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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Sleep, Heat, Spiders, Books and Scout

March 22, 2014 at 8:55 am by Claudia

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Oh yes. I have a cool orange plastic spider ring, courtesy of my dentist.

Admit it. You want one, too.

Let’s see, what’s new?

• Don’s been talking to me on the phone about not getting enough sleep lately. I’ve decided we can no longer talk about that subject, because now I’m not getting enough sleep. Thursday night? About 2 hours. Last night? I woke up at 4:45 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Enough already. I didn’t know sleeplessness was catching.

• I’ve had a heck of a hard time controlling our thermostat this winter. It always seems to be either too hot or too cold, never consistent. I finally called our oil company and they sent someone out yesterday who confirmed that I wasn’t going nuts, the thermostat was indeed off by 4 degrees. He replaced it (it was the rather old fashioned kind with a dial that had little degree marks and was unbelievably hard to read) with a digital version. No more squinting and shining a flashlight on the dial to figure out what the heck the temperature is! And it works! I had also been hearing weird knocking/thudding sounds when the oil burner came on, so he did some adjusting and all is well. I should have, of course, called them about a month ago but I kept thinking I could figure it out. Silly.

• I finished reading The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (who is really J.K. Rowling.) What a great book! It’s a wonderful mystery with a lead character who is a private detective. I didn’t want it to end and I kept thinking to myself, ‘I hope she’s going to write another one! This would make a great series.’ Well, one thing about a Kindle that is extremely handy is this feature at the end of the book that lists other books you might be interested in. And there I learned that the next book in the series is coming out in June. Instant answer to my question. I preordered it. In that same listing I also discovered that Michael Connelly (one of my favorite authors) also has a new book coming out in a few months. I get excited by these things.

Anyway, I recommend this book highly. I never got into the whole Harry Potter thing. I tried to, but it just didn’t do anything for me, though I could clearly see what an amazing writer Rowling was. I really admire her for writing in another genre, for taking a risk when she obviously has more than enough money in the bank to never work another day in her life. Boy, she’s good!

Now I’m reading a book that I will review on Monday, so stay tuned.

• I managed to get some photos of squirmy Miss Scout. If she sees me pull out my camera, she immediately looks away, so timing is everything.

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Oh, she’s a handful, but she makes my heart sing. Yesterday I saw her loping along in the dog corral. The furnace guy was here and she loves visitors and it was warmer and the snow has melted in her corral, so she was happy. And that makes me happy.

• Tomorrow is our Linky Party for the Christmas Critter Felt Along. But the post will go up this evening at 6 pm. So, even though it is posting this evening, it’s officially the Sunday post for the blog. Does that make sense?

Happy Saturday.

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Filed Under: books, Christmas Critter Felt Along, life, Scout, spider 36 Comments

The Birds

March 21, 2014 at 8:19 am by Claudia

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It happens once or twice a year. I hear a high pitched sound that I can’t identify. It gets louder and louder. I look out the window. And there they are. Hundreds and hundreds of black birds, far more than you can see in these photos, in every tree. Flying, landing, calling, moving in a huge mass. The sound they make is deafening. 

I run for a camera and take photos as fast as I can. Then, in an instant, they are gone.

I don’t know what kind of birds they are. Starlings? Blackbirds? I’d love to know more about the swarming they do. Are they migrating back north after spending their winter in the south? It seems likely.

There are so many of them! I saw them twice yesterday, in the morning and in the late afternoon.

It’s one of those things in nature that stops you in your tracks. A moment when something takes over the landscape for a short while and transforms it. I’m glad they chose our trees for a quick stop on their journey.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: birds, nature 45 Comments

Sort of Random

March 20, 2014 at 9:08 am by Claudia

You’ll be proud of me. I had to see the dentist about that pesky crown (too long a story to tell here) and I actually made the appointment and went there yesterday. All by myself. I was a mess, of course, very nervous, very stressed, because this fear I have is bordering on phobia. I’d been dreading it all week.

But I did it. The dentist told me how proud he was of me and, as I was writing a check, snuck up behind me and put one of those little plastic rings they give to little kids on my finger.

It’s an orange spider.

Yes, I’m cool.

Totally random things I’ve been doing:

I wrote of the death of my former colleague and mentor in this post. As I was writing, I remembered a little silver pill box from Tiffany’s that Bob and Rick gave me and I very much wanted to find it. Turns out it was in that jewelry box that I found under the bed, along with lots of silver jewelry, much of it tarnished. I wanted to clean it but didn’t want to use a chemical-y silver cleaner. Then I ran across Ann’s post about cleaning silver naturally, using baking soda and kosher salt.

So I lined a shallow bowl with aluminum foil, filled it with warm water, added some salt (not even kosher) and baking soda (I didn’t bother to measure) and lo and behold, shiny silver!

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The pill box is so lovely and it’s probably the only thing I’ll ever have from Tiffany’s. Oh wait, I have one other thing from Tiffany’s – an egg cup.

I wore those shiny earrings to the dentist yesterday.

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I’ve had these plates for a long time – at one time I was going to list them in the Etsy shop, but I never got around to it. I found them in a local antique shop for $2.00 each. The marking on the back is Myott/Staffordshire England. Since I love flowers and aqua, these had to come home with me.

They’re dinner plates and I’ve been thinking about hanging them. But where? My thoughts ran to the studio. Perhaps on the same wall as the framed magazine articles? I even bought the plate hangers the other days at Lowe’s.

But after decluttering the studio, am I running the risk of it looking busy again?

I can’t decide. So hanging them is on hold.

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I’m reading The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Why haven’t I read this before? Great articles, weather forecasts, all sorts of interesting facts – perfect for a gardener.

Oh, and I cleaned all the tiles and grout on my kitchen countertop with baking soda. Much better!

Don comes home in 2½ weeks.

Happy Thursday.

Almost forgot: Our monthly linky party for the Christmas Critter Felt Along will be this Sunday. The post will go up on Saturday evening. Mark your calendars!

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: antiques, cleaning, Don, reading 41 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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