Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Monday, August 27. 2012

Peter Pan America

We're in Maine with iffy internet, lots of fish chowdah, clam chowdah, mussels steamed in white wine with garlic, wild blueberries, corn on the cob, and no hurricanes.


Where are our readers this week?


Can you say "no" to your kids? We do it, and have done it, every day. It's one simple syllable. Learning limits is a painful part of growing up but we all get past it in time. As we shrinks like to say, "Reality sucks." It is also beautiful, and so much of life is free, no charge.


The real achievement in life is not in saying No to one's kids, but in saying No to oneself. We call it "internalizing" the limits of reality and coming to peace with them. Who, at times, would not chose to be a kid again?


McCloskey's books were among my favorites as a kid, and favorites of my kids too. Make Way for Ducklings! Blueberries for Sal! It's real New England Yankee, Maggie's Farm stuff.


Swimming in Maine? It is not for the weak. You have to have the Right Stuff. Failure is not an option. Ya gotta join in.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 17:01 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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I am home and workiong in Nebraska where I have to content myself with home raised steak, vine ripened tomatoes and corn on the cob.

And there is no rain.

Ever.

Or so it seems.
#1 feeblemind on 2012-08-27 18:08 (Reply)
I loved reading Homer Price when I was a likely. The battered book is likely still in my old room at my parents house. Meanwhile, we're battening down the hatches and prepping for 50 MPH winds, as Issac prepares to hit Louisiana and/or Mississippi. We're expecting winds up to 50 MPH and several inches of rain. It comes with the territory.
#2 Mark on 2012-08-27 18:21 (Reply)
I also loved Homer Price. Forgot to introduce my kids to him. Too late now, I guess.
#2.1 Bird Dog on 2012-08-27 18:24 (Reply)
Not too late. It may not have the same impact it might have when they were 7 or 8 but I am willing to bet they'll smile and add to their list of books to share when they have children.
#2.1.1 amanda on 2012-08-27 20:00 (Reply)
I loved "Make Way for Ducklings", partially because we walked to visit similar ducks in the Boston Public gardens every from the time I was a baby.

We never had trouble saying "no" to the kids because we had such Ogre WASP parental role models ourselves. Actually, I think we might have done well to have said "yes" a little more often. We were SO strict about NOT wearing floozyish clothes, no drugs or alcohol, no playtime til all 4 to 6 hours of homework was done....family dinners, etc. we ended up a close family, but our strictness made it hard for the kids to socialize until college.
#3 Retriever on 2012-08-27 19:44 (Reply)
Same here. Our six are late, late middle aged, and none have been social butterflies. They did all manage to finish college, have decent careers, and four of five who married are still married to their first spouse. The fifth who married was widowed, then remarried. Not total failures, despite having overly strict parents.
#3.1 BillH on 2012-08-28 11:55 (Reply)
Mrs. BD learned to love the chilly ocean on Cape Cod. Popped her top once or twice while body-surfing, to my amusement.
#4 Bird Dog on 2012-08-27 20:00 (Reply)
My wife and I lived in Bangor for three years when I was doing graduate work. A quick hop it was to Bar Harbor and the famous Sand Beach. The hop into the water was quick as well!
#5 Sponge-head Scienceman on 2012-08-27 20:07 (Reply)
I am here in Montan--swimming in cold rivers, watching the democrats bring ACORN into town. Beef, beef, and homegrown tomatoes! (not very big ones this summer!) We've got great cantaloupe that grows here in MT. I bake our own bread and burger rolls--ohhh that home grown, grass fed, cold cellar beef! Can't beat it! NO FEED LOTS for this household! We are lucky! Work hard, but feel lucky to have that opportunity!

Damn that river is cold! Must be getting old--used to swim my horse across half dressed (me--not the horse).
#6 apple pie on 2012-08-27 20:16 (Reply)
Right now I'm in my bedroom folding laundry while standing on a wobble board. For the record, towels are easy but shirts end up making me rock the board a lot more. With the radio on it's a lot more like dancing than folding.

The water in these latitudes, where I was born and raised, is always cold. I never knew warm water until I moved to the Caribbean for a couple of seasons. Nut numbing water will always be my preference. It wakes me up. For the love of Pete just get in the water!

Books. Ha! I read one book in school at gun point before I was eighteen. I've read a lot since then I guess. Later tonight I'll be in the middle of one or two while I'm laying in bed.

Have fun Down East, DJB.
#7 Jephnol (Link) on 2012-08-27 21:39 (Reply)
Sorry for you folks in LA and ALA but glad Isaac passed us here in Tampa, though the protesters are a bit wet, maybe they won't protest so much in the days to come.
#8 grant1863 on 2012-08-27 21:55 (Reply)
It doesn't get much better than Robert McCloskey. Have raised a few kids on them and still reading them all to the youngest three. In the doctor's office a couple weeks ago, I brought our McCloskey treasury along. No kidding, the room got quite as all the old folks listened too. These stories bring a sense of peace, a rightness in the world. Even for us out in the corn and bean fields of Southern Illinois; we dream about bays and boats and clams. Your neck of the woods is a place we'd like to visit someday.

And of course we say 'no' to the kids. I couldn't even link to the article as I'm sick to death of weak and whiny parents who allow their children to not only run over them but everyone else in their vicinity. Sheesh, people, just raise you kids or behave yourself. It's that simple.
#9 Beth on 2012-08-27 22:57 (Reply)

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