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Wednesday Thoughts

July 6, 2016 at 9:18 am by Claudia

7-6 babybunny

Let’s start the post with our adorable baby bunny. There’s nothing quite as sweet as seeing that little white cottontail as he/she jumps around the yard.

7-6 dreadedjapanesebeetle

• Then the not-so-adorable – the dreaded Japanese Beetle. This one is perching on one of the wildflowers that pops up on the far side of the house. Their timing is particularly ominous. Two of the rose bushes have already bloomed, but the New Dawn (which happens to be my favorite) is ready to bloom when they arrive. So the buds end up being eaten by the beetles and I go into mourning. If I used the language I actually use when speaking of them, some readers would be offended. You’ll have to leave it to your imagination.

• Speaking of ‘offended,’ I’ve lost some readers – looking at my stats, probably quite a few – over my not-very-frequent writings about this election. That, of course, affects my ad income.

But you know what? I don’t care. Of course, I don’t like losing ad income, but the truth here is that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t speak out. This blog isn’t just pretty flower pictures or pretty little miniatures. This blog is mine and it’s about my life and my life is far more than a series of pretty pictures.

So, I’ll continue to speak out when I feel moved to do so.

Curious Side Note: Why is that people who disagree with me write comments that scream at me in CAPITAL LETTERS??? Or call me or people who feel the same way as I do, names? Don’t get me wrong, I’m tough, but I do find it fascinating. I just wish those who scream things that aren’t true would simply do some Googling to find out the real story. Or go to politifact(dot)com, a nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize winning fact checking organization. Perhaps the falsehoods have become so second nature to them that they are fearful of actually learning the truth?

Ah, well.

A fascinating article, should you be so inclined.

• And may I just vent for a second or two more? Don was supposed to do three episodes of Mr. Robot. He’s done one. And as we waited and waited to hear when he was next going to be called and noticed that the time left for filming was dwindling, I urged him to ask for some clarification. It turns out he’s only doing one episode and no one told us.

Listen, I know things change all of the time and scripts are rewritten and storylines changed and, in this case, we know that they lost one of their locations, which I think might have been Don’s house on the series. I don’t know that for sure. But we were counting on the money that would come from those three episodes and on Don getting to work on that set more than once this season. Why the heck no one told us things had changed and that there was only going to be one episode rather than three, I don’t know.

It has nothing to do with his work because everyone there really likes him and the actress who plays his daughter loves working with him. Usually these things are not about the actor, and are more about logistics and writing and time.

It’s not the first time this has happened and any actor who has worked for a number of years will be able to regale you with stories of just this sort. But it’s disappointing – especially at a time when funds are very tight. Another reason to remember this maxim (at least in this business): Don’t count on it until it happens.

I cried a bit last night over this one.

But, we move forward.

7-6 beebalm

• We seem to be in a humid stretch here with air quality warnings each day. The air conditioners are humming and I’m staying indoors except to venture out to water my plants.

• And I’m still wrestling with NY State of Health and MVP Health Insurance to get a refund. As per usual, NY State of Health moves at a snail’s pace and I have to keep calling them to get an update. Did I ever tell you about the time I didn’t have health insurance for four months because of a computer glitch that no one at NYSofH could explain? I’m justifiably wary of them.

Okay. This post is a bit on the complain-y side. Sorry!

Let’s end with something positive. I love bunnies, birds, Henry, my husband, my sister and her family, and all of you.

Is that better?

Edited to add: Maybe I wasn’t clear: Don did one episode for this new season, so you will  see him. You just won’t see him in three  episodes.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blogging, bunnies, Don, flowers, garden 72 Comments

Tuesday Thoughts

June 28, 2016 at 10:16 am by Claudia

6-28 tigerlilies

• It rained yesterday afternoon and into the evening, a nice gentle rain, and we’re due for some thunderstorms today. We really need the rain, so I will happily stay inside and read today, content to let the rain soak into the ground and perhaps raise a wee bit the levels of our rivers. Huzzah for some rain!

• Does anyone else out there catch their breath and/or chuckle when you see an article, say, on Apartment Therapy or Design Sponge, and the title involves the word ‘vintage’ and when you look at the photos, the furniture is the style everyone was using in your youth? I did that this morning. When I see the word vintage, I’m expecting something much older than mid-century modern – called contemporary or modern when I was growing up. So I click on the article based on the word ‘vintage’ and I end up saying, “Oh that. Vintage to you, maybe. Not vintage to me!”

If that’s vintage, then I guess I’m vintage. But it’s a good vintage, I’ll tell you that.

6-28 tallhollyhock

• This hollyhock was a volunteer and I’m so thrilled by its beauty. And its height! All of this in a shallow raised bed, and that, my friends, is a wonder. And it blocks the view of the rain barrel. (That dash of red you see at the base of the plant is a pail I have yet to move.)

6-28 hhupclose

• On Sunday, I did a little housekeeping on the blog navigation bar, specifically, the Dollhouse Tab. That tab used to take you to information on Hummingbird Cottage and a Source List and other dollhouse posts. I’ve now added two tabs – one for Hummingbird Cottage, one for The Studio, and one for the Source List and Tutorials. I think it’s much clearer now.

6-28 hangingplant

• I could write a whole post about this – who knows, I just may do that someday: What happens after you’ve been blogging for several years and you lose your mojo? Or you run out of ideas for posts? I’ve been pondering this lately as many of the blogs I used to follow seem to have fizzled out. Sometimes the posts have dwindled down to once a week, or once a month. Sometimes, and I’ve seen this a lot lately, there are hardly any ‘real’ posts anymore – just a series of sponsored posts, posts where photos copied from Pinterest or other blogs are used to create a ‘theme;’ basically, posts that have lost the author’s voice. Any blogger who has been blogging for several years will tell you that it’s hard to keep things fresh. Some bloggers, when faced with that challenge, stop blogging. Or they move on to Instagram.

There’s no rule or law that says you have to keep blogging. Or that the focus of your blog has to stay the same. Really – there are no rules at all, despite all the advice blogs that will tell you there are. This blog is my take on blogging, and it’s very personal. Not everyone wants to be personal and I get that. Not everyone wants to read a blog like mine, either, and I get that, too. But I feel a sadness when I see my preferred reading choices in blogland change and become something else, something that lacks any sort of authenticity. At the very least, they lose the voice that made them compelling to begin with.

I’ve been talking to Don about this sort of thing and I’ve made a vow that if I find I’ve lost my mojo or that my posts are becoming something that you could find on any generic blog or website, I’ll quietly fold my tent and move on.

I don’t have any answers on this one, just a plea to remember who you are and why you started blogging and what it was that drew readers to your little home on the web to begin with. That’s what your readers want to see.

There is a book review up on Just Let Me Finish This Page today. Stop by!

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blogging, flowers, garden 53 Comments

A Rose is a Rose

June 15, 2016 at 8:23 am by Claudia

Oh, friends. I’m trying. I’m trying. But a pall of sadness and despair has come over me. I suspect the same thing has happened to you. I’m just trying to keep moving forward in the face of unspeakable sorrow. I won’t even go into the hateful rhetoric spewing out of the Orange Man’s mouth. Sitting in a corner with a dunce cap on his head? The stocks in the public square? Better yet, jail?

Don hasn’t been sleeping well and, therefore, I haven’t been sleeping well. That isn’t helped, for either of us, by what we’re seeing and hearing and feeling. A sleepless night last night for Don and he’s off to film an episode of Mr. Robot  today.

6-15 atlastrose

The new roses in memory of my dad. I’m not looking forward to Father’s Day. But I’m going to try to do a little something for Don because he’s missing Scout so much. I’ve got an idea.

Anyway, this is the At Last rose after it’s been open for a few days.

6-15 atlastrose2

Here it is when it’s just opening – more of a peachy color. I love it in all its stages. Thank you again, Martha.

I was on the phone with Bluehost, the host of this blog, for over an hour yesterday as we tried to get to the bottom of why you weren’t getting my replies to your comments, why I wasn’t getting emails of your comments and why other notifications weren’t being received on this end. A big thank you to Jared, who patiently and painstakingly worked his way through the mystery. I did what I could on my end, both of us working together. Several changes were made, a plugin added, and finally – everything worked! I’m getting your comments, Donnamae checked to see if she got my reply and she did, so all should be back to normal.

I won’t go into all the details, partly because they’re hard to explain! But Jared was an enormous help, I could never have figured it out on my own.

Having a self-hosted blog involves expenses on my part and sometimes that can feel daunting – I just paid a chunk of money to renew for a year, as well as for security. But in times like these, being able to call my host on the phone, talk to a real person and get things fixed is so much better for me than when I was on Blogger and had some serious problems that I could never speak to anyone about. There was never an actual person to help sort things out – only a help forum where sometimes I got an answer but most of the time I did not.

So, I’m glad I made the move to WordPress and self-hosting.

6-15 newdawnpink

The soft pink of the New Dawn rose, hidden away on the side of the house. So beautiful.

It’s been hard for me to concentrate on a book the last few days but I’m going to try to lose myself in one today. The lawn has been mowed, the weeds whacked/wacked, and some quiet time is in order.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: blogging, flowers, garden, roses 50 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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