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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Mid-week ramblings

August 13, 2008 at 4:24 pm by Claudia

Here we are at mid-week and I haven’t blogged since Saturday. What have I been doing? Nothing all that exciting. I’ve worked on the throw I’m crocheting, finished a book (more about that later), read several magazines, cleaned, scrubbed, mowed, and had a little emergency trip to the dentist. I won’t go into detail – let’s just say that a painful glitch in the root canal process necessitated an unexpected spell in the dentist’s chair. My wonderful dentist had a full schedule already that day and squeezed me in, but did not numb my tooth. You know what a chicken I am. It wasn’t horrendously bad, but I was not a happy camper. Hopefully all is better now, and on Friday (please, please) it will be finished up. I leave on Sunday for a week-long visit to my family in Florida. I will spend time with my parents and my sister and her family and take care of her two kids when she and her husband go away for a few days. Why do I go to Florida in August, do you ask? I don’t know, but it always seems to work out that way.

I finished reading The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen – very good book. At first, I almost stopped because it is quite graphic, lots of stuff about autopsies, and gruesome murders; but I’m glad I kept on with it because it was fascinating. She is a fine writer and, yes, I am going to go back and read her other books. In fact, I picked up a few today to take on the trip. If you like gritty mysteries, you’ll like this book.

We are sitting on the porch whenever possible. The weather has been lovely lately – perfect for sitting in the wicker rocker and stitching or reading. Scout always seems to be in these photos of the porch ( I think she knows exactly where she should place herself in order to look her best for the camera). Riley is there too, but more often than not, he’s not in the area I want to photograph!

Hope your day is a good one.

Filed Under: books, porch, Scout Leave a Comment

I’m as corny as…

August 9, 2008 at 5:40 pm by Claudia


We’re having a lovely Saturday weather-wise. After yesterday’s storms, we woke up to a rare August day of sun and low humidity. The dogs got their walk, some mowing was done, I worked at the store, my husband got to play some guitar on the porch – and we going to have another meal of fresh sweet corn-on-the-cob. Nothing is better than fresh corn in August! (You have to understand that I’m a girl who cut out a photo of corn-on-the-cob slathered in butter, along with another photo of a baked potato with butter and put them on the bulletin board in my freshman dorm room. Now this was many, many years ago; dorm food was pretty terrible – basically starch and badly cooked starch at that. A girl like me pined for good home-cooked food!) Anyway, I digress…dinner and the Olympics are on the docket for tonight. I plan to crochet away on my project and enjoy the competition.

I hope you all saw the opening ceremonies – they were simply the best I have ever seen. Spectacular! Impeccable and brilliantly conceived and executed. All I can say, even now, is Wow!

More later.

Filed Under: garden 1 Comment

Reading and Quilts

August 6, 2008 at 4:23 pm by Claudia


Just getting over my second cold of the summer. My husband got it first, then I did. Thank goodness this one was much shorter in duration than the last! So I’ve been taking it easy. Today is the first day I’ve been perky enough to do some chores around the house, other than the daily swiffering and vacuuming. While I was down and out I read Fractured by Karen Slaughter. It was so engrossing that I polished it off in a little over a day. If you love mysteries, especially gritty ones, you will love her books. She’s written several. The first time I read one of her mysteries, I was on a plane to Florida. When I got there I had finished it and couldn’t wait to get all of her books so that I could read every one of them – in order. Every time my sister and I were out I had to stop at a bookstore and look for more of her books. Don’t you just love it when you discover an author and can’t wait to get your hands on all his/her books? I was that way with Anne Perry, also. My mom had read her Victorian mysteries and recommended them to me, but for some reason I had resisted them. When I finally came to my senses and read one, I was hooked. “Catching up” on all Anne Perry’s books involves a ton of reading as she is very prolific. But it sure is a pleasure. I’ve now started The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen – another mystery involving a female police detective, apparently the second in a series. I haven’t read the first, so we’ll see if I have that “I’m hooked” feeling at the end of the book!

The photo above was taken in the upstairs hallway of our cottage. The large quilt hangs on the wall right above the landing – you can see it from the living room. At certain times during the day, the sunlight from our upstairs skylight hits the quilt and it is beautifully illuminated. I made it from a pattern by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. Its a pansy quilt. (By the way, I believe it is hanging upside down, but by the time my husband and I were finished wrestling with it I was in no mood to do any re-hanging. I rather like it this way.)

The other quilt is made out of 30’s reproduction fabrics and is a basic nine-patch. It was one of the first quilts I ever made. One of the first things I did when we closed on this cottage was drape it over the railing and there it has stayed.

Another view of the Pansy Quilt.

More later.

Filed Under: books, quilting, reading 4 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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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

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