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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Color

February 9, 2019 at 9:25 am by Claudia

I’ve been so bored with all my downtime lately that I’ve taken to adding color to my laptop screen. There’s a new color combination on the WordPress dashboard (purple and green!), I’m using dark mode on my MacOS, which eliminates the ever-present boring gray of Safari and the dock and provides a dramatic black background. And my ‘desktop’ is a photo from the NY Times with vivid colors.

Too much down time. Too many days with gray skies and bare branches and wind and coughing and blowing my nose. I needed some color!

I am slowly getting better. Mornings are hard. Evenings, as are often the case, bring on coughing. But in the middle? Longer stretches with something close to normalcy. It’s definitely heading on out, but not as quickly as I’d like.

I finished the latest Lee Child yesterday morning and now I’ve started Less  by Andrew Sean Greer, which won the Pulitzer Prize last year.

Thank you for all your lovely messages on the anniversary of Scout’s death. She was a big part of this blog and her absence is felt here, as well as in our home. I once said that she would have had her own Instagram account, had she lived. She was a star.

Don’s going to run some errands today – he’s still under the weather, but he’s restless. He also tends to recover from these things more quickly than I do. We need to recycle and replenish our larder. I’m going to bag up the remaining items that I’m throwing out and then I should be officially finished with the office. And I’m going to return the Lee Child to the library – maybe I’ll find something interesting to check out.

Boring. I know.

I need and want spring. But, Tuesday’s forecast calls for 3 – 5 inches of snow and ice.

Oh, goody.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: blog, books, reading, Scout 13 Comments

Missing Her

February 8, 2019 at 10:58 am by Claudia

Three years ago today, we had to say goodbye to our little girl.

There’s not a day we don’t miss her.

Don says it doesn’t seem possible that she has been gone three years. For me it does, simply because my Dad passed away three years ago last October and less than four months later, we lost Scout. A double strike to my heart.

The above photo is very blurry but it remains one of my favorites of her. Her joyful, mischievous, and playful personality is on full display. She was so, so smart. And so, so funny.

We had her with us for over 16 years.

 

Howling.

Pouncing.

I have thousands of photos, of course. I could fill up a month’s worth of posts.

She was an angel who blessed us with her presence and for that we are so grateful.

I miss her. I’m not the same without her.

And no, it’s not time for another dog for us. When it’s time, we’ll know.

With our beloved Riley.

The heart marking that never failed to astound us.

I hope she’s with us on a daily basis and that I’m simply too caught up in my routine to realize it. I’d give anything to feel her presence again. And Riley’s. And Winston’s.

All my babies.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Filed Under: Scout 44 Comments

Notes from the Infirmary

February 7, 2019 at 9:59 am by Claudia

Notes from the infirmary:

At least that’s what it feels like here. Poor Don! He’s really miserable. I feel so badly for him.

I’m still coughing and blowing my nose, but I’m definitely on the mend. It’s taking a bit too long for my taste, but it is what it is.

The soundtrack here at the cottage is the sound of coughs and sneezes and blowing noses and the occasional moan. And then, sick of that particular soundtrack, we put on some Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Much better.

I should finish up Lee Child’s latest today. I love the Jack Reacher series but this one doesn’t seem quite as compelling to me. I can see the plot twists way before they happen. Usually that isn’t the case. There’s been a wee bit of disappointment this winter in the newest releases from Lee Child, Louise Penny, and Susan Hill.

I’m going to be reviewing the occasional book on the blog. Nothing like it was in the past, but here and there. When I had both the book blog and this blog and I was reviewing books right and left (hundreds of them) I reached burnout. One day, I simply deleted the book blog. And I stopped reviewing. I wanted to read for pleasure once again. And I have. It makes an enormous difference in the reading experience.

I contacted TLC Book Tours a month or so ago and asked to be put back on their list of reviewers. Right now, it looks like I’ll review one book in March and one in April, which is perfectly doable.

Oh, by the way, I also deleted my Mockingbird Hill Cottage Facebook page. I never post there. It’s just taking up virtual space. I doubt whether you’re looking for it, but if you are…it’s gone or just about to be gone. I think it stays up for 30 days after you delete it.

Cleaning house. I’m also just about done with cleaning out the office. I need to throw a few things in a trash bag and we’ll be good to go. Just haven’t had the energy to lug the trash bag outside!

I still plan to write about the movies we’ve seen, however, that takes a kind of mental energy that I’ve been lacking during this illness. But soon!

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: books, cleaning 26 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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The Dogs

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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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Lambs Like to Party

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