A quick glance out the kitchen window revealed a splash of red. My friend, Mr. Cardinal, actually stayed in the same place long enough for me to snap this picture. Such a gray day needs a bit of color, don’t you think?
He’s gorgeous.
Sleepless night last night. Well, not entirely sleepless, but frustrating nonetheless. And today I have to deal with my cable company. Again. I have a wireless router here that we use for our WI FI connection. After talking to the cable company one day, I decided it might be better to rent a router from them, so they could have access to both our modem and the router on their end should any trouble arise. I’ve had it around here for a month but decided I didn’t want to try installing it by myself. So they came out on Saturday. For some reason, their router didn’t work as well upstairs as mine had, so they connected it downstairs. A few hours after the installer left, it became very clear that our internet connection was about 10 times worse than it had been. I could barely get a signal when I was sitting 15 feet away from the router.
So they’re coming back out today to either solve the problem or reconnect my router. I think I prefer the latter solution. Boy, this has been a frustrating 3 days! It feels like being on dial-up again.
Don got his script yesterday and is memorizing his lines. This will be the kind of thing that American Experience does so well: lots of narration, interviews with the author of the book on which the program is based, interviews with other experts and several scenes with the actors. Don really looks like the man he is playing. Tall, imposing, same facial characteristics – and that is important when the production has a documentary feel to it. He leaves on Sunday!
Today’s egg cups:
In the rear, on left: an egg cup with a rooster by Holt Howard, one of the first that I purchased. Unfortunately, I knocked it off the shelf last year and had to glue it back together. I was not happy with myself.
In the rear, on right: a brown transferware egg cup by Mason, part of the Mason’s Vista line of china.
In the front: a pink and cream chicken pulling a cart. It still has the Made in California sticker. There is a real California pottery feel to it.
More tomorrow.
Happy Tuesday.
I have learned so much about egg cups from reading your blog! I love transferware, too!
We are in the semi-country here, but over two miles from a little town. We MUST have satellite, it is the only thing available. We have sat here while it crawled and sat here while it was a little faster… it’s so frustrating to deal with!
Hi, Claudia, thanks for sharing the photo of Mr. Cardinal! We need that splash of color desperately, surrounded by all this grey weather. I am defiantly wearing a spring scarf at work today, in hopes that it will make the sun come out and melt all this darn snow! Good luck to Don–I am so excited for him!
I feel Like Mr. Cardinal brought us a promise of things to come! Claudia don’t you hate when you break stuff yourself? No one around to be upset with, just your own self. Love your blog! -Judy A-
Yep. It was a bone-headed move on my part!
I miss cardinals, blue jays, robins..forsythia, snowball bushes, hydrangea, peonies, maple and oak trees…. but not your snow.
Go Don! WoOt!
Awwww… What a pretty sight that cardinal is against the white background behind him!!… Wishing you luck with the internet problems. I know how frustrating THAT can be!…. Love the little chick and rooster egg cups; SO CUTE!!!… Stay warm, and have a great day , Claudia!
Having so much fun catching up on your beautiful blog Claudia! ♥ Kerrie
Good luck with the router! Hubby deals with all of that at our house…he’s a techie and I’m so lucky to have him. :) Love the eggs cups! I’m the same as you about soft boiled eggs…ewww.
Don should know he’s got many supporters in the blogosphere! At least he won’t be gone too long. I saw my first robin on Sunday seeking refuge under a pine tree from the falling snow…cardinals are so pretty. I’m waiting for my hummingbirds! ;)
I wanted to write and extend my sympathies and support for you having to deal with your cable company today.
We only have basically one choice here (TWC) and they treat the customers as such. I have had to call them so much the last few months and it gives me a major head ache and stomach pain when I have to call about yet another problem. I have yet to make a call that doesn’t last close to two hours and much of that is being stuck on hold for very long periods of time. I’m starting to get upset just thinking about it. I could go on and on, but will spare everyone that. I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you are able to get things resolved!
I know. When I have to call them, I know I’m in for a long, long phone call.
I am so enjoying the egg cups! Love cardinals and they do make me happy on grey days!
hugs,
Linda
I am loving all your little egg cups. I am wondering where you keep them all…do you have a special place or cabinet where they’re all together?
Don’t you just love the sight of cardinals in the winter? (OK, so now it’s spring, but it sure feels and looks like winter.) They are so beautiful against the starkness of the landscape.
Technology can be a wonderful thing, but yet it gives us more problems, too. I hope you can get the router issue resolved today!
I keep them on two different hanging shelf units. I’ll show them later in the week. A few are in the china cabinet, as well.
Claudia that picture of the cardinal looks like a painting! So beautiful and so needed this spring. Technology is great-when it’s working. I need to stop by Verizon today to see how I can make my Ipad work at the lake this summer. Hotspot on my phone?
Have a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Betsy
What a pretty site on such a gray day. We lost our dog Princess over the weekend, the one that had breast cancer. These Chows only have an expected life of 11 years and we had her for almost 13. I could tell she was ready, as she told me goodbye on Friday morning as I stared into her eyes. Her sister, Ocean, is lonely and not understanding what happened to her ornery sister. Ocean is still going strong and just might make it to 14….we’ll have to see if that’s a record.
Have a lovely Easter,
Meri
Oh Meri, I am so sorry. Bless you and your family, I know how hard this must be for you. It’s certainly one of the hardest decisions to make, but releasing a beloved pet from pain is the most loving act we can make. I’m thinking of you and I send you my love, dear friend.
I hate when routers don’t work the way they are supposed to. So annoying. We have a lot of cardinals at our feeders. I love watching them. I have so enjoyed all of your egg cups. You have such a wonderful collection.
Hugs,
Laura
Claudia, The cardinal is so pretty. I love seeing them. Sorry you are having such troubles. It’s always something isn’t it. I am so irritated with our computer…it hangs up and I turn it off anf on , just to blog and comment on a few sites. I wish you better luck for the rest of this week. xoxo,Susie
I feel sick to my stomach any time I have to deal with our cable company. It is like torture.
Sorry you broke your cup. I saw one posted on Blog Shop today, and I immediately thought of you.
Such a lovely dash of color in your grey landscape, Claudia! On my walk this morning I heard a woodpecker and it took me awhile to finally find him in the maze of trees overhead. I have been considering bringing wireless into the cottage but really can’t afford the extra cost. I’m sorry you’re having such trouble with yours. it’s always so frustrating when workers come out to the house, “fix” something, and then have to return. You must keep us posted on the air date for the A.E. program … perhaps next season?? Ah! and there is your Mason Vista cup! I do love the Brown. :)
I have a feeling it will air next season, Haworth.
Beautiful Cardinal..we have some here that I spy sitting in branches at times..We had to use satellite wireless when we first moved here..it was terrible and very expensive..until Verizon extended their DSL service to this area..Holt Howard is my favorite retro designer..such wonderful whimsy he created..I only have a few pieces of his work as they sell for quite a lot of money..Best of luck to Don..not only for the part he is playing but the awesome trip he is taking to do it!
I was at the flea market on Sunday; and saw one egg cup! I immediately thought of you my friend. It was not new. I didn’t purchase it.
But I did purchase some pottery, I’ve got pictures up on my blog today. I’m going to be picking your brain now about pottery. These pieces weren’t expensive; but since you mentioned the broken egg cup. I was going to ask about ‘restoration’.
Any ideas on where to start looking for a restorer in the pottery business? I got a good deal on my Frankoma piece, because it has been broken and glued back.
I love the cardinals in the early spring, they are so vivid on dreary days…waiting on Spring like me,full of anticipation!
Hope you’re able to get the wi-fi corrected. Hope you get to spend quality time together before you both leave for your work. Can’t remember is Scout going to a Kennel? or with you again?
Lots of questions today, huh?
take care! Pat
I’m not sure about restoration, Pat. What I would do is check locally by googling china restoration. There are good restorers out there, I know.
Don and I are working away from home at different times, so Scout can stay here. I won’t be leaving until a week or so after he gets back from Prague.
I’m going to go check out your pottery finds! xo
Thank you Claudia! I just found out that the Frankoma pottery company is back in business. I bet they are costly…but they may be able to direct me to find a restoration expert!
I do envy Don traveling to Prague. I think I’d like to travel…if I had a means of transportation other than flying.
I’m scared to fly. :(
Fearful.
Terrified.
They’d have to knock me out and wake me when I get there, scared. :}
Pat
Great shot Claudia – I’ve noticed lots of male cardinals around the garden this week even though it’s so chilly and damp……maybe they feel Spring in the air even though we don’t!
Wish Don safe travel to Prague – tell him to take his thermals!!!
Hugs – Mary
I love the splash of red in your trees. We have had a lot of trouble with our cable company router, too. It just drives me much! Your little egg cup is sweet, too! xo Diana
Love cardinals. They are my absolute favorite. I love hearing their call when I go outdoors in the morning.
And I think it is such a great idea to collect egg cups! What a fun collection. :-)
Hope the router problems are soon over.
The Holt Howard egg cup – I have that whole set of dishes. We use them often for breakfast. The first set I got was a gift from Don when we had been married about 4 years. He worked at Sears in Brookfield Wisconsin and bought the dishes as a surprise to me. The entire set – plates, bowls, salt and pepper, coffee pot, mugs – cost about 12.95 – a hard to come by price back then. The dishes ended up getting broken until I had none – now I have been getting them back, piece by piece – and often I pay more than 12.95 for ONE piece from ebay – but I love them so much – and as we near 50 years together I am happy to have almost a whole set again – just need a few more bowls – and that coffee pot. I might be happy with just the rest of the bowls.
Have you ever shown photos of your Holt Howard collection, JoAnn? I love to see some.
Yesterday we had six inches of snow ( I was taking pics at the crack of dawn before work, lol ) but later in the day my sky looked like yours in the picture. It was not even grey…..it was white. The sky was white, the snow was white etc. So really we have to think about how so many people in blog land are into white and shabby and just say that mother nature was shabby white ha ha …..
Today ? Six inches of melted snow, then rain, then sleet. I am so tired of the mud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Oh I wish we had cardinals here!! Love the egg cups too and I can only send my most heartfelt condolences. Nothing worse than WiFi misery. Well, there is, but you know what I mean! xo
The cardinal photo is poetic! We do not have cardinals in So Ca., so enjoy the treat of this ‘splash of red’ for me!
Thank you for the splash of red! This made me smile. I, like so many, ling for spring. Seeing the cardinal really helped among the piles of snow we still have here in WI.
Our cardinals have been back several weeks now. They add such beauty to the yard.
Internet issues can drive me loony. Hope you get up and running (fast) soon.
A shot of brilliant red from the cardinal is very welcome when it is this gray outside. We keep our feeder outside our living room window and we have a red bellied woodpecker that comes to the feeder and his head not his belly is brilliant red. I don’t know why they named it that? Oh well, he is a beautiful bird and I am fairly certain that he has brought his family with him at times. I only see him in the winter though. Speaking of routers, we have had our share of problems with that subject. We went out and bought another router after having problems with some others that we had. Finally, it worked. Shhh….don’t want to jinx it! ~Hugs, Patti
Don’t go back to dial up! I hate all the details that have to be tweaked with Wi-Fi, but it is great when it finally gets working. We got a booster for ours from Best Buy and it makes reception better throughout the house. Mr. Cardinal makes my heart sing. Do they have them in SoCal? I’ve not seen one since being here.
Chick with cart is my favorite. So glad Don has a great part to work his magic on. You guys are experiencing an upswing in activity it seems. Ann
I don’t think I ever saw a cardinal when I was living in Southern California, Ann. We have a pair living here and they stay here throughout the winter.
We’ve had more cardinals than usual this winter!! Love how their red stands out in the bare trees!
Oh, Cardinals are my absolute favorite! What a pretty spot of color. I have a pair that seems to live in my yard, I love seeing them.
-Lynn
Hi Claudia,
Of course, I spied the right red cardinal out your window…My eye always gravitates toward my favorite color, Red. What a wonderful capture.
So sorry you’re having difficulties with your router. It can be a pain when it’s out of kilter.
Your egg cups are wonderful . You have such a diverse collection. Thanks for sharing.
I wish you and Don well as you embark on another separation. I hope the time flies and that all goes well for you both.
Have great day, my friend.
Smiles,
Carolynn xo
I do so love cardinals — they are beautiful birds! There is a (I assume) married couple that nests in one of our trees — I have never been able to catch sight of the babies though. But the Mrs does visit from time to time! Mr appears quite a lot.
Love the chick and cart — too cute!