Remembering Childhood
Middle school memories, a secret garden and adorable animal illustrations.
Hello there,
Have you hit the so-called pandemic wall yet? I basically live on the wall; I'm the Night's Watch at this point. One entertainment coping strategy I enjoy when I really need a pick-me-up is to find things that remind me of childhood.
Watch
PEN15 (Hulu) is an extremely funny show about being a middle-school girl in the ‘90s and a moving look at childhood friendships. The leads are played by adult women (who are real-life best friends), but the rest of the cast are actual children. As someone who was a middle-school girl in the ‘90s, I found it very relatable, and the soundtrack really brings you back.
Never Have I Ever (Netflix), created by Mindy Kaling, is about growing up featuring a wonderful lead actress and hilarious narration. The themes about high-school friendships, identity and trauma are all very relatable. It's one of the shows where you find yourself laughing hysterically in one episode and then ugly crying in another.
I really enjoyed Anne with an E (Netflix), even though I wasn't really into Anne of Green Gables when I was kid. The lead actress is perfect, and the show is cheesy but in a really delightful way. It's really satisfying to watch, with gorgeous scenes of Prince Edward Island to boot. There's good reason people lost their damn minds when the series was cancelled.
Read
The Forgotten Garden reminded me of The Secret Garden, a beloved childhood read. The story takes place in Australia and the Cornish coast of England and is essentially a fairy tale for adult women. It involves a long-lost family, an inheritance and the actual writing of fairy tales. A Goodreads reviewer put it this way: "Simple and comforting. My kind of book.”
Follow
Liz Climo is an illustrator who produces really sweet images of talking animals that are just a delight. I also bought her incredibly cute book about motherhood as a gift.
Do
There are few foods more comforting than cheese, and one of my favorites is Cabot Creamery's 3-Year Aged White Cheddar, which is great for making the ultimate comfort food, grilled cheese, or just snacking. I got a huge chunk of it from Costco right as the pandemic started (along with a large supply of toilet paper, which turned out to be a good move). That was just about a year ago now. ::sobs::
Until next week,
Rachel
Hi Rachel - I've been enjoying your writing and today I see this one and I work for Cabot and I would sure like to get a care-package of cheese sent to you! Send your shipping address to social@cabotcheese.coop and please put FOR WENDY in the title (we're a team over here!) and I will make it so!