Claudia — Page 1313

Six Years

February 17, 2014 at 8:47 am by Claudia

iloveblogging

I woke up this morning and as I was making coffee and attending to those first tasks of the morning, I looked at the date. February 17th. What was it about that date? I kept trying to grasp some memory, some thought, that was just beyond my reach.

After the first sip of coffee, it hit me. But I checked my archives to be sure.

I started this blog six years ago. Today.

After reading blogs for several months and wondering if this might be for me, I mentioned to Don that this new thing might be a way for me to indulge my love of writing. And then I mentioned it again. And again. Finally, he told me to just do it.

And I did. Here’s the first post:

Welcome to my blog, Mockingbird Hill Cottage! I have been reading and commenting on various blogs for a long time and now I have finally started my own. Believe me, I will be learning as I go. I’m looking forward to meeting new friends and sharing my thoughts, projects and experiences with you. Mockingbird Hill Cottage is so named because my favorite book of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird and my maiden name is Hill. It is also a salute to a mockingbird that serenaded us every night with the most beautiful music when we lived in California. I hope your day is a happy one.

There was no photo. I hadn’t figured out how to do that yet. All I knew was that I had to get a post on the virtual page to make it official.

Was anybody out there? Yes, there were a few people that found me in those early days, thank goodness. But there were plenty of posts over the next year that had absolutely no comments.

I just kept writing.

In those days, there were far fewer blogs out there and it was much less competitive. I miss that a bit. Yes, this is a wonderful community, but in my first year or two of blogging it was a lot more like a small town. Facebook hadn’t taken off yet. Twitter wasn’t in the picture. Neither was Instagram or any of the other sites or apps that take only a minute of one’s time and sacrifice words and story and heft for quick and light.

There are people who say that reading a blog post takes too much time, that Twitter and Facebook are becoming the preferred way to share something in this world of 30 second attention spans. That people don’t want to read a long post. I even read the occasional prediction that blogging is becoming a thing of the past.

All I can say is: If people are having trouble reading a blog post, we’re in trouble. Because if that is true, I can only assume that reading a book must be simply impossible. And that reading an in-depth article simply cannot be done.

I prefer substance.

This medium of words and images, of peeks into each other’s lives, this place where we share our sorrows and our joys, our routine and not-so-routine days, has opened up a whole new world to me. I am forever grateful for the day I hit ‘Publish’ and joined so many others who were exploring this new thing called blogging.

solitary

True. That’s why blogging is so wonderful for me. I can sit here at my laptop, house quiet, the sound of Scoutie snoring on the sofa, and I can write. I can write a journal that is not only for me – it’s for you. I can share my thoughts and fears and happiness and sorrow with you. I can take a photo and instantly share it with you along with some, hopefully, well chosen words.

Pretty gosh darned amazing, isn’t it?

Finally, thank you. Thank you for being there. Thank you for taking the time to visit my little home on the Web. Thank you for all the times you’ve commented. Thank you for all the times you have sent me a personal note or an email or a thoughtful gift. Thank you for reaching out to me in times of sorrow. Thank you for words of encouragement. Thank you for laughter. Thank you for You.

I am so very grateful for our friendship.

Happy Monday.

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Let’s Talk About Something Other Than Snow

February 16, 2014 at 8:51 am by Claudia

bedroom

Let’s talk about something other than snow, alright?

How about how pretty the bedroom looks when the sun floods in through the windows? I can’t get over how pretty the bed looks with that gold coverlet. And let me tell you, almost every muscle in my body has been aching the last couple of days and that bed….that bed….sinking into that plush pillow top mattress at the end of the day has been delicious. Thank you bed, so long waited for and well worth the wait.

Let’s talk about House of Cards, Season 2, now available on Netflix. I watched four episodes yesterday and once again, I am gobsmacked by the quality of this series; the acting, the writing, the direction…everything. Simply excellent. And very Shakespearean, I might add, with echoes of Macbeth and Richard III. My three favorite series right now are: Sherlock, House of Cards and The Newsroom. Everything else I’ve seen is okay (and sometimes not at all okay) but doesn’t come close to this level of excellence. Purely personal opinion, of course.

Two of my former students are in Episodes 1 – 4, Season 2 of House of Cards, doing wonderful work. That makes me happy.

I’ve not seen one episode of Downton Abbey. I suppose I’ll watch it someday. We have the first season on DVD but have yet to open the shrink rap and it’s been sitting around here for a year. That tells you something. It’s just not calling me at the moment and, as is usually the case with me, if everyone seems to watching something and I read endless articles and posts about it, I usually stay away. Go figure.

livingroom

I’m reading Sycamore Row by John Grisham and it is taking me forever to get through that book. Now, I’ve read Grisham’s books in the past and he is a good writer. No argument there. But this book, for some reason, is not grabbing me enough to keep me reading. It’s interesting, the characters are quirky, the plot promises to be compelling but the pace is way too slow for me. I’ve made a vow to finish it and I will, but boy oh boy, it’s taking me far too long to get through this sucker.

I forgot to mention something here though I did mention it on this blog’s Facebook page. Don won a San Diego Theatre Critics/Craig Noel Award for his performance as Doolittle in Pygmalion. The awards ceremony was last Monday evening and since Don couldn’t be there, Don’s brother Ron and his wife Suzie represented him. Ron got to go up to the stage and accept the award and they filmed the announcement with their phone, so we got to see it. I’m so proud of Don. Let me tell you, he was simply brilliant in that role. I’m still in awe of that performance and I’d give anything to see it again.

Craig Noel, who died a few years ago at the age of 94, was the man who shaped the Old Globe Theatre. It simply wouldn’t be here without him. He was Don’s mentor at a time when he desperately needed one. He helped Don find his way in the theater when he was still a teenager. I worked with Craig many times and simply adored him. He was that rare man who made a difference is countless lives, who made the world a better place. He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts for his work. We miss him so much.

So, the fact that this award was named for Craig Noel is particularly poignant and powerful.

Three cheers for Don!

Note: Nora, I want to take you up on your offer of Miniology mags, but when I sent an email to your Yahoo address it came back to me. Said it was not valid. Can you email me with a valid address? Thanks so much!

Happy Sunday.

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During and After

February 15, 2014 at 8:32 am by Claudia

While waiting out the Nor’easter on Thursday:

inthetunnel

Scoutie in the tunnel.

readingmaterial

Reading material, remote and coffee.

soup&banana

The remains of some soup and a banana. The tray is balanced on the wire laundry basket, which is now sans yarn. I’ve stored it in my All Things Creative Closet as I’m not crocheting at the moment and it was getting dusty.

warmslippers

Warm slippers.

The view outside at the end of the day yesterday:

scoutinigloo

shovel

buriedchairs

Scout must feel she’s in some sort of sensory deprivation experiment. As she walks the paths in the dog corral, she can’t see over the walls of snow. She definitely seemed stressed yesterday and I don’t blame her. I’m stressed. It’s also slippery snow, which makes navigating it quite tricky. I wish I could make it easier for her.

As to your questions about shoveling, this property is somewhat rural. It’s not like it was when I was growing up and I lived in a suburban environment, with a relatively short driveway and paved sidewalks. We have a long, uphill gravel driveway. We have no sidewalks. We live on a little hill and there is a little hill in back of the house. When snow falls this heavily it drifts downhill and the piles of snow are even bigger than our neighbor’s across the street, who live on a relatively flat piece of property. Right outside my kitchen window, the snow is extremely high because it’s at the bottom of a hill. I’m going to have to shovel some of that out of the way before I rake the kitchen roof. It’s very daunting at the moment.

Paths for Scout must be shoveled so she can get uphill to the dog corral and move around the corral. Paths have to be shoveled out to the driveway from the kitchen door and the front door. Paths have to be shoveled to the shed and the trash can. Yesterday morning, the plow had created a wall between the mailbox, which was completely covered, and the street. It would have been impossible for mail to be delivered.

My neighbor used his snow blower on our driveway but after I tried to clear the parking area and the flat area by the shed (where I back the car up to head on out of the driveway) it was just too much on top of everything else I had shoveled. This snow was so heavy and wet. So I asked Bill to help me again. And Laura and I shoveled to free each other’s mailboxes. Laura’s daughter, who is adorable, also came to help. Poor girl, she wanted school to be in session because it was Valentine’s Day and she had her Valentines all ready to give to her classmates. That kind of thing is so disappointing to a kid. This danged storm has wreaked havoc everywhere, even with kids who don’t usually mind a snow day but sure didn’t want one on Valentine’s Day.

I came in for a while, then went back out and shoveled some more. The plow had been by again, so that meant more shoveling at the end of the driveway. Then I shoveled about 20 inches of snow off the car.

Tina and Noble dropped by at the end of the day with their roof rake, bless them. I’m going to use it over the next few days. I want to do some work today, but I woke up with such a sore back and achy right hand, that I’ll have to wait and see. Maybe a day off?

Don called me around 6:00, while I was making dinner, and asked me to do him a favor. Would I go upstairs and look for a list of phone numbers that he had left in the office? Achy, tired, and depressed, I sighed and said yes. He added that he thought it was in the top drawer of his dresser.

Okay. I trudged up the stairs.

I opened the drawer and said “The only thing I see is an envelope with my name on it.”

Then it hit me. He had left a Valentine for me.

That guy. He always fools me. He can concoct some story that I totally fall for, just like I did this time. That put a smile on my face. Love him. And boy, do I miss him.

Happy Saturday.

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Six Years

Let’s Talk About Something Other Than Snow

During and After

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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