•  Shot through the kitchen window on a rainy day – here is the bird I wrote about last week. Definitely a thrasher. A pair of them are usually together on the property. The other half had just hopped into the bushes when I took this picture. He has such a lovely tawny brown color and the spots/stripes are striking.

Will the sun ever make an appearance? It’s been so rainy and gray! Thankfully, it isn’t raining today and the sun may emerge (fingers crossed) later this morning.

•  I watched three episodes of Escape to the Country, a BBC series that is airing on Netflix. I only know about it because one of you recommended it. Sigh of happiness! The English countryside is so exquisitely beautiful. For those of you who don’t know of it, it’s rather like House Hunters  here, but done in much more sophisticated and, let’s face it, classy manner. The people that are longing to escape to the country have a list of requirements, the show scouts three houses, and at the end, unlike the American counterpart, we learn which house is their favorite, but we don’t know what they end up choosing. In other words, the house chosen isn’t pre-picked and approved and then presented as a “choice” along with two other homes, but is a genuine possibility. That’s all.

How refreshing! Also missing are the usual American consumer demands of a granite countertop, stainless steel, big walk-in closets, a master suite, a man cave, a she shed, etc. May I say that I intensely dislike the phrases “man cave” and “she shed?” Obviously a marketing ploy. When I hear people using those words all the time, I know that the ploy worked. I’m sure they are also encouraged to use those words by the producers. I’m never big on male vs. female categorizing.

Let me further add that I have never lived in a home with an “en suite.” Never. I get up and walk out into the hall and enter the bathroom. And I’m just fine with that. Cripes, our rental cottage that we lived in when we first moved here had one bathroom. It was downstairs at the back of the cottage. The bedroom was upstairs. Going to the bathroom involved a trek down the stairs, through the living room, dining room and kitchen until I reached the bathroom. Then the same thing all over again as I went back to bed.

Growing up, six of us shared one  bathroom. I wouldn’t know what to do with an en suite.

Anyway, I like this series! Thank you to the reader who suggested it.

•  The crabapple on the other side of the property has begun to bloom. It’s so beautiful. After I made my way over there to get a good shot, I came back in the house and noticed a wood tick on my jeans. I escorted him out of the house and told him to go back to the woods.

The ants are still winning, but I’m fighting the good fight. I will prevail. Thank you for all your suggestions!

•  Don’s in the middle of tech rehearsals, so we have even less time available to talk! He’s doing well. Techs require lots of patience as cues are started and stopped and started again, as lighting and sound and set design and costumes and music cues are tweaked and adjusted.

Since this is a musical based in “Margaritaville” you might well imagine that Don’s costume is very laid back and comfortable. You’d be right. He said it’s the most comfortable costume he’s ever worn.

Happy Thursday.