not Be Named and family are at the Jersey shore with my daughter-in-law's family).  We sat in the backyard, ate, laughed, played with the kids, held the baby boys, watched the kids play with each other.  It doesn't get too much better than that. Other than, around 5 p.m., I found that I was feeling short tempered and crabby.  Crabby enough that I wondered if I had taken my daily antidepressant; I had.  Everything was getting on my last nerve, especially things that absolutely shouldn't have. And then it dawned on me, and it felt like a smack upside the head. The shootings in El Paso and Dayton (regardless of what Ohio city POTUS thinks the shootings occurred in). Yep.  PTSD. (If int...

We're on the home stretch of this Excellent Field Trip, having made our way from Italy to Belgium where we're staying with our exchange daughter, Elena and her family.  I'd like to report that we navigated the Pisa airport without our typical Silly American Tourist shenanigans.  We didn't, but we arrived here just the same.  If I were to rate the airports we've been through this trip, Brussels is the top of the list, bar none.  Easy to navigate, designed with what felt like common sense in mind, beautiful, clean, filled with light.  In every airport we have been aware of the presence of armed security and police.  Such are the times we live in. Since our last visit, Elena and her husband George have had a son, Nikitas (Nikki), 3.  They were waiting for us and Nikki literally jumped into my arms and hugged, hugged, hugged me.  How did I come to be so blessed?  Elena is originally from Moldova, George from Greece, they both speak Dutch as the...

Avventure in Cinque Terre The Train Parent had the day trip for Jeanie, Bill, TD, himself and me to Cinque Terre organized so that we would spend the least amount of time on 3 trains, giving us more time in Cinque Terre. He suggested we start in Riomaggiore and work our way up the coast.  We recalled hiking between Riomaggiore and Manarola, a relatively flat trail that we thought everyone could enjoy.  TD and I had plans for adding a couple more hikes between cities.  Naturally a leisurely lunch in one of the seaside towns would be included. We arrived at our local train station just moments before the train arrived and were unable to buy tickets, so figuring that it appears the Italian railway only sporadically checks for tickets, we decided to hop on for the first stop, Pisa, where we would change trains for La Spezia.  If asked for a ticket, we'd buy one.  We weren't asked.  The Train Parent felt quite crafty that we were saving some money o...

What to Do When You're in a Food Coma Which pretty much was where we all were in the morning following the  Notte Di Cibo Incredible (Night of Incredible Food), putting it on a par with the evening many of us shared in Paris almost 20 years ago that has come to be known as La Nuit de Fromage (The Night of Cheese) where McB, Marcy and Maggie (currently back in St. Paul) literally were drunk on cheese. There was laundry to be done, dishes to be put away, breakfast (believe it or not) to prepare for the small children and adults who, on seeing the fresh crusty bread and croissants, decided to imbibe. Alison, Julie (the Nicest Dog in the World) and I did some morning yoga. Jeanie, TD and I took a walk, dodging the cars that barrel at breakneck speed down the road even faster when they view pedestrians. Eventually a majority of the folks headed out toward the Mediterranean coast, some to the Marina di Pisa and others to Bagno Americani--the American Beach. I didn't ...

Rainy Days and Gastronomical Delight The weather has been just about perfect, both here in Italy and in Germany, the past 10 days.  Yesterday the Tuscan hillside was blanketed with dark clouds and rain, which did not put a damper on activities.   The Vinci museums highlighted all the magnificent inventions as well as painting and sculptures created by Leonardo da Vinci.  Over the years we'd seen a number of his more famous pieces of art but I had paid very little attention to his inventions.  I honestly think the man never slept--or if he did, his dreams will filled to the brim with ways life could be made better with some invention.  I would put his invention of various ways to spin yarn and create cloth on par with the printing press.  What we use today is not a whole lot different than what he created in the 15th century.  Quite remarkable. Cuoche in Vancanza  came to the Agriturismo last night and cooked what can only be call...