We recently attended a lecture on Long Island shipwrecks at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and took in the related Lego exhibit while we were there. Then we went to a Mystic Schooners baseball game. It struck me that these widely divergent fields of endeavor have all developed phrases to describe easily avoidable mistakes. In tennis […]
Or, actually, in a peanut butter filled chocolate shell. I recently read about a grandson of the founder of Reese’s Cups who is suing Hershey Corporation. He claims the current owners of his grandfather’s brand have changed things and that now the treats are neither actual chocolate nor real peanut butter. As Reese’s Cups […]
I know, I know – could it be more trite? And yet… There’s so much research demonstrating the importance of community, friendships, and loose social networks to health and happiness. Anybody who claims to have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps is forgetting all the kind words, second chances, mentoring and plain old good luck […]
Dorothy Parker, that famous doyenne of the literary Round Table and master of the pithy putdown, had a very challenging life. And personality. Reading a bio took some of the shine off her image, but she also had a brilliant way with words even when not being funny. This particular quote resonated strongly for me: […]
A friend described my paintings as juicy and exuberant, which I loved! The comment was about my use of color, cheerful and energetic almost to the point of being Fauvist in style. I like to describe my paintings as expressionistic because I want to show how it felt to be there, rather than simply copying […]
Turns out one of my favorite sayings actually has a name – Hanlon’s Razor. It says “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” An article in The Economist recently recommended using it to squelch the urge for revenge against annoying or deceitful colleagues. Having found that advice to be useful over […]
During our recent visit to New York City, we visited the new-to-us Poster House Museum. This little gem hosted three very impressive and well-explained exhibits of gorgeous old posters. The movie posters were interesting and the national park posters entertaining. The Italian posters were as chilling as they were graphically striking. That exhibit demonstrated how […]
For several years now I have railed against the proliferation of touch screens in cars, as they grow ever larger and more complicated. That is part of the reason I prefer older cars and keep them forever. (My trusty mechanic knows me well, and shared his home and cell numbers.) I find screens distracting, preferring […]
A recent Facebook post by a friend introduced me to the word meliorism. It’s defined as the belief that the world can be made better by human effort. She was feeling very discourage and, given recent events, was understandably no longer convinced this was true. Nonetheless, I prefer to remain optimistic. Perhaps foolishly so, but […]
Air travel is much less enjoyable lately – smaller seats, more delays, longer security lines, disgusting food, jets falling out of the sky… I used to love packing efficiently and strolling aboard to sit comfortably in my aisle seat, where I’d have my choice of meals after we left on time. No more. Now I […]
