Claudia — Page 715

Changes

February 6, 2019 at 10:10 am by Claudia

It’s now been a week and a half and I’m still dealing with this crappy illness. Much better, of course, but it’s tenacious and I’m still not tip-top. It isn’t until late afternoon and into the evening that I feel like I might be getting better! Don is down and out and in that stage where your head hurts and your eyes are watery and your chest is achy. Poor guy.

I heard the news last night that Anastasia Broadway is closing on March 31st. It’s been running for two years, which is a good, long run. Nevertheless, I was hoping it would run through the summer, for the sake of everyone involved. It’s left me feeling very sad. With Darko leaving Hartford Stage in the spring and Anastasia closing, I’m definitely at the end of an era in my career. I’ve been with Anastasia since its beginning at Hartford Stage – three years ago – and I truly love the show and everyone involved in it. It will take me a while to sort through all these emotions. It’s a fact: “Show Business” is a business. And when ticket sales start to wane, the producers have to make a tough call. Sometimes they make it too quickly, but their bottom line is profit and any big show has to rake in a lot of money to survive. Anastasia has had a glorious run. There are national tours in America, Stuttgart and Spain. It will live on.

Sigh.

We remain positive and know that there are opportunities awaiting us. We just can’t see them yet. And I’m deeply grateful to Darko and Hartford Stage and Anastasia.

Thought I’d share this with you. It arrived on Monday:

I couldn’t resist.

And as I searched for it online, including Maileg’s site, I quickly realized it isn’t being produced anymore. I found it online at a store in San Francisco that still had some stock and I quickly ordered it. (That will be the last frivolous thing I buy for a while!)

It’s about 6 inches high and the room with the bed slides into the outside box (the castle.) You can see the sleeping Princess through the window. It’s utterly adorable and whimsical.

And now to the mundane: time to blow my nose.

Happy Wednesday.

Strange Emotions

February 5, 2019 at 9:43 am by Claudia

I apologize for being a sporadic blogger of late. This “whatever-it-is” is taking its own sweet time leaving my system. I’m definitely seeing progress but I don’t have a lot of energy. Still coughing, sneezing, etc., but the chest is clearing and that’s a good thing. Frankly, when it takes all morning and into the afternoon for me to begin to feel halfway decent, the last thing I want to do is take a picture and blog.

And now Don has come down with it. He’s feeling pretty yucky this morning and I’m going to try to muster the energy to take care of him, like he took care of me.

For the time being, the loveseat and trunk are in our storage locker. I had a negative emotional reaction to them the other day – quite a strong one. I don’t quite understand it, and I’m sick, of course, which must have an effect on my emotions, but I couldn’t get everything back in that trunk soon enough. I also couldn’t handle seeing the loveseat in the living room and not knowing where, if anywhere, I wanted to put it. Same with the trunk.

It’s interesting. I’ve known I would have to retrieve this stuff eventually, and I kept putting it off. Most of the stuff in the trunk is memorabilia from high school and college and my time as a camp counselor. None of it symbolized an unhappy memory. But I couldn’t stand looking at it. I tried to articulate it to my husband and he, being the incredibly wise man he is, stepped in and said he understood and did I want him to move them to storage for now?

Yes, I said. So he did just that yesterday and I felt a wave of relief. All of this has been in my friend’s basement since I moved away to go to graduate school, which would have been 1983. Why it’s triggering such strong feelings, I have no idea.

I almost didn’t share this with you but I knew you’d ask me where I decided to put things. So there’s your answer: in storage.

I did keep the Haviland china here. No negative reaction to that.

This is the Pink Roses pattern. It’s Haviland Limoges and it was made in France – at least, the serving pieces have those markings- the teacups are marked ‘Austria.’ I’ll have to do some research into Haviland patterns. Since this was my great grandmother’s set of dishes, it’s from the late 1880s – early 1890s. As with much of the Haviland pieces of the time, there’s a lot of gold on the handles and edges.

I’m going to try and clear a shelf in the china cabinet in the den and display them there, which means I’ll have to re-home some of my McCoy pieces.

Okay. That’s it for today.

Happy Tuesday.

Sneak Peek

February 3, 2019 at 11:13 am by Claudia

A quick post today. We just finished bringing things in the house. Don arrived home around 9:00 last night and we left unpacking until this morning.

Here is the loveseat. As you can see, it’s very Victorian, perhaps Eastlake. Back in the day, I wonder if it was mainly for posing for pictures, the man sitting in front of the high back and the woman in front of the low back. I know I have some photos somewhere of my great-grandmother next to this piece when it lived in the family farmhouse in Canada. When I was a little kid, this was always in an upstairs hallway in my grandmother’s house. I was fascinated by it because of its story and also, it was perfect for a kid to sit on. That’s why I inherited it, I guess. I’ve managed to get by without it for over 30 years, but you can see why I hesitated about donating it. There’s real family history here.

Some of the carving.

And here’s a picture of the trunk:

It’s a deep red and, save for one broken handle, it’s in great condition. I can’t remember when I acquired it, but I do know that it was the first antique I purchased. I’m thinking I found it in Ann Arbor at an annual antique market in the late seventies.

We have to figure out where to put these things – as well as the Havilland China, which I haven’t even looked at yet. There’s another box full of photos and who-knows-what, as well.

Don seems to think we should show off the loveseat downstairs, but the only available space would be next to the armoire, which means the antique dollhouse would go on top of the china cabinet in the den.

I’m still under the weather, so I’ll deal with that later.

I’m glad he’s home safely.

Happy Sunday.

Changes

Strange Emotions

Sneak Peek

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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