birds — Page 53

Wednesday Thoughts: On Snow, On Bluebirds, On Harper Lee

February 4, 2015 at 8:49 am by Claudia

2-4 tiny pottery

This photo is here simply because I love these little pieces of miniature pottery – no other reason.

We came through the big event on Monday with about 15 inches of snow. It was brutal. Very, very cold temperatures coupled with snow that fell constantly overnight and into mid-afternoon. And Don, bless him, did everything. I was still under the weather and simply couldn’t. I can’t help but think about last year at this time when Don was away working and I was facing massive amounts of snow. I’m so grateful that I didn’t have to face all this on my own and with a raging cold, besides. I don’t know what I would have done.

And we didn’t have a snow blower last year.

Thanks, husband! (He’s been taking very good care of me.) I am feeling much better, by the way. Still coughing at times, still a bit stuffy, but the feeling rotten and miserable stage is fading away. Thank goodness.

Yesterday I happened to look out the kitchen window and saw two birds that were unlike any others I usually see around here. They were clearly a pair. One would fly to a branch and soon the other would follow suit. Their feathers were blue, their breasts brown and white. I grabbed my camera. I don’t have a telephoto lens so I had to resort to a good old-fashioned crop when I was editing.

2-4 easternbluebird

2-4 easternbluebird 2

They’re bluebirds! Eastern bluebirds, to be exact. I know they are common in this part of the country, but I never see them. Never. I was so excited! Of course, I ran to my bird books to research them and discovered that they tend to stick around in the winter. The male, of course, has flashier coloring than the female. I loved watching those blue feathers spread as he flew from branch to branch.

This area is right behind the kitchen. It consists of a few young trees (one of them an oak) and lots of brambles. I wage a continual battle with those brambles because I hate them and they obscure my view of the back forty. But I’m reminded at times like these that birds love them. They take shelter there. I see it again and again. So, maybe I have to re-examine my feelings about those brambles. Less of a nuisance and more of a necessity for my beloved birds?

Thank you all for all the links and emails about Harper Lee’s announcement yesterday. I ended up writing a post on Just Let Me Finish This Page, which you may or may not have seen. In it, I share some of my feelings about the announcement. You can read it here. I kept adding to it as the day went on and my unease over the whole thing grew.

I have more than a little trepidation about this announcement. It’s well known that Ms. Lee is in very frail health. She is deaf and nearly blind. She had a stroke in 2007, I believe, and has been in a care facility ever since. Marja Mills, who wrote The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee said that the last time she visited Harper Lee in the facility (I’m paraphrasing here) she was no longer the Harper Lee she knew. None of us can truly know the state of her mind, but I do know that her eldest sister, Alice Lee, who was her lawyer and protector, died last November at the age of 103. Alice practiced law until she was 100 and was as sharp as a tack. Alice’s partner in the law firm now handles Harper Lee’s legal affairs.

It’s not that I doubt that Harper Lee wrote it. It’s more that I wonder just how aware Harper Lee is of what’s going on. Would she truly consent to this manuscript being released as a book when she is incapable of editing something she wrote 60 years ago? Harper Lee, who has always insisted she would never publish another book, who has had nothing to do with the press, who has guarded her privacy zealously, as did Alice, who was the buffer between Lee and the world?

Silly, but I feel very protective of Harper Lee. If you read my post on Just Let Me Finish This Page, you’ll find some links that I think you should read, if you’re at all interested in this.

Another novel by Harper Lee? A potentially wonderful thing.

On the other hand, there is something powerful in one book, one story, one beautiful tale that has captured generations of readers.

Maybe I’m too suspicious. Maybe I’ve read too many mysteries. I just hope Harper Lee is fully behind this. That she knows what’s going on. That, after years and years of guarding her legacy, she has, for some reason, decided to reveal more of herself and her writing to the world.

If that’s the case, then I welcome the new book.

Happy Wednesday.

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I’m Flying!

December 5, 2014 at 8:35 am by Claudia

thebirds3

Did you see Peter Pan live last night?

Do me a favor and avoid the snarky comments that abound in social media. I want to ring each and every one of their necks and scream in their faces: “Do you have ANY idea how monumental an undertaking that was? Do you have ANY idea how brave each and every person involved in that live production was?”

Don and I are in theater so we know very well indeed how much goes into a live production. But we do it for audiences that number in the hundreds. Imagine doing it for audiences that number in the millions. With special effects. With flying. Live.

Bravo, I say. And snarky people? Get a life.

Did you notice the dollhouse in the children’s bedroom? It looked awfully familiar! In fact, last week when Don and I watched a preview of Peter Pan, I spotted it. I thought it looked like mine, but the attic room hadn’t been attached yet, so I wasn’t sure. But there it was last night, in its Victorian splendor. I thought I heard a sigh of happiness from Hummingbird Cottage. And Caroline.

In the things you might not have known about Claudia category:

I’ve flown. Just like Peter Pan.

When I was in graduate school at Temple University, we did a large and lavish production of the Medieval Mystery Plays, which portray different stories from the Bible. Most of us were very unenthusiastic about these plays being part of our season. I certainly was. Not very exciting for an actor. But then the director told us that two of the roles, the angel Gabriel and the angel Michael, would involve flying.

Hmmm. I knew I would never play Peter Pan, so I auditioned for Gabriel. I grabbed the opportunity to learn to fly.

FYI – almost all productions of Peter Pan or any production that involves flying are supervised by Flying by Foy. One of our faculty members also worked for Flying by Foy, so we already had someone on staff who knew all about the rigging and the harnesses and the wires. Nowadays, it’s also computerized, but then? All done by hand.

I was cast as Gabriel. I wore a harness and rehearsals consisted of working with my handler, Tony – the guy who worked the wire – and learning to read his signals, which were tugs on the wire. The main challenge was trusting the wire. You have to give up a certain element of control and let the wire take over and that’s not an easy thing to do. But once I did, oh my god, it was glorious! I soared and swooped through the air. I felt the rush of air around me as I looked down at the stage below. It was magical and incredible.

Did I mention I’m afraid of heights?

The set consisted of varying levels, some very, very high. The audience was seated on the stage. So, for my first flight, which was to land me smack dab in the Garden of Eden, I was hidden on top of the highest level. I stood there behind a curtain and a stagehand hooked the wire to my harness. Tony tugged, I nodded, and I suddenly appeared and swooped down over the heads of the audience, landing in front of Adam and Eve. Every night, the audience would gasp, even shout out loud. It was spectacular.

I felt like an otherworldly being. There’s nothing like it.

I had several flights during the course of the show, as did my friend Cynthia, who played Michael. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he was flown straight up into the rafters of the stage house, disappearing from view.

Let me tell you, the amazing feeling and wonder that comes from being on the wire, soaring and flying, swooping and tumbling, is something I will never forget. I’m so grateful to have had that experience.

Happy Friday.

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In Need of Color

November 17, 2014 at 8:24 am by Claudia

It’s a cold, damp and rainy day here in the Northeast. Don’s in the living room reading. I’m in my blogging chair in the den. Scout, after shuttling between us for a bit, has finally settled down near her dad.

It’s the kind of day that makes you want to stay inside. No errands. Not even a walk to the mailbox. This is the time of year where the landscape looks rather bleak, all shades of brown and gray, with a bit of green grass thrown in. Though there is beauty in everything, I must admit that I find this particular view to be a bit depressing.

Thank goodness for our cozy cottage which provides the warmth and color that is sadly lacking outside our window.

mccoy & shakespeare

A splash of color on a gray day: the aqua of the McCoy pot, the green of the pothos, the amber/orange of the bakelite napkin ring, the red on the books.

I had to cut back this pothos plant. It had grown so long that it was snaking behind the sideboard and was fast becoming out of control. I have one in the bathroom, and it needs some judicious pruning, as well.

mccoy & shakespeare 2

Hamlet closed yesterday. It was a truly wonderful production and I am so proud to have worked on it. Hard to believe that the set is being taken down, all those sumptuous costumes are heading for storage, that world we created no longer exists. It’s always that way when a show ends. We felt the same thing last week when Our Town closed. It leaves me feeling a bit sad. (The two volumes of Shakespeare were a gift last year from my dear friend, Judy Clark of 20NorthOra. We had a lovely phone conversation yesterday.)

I’ve brought all the potted impatiens in for the winter. Dare I hope that they will survive another season to re-bloom in the spring? We’ll see.

Look who was outside my kitchen window:

bluejay

Another splash of color on a gray day.

I’m off to write a quick post for Just Let Me Finish This Page and then I’m going to curl up with The Burning Room by Michael Connelly.

Happy Monday.

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Wednesday Thoughts: On Snow, On Bluebirds, On Harper Lee

I’m Flying!

In Need of Color

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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