MaryAlice Musings and More

I have been teased, and I have been worried throughout my adult life at the northern trajectory that I have continued to take throughout most of my adult life.  So, there is often a niggling inside as I find myself falling in love with many parts of   Aroostook County   It really is another step further north.  Beautiful vista's rolling hills, interesting architecture, interesting cultural mix of Native, Nordic and french Canadian.    This morning we took off North from Patten,  once we were on the highway the car started to not ride right,  the wheels seemed out of alignment and as I went faster it got worse.  Made a quick call to the tire place in Houlton, and we made it safely there.   The car went up on the rack the tires came off for balancing.  They were out of balance and had over 2 inches of dirt/sand/junk in them ---- he water pressured them clean,  got them aligned and the tire pressure right and $28.00 later we were off to Fort Fairfield. It was a gorgeous da

We are in the last days of January,  a month that many years just slowly slowly moves forward.  This year didn't seem like that until today!  We have not had brutal weather (remember I am speaking as someone who has spent every year of my life in northern climes) as might occur in Northern Maine.  What that has meant is cold then warm days,  snow and then melting, rain, then ice and grey, gray days - more than usual.   This morning started with sunshine blue skies and single digit temperatures.  As the day moved along so did the clouds.   I found myself getting "antsy" today.   I just starting reading a new book, " Resistance Women" by Jennifer Chiaverinin, it is good but I just could not find myself just leaning into the story.  I would read a few pages, put the book down,  do a few things then pick it back up.   I did get a few lingering things accomplished on my to do list:   Make bed in spare room, call insurance agent about doing annual review, got paperw

T oday is Holocaust Rembrance Day.  This is a link  from the Holocaust Museum so today I did spend time thinking about how a country and world allowed such an atrocity to take place.  We soon will have no survivors from that period of our history, and here we are today where there is no much capitulation to a tyrant (Donald Trump) from elected officials and so many more.  My heart hurts, I worry about the fragility of our democracy.  Will we have a fair and free election?  In spite of it all I hang on to may their memory be a blessing.  May we never forget. Far less deep and heavy is my personal anniversary.  I have been in my home in Patten for one year.  I am happy that this is my home.  I like my little town. Today when I stopped in at the grocery store I had two wonderful brief talks with two good town friends.  I still marvel at how much I have been embraced or at least deemed a friendly new local.  What a gift, I have much gratitude that I have such a wonderful home. 

There is ice everywhere,  the trees are leaning down with the weight of the ice and the wet wet snow.  I have not left the house today.  This is the third Sunday where we have been met with a warming up, rain,  then a drop in temperature, then ice, sleet and snow.  For me it has meant not driving, the roads are iffy at best.   Today was also the first day in awhile where (because services at the UU Houlton Church were cancelled) I had nothing on my calendar.   I watched CBS Sunday Morning,  read,  listening to music and then did a little  bit of a streaming binge.    In between breaks from my video watching I was on Facebook.   This afternoon was the second time in the last week or so that I responded to a post that was very divisive and inflammatory --- and yes when I went on to Snopes .   It has taken me awhile to be clear that any of my FB friends would share totally unfactual - and usually very morally tinged posts that really lay blame on a political figure or the news or the go

The dining room table is my "desk" Since moving to Patten I have a few bills that are not on "autopay" - today I set aside time to attend to my "in box".  I don't have a job anymore, but I still have my wooden in box, that was given to me after I had my first management job --- they gave me an "in box".  Somehow that box has gotten from several states in the midwest, to Vermont, back to Minnesota, and then to Maine, from Millinocket to Patten.     The box was full, especially because in my weekend flurry of getting things back in place, I went through the drawer that this in box is kept, it was a mess of papers.   After clearing and sorting it was clear that the box needed attention (well the papers in the box needed to be read and acted upon).  Today was the day.  Bills were paid.  Envelopes addressed. Cards were written.  New to do list was started.  Copies were made.  I think that maybe this summer I will look for a desk.  It is a pa

Myah is "onboard" March 2000,  Sasha is dreaming, studying up and preparing for arrival! Looking Great and Very Ready!  MSP to Madrid.  Then onto Granada, Spain for the Semester! This morning I woke up a little before 6 a.m. and a few moments later I got a ping from my cell phone - This picture of Myah at the airport.  Myah is off to Granada , Spain for a semester of study  at the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) . This comes the day after the MLK Holiday.  I started yesterday thinking about the man (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and the meaning of having this federal holiday.   I reread the federal legislation establishing this holiday and thought about the kind of resistance that Dr. King advocated, preached and lived.  I had planned to do a little bit of "service" by picking up a friend from work who had no transportation, but as I was manually closing the garage door I got my fingers caught.  No service, no more thinking about Dr. King,  met

Yesterday morning has already had a few similarities to yesterday, so maybe I will start there.  Yesterday, early afternoon, I had just finished with getting all the holiday bins labeled and down to the basement.   I had a basket of folded clothes ready to go upstairs and I was just getting ready to start reading a few things that I had set aside earlier in the day.  A pot of tea was brewing in the kitchen when I heard i heard a loud truck noise, and I looked up to see a truck backing in along the porch.  I get up and yes there was truck and one of the guys that had worked on the house a year ago.  He had brought a cabinet that he had a found a couple of weeks ago.  "I knew you were wanting one of those, should I unload it from the truck?"   Without much thought at all I said "yes".   So, of course, this set off a series of necessary steps.  The current cupboard that I have been using to store food had to go somewhere else.  This cupboard was much smalle

Today is the coldest day of this year!  There is windchill warnings until early tomorrow morning.  Although I worry about being shack happy I did not step off the porch today.  I did make several trips onto the porch, but that was it!!! I had time this morning to actually look at the calendar and see how many days exactly before I leave on my "spring fling"  44 - yes, 44 days, made me get clear that I need to start my to do, must be done, and it would be nice lists.   As with many an introvert  I make lists,  partially it is to have a check off list, which when I check things off, it feels very satisfying, but also the act of writing it down helps me to process in a deeper way.  So now that I realize that travel time is getting closer, soon the lists will get made, they will get hung up and I will revise, check off and throw away as I move myself closer to being ready to get on the Amtrak train in Boston on March 3rd. So in this cold day, I did enjoy thinking about b

I found myself captivated and moved by the pomp and circumstance regarding the movement of the Articles of Impeachment of Donald J. Trump from the House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate.   I am the former manager who gave my policy staff copies of the U.S. Constitution and rulers with the names of the presidents as gifts and welcoming.   I feel the somberness of this moment,  we don't want to have to be here, it is a necessary step to preserve our democracy but oh what a mess we are in today.   I felt history (herstory) in the making - watching a black woman carry the signed articles followed by a group of women and men and not all them white was moving and a seed of hope.   Who knows how this next step will proceed but for today there was the weight of history, the rituals of the past, and the reflection of who we are as a country as this group actually walked from one end of "congress" to the other. I can't even move into what tomorrow might bring, 

I woke early this morning, and decided to go crawl onto the day bed in my "middle room", it is a small space with day bed, a bedside table and a shelf with CD player and most of my CD's.  There is a shelf all around 3 of the wall near the top and facing east is a nice sized rectangle window.  I like that it faces east and because it is on the second floor I get a different view of the sun rising (especially in the winter when the sun is so very low in the sky).  I wrapped up in one of the many throws on the bed and just enjoyed watching the sky change.   One thing that I miss about my house in Minneapolis is that I had big sliding glass doors in my dining that faced east and almost every morning I sat at my table and watched the morning light before I went off to work.  It was "my time" .  This morning I got to enjoy the light and also remember the many good days that I would just breathe in the morning sky.   My retirement life is getting fuller, I am

I did not go out of the house today.  Didn't even try to see how bad it was, just decided that I would wait until Monday-after plowing, salting and a few moments of dry weather. I decided to take my second look at the Marriage Story   The first time I started to watch the movie, I loved the acting, but the story was just too painful to watch.  I had to just stop.  Then on one of the Facebook posts from a friend who is a great movie lover and critic.  She has several times has raved about the movie, others chimed in on the post.  Then another friend recommended the movie.   So today I took the plunge and started the movie again.  I just finished.  Glad I tried again.  So I had a movie day while the sleet fell, the wind whipped, and the snow came in waves.   I have enjoyed my bad weather day.  I practiced my newly learned Tai Chi Form, made some veggie-shrimp stir fry and had popcorn with the movie. And now I am seeing that the Green Bay Packer are ahead at the half-time.

Today was my first Tai Chi Workshop in Maine.  We were quite fortunate to be able to squeeze the workshop in between dire projections regarding the weather.  There were close to twenty of us who started out in the drizzling rain this morning to start the day at the UU Church in Houlton.   It was quite fun that about one-third of the participants were from Canada.  Throughout the day at breaks and lunch I got to have a real sense of the way that people in "border towns" move back and forth making the border very permeable and a part of daily life.  This was a welcomed surprise of my day and I am looking forward to hearing more stories and learning more about great places to visit at the end of the month when I am traveling to Fort Fairfield.   Our workshop today was focused on learning a form developed by Dr. Lam - who has taken traditional Tai Chi forms and adapted them for specific medical conditions.   This form which is quite simple and beautiful in movement of chi

Started out the day in Millinocket, had several very good meetings, then headed from East Mill where I had another Good Friday afternoon meeting.  All the while in the back of my mind I am thinking about the very bad weather that is going to come this weekend.  I have. a Tai Chi workshop tomorrow in Houlton and I had planned to stay overnight on Saturday do I could go to the movie after the workshop and then go to UU services Sunday am!  Sunday services were cancelled mid afternoon but the workshop was still on!  I really really wanted to see Little Women so I called got a room at the Shiretown Motel.  I left “ east Mill” at 3 got to the house three what I needed for tomorrow and got to Houlton at 4:30!  Plenty of time to check in and get to the movie. The movie was great, it was such an antidote for the state of the world!  I do not know why she is was not nominated for best director actually I know why the movie laid it out.... such a visual delight and now I am blogging at

Someday I am going to be "shack happy" but today is not that day.  The furthest that I ventured today was the side porch to get the newspaper.  It was windy and cold.  It was beautiful out there as well, the sun was bright and the sunrise this morning was absolutely amazing, the colors were a great start to the day.    I started the day off with a "zoom" call, and spent an hour with people that I really enjoy connecting with and we got some good work done.   I then tried to give my house a little love, putting things away and just "tidy-ing" up!   I went back to several articles that I had found yesterday about spotting fake news, videos, photos.  I remember when I was in the grade school band, our band director Mr. Tatro always said pictures don't lie -- can't say that any more.  The first article was focused on recognizing altered photos or videos: How to Use Your Phone to Spot Fake Images   This is a short article, and what I liked was th

AFTER MY HOUSE CLOSING 1-7-19  ONE YEAR LATER - SAME PLACE - NEW YEAR - STILL EXCITED! Today like one year ago was bright and sunny.  I realized when I was getting ready to go to Millinocket to work at the library today that I would be going past the same place that I took a picture last year right after I had closed on the house.  So as Julie and I drove down Penobscot Avenue we pulled over at Tanous and Snow, I hopped out and Julie took some pictures.  Same coat, same hat, and really glad that I wanted to mark this anniversary.  It was fun to be able to mark the anniversary in the same place and with the same photo.    After picture taking it was off to the library.  I like being at the library and will miss seeing the regular patrons and doing my work there when I take a break while I get ready for my travels and spend time away during late winter and the mud season.  The good news is that there will be a spot for me when I get back.  Yesterday by the time I sat down

It was almost like a day at work today.  I had lots of things to clear up for some of my volunteer activities.  So today, I finished up agenda's, notes,  did emails,  filled in excel spread sheets and worked until I had a stiff neck.  I have a laptop and I do NOT have a good desk in my house.  The laptop on the table or a TV tray just doesn't work well if I have to work for more than an hour or so.  I don't have a shelf or some platform for my laptop where I could stand and keyboard.   I did know in my job that I had very good equipment.  A great chair and a balance ball.  A movable desk that went up and down so I could work standing or sitting down.  I had a very specific ergonomic keyboard that drove everyone else mad, but it worked for me.  Now I am typing with my laptop sitting on my legs.  I am stretching my neck back and forth, and wondering if I should order a separate keyboard to use with my laptop. It was good to immerse in good old fashioned follow up task

This morning I woke to new layers of snow and Adrienne Rich's voice in my head.  The line that was running through my head was "a patriot is not a weapon", and when I got up I went to the bookshelf and pulled out An Altas of the Difficlut World Poems 1988-1991.  There are many poems that I appreciated and loved and the touched me when I first read this book,  then I heard her read some of the poems and I was touched even more deeply.  I am pained by the state of the world, by my own distrust and fear of my own president, and by the way that so much communication is meant to keep us apart, separate and in conflict.  The reality is we have more in common, but that doesn't sell newspapers, or cable television or fake news - so here we are in the midst of actions that we know not the consequences.  We know that people who own OIL will make lots of money,  people who are a part of the military complex will become richer more emboldened.  And for me, this morning I find

  It has been a quiet day.  I have stayed away from the radio and television.  I did read that on this date in 2007, the 110th Congress elected Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House. I for one am very glad that she became the first woman speaker of the house, and that she is tending the House today.  We need everything she has, and all that she allows her delegation to bring to table as we move through these next days and weeks.   I was thinking about the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games, books that captivated many as we were drawn into the battles of good against evil.  As we face the sobering reality of assassination and  escalating threats, it does not seem so easy to find our hero or heroine or the best buddies that stand with them.   It seems as if the United States is on its own, or maybe the strings are being pulled by Putin from Russia.  I am not a conspiracy theorist,  but I am a realist, and besides thinking of child and young adult series I have found myself

I woke as all of us did today to hear that the Iranian Major General was killed by the U.S.  That certainly took away any leftover holiday feelings. I did manage to not go into a tailspin, but I did forget a meeting that I had scheduled with several friends.  It was a sign that I was not quite present and fully in my own self.   I took some space, breathing in and out, just following my breathe for a few minutes sending out peace and then making myself an absolutely delightful breakfast. We have been getting some wonderful avocados in my local grocery, Ellis's Market  ( do click on the link - they have the best home page!)   I made avocado toast, and it was just the right time and my gluten free Three Baker's Ancient Grain bread is really great, I would choose it even if I wasn't being gluten free.  It was a energizing breakfast, made me happy and helped me to start doing all the little niggling things that needed to be done.   The day was filled with trip to hardware sto