Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Monday Stuff

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This sunset occurred about a week ago. If you look just above the sunset near the trees on the left, you’ll see the crescent moon.

Monday again. We had rain and thunderstorms yesterday and it looks like we’ll get more later this afternoon. There was terrible flooding in Connecticut. I hope the readers of this blog that live there are okay.

I thought I might mow but it looks like Mother Nature has other plans. I’ve been cleaning bathrooms (my least favorite job,) reading a lot, and hanging out with my husband. We finished watching season 4 of Babylon Berlin and now we’re going to watch it again from the very beginning. The same with Northern Exposure, which we also finished. The last season of that show was not as good as the others. Rob Morrow, who played Dr. Joel Fleischman, wanted to leave the series to work in film and the producers talked him into staying for a portion of the final season. After his departure, they brought in another doctor and his wife and the writing and storytelling declined. We have lots of thoughts on what went wrong. Morrow was the heart of the series and his departure left a huge hole. They shouldn’t have brought in two new characters. The rest of the cast was excellent and wonderfully quirky and their storylines would have been just fine. The writing was uneven. Watching the latter half of that season found me sighing. A lot. We want to watch it again, but this time it will only be seasons 1 – 5.

This week, however, will be primarily reserved for the Convention. Conventions often bore me, but this time? I think it will be exciting and hopeful and just what the doctor ordered.

This morning Don has to go to the eye doctor and I am going to attempt – again – to return a book to Amazon, which means I have to drive to a Staples south of us. If you remember, the last time I tried to return the book, I got all the way to Staples and a woman coming back to her car told me that their online connection to Amazon wasn’t working so they couldn’t process returns. I’m girding my loins and giving it another try.

Little birds, probably Carolina wrens, are sleeping in the hanging plants overnight and I can hear them waking up in the morning. It is the sweetest thing. I heard them on Saturday morning and then three of them appeared on the porch railing. This morning, I heard them again. It was still dark out but light was beginning to appear in the sky. Last year, we had a Carolina wren sleeping on top of the porch light. I’m glad they feel safe here.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Books and a Few Thoughts

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A portion of the living room on this gray morning. It might rain within the next hour, but it will be brief.

It’s been a lovely and quiet morning with coffee and a good book. As I’ve said before, I am reading The Mirror and the Light, but it’s not the kind of book that I will drop everything to read. Historical fiction is usually not my thing, but these beautifully written books by Hilary Mantel are the exception. Anyway, when reading Mantel, I need another book to read that I find gripping – usually a mystery or thriller. I didn’t have one on hand, so I finally googled ‘writers like Daniel Silva’ to see what came up. I got a few good suggestions, so I searched the library system’s website to see if any of them were on the shelves at my tiny local library. Hurrah, they were! So I drove on over and checked out 4 books. I’ve started one, Orphan X   by Gregg Hurwitz, and I’m really enjoying it.

Thanks for all the great comments yesterday. It’s comforting to know there are other adult children of alcoholics out there who have control issues. The bottom line for me: I need to feel safe. Having control does that for me. And it’s perfectly okay. I offer no apologies for something that helped me get through my childhood and still helps me to this day. I mentioned that Don is also an adult child of an alcoholic. He’s not only that, he’s been sober for 46 years. I rarely speak about this because it’s his story. He works his program every day, goes to meetings every day, and sponsors fellow alcoholics. I admire him more than I can say. And because he’s sober, ‘we’ can be. If he wasn’t, our relationship wouldn’t have started. I would have stopped it from ever happening. I’m grateful for his wisdom and guidance every day of my life and he helped me come to terms with my dad’s struggle. He is the answer to a prayer.

Anyway.

A bit more cleaning to do today and some reading, of course, and almost certainly, some shared laughter with my husband.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Friday Thoughts

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Yours truly is tuckered out today. Since Sunday, we’ve been working outside for several hours every day – mowing, weeding. working on some areas of the back forty, cleaning gutters, weeding some more, clearing the trails in the woods, etc. Today, I’ve opted for some rest, though I do have clean the tub and floor in the bathroom. On one hand, we love that we are strong enough for some physical labor, on the other hand…we’re sort of tired.

Yesterday, we spent all morning on a self-tape audition that Don had to submit. It was rather complicated  but it went fairly smoothly and Don was happy with it. The rest of it? You just have to let go because there’s no controlling the outcome. As I always say it’s a bit of a crap shoot. In fact, every potential job in theater, film, or television is definitely a crap shoot.

Control is an issue of mine as an adult child of an alcoholic. It’s also an issue for my sister. When you grow up living in an environment that can go out of control at any minute, having any sort of control is desperately needed. It’s why I don’t drink and never did drugs. It’s also why I need to feel in control of most situations, but of course, that isn’t always going to be the case. Don recognized this about me early on. I sometimes have to cede control and that is a good thing. Don – even though he’s also an adult child of an alcoholic – is more spontaneous. I’ll always opt for control, though. It makes me feel safer.

I can hear the mourning dove calling as I write this. That makes me smile.

Uh oh. The thought of mowing the back forty just popped in my head. You see? The urge to go outside and do something is back. But the bathtub! And the floor!

We’ll see what happens.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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