Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I’m cranky because someone was snoring and woke me up at 4:30 am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Meanwhile, it’s 6:31 and he’s still sleeping. Ah, well.

This will be brief because of said lack of sleep and my rage at what is going on in California. Bless Gavin Newsom for standing up to evil. Purposeful misspelling to avoid the trolls: EYEC needs to be abolished. “Multiple Felonies” needs to be removed from office. March on Saturday.

The catalpa tree in bloom, though I can’t believe there are any flowers still hanging in there because of all the torrential rain we’ve had.

The peony should open fully today, it hasn’t been sunny for the past few days.

I’m sorry, friends, that’s all I can give you today. I’ll be more lively on Friday.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Good morning. I am currently just waking up and it’s almost 9 am. We stayed up late for the Tonys and to keep track of what was happening in Los Angeles. (I believe it’s the beginning of the end for this regime.) So, both of us slept in and it’s thrown us off.

On my mind this morning. Let me just say that Audra McDonald’s performance as Mama Rose, singing the number Rose’s Turn, is the most powerful musical theater performance I have ever seen. This is a performance for the ages. Don and I are still talking about it today. She should have won the Tony. It was the musical theater equivalent of King Lear. Extraordinary. Gut wrenching. A reinterpretation of Rose that is stunning.

And one more thing about the Tony Awards,. I stopped counting the actors I have coached and worked with at the number 15. Two of my former students were up there. I’ve worked with Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, who won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony for Purpose. In those years when I watched the Tonys as a young girl, then an aspiring actress, I would have never imagined that these people would be my colleagues, that I could say “I know him or her, I’ve coached them.” Or, “I was his teacher.” I’ve been working in professional theater for over 50 years. I’ve trained young actors. I’ve worked on and off-Broadway, in regional theaters around the country, When I have the opportunity to step back and note the number of people I have been blessed to teach and/or coach, I am humbled. Things get put into perspective and I realize that I’ve made an impact. I am so blessed.

And I have to note that my dear friend Jan and my dear friend Joe are the ones who encouraged me to quit my dead-end job in Detroit, audition for graduate school, and change my life. Nothing that has happened in my career would have happened without that loving push. To say my life changed for the better would be putting it mildly.

I’m enormously grateful always, but especially today.

The spirea has bloomed and it’s a massive splash of pink. I’ll try to take a photo of the entire bush, which was tiny when I planted it, believe it or not!

The first Stella D’Oro day lily has opened. I’m sure I’ll find more when I go outside.

And Chloe has been redressed for spring and summer.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Big thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and more coming today. Thankfully, the temperature has dropped so it’s not so humid. We had the big storm, but it never stormed north of us where the concert series was taking place. But you have to make a call, don’t you? It went well. I went to bed early because I hadn’t slept well the night before. Last night’s sleep was much better.

We’re taking it easy today.

Over the course of the past 5 years or so, more and more wildflowers have been popping up around the property, especially around the funky patio. It looks like a mini-meadow, which is quite interesting given the fact that the surface is mostly gravel. We really enjoy the wilder look. I just clear two paths for getting back and forth to the front porch and to the kitchen door and let the rest of the area do its thing

There’s lots of fleabane.

The invasive hawkweed, which I’ve kept contained. If it’s in the flower bed it gets yanked. The rest blooms outside the bed, next to the door to the basement. I do love that bright yellow.

And there is Dame’s rocket/wild phlox.

They grace us with their presence for about a month or so and then they’re gone.

I’m also seeing yarrow blooming by the bird bath and up in the corral. And a daisy near the front porch entrance. More photos when the rain stops.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.