ArdentAmerican355

“The real things haven’t changed. It’s still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” Laura Ingalls Wilder

@KJP Dunks’ Ice Coffee foreverrrrrrr.

Welcome to New England. Now choose your path

@FiatLuxGenesis This is awesome. I’ve never looked at this before! Just checked children’s programming…and saw they have All That! 😅

Just discovered that Internet Archive also has old films, videos, and children's cartoons, etc... (I found all of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series there in several languages) Just search videos Link in comments

Summer breeze, makes me feel fine…

@quachelsey Looks so cozy and cute!

If you're looking for a cute maternity sweater (not labeled as maternity), this one is cute and under $40. It's 80/20 cotton/poly, not my ideal but everything else fits awkwardly right now

In 2004, I was a bartender at the Cask 'n Flagon next to Fenway Park. I'll never forget what this series was like in Boston. Down 3-0, everyone in Boston said, "The curse is real, maybe next year." Down 3-1, everyone said, "Well, we were bound to win one." Heading into game 6, the city started to feel different. The series was 3-2, and everyone knew no one had ever come back from a 3-0 hole. Especially not the cursed Red Sox. Still...maybe? There was no social media back then; everyone watched the same thing at the same time. It was one of a handful of truly shared social experiences I've been a part of. "Where are you watching the game?" When they won game 6, people started to believe it was destiny. Every single bar and restaurant was showing the game, and people came out of their homes to watch it in public spaces, hoping to be part of something historic. French restaurants, coffee shops, and any place with a TV became a packed sports bar. I was behind the bar for Game 7. The game was played at Yankee Stadium, but the bars next to Fenway were at capacity for hours before the game. I've never been in an environment like that since; the tension and the excitement, the "what if we actually do this?" People hung on every pitch. When they made the final out just after midnight, the place exploded. People celebrated, thousands came down to the Fenway area and ran through the streets. I watched the broadcast show people running through the streets as they ran past the bar's windows. No phones, no selfies, no Instagram, just people living in the moment. Everyone on that team has a special place in Boston sports history. Whenever I see this video, I'm reminded of how incredible sports can be sometimes.

The Great American Childhood exists in New Hampshire.

What's better than a rustic gate on a country lane at sunrise? A rustic gate and its shadow - two for the price of one! This was one of those mornings when I walked around and gasped constantly at how incredibly beautiful my little corner of the world was, when I fumbled at the controls of the camera because I just didn't want to miss any of it. These are the places I escape to when the world gets too much, and the moments I will return to in my head when I can't get out anymore to see them. It's only a simple scene, as most of mine are, but I hope you like it too. 📍 Peak District, England

@graciefacelove @Storyaliz This is the same for me, as well!

@Storyaliz I definitely “see” everything when I read. It’s how my memory works too. I can close my eyes and visualize memories almost like scenes. Also why I can’t watch the movie before reading the book because then all I’ll “see” while reading is the movie version.

When you read fiction, do you actually visualize the characters & scenes in your mind? Or do you not “see” anything at all? Some people experience movie-like mental imagery while reading, while others experience no mental imagery at all (aphantasia). What do you “see”?

@ReformedLionO @hemingquay Came here to say the same!

@hemingquay Robin Hood

Right-wing children’s movies: - Lion King - Angry Birds - Incredibles - Anastasia Am I missing any?

forget about touching grass, i need to touch THE SEA I NEED TO GO INTO THE WATER

@gregcello I still love it soooooo much. 😂 immediately brings me back to being 13 years old walking hanging out at the Bedford mall with friends. So much nostalgia.

is there a more New England-coded pizza chain than Papa Gino’s?

Where is the Black Raspberry?!?! It’s not a New England summer without Black Raspberry. 😋

@MrsCMFrancis This as a part of science…and School House Rock episodes added into language and social studies. 😂

This show comprises the bulk of my science curriculum for the K-6 years 👍🏻

Perhaps nobody captured the quiet bond between mothers and their children as well as Mary Cassatt.

@shagbark_hick There is nowhere like NH. NH born and raised, traveled the country and a good bit of the world, and have now come full circle. It is so beautiful to raise my kids to know and love this corner of the world. Incomparable landscape, rich history, and a fiercely independent people.

I am willing to revisit "The New Hampshire Question." Though I've sidelined NH for a long time owing to its egregiously high property taxes and wildly high real estate prices, I am lately willing to concede that there might be something to the NH hype. This is because there does appear to be a culture there that is flourishing in some way; the people in NH are overwhelmingly not demoralized. Their state is functional; cynicism about the state of affairs in NH does not, from my view over here in NYS, appear to be warranted. These are the kinds of thoughts I think as I pay my outlandishly high NYS taxes, filled out Kafkaesque paperwork to buy a firearm in NYS this year, and live in constant fear that the property tax assessor will jack up our rates again to fund their pork-barrel school district (which is losing students rapidly and going broke). And if a man should be in love in the American Northeast, what are his real options? It may really be that he can either grit his teeth and accept a dismal state of affairs, in NY, or MA, or CT, or RI, or VT, or even ME -- or that he can go to New Hampshire. (Unless he is a liquor store owner hoping to move his business there, of course) I'm not saying that I am imminently going to move over there, but I am willing to admit that perhaps I've been too hard on NH.

Indeed. This is the truth.

“This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it." -Dr. W. Heartsill Wilson

@Dirtdragonmom Ahhhhhh I love them all but Ever After is the best. (We’ll be camping this weekend though, so have fun whatever you choose!!!)

If I host a group movie watch tomorrow night, which movie would you prefer? Please vote only if you are interested in actually joining in.

@beyondwaiting My heart goes out to you. I feel this deeply. I’ve had seven pregnancies, have two healthy children that are incredibly blessings and my greatest joy…lost 5 babies that my heart still aches to know and hold. Joy and grief, both of the acutest kind.

So, as I said in my original post: Grief and Joy should not live so closely intermingled, but they do. And I’m not going to apologize for that.

A Thread: Having fertility issues that don’t look like fertility issues is such a strange burden to carry. No one would look at my little family and think this is a struggle for me. I don’t look like a woman who has lost 4 children. Literally, how? When?