Big error:  I hadn’t actually checked the recipe before the day of the meal.
Read More

My first airplane flight at 3 by the US Air Force. Later, travelling coach on a train from Chicago to California
Read More

I was eligible to vote in my first presidential election in November, 1972. At that time, I was a Junior at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, but had registered to vote in Michigan before coming back to school in the fall, so voted absentee, sending my ballot back to Huntington Woods. I proudly cast my first vote for George McGovern, doomed to go down to ignoble defeat, gaining only the electoral college votes of my adopted state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Me in the autumn of 1972 (with boyfriend Bob).

I was proud that at least Massachusetts had the good sense to vote against Nixon (at that piont, we knew nothing of Watergate; that would come out in the fullness of time). Since 1974, with the exception of 16 months, I’ve been a full-time, proud resident of Massachusetts, perhaps the most liberal state in the country (I grant that California may also claim that title).

During the 16 months that I lived in Chicago (May, 1978- Aug, 1979), we experienced two crippling blizzards, dumping more than 35 inches of snow in a little over two weeks that January, followed by sub-zero temperatures. Trash didn’t get picked up, buses couldn’t run as they couldn’t plow the streets. The city didn’t work and Mayor Michael Bilandic lost his primary bid to Jane Byrne, who went on to win the election for mayor. I voted in that election too.

When I returned to Boston, we lived in the city and voted in the beautiful Boston Public Library. I remember voting after David was born, taking my infant son into the voting booth with me, pulling the curtain behind me. I welled up as I spoke to my baby, explaining with pride about this important duty. I thought of my grandfather, fleeing Russia in 1906 to escape from the pogroms and the savagery that comes from hatred of “the other”, be it prompted by religion, race, ethnicity or just ignorance. Free and fair elections AND accepting and honoring the results have been the hallmark of our democracy for over 200 years.

It has only taken the Former Guy six years to begin to unravel all of that, sow the seeds of doubt and press phony charges of voter fraud, “stolen elections”, get his minions to pass all sorts of new laws to limit access to the vote and install people/judges who seem to be loyal to him or their own view of “law”, installing some perverted version of our rights as we understood them for half a century with no regard for the concept of precedent or understanding the real meaning of our history that makes us who we are. We must prevail if we are to maintain our democracy and civil society as we have known it.

Certainly after the Civil War, this country went through turbulent times, but we didn’t have pernicious social media, with trolls, bots and demagogues so willing to lie to maintain control of their followings. These are dangerous times, indeed.

“Where’s the bowl, Daddy?” “You don’t need a bowl. Watch this.”
Read More

As the train progressed ... people boarded with fruit, produce, and the occasional chicken and goat.
Read More

I am probably going against the tide of opinion when I extol the very good service I have received from the Unites States Postal Service (USPS), the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) and, dare I say it, Amazon.

The USPS has always done well by me. I cannot recall even one missed piece of mail. I find the prices reasonable and the peoples behind the counters and at the wheels of their delivery vehicles to be friendly and always helpful.

The most difficult time I ever had with the RMV was upgrading my Driver’s License to the newer ‘The Real ID’ and even then I was allowed to leave, go get that one last missing piece of information and I was able to return to the same representative – without having to re-wait in line.

Amazon, ah Amazon; it has been said that retailers offer customers multiple choices because to do so increases the overall sales of all their products and Amazon certainly does that. But their real test was ‘How do they handle returns?’ Well I for one was pleasantly surprised; the manufacturer of the product did not respond to any of my usage questions but Amazon allows returns easily – so easy that I had to only notify them online (which was how I has ordered the item) and then just leave it outside on my porch (where is was originally delivered) and they came and picked it up without any additional assistance from me. The credit to my account was immediate. Nice.

I live a charmed life.

But in 1961 our family was headed for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year stint and I was now eleven-going-on-twelve.  For me, it was an escape into the unknown, a reprieve from the prospect of junior high, and I was certain that all my frames of reference would shift.
Read More

I took my first airplane trip long before my first train trip, but I love trains so much more.
Read More

Shuffling Off to Buffalo

Back in my grad school days I was studying in New York and my boyfriend was upstate in Buffalo,  a good eight hour train ride away.

Many weekends I’d catch the train at the Harlem 125th Street station to make the trip.  Then one Friday afternoon I was waiting on the platform when the train stopped and a classmate I knew got off.  We were chatting when suddenly I realized the train had started moving again.

As it gained speed I began running along side,  waving my arms as my duffel bag flapped on my shoulder,  and shouting,  “Please stop the train,  I have to get to Buffalo!”

Apparently the conductor saw me and brought the train to a grinding halt.  I climbed aboard,  called out a loud  “Thank you!” , and off we shuffled!

(For more about my life upstate see My Snowy Year in Buffalo)

Shuffle Off To Buffalo

– Dana Susan Lehrman