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A Crazy Day, a Baby, and a Documentary

September 4, 2018 at 8:16 am by Claudia

Early morning in the casa. One day I sleep in, the next? Up really early after a restless night. Go figure.

Boy, is it hot out there! It may be September, but in these parts the temperatures are in the nineties. I won’t complain because school starts this week and I can’t imagine how miserable the students and teachers will be. Schools don’t have air conditioning here! At least I can stay in the air conditioned cottage.

Do you ever have a day when everything goes wrong and the simplest of tasks become difficult? That was my day yesterday. I got a late start, which threw me off (see yesterday’s post about routines) and then, after taking my shower, I decided to clean the hair out of the drain, which involves removing the cover by unscrewing it, getting all the hair out (yuck) and screwing it back in. While I was finishing up, the shower curtain and rod fell on my head.

Lest you think it’s a heavy metal rod, it isn’t. Whoever flipped this house neglected to put in a permanent rod, so we have one of those adjustable vinyl/plastic rods. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get it back up, dragging a chair into the bathroom, cursing up a storm, until I finally realized the rod was shot – the spring tension was kaput. In the meantime, I had to sit down at my desk and write up all the deductions, scan them, and send them off to our accountant. That took longer than I had planned. In the middle of it all, I called Lowe’s to make sure they had the shower curtain rods in stock, drove there, came back, put up the rod, cleaned the bathtub, went back to the computer, finished everything up and then I collapsed in my chair.

Later, I heard a noise. The rod had fallen. Back up again, tightening it even more. When Don came home from taking photos, he said, “I’ve got to take a shower!” And I said “BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THAT ROD!!” He was. So far, so good.

I’m thrown off, I tell you. I have to get back into my routine!

Early morning Stella.

We have to sit down this week and figure out where we’re staying in London and Paris (and Edinburgh) and make our reservations. It’s just a little over a month away.

Rick and Doug are traveling this month (they’re going to London and Rome) and we’re traveling next month. This makes it sound as if Don and I travel all the time, but you know that’s not true. Rick and Doug, however, travel frequently. By the way, one of Doug’s daughters just had a baby! Doug and Rick are grandfathers. The baby is a girl and she’s absolutely beautiful! His daughter lives in Hong Kong so he’ll will be traveling there later this month to see his new (and first) grandchild.

Early morning plants.

If you’re not interested in the resistance, skip this next section and have a lovely day xo.

There is a new documentary out called Active Measures. It was just released to the public on August 31st. If you are trying to make sense of everything Trump/Russia, I urge you to see it. It’s extraordinary. It’s terrifying. But we have to know all of the facts and this lays it all out in a way that makes perfect sense, tracking the Russian Mob and Putin and Trump’s mob ties and suddenly you find yourself seeing how all the puzzle pieces fit together. It’s playing in select theaters and is also available on Hulu and iTunes. I don’t get Hulu, but there’s a month long free trial available right now. I do have iTunes. You can rent it on iTunes or buy it. I bought it because I want Don to see it as well.

All I can say is that I had to take several breaks while watching it on Sunday afternoon because the evidence was so overwhelming and alarming. The filmmaker interviews John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Clint Watts, Michael McFaul, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Eric Swalwell and countless experts on Russia, as well as members of the Intelligence Community. It also touches on the same active measures being used in the Brexit campaign and in the Ukraine. No conspiracy theories here, just facts.

Just wanted to let you know about it.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: media, movies 34 Comments

Thrown Off

September 3, 2018 at 11:06 am by Claudia

I’m running late this morning! For a couple of hours during the middle of the night, I was awake, so  I overslept. Don even came upstairs to check on me!

We are such creatures of routine, Don and me. For the last three days, our silly routine has been changed a bit and it’s throwing us off. I find comfort in a routine, but are we becoming older people who are ‘set in our ways?’ Hmmm.

Soon enough, the whole routine will be thrown off when we set off on our travels. So there’s that.

Today: Finishing up on typing up all our deductions, sending them off to our accountant, doing a bit of mowing (though it’s going to be very hot here for the next 4 or 5 days – in the 90s) and maybe some work on the dollhouse. We’ll see.

I hope you have a lovely day off, my friends.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: life 20 Comments

Thirteen

September 2, 2018 at 10:20 am by Claudia

A coolish Sunday morning with swallows circling, landing, and swirling up to the sky. We watched them as we sat on the front porch. Every once in a while we heard the sound of the wind chimes. Lovely.

I completely forgot that August 30th marked our 13th year of living here in Mockingbird Hill Cottage. Don tells me that is the longest he’s lived anywhere. 13 years! It was so hot that day and even hotter on the 31st when we had to drive back to our rental cottage and thoroughly clean it. We were so exhausted by the end of the day that, when we discovered some things that we had forgotten to pack, we were so over it that we put them out by the curb for someone – anyone – to take. We didn’t want to pack one more thing. We just wanted to get back to our new home. I remember it very well.

There were no gardens here then. The big garden bed was there, but it held two plants. There were some hostas – one by the porch, one on the side of the house –  and some sedum Autumn Joy. That’s it. As it was late in the season, we didn’t even try to tackle the garden bed. We cleared out a bed in front of the house and planted four teeny tiny boxwoods there and that was it. Those boxwoods are now huge – in fact, they really need to be pruned because they’re sort of out of control.

We changed out the wood block print that was here for this painting that Don purchased. It’s an interesting story. Someone Don was following on Instagram painted it. Don fell in love with it because it reminded him of road trips and driving out west, his favorite things to do. When he complimented the guy on the painting, he was told that it was the artist’s first attempt at oil painting and a conversation ensued with Don offering to buy it. The artist said that whatever Don wanted to pay was fine because he was just happy someone liked his painting. Don, of course, didn’t stint on the payment. An artist should be paid well for his/her work.

I think it looks stunning with the lamplight on it.

Makes me want to get in the car and drive west.

We watched John McCain’s funeral from start to finish and I can’t remember when I’ve been as moved. Simply beautiful and powerful beyond words. America as it should be and as we hope it will be again. And a stunning rebuke to the Trump administration and the partisan agendas that now characterize Congress. We were shaken and we most definitely cried; in my case, several times.

Happy Sunday.

 

Filed Under: anniversary, Mockingbird Hill Cottage 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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