I’m reduced to taking a photo of my feet propped up on the coffee table while the morning sunlight is peeking through the windows. On my iPhone because I’m too lazy to get up and retrieve my big-girl camera.
Here’s the problem in Hartford. I’ve been coming here once, sometimes twice, a year to coach for six years. I’ve explored lots of nooks and crannies in this town and it’s lovely. But I’ve been there and done that, so to speak. The days I usually reserve for ‘roaming’ are my days off and this time around, my days off are being spent back at the cottage because Don will be going away soon and Stella is coming and the yard needs to be weeded, etc. Rehearsal days, this week especially, are long and by the time rehearsal is over, I have to hightail it back to the apartment to make dinner.
And watch Rachel.
Hopefully, once we head onstage, I’ll have some free time during the day and I’ll take some walks and snap some pictures. I do love that. I haven’t been to the library yet (my favorite place) or the Capitol building or the Connecticut River. And I have to remind myself that I haven’t been here for a long stretch in anything other than winter weather for a while. I have to take advantage of blue skies and lovely August weather!
Don’s trying to track the stove but there was no update yesterday. That often happens to me when I try to track mail or a UPS package. He does need to know, however, since so many things hinge on when that stove is delivered, not the least is organizing his friends who are going to help load it onto the dolly and into the cottage. He’ll call the shipping company this morning.
In the meantime, since the Salvation Army is picking up our current stove today, he will be stove-less for several days. For Don, it’s an excuse to eat out, so he’s perfectly fine with that. Rick and Doug are currently in town for a few days and they had dinner with Don last night. The three of them had a great time and laughed themselves silly. That makes me happy.
Exciting times ahead. Don got an email from the Company Manager about housing in New Orleans, which reminds me that Don starts rehearsals in NYC on September 11th and then moves on to New Orleans (where they’ll tech the show and perform for a week) on October 8th. And then, he’s off and running until early December.
Yes, I will be in New Orleans at some point and my sister might join us there.
I will also be in Chicago. I have family and friends there and my birthday falls during the run as well as Thanksgiving, so I’ll have to figure out the best time to be there. I do have to handle things back at the house, so I’m not going to Houston. And Rick and Doug are moving here at the end of October and I’d like to be around when they first start to settle in.
Lots on the docket. But we’re grateful.
Happy Thursday.
that all sounds good – even the “been there, done that” part. because you’ve had those experiences (and will again), you can rest and read more right now before things get super busy. and do so wearing cute pajamas (love those colors and the pattern)!
glad you will get to see don in new orleans and chicago. i am glad my sister and i will be able to see him perform in chicago, too!
hope don gets an answer soon about stella’s location and arrival date. there are so many details that need attending and schedules get full, but it is all working out and i am very happy for you!
kathy in iowa
Don is awaiting the arrival of the Salvation Army truck as I write this. Fingers crossed on everything else!
When it rains, it pours, huh? So true. Life goes on, relatively-uneventful for months, then suddenly, there are twelve things all going on at once. Guess it keeps us on our toes & paying attention. I can relate to the eating-out excuse. The only thing I LIKE about moving is that point when everything is either packed or eaten up, and I have no other options except takeout. Guilt-free takeout is the best! Hey, maybe someone will come along & refurbish the stove you’re donating today. Sort of a “pay it forward” move. Have a great day!
#Resist
Exactly. It often is all or nothing, isn’t it? Thanks so much, Janet.
So much going on but it’s all very exciting. A chance to visit a couple of great cities while Don’s on tour and see friends and family. Stella is making her way to you, so exciting. Life is Grand right now (well except for the things that aren’t) moving on! Hugs!
Stella was in Ohio this morning and I assume she’s in PA now. Just one more border to cross and she’ll be in NY.
Wow, a lot in your planner for the rest of the year! Take time in between to catch your breath and process those memories into your brain!
I will. I’m so looking forward to seeing New Orleans!
You will appreciate this more than anyone else I know -I think. I had requested Glass Houses at the library months ago. You can do that pre-publishing as long as they have purchased the book. SO yesterday out of the blue I get an email saying it’s in and ready for pickup. I don’t know why they would release it 6 days early to patrons, perhaps it was a mistake, but since I was #1 on the request list, they did and I felt like it was Christmas! I am forcing myself to savor each line and to not stay up last night but still I am nearly through. You know that ahhhh feeling with Louise. AND she was on CBS yesterday morning. Christmas came early. :D
Oh my goodness! That is incredible. Lucky you, Suzan. I’m so happy you have it in your hands now. Yes, take it slowly. I sometimes put off starting her newest because I don’t want it to be over for another year!
So much to do…so little time, and sometimes energy. Everything will get done…one thing at a time. We have a wedding to go to out of town, and we leave tomorrow…you inspired me to ‘paint my nails’…hehe! Enjoy your stay… Stella will be arriving soon…excited for you! ;)
Enjoy the wedding, Donna! Thank you!
I think that if I were you Claudia…I would enjoy this calm before the storm…lol…I believe it won’t be long before you feel like there is a hurricane blowing around you!….I am also glad that Rick and Doug will be there permanently soon…they seem like the nicest couple!
It isn’t all that calm here with rehearsals, etc., but I guess it is on another level!
Great to see you relaxing with your feet up.
Marilyn
Thanks, Marilyn! It’s nice to have pockets of relaxation time!
Was it in Hartford when you went to that Miniature shop? I DO remember the wonderful library. Keeping busy does seem to help make the time go by faster. Loving your work is a gift, as well!
Enjoying these lovely 74* days we are having. It is supposed to be 45* tonight! The Hummers have been so very busy at the feeder and the Orioles are eating up the grape jelly. They have long journeys ahead of them. I have pulled out some very exhausted petunias and replaced them with a few mums and asters. Changing seasons…….
Hope Don was able to locate Stella’s whereabouts so his plans can be put in place. I know you are both really excited. How did the grease removal go on Sunday/ Monday? Hope your Thursday was a good one!
I tried CitraSolv. It was a bust. I’m beginning to believe it will never come off. I feel like I’ve tried everything.
Don found out that Stella flew to Ohio. Somehow it never occurred to us that she would be in anything other than a truck! She should be going through Pennsylvania at the moment and the guy who works for the shipping company thinks she’ll arrive sometime tomorrow.
The miniature shop was in Chautauqua, NY.
Not to alienate any Houstonians who might be reading but, to me, you’re not missing anything in Houston; I’ve been there, done that as well; I lived there for almost three years. There’s beautiful residential in an area called River Oaks; multi-million-dollar homes. I also liked an enclave called The Heights, an older-historical (early 20th century, like 1920s-esque) residential area of smaller homes, oh-so-vintage-y with cute bungalows/cottages; we knew someone restoring one (gentrified area; I also remember little out-of-the-way cafes…but this was over 20 years ago). I understand that since I’ve left, there’s a big project, maybe finished now or ongoing, to transform a lot of Downtown Houston with more trees, which is good…because so much of what I recall about Houston are masses of traffic/freeways and the concrete jungle thing, almost futuristic as if on another planet (just colors of gray, black, white; somber neutrals) …skyscrapers… (impressions of a small-town girl here) although it does have its share of historical buildings, too, like the Public Library I never managed to visit.
I have no real interest in visiting Houston, so that’s the one city I’m going to purposely miss.
I cannot buhhleeeve my day today; the last few, in fact. Running around, behind schedule, doing errands, and came upon some hazard/accident scene (?)…hope it wasn’t something worse…with yellow tape, sirens coming my way, fire trucks and police cordoning off a wide area including a state highway which the residential area I was in backs into…with a fireman frantically motioning me to TURN RIGHT and go the other way, which was the opposite direction I needed to go. So, off I went north instead of south, sort of to no-man’s land, like what do I do now, which led me a few miles away. I paid to enter a county park and found a shade tree; fortunately, I’d just grabbed a fast-food sandwich (it was healthy; veggie!!) and a drink, so I killed about 45 minutes. Thinking I was clear, went back down the highway only to find I was now even FURTHER blocked from getting home, worse than when I’d happened on-scene to whatever it was an hour earlier, and this time there was a traffic cop detouring highway traffic, so even though there were tons of cars, I stopped and said, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on but I’ve been gone for hours today AND I NEED TO GET HOME (truth being, the dog back at my house needed to get outside so she could pee!).” So, he asked me where I lived and then escorted me over to a link of streets where I’d eventually have an outlet about 6 miles away. Then I hit every frick’in school letting out all at the same time…more police and security officers directing traffic, simply because of the sheer numbers of kids and cars picking them up. I thought I’d never get home this afternoon.
And then I walked in the door and it was my doctor’s office saying they needed to talk to me about results of my latest scan (has to do with my cancer in remission). So, my heart dropped to my toes, because they only call if it’s a positive/bad result. I just said to myself, “Get it over with, Vicki.” Called them. Nope, negative; all’s good. They thought they were being nice by calling me instead of writing as they usually do when my tests are negative, so I just said nothing (except thank you), grateful I hadn’t had a heart attack in the process.
Next, I opened up the mail to a part of the police report I hadn’t seen since my car accident over Memorial Day, when I was hit and injured…my car totalled…by a hit & run driver. This was the crime report, recently released. Turns out that three weeks after the accident, the officer assigned to my case located the vehicle which had hit me. Damage to it, in part, aligned with damage to mine. I had enough of the license plate written down, so this was corroborated, as well as make/model (God was with me that day; I was in so much pain with my neck but somehow-somehow I was able to memorize most of that plate number as the bad guy fled (and recognize what type of car it was, which I’m never very good at); and I was spot on, as I now see on this crime report; I gave the police enough of what they needed; yay Vicki; I did have a witness but no word of him is ever mentioned). Of course, three weeks later, the car owner had “a story” all lined out, once confronted by the cops; they’d had enough time in those 3 weeks to come up with a bogus account of why their vehicle had front-end damage…that, oh, the damage was not recent and, oh, here are photos of when it was hit last year and, oh, here’s the name of the car repair shop who fixed part of the damage…and, natch, when the police officer contacted that repair shop, they didn’t give him anything except to say, sure, we worked on that car last year (they’re obviously all in cahoots). Next, although the report is heavily edited/blanked out, I guess to ‘protect the names of the innocent’ it looks like the police were able to identify the male driver (owner is female; I imagine that was the passenger I wasn’t able to identify), but he’s already in police custody for something else.
So, I still have no insurance company to collect from; none of this changes anything for me. But, like my husband said, don’t think my own insurance company isn’t going to put their own detectives on something like this, because they still had to write us a check for the salvage (my wrecked car) and I don’t know how the medical bills are going to work out between the health insurance and my car insurance company; they’re all going to want to collect from the offending party. My medical bills could easily be $75,000 by now, with all the physical therapy, two CT scans, two ER visits, multiple medical appointments with several specialists…
I have an address now from this crime report—where the negligent owner of the car lives; the car that hit me—so I decided a little while ago to go look for myself where this car and car owner were located, just a mile from the scene of the accident, and we’re all here in the same town. Found myself operating on rising anger, about to not use my best judgment. I quickly located the apartment building; not a great part of town; very grungy apartments. No sign of the car; believe me, I’d know it if I saw it again. I decided it wouldn’t be prudent of me to walk up to Apartment #3 and say, “I’m the one you hurt.” Not that I would have…but, man, was I tempted. The whole thing has been SO unfair and, even though my neck is better from a lot of physical therapy, it’s my back now that’s bad and you don’t recover from these kinds of accidents in the senior years the way you do when in a younger body. I’m just so pissed the bad guys got away with it. Miserable, criminal people with miserable lives. I think the karma’s on my side, though; they’ll probably ‘get theirs’ (a consequence to their bad actions) eventually, somewhere down the line.
Sorry for the rant. I have just had the weirdest last 10 or 12 days. Fall’s almost here, and I just want to tuck in and feel safe in my own little house with my dog and my clutter I need to purge and, you know, just retreat for awhile and tell all the bad dudes out there to leave me the heck alone!
I really am ready, RIGHT NOW, to have my husband retire and move us to the Pacific Northwest. At the moment, it sounds like Heaven to me.
I’m so sorry that you have to go through this trauma that has affected all aspects of your life. Feel free to rant. It helps, I know, to get it down on ‘virtual’ paper. xo
Thanks, Claudia; you’re a dear.
xo
While in Houston the other day, I saw someone ahead of me wearing a Margaritaville tee, and I asked if she knew about the play. She told me she already had tickets! I felt a glow of pride on your behalf. If you ever decided to come to Houston, the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, architecture tours, Menil Collection (currently including Francis Alys: The Fabiola Project in the Byzantine Fresco Chapel), and the Contemporary Arts Museum (which isn’t always my “thing,” depending on the exhibits at the time). I worked for Gerald Hines, Inc. when I was putting my husband through law school many eons ago, and Hines brought in some of the world’s premier architects such as I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli and architects from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Philip Johnson, and John Burgee to design many iconic buildings, if you’re into that, which you might guess I am. But there are also Art Deco Buildings and others. Memorial Park is one of the largest city parks in the United States. I’m sure you know about the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts! I could go on. What Houston does not have, or did not, is a vibrant downtown scene after dark. That may have changed in the fifteen years since we left Houston.
Linda – your words are a great reminder to me that I know absolutely nothing about Houston and that, in my ignorance about that city, I make assumptions about it that have no basis in reality! Thank you so much for showing me that there is much to see and do there.
I know about cities that don’t have a vibrant downtown scene after dark – I lived in Detroit for many years. But Detroit’s downtown is revitalized now and I’m hoping that Houston’s is, also. I coached a show that took me to Dallas about 10 years ago and the downtown there was a bit spooky and empty after dark. I wonder if it’s changed there, as well?
Glad to hear you will be visiting New Orleans and Chicago. Both wonderful cities for their own reasons.
I live in San Antonio right now but I am not from here. I frequent Houston often and I must say it is a great city. Lots to offer. Very diversified.
It’s not Austin by any means which is just an incredible city but Houston has much to see, do and appreciate.
Sure there’s crime in Houston but all cities have it. Lord knows we do here. I would take Houston, Dallas or Austin over San Antonio any day. But it’s my preference and we all have our own.
I’m always open to visiting any new city as I love experiencing any place I’ve never been. But that’s just me. You nor anyone Claudia should need to explain their choice to not want to visit any city or place. It’s your choice. It’s no big deal. I just hate how it seems that anything anyone may say these days regarding any subject always makes someone angry or offends someone in some way. Don’t we have bigger issues to fret over?
Anyhow enjoy Hartford! And Stella! I hope you and Don have a lovely weekend. Blessed be.
Well, I’m not sure if it offended anyone, but I thought I might have been a bit too dismissive of it. It’s all on me, so I wanted to clarify!
I’ve only ever been in Dallas and that was just for a few days – downtown. I’d love to go to Austin someday.