Laurie Gould -- Midlife Mom Songs

It is late afternoon on a weekend in mid-November and I am savoring the solitude.  It’s been a busy month, with back-to-back trips for work, family events, and fun, followed immediately by houseguests.  Delightful, all of it; but I am yearning for quiet, ready to be completely alone with myself and my thoughts. 

But I am not alone:  out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow dash across the floor.   On second appearance it turns out to be a little brown mouse, zipping around my kitchen in search of warmth…

This will be short:  I have only a few minutes to write, while the lemons I’ve just blanched are still piping hot.     When they’ve cooled enough to handle, I’ll slice them, pack them in salt, and set them aside to ferment.  Preserved lemons are umami magic, adding depth and brightness to just about any savory dish.   But they’re hard to find, and pricey.  So I make my own. 

I’ve been baking my own bread for decades.   It’s a short hop from bread to pizza dough; and once you’re making your own dough…

I have been baking sourdough bread since the last millennium, long before it became the hip COVID lockdown hobby.  Over the past three decades I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I may say so myself, my weekly loaves both tasty and attractive. 

Until recently, that is.   In the past year my breads have been somewhat uneven – edible, sure; but often flatter and denser than I’d like, not good-looking at all.   This skill I’ve honed for thirty years has become suddenly elusive.   Athletes have a word for this –…

Nothing at all to do with Labor Day, actually.   But my green screen does get a good workout:

In these last two years of dislocation and loss, I have practiced a lot of yoga.   Woven throughout have been two central themes of any meditative practice:  non-attachment and gratitude.   We are happier and better people when we can be appropriately thankful for what we have, and when we can let go of what we can’t.  Gardening provides ample opportunity to apply these lessons:  there are inevitably delightful surprises and pitiful failures.   You learn to celebrate the successes and shrug at the…

Here is how this past week was supposed to go:   

My husband was supposed to go on a long-planned deep-sea fishing trip, and I was supposed to go to a conference on the other side of the country.  Then he was going to leave a week early for our trip to Europe, so he could spend some time with colleagues in Barcelona.   I had big plans for the week on my own:   work, of course, but also recording, filming and maybe even editing my current music video project.   I would mulch my community garden plot, which…

This Mother’s Day, Boston has given me a beautiful bouquet of flowering trees.  

It’s been a cool spring, and the trees have been in bloom for longer than usual, a real treat.   I can’t see these particular flowering cherries without remembering the intense joy they sparked in me as a little girl.   They were pink – my favorite color – the most marvelous bubble-gum pink.   The blooms were fully double, frilly and fabulous.   And a full tree of them, growing higher than I could see!   It was a miracle, this…

I am getting over a cold:  a sneezy, sniffly, thoroughly unpleasant and thoroughly unserious cold.   

I know that it is not COVID.   But you don’t. 

I got this cold from my husband, who is tested regularly at work, so he knew for a fact that he didn’t have COVID.   He also knew for a fact that his symptoms were due to seasonal allergies. Look at that pollen count! (and give me a lick of your ice cream cone because I haven’t tried the Salted Oatmeal Cookie but it sure sounds interesting) and haven’t you…

Featuring the acting talents of Sheree Galpert and Chris Combest, with the inimitable Julia Ansolabehere on the clarinet.  Cheers!

Your Efficient Neighbors hang their laundry to dry rather than running the dryer.  Your Efficient Neighbors do not even OWN a dryer!  They only run the washing machine when it is very, very full; and they never, ever use hot water. 

Your Efficient Neighbors keep their home at a breezy 55 degrees in the winter, and a balmy 82 degrees in the summer.   To deal with the winter chill, Your Efficient Neighbors wrap themselves in scarves and shawls hand-knitted from responsibly-sourced cashmere. 

Your Efficient…