Three little maids who, all unwary,
Come from a ladies’ seminary
Freed from its genius tutelary —
Three little maids from school!

These words from The Mikado  popped in my head this morning as I edited this photo. I took it to show off the newest hats by my friend, Feng. I already had the green hat and the red and brown hats arrived in the mail the other day. I just adore them – they fit perfectly. They’re my favorite hats for Blythe dolls.

I was in a production of The Mikado  years ago. I played Katisha, a somewhat mean (but misunderstood) character – just the kind I like to play. I was in college at the time. I’ve also been in HMS Pinafore. Thanks to Mr. Mark, my junior high school music teacher, I was exposed to Gilbert and Sullivan at a young age and grew to love their work. I’ve written about Mr. Mark before. He was a mentor to me and is the reason I love musical theater to this day. He gave many of us kids in the Dearborn school system the chance to work on a musical every summer. I continued working with him every summer through my first year of college. I can never thank him enough for the opportunities he gave me.

One of my favorite movies is Topsy-Turvy, a wonderful film about Gilbert and Sullivan and the real-life singers and actors who made up the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. It centers on the idea for and development of The Mikado. A fabulous cast, including one of my favorite actors, Jim Broadbent, as well as Lesley Manville and Timothy Spall. Directed by Mike Leigh, it is beautifully realized.

I just watched it again when I was away from home working in Rochester. It makes me happy. (On Amazon Prime, by the way.)

It rained all day yesterday and today looks to be cloudy all day long. Sigh.

Happy Birthday to my late brother. And to his youngest son, Eric, who lives in Chicago.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Yesterday, we were out on the porch doing a few chores – really, timing is everything – and I heard a screechy bird call. It reminded me of the sound from the bald eagle we saw last year. I stopped everything and searched the neighboring trees and, sure enough, there was a bald eagle on top of a very tall fir tree on my neighbor’s property. He was quite vocal! We watched him for a long time. Eventually. Don crossed the street to look more closely and he returned with the news that there were two  eagles up there!

Well, I had to fetch my big girl camera.

I cropped the heck out of this, so you could see them.

Magnificent!

We have a river right across the street, so that’s why we see them. If we hadn’t been outside at precisely the right time, we wouldn’t have known they were there. So grateful.

Don is filming today. He’ll be working on a set in Brooklyn, so he took off early this morning.

I’ll be potting a few more flowers today.

Pru is dressed up and ready to party.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.