Claudia — Page 840

Potpourri on Tuesday

February 6, 2018 at 9:40 am by Claudia

• I’m not sure when this feature was added, but my iPhone 7 plus has a ‘portrait’ mode. I am quite taken with it.

Here is a normal shot:

And here is portrait mode, which allows me to focus on the ZZ in the foreground. Everything else gets softened.

I like it.

• Rest in Peace, John Mahoney. He was such a wonderful actor. He didn’t start acting until later in life, gaining fame from a production of John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves that ran on Broadway in the 80s (also starring Swoosie Kurtz, Christine Baranski, Stockard Channing, and Ben Stiller.) That lead to his run on Frasier. Don worked with him on that show and said he was incredibly kind and nice; a good man.

• I managed to get rid of a lot of the ice on the driveway yesterday, enabling my escape to Lowes where I bought four 50 pound bags of salt. Needless to say, after getting them in my cart and then transporting them one by one to my porch, my back was in complaint mode. It’s been snowing this morning, but tomorrow is the big storm, which will bring several inches of snow along with freezing rain and ice. Help!

• There is going to be revival of the groundbreaking play, The Boys in the Band, which will open on Broadway at some point this year. I’m proud to say that two of the nine actors are former students of mine: Jim Parsons and Brian Hutchison. Actually, now that you ‘know’ Rick, I should say “former students of ours.” We can’t take credit for their talent, but we can take credit for recognizing it when they auditioned for our MFA Acting program. We accepted both of them without hesitation. I’m so proud of them and prouder still that they are my friends to this day. You’d better believe we’re going to be in that audience.

• For those of you who are in the Resistance, I want to recommend a woman who has a page on Facebook. Some of you may already know of her – Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin. She’s a lawyer, an activist and very, very smart. I’ve found her daily Resistance Live broadcasts (at 11 am) to be a source of calm and lots of helpful information. She knows the legal world and she somehow manages to cut through all the speculation and fear that’s seems to be a part of any given day in this administration with clarity and passion. Just go to Facebook and search for Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin/Resistance Live.

Okay. it’s stopped snowing. Oh goody, not only do I have to shovel tomorrow and Thursday, but I get to shovel today, as well!

Happy Tuesday.

Salt

February 5, 2018 at 9:12 am by Claudia

A crappy weather week ahead. Yesterday, it snowed, then in the early evening it turned to rain, which has left us with a frozen mess. I have to go out and salt when I’m done writing this post. And Wednesday looks to be a day of significant snow.

Oh joy.

I may be stuck here for a while, as the temps are in the single digits at night, which means I have to protect the pipes from freezing.

Oh joy, again.

Maybe I’ll become one of those hermits who live in the wild and are snowed in for the winter and don’t emerge until Spring.

Anyway, enough of that. It’s sunny…that’s a good thing, right?

I had a lovely time and Rick and Doug’s yesterday, as usual. Then, when the snow started falling in earnest, I headed home. Even though I didn’t blink an eye at driving in snow when I was a young thing growing up in Michigan, I do blink an eye now. I remember driving clear across the state in a blizzard in order to get to a friend’s wedding. No biggie.

I miss that girl, but she has been replaced by a wiser woman who would much rather stay home than deal with snow and slippery roads.

Don has been urging me to watch Peaky Blinders on Netflix and I’ve tried. I’ve watched two episodes, and though the show is beautifully filmed and the acting is great, it’s a bit too violent for me and I’ve yet to connect to at least one character. I know who is supposed to be the protagonist and I also know that they young men are damaged, especially by what they saw when they were fighting in WWI, but I’m not there yet. I promised Don I’d watch the first season, which consists of 6 episodes, so I’ll hang in through #6. I just finished Grace and Frankie over the weekend. When Don was still here, we watched Godless, starring Jeff Daniels, on Netflix. Excellent. I really loved it. Also violent, but there were actual good guys.

Okay. I have to get moving. It’s time to salt. Then I have to get out of here so I can buy more salt.

Exciting, right?

Don moves to the theater today and tech rehearsals begin. Less than two weeks until the first preview. (And the release of the cast album!)

Happy Monday.

A Start

February 4, 2018 at 9:37 am by Claudia

I’m writing this rather quickly, as I slept in and I have to make my way to Rick and Doug’s home for brunch. Doug’s daughter is in town and I look forward to seeing her again. Should be lovely.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments yesterday, along with some great advice. We’re all dealing with this, aren’t we? Don says it’s all about balance and he’s right. I managed to do pretty well yesterday, though there were a few slip ups here and there. I had several errands to run, as well as laundry and vacuuming, but I did start my book! Huzzah!

I can already tell I’m going to like it. It came out a few years ago and was on a lot of the Best Books of the Year lists. If I had to compare it to another book – and it’s early in the game – I’d compare it to All the Light We Cannot See. It’s called A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and is written by Anthony Marra. I’ll share more of my thoughts when I’ve finished.

The sun in the photos is courtesy of yesterday. Today is gray, with rain and snow in the forecast.

Sigh of spring-yearning.

I just might paint that kitchen wall this coming week, since I’m stuck here because of the cold temperatures.

Happy Sunday.

Potpourri on Tuesday

Salt

A Start

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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