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Manhattan, Anastasia & Perspective

June 21, 2017 at 8:45 am by Claudia

Busy New York City. Once again, I ran over to Bryant Park and the Whole Foods that is there to grab some dinner to go. No time to sit in the park this visit!

My hotel is lovely – The Millennium. Just a block from the theater and with a nice, large, and relatively (for NYC) quiet room. I’m throwing this post together rather quickly as I have to get it together, write up notes for the actors, check out, and then run over to the theater for some work with one of the actors.

The show is great. I see changes in the performances, the kind of changes that happen when the actors have the luxury of more than a limited run. It’s theirs now and they are having a ball. The audience was tremendously responsive for a Tuesday night.

When Dimitry and Anastasia almost kiss, but don’t, I heard an ‘Awww!’ from the row in front of me, which made me laugh.

That’s the Empire State Building.

And what do I see out my window this morning?

The Chrysler Building – my favorite skyscraper.

Don’t be discouraged by the win in Georgia; we closed the gap in a Republican stronghold, by a large percentage. This doesn’t bode well for 2018. And by then, Trump will be that much deeper in the hole in terms of Trump/Russia and the facts that are going to come out. I say this to myself as well: Stay Strong.

If you do use twitter – you might want to look at Charles Clymer. He, I have found, is politically astute and he posted a thread last night that puts the election in perspective. I was reading it at 12:30 am this morning and it provided a much-needed ‘big picture’ as well as hope.

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: Anastasia, New York City 27 Comments

When The World is Too Much With Us

June 20, 2017 at 8:03 am by Claudia

We had a huge, scary storm come through yesterday and I have some cleanup to do before I leave for the city. Lots of catalpa leaves are all over the yard and if you’ve seen a catalpa you know the leaves are heart-shaped and large in size. We won’t even talk about all the blossoms that are everywhere.

Mostly, though, I can’t really write today. I am so disheartened by what is going on in Washington DC; the lack of transparency as Mitch McConnell engineers yet another swindle on the American people because he’s spiteful and power-hungry and he wants to give a huge tax cut to the rich by taking money away from Medicaid, the lack of transparency in the White House as press briefings are now private with no recordings allowed, the ongoing investigations, which are vital, while this sorry excuse for a human being undoes everything that made us good and compassionate and powerful and respectable.

I’m simply overwhelmed by it all today. And heartsick.

I’ve got news: governing is not slashing and undoing everything someone else has done just for the sake of doing it, for spite. Governing is listening to the people. Governing is working for the good of all Americans not just the rich. You work for us. We pay your salaries.

2018 can’t come soon enough.

I’ll stop there.

I have to go to Manhattan later today and I’ll be back home tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: life 41 Comments

Empty Nester

June 19, 2017 at 9:37 am by Claudia

I’m an empty nester.

I noticed that the robins were feeding those babies less frequently. The day before yesterday, one of the robins constantly cheeped at me, so I know there were still babies in the nest. Yesterday, in the morning, I heard one of the parents cheeping again and I looked outside to make sure there were no predators in the area. All was well.

Later in the day, I went out simply to see if I received a warning of some kind.

Silence. No mama. No papa.

So I went over to the nest to discover it was…empty.

They’ve fledged.

I imagine the cheeping I heard yesterday had to do with getting the last of the babies to fledge.

I got sad. I’d become used to the constant warnings from the mama and the papa. It was too darned quiet yesterday!

I found myself wondering, where are they now? Where did they go?

Sigh.

I’ve also noticed that the brown thrashers, who had a nest in the brambles/wild roses right outside the kitchen window, have disappeared. There was a period where I saw them all the time, getting worms from the ground, flying into the brambles, flying back out for more food.

It was just last week that I realized I hadn’t seen them recently.

They come. They make their nests. I get used to seeing them. And then they’re gone.

This is the way I feel when I start to see the bunnies less often, as well.

I feel like my little family has dispersed, they’ve left home.

I cannot tell you how steamy it is here. Yesterday (and today) I woke up to steamy windows and so much humidity! Yesterday it was 88° and felt like 96°. Today I had to flip on the A/C as soon as I got up. We are supposed to get storms later in the day. It feels like August instead of June!

Tomorrow, I head into Manhattan to watch a performance of Anastasia  and take notes, so I’m spending the night in the city.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: Anastasia, birds, flowers, garden 32 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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