Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Potpourri on Monday

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• If somehow you came to the blog during the middle of the night and saw a notice saying ‘Account Suspended’, let me assure you all is well. I had a cup of coffee this morning before I checked my email, only to find a warning from my security company that I didn’t understand, and a warning from my host – Bluehost – that I did understand. The account had been suspended because I hadn’t paid the renewal fee, which was due yesterday! In my defense, I thought the renewal wasn’t until the end of June. Ready to confront my host about this apparent discrepancy, I went back and checked my emails and realized that I had the date completely wrong. Whoops! The fee was paid, the site was immediately restored, and I learned yet another lesson.

It’s Monday, for sure.

• The first of the day lilies to open.

And the other peony bush has started to bloom. Goodness, how lovely!

Of course, as seems to be the case with peonies that have fully opened, we’re getting rain today. Thankfully, the rest of the buds aren’t open yet, so we won’t have too much drooping from heavy blossoms being pelted by the rain.

• We are off to Hartford today to be a part of their celebration of all things Darko as his time as Artistic Director ends. His last show at the theater ended its run yesterday and it’s the end of his time there. Bittersweet for everyone on staff who has worked with him for 8 years and for those of us who had the privilege of being a small part of the work he created while in Hartford. He made a lasting impact on that theater and he will be sorely missed. Two of his shows transferred to Broadway and, one of them, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, won four Tony Awards. He’s brilliant and he’s kind. That’s a good combination.

• Speaking of the Tony awards, we watched the whole thing last night. I was so happy to see my friend Fitz Patton win for Best Sound Design of a Play for Choir Boy. Fitz and I were housemates a few years back when we were working at American Players Theater in Wisconsin. He’s a great guy and extremely talented. And the great Andre De Shields was a winner, at the age of 73, of his first Tony for his performance in Hadestown. I worked with him years ago at The Old Globe, but only a little, because he’s so skilled he didn’t need my help! And two of my former students were part of the award-winning cast of Boys in the Band – Brian Hutchison and Jim Parsons. Rick and I auditioned them for the MFA program, chose them, and had a part in their training. Bravo, Brian and Jim!

Lots of other moving moments, not the least of which was seeing an actress with a disability, Ali Stroker, win the Tony for her performance in the revival of Oklahoma! Her speech was empowering and triumphant.

Broadway tickets are expensive, but if I could see anything this year it would be Oklahoma! and Hadestown.

Okay. Have to make our second cup of coffee and prepare to drive to Hartford.

Happy Monday.

Monday Morning

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99% of the time, having a blog is a wonderful and rewarding occupation. But that 1%? A pain in the tush. I won’t linger on my technical problems yesterday, except to say they took up most of the day. Three different times I was on the phone with my host and, after painstakingly describing what was going on with the technician working hard to figure out the problem, the call failed. I would have to call them back, this time with a new technician because there was no way for them to contact the person I had just been speaking to  and I would have to start all over again. Cue Claudia’s scream.

It’s still not quite solved, but one of the side effects of all the technical stuff going on was that trying to leave a comment took you to an error page and I didn’t realize that was happening until mid-afternoon. Another call to my host and the problem was solved.

The result of all of this was a stressful day because – and I admit this – when something goes wrong with the blog that I don’t understand and can’t correct myself, I get very tense.

Plus it rained all day long.

Anyway, I’m back today. And though rain was predicted for this morning, it’s sunny out, so I’m going to grab the opportunity to do some work outside.

However, I had to bring the pansies, lavender and Boston fern inside on Saturday because of the high winds and they remained inside yesterday and last night because the temperature went down to 31 degrees. We had frost this morning. And it’s nearly May.

A very strange Spring, that’s for sure.

I finished the Donna Leon and ended up enjoying it, but as some of you have mentioned, I had to read a great deal of the book before I got hooked. Since I have another Leon from my local library sitting on my coffee table, I’m going to go for it. We’ll see if the same thing happens.

Happy Monday.

 

Crazy Wind, Crazy Me

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Okay. I wrote yesterday’s post bright and early. When I finished, I got up to visit the bathroom, did a few more things around the house, came back to my laptop to delete even more outdated emails. All the while, in the back of my mind, I was wondering why no one had commented yet on my post. Along about 12:15, it hit me. Had I ever hit “Publish?” I hightailed it back to the tab I had open for the blog and, sure enough, I hadn’t published it.

That’s a first, my friends, in 11 years of blogging, most of it every day. That’s the first time I’ve done that. So I missed the window of opportunity to get the post out to you via email. That means you’ll have two posts to read and respond to in today’s email.

The ongoing challenge: Be in the moment. Both Don and I have forgotten a few things lately and I know it’s due to stress. Stay present, Claudia.

A little flower substitution as the tulips officially bit the dust yesterday afternoon. I want to get more of them soon – I just love their sculptural look.

It was so windy yesterday. All day long and into the night. We’ve had so much wind in the past year and I don’t do well with loud wind. I was working up in the office which is at the front of the house. Up there, the sound of the wind is so loud that you’d swear you were in a wind tunnel. The wind was so strong that it knocked the Boston fern off the former kitchen island and threw it to the ground. (It’s okay, thank goodness.)

Today, better, just a breeze. Tomorrow, a rain/snow mix and a high that never gets out of the thirties. Saturday, highs in the sixties.

Go figure.

We took a trail walk on Tuesday. We’re going to take another one as soon as I finish this post. We’re trying to do it every other day, which seems to be a more reachable goal than every day.

I noticed that the front lawn is looking greener. Huzzah! Leaves are emerging on my hyacinths in the big garden bed. I’m sure I’ll see more growth when I rake all the leaf mulch out of the garden beds, but since it’s still going down to the thirties at night for the next several days, I’m going to hold off on that.

If you get this before 11 am, Vintage by Crystal’s Easter blog sale starts right at 11 – you have to move quickly if you want anything. You can reach her blog here. Crystal and Ben publish the post at 11 and you have to email them with your requests – not a comment, but an email. So get there early and find her email address and be ready to pounce on anything you’re interested in. I’m most likely not going to bid this time, but it’s very tempting!

Okay. I’m going to actually hit ‘Publish!’

Happy Thursday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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