Laurie Gould -- Midlife Mom Songs

I’m usually not big on New Year’s resolutions.   I do periodically resolve to change something about my life:  I might vow to eat less refined flour on, say, May 19^th; or to do daily Kegel exercises starting on November 12^th.   I might find it convenient to abandon those efforts on May 26^th and November 19^th, respectively.

But this year I decided to make an actual New Year’s Resolution, on actual New Year’s Day:  I vowed to clean my cellphone once a week.  This will be a departure from my previous…

We are deep into the process of Thanksgiving planning, which is always a pleasure.   It’s my favorite holiday, by a wide margin – there’s simply no greater pleasure than cooking for and eating with people I love.   It’s a day to which I always look forward with great anticipation.

But more than anticipation is required:  the meal does require some forethought.   The first order of business, naturally, is ordering the turkey.   The standard rule of thumb calls for 1 lb., or 16 oz., of turkey per person, or…

This past Wednesday night, my friend Mary Elise invited me to a Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter concert.   I accepted, with great enthusiasm, and it was wonderful; although I have to admit that they are both musicians who I’ve always found to be pleasant but not particularly inspiring.

On Wednesday night, though, I was inspired.  These women are very engaging performers, really good musicians.   They are fully at ease with themselves and their music.  They seem utterly unafraid of so many things…

It's my first Halloween in my new urban neighborhood, and signs of the holiday are everywhere.

I couldn't be more pleased.   I adore Halloween; I always have.  I love the goofy exuberance of it all:  the creativity of the costumes, the spirit of generosity, the community around a common purpose (delighting the neighborhood's children):  it honors so many of my most deeply-cherished values.

There was a point when our local elementary school in the town where I used to live decided to stop in-school…

The audience for my blog and my songs is not large; mostly family and friends. Please know that I am grateful for every person who bothers to read or listen.   I am particularly grateful for the folks who take time to leave comments.  My web hosting service does not offer an easy way to acknowledge or respond to these comments.  But please know that I read them all, and many of them make me laugh.   All of them make me smile.

And hey:  this is the Internet, after all; and you never know who might stumble…

I am a moderately tech-savvy middle-aged person.   I don't write code or anything; but I am pretty good at finding my way around both software and hardware.  I've served as family tech support for many years.   Last month I installed more RAM on my own desktop; I felt quite the badass.

My tech savvy has been tested by several recent acquisitions.   First, I replaced a defunct pair of bluetooth headphones.  My old headphones had only one button, so it was obvious how to turn them on.  This new set has many…

A new music video to start the school year!

Featuring Sheree Galpert, and the voices of Holly Kania, Mimi Rutledge, Emily Miller and yours truly.   Steve Ansolabehere served as literary consultant.  Special thanks to Rick Travers, the Boston Public Library, and Nancy Kerrigan.

It was not an auspicious way to start a weekend.

I had just finished a tiring week of out-of-town work and I headed to the airport for what was to be an arduous trip home:   first flight from New Orleans to Charlotte, second flight out of Charlotte at 10:30 pm; if all went perfectly I would walk in the door around 1:30 in the morning.   Not the easiest itinerary after a long week; but at least I had the promise of spending the night in my own bed.

But American announced a 10-minute flight delay, then a…

Before I moved into the city, I had a garden.   It was not a large garden by suburban standards:  150 sq ft of vegetables, maybe 50 sq ft of herbs, some perennial beds.  I gardened it intensely, obsessively.  I grew all my veggies from seed.  I waged war on the bunnies. I weeded and divided and replanted.  It was beautiful, and I loved it.

Now I live in an apartment on the second floor, and my proprietary outdoor space is limited to a 6’ x 12’ balcony that gets four or five hours a day of very intense…

Once upon a time, I had a lot of paper clips.  Sooooooo many paper clips!   And staples.

I remember buying these paper clips.  It was in 2000: I was just going into business for myself, and outfitting my home office.  I remember how much fun it was to go to Staples (the store) and to buy things like staples (the product) in vast quantities for what seemed like no money at all.   Such a deal!   And with all those supplies, I definitely had a Real Office, with profession-level paper-securing capacity.

By…