Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Another Bloom, Imogen, and Monty

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Morning Glory number two, taken early this morning.

I’m so grateful it’s relatively warm so these babies can bloom for a while. It’s going to get colder starting tomorrow, but no freezes in sight. And soon I’ll be in NYC (fingers crossed) so I won’t see the damage if there is a freeze. This will be the only fall I can remember where I’ll be so busy that all of things I normally do – bring plants in from the porch if it might freeze, mourn the loss of zinnias and morning glories and moonflowers because of an October/early November freeze – won’t be on my radar. I’m going to enjoy this season of “I have no responsibility for the survival of my plants.” Because normally, I absolutely feel I have responsibility for them, hence the many photos over the years of lots of potted porch plants sitting in our entryway.

Today we have a table read of the script. Happily, all I have to do is watch and listen. Then I’m going to tend to some things around here and RELAX, which I wrote in capital letters in my planner. I’m making Don do the same.

Late afternoon play with Imogen:

Imogen and Monty have become friends. Monty is a gentle guy and Imogen liked him immediately.

She likes to pet him.

Who wouldn’t?

Monty has been with us for almost 20 years. We found him in a little shop when we first moved out East. We named him Monty in honor of the little hamlet where we lived: Montrose. He has the sweetest expression on his face.

I pet him frequently, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Stress Reliever

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Life has been very busy lately. And it’s only going to ramp up once filming starts. Yes, everyone is worried about a strike, but I’m choosing to put that out of my mind as much as possible. In the meantime, I’m coaching Ben every day lately, there’s a read-through on Saturday, I’ve had to invoice the parent company for my coaching so far and had a great chat with one of the accountants who is wildly funny, I’ve had COVID protocol information sent to me from NBC/Universal, I had to schedule a PCR test for 2 days before I have to be on the set…lots of communications coming my way. Ben said the same thing yesterday.

In times of stress, what do I do?

Play dolls.

Mid-morning yesterday found me dressing the girls in dresses from Rose and Cacao. The woman behind these imaginative clothes lives in England. I just love her style. The red shoes came from England as well; from a seller who sent a pair to me a couple of months back that never arrived. She was so responsive when I said that I never got them and immediately dispatched a replacement, which arrived the other day.

As soon as they were dressed, I ran to the stairway, posed them, took a picture or two, then ran upstairs to coach Ben. There’s this one place on the lower landing that gets some light from the skylight. Really helps on a cloudy day.

When I take a moment to play with ‘the girls’ my stress level goes down. As soon as I try a new outfit on one or both of them, I show Don, who – God bless him – gets it and responds appropriately.

I have to take a minute to say how supportive he has been through this very busy time, how often he stops to tell me how proud of me he is, how willing he is to listen to me when I need to talk, and what a great sounding board he is. I lucked out with this guy.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

Zinnias, Books & Baseball

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The zinnias, bless them, are still going strong, with new flowers still emerging. They are my late-in-the-season gift.

I am not a fan of Monday holidays. But here we are. I suppose I don’t like the fact that there’s no mail delivery, more than anything. Also, when I was teaching in an actor training program and coaching theater – and when I was an actress as well – Monday was our day off. Our only day off. So having a holiday on that day made going to the bank and the post office next to impossible. It’s a bit different now in that you can deposit a check with an app, but the post office is still an impossibility.

I finished The Stone Circle  by Elly Griffiths and have ordered The Lantern Men, which is next. Then I’ll be ready to read her latest, which I believe is still in hardcover. I have a stack of books ready to take to Brooklyn with me, including the latest by Louise Penny, John Connolly, Amor Towles, and Anthony Doerr.

Imogen, sitting on the tiny cardboard suitcases I bought on Amazon. I needed some cute way to store the girls’ clothes other than the shoe box I had been using. I told her she could share everything with Sophia and she was delighted. I haven’t yet broken the news that they’re leaving home for six weeks. It’s too soon.

Red Sox again tonight. Last night’s game, for some inexplicable reason, was only carried by MLB TV, and we don’t subscribe to it. So major league baseball, despite their mission to gain a viewing audience, shot themselves in the foot. Most of their viewers rely on accessible cable tv to view the games and yours truly was not about to subscribe for one game. So, the evening turned a bit surreal as I held my phone and followed along with the game on both the Red Sox and MLB sites. Don sat on the sofa with his eyes closed while I announced balls, strikes, who was on base, etc. Since the game lasted 13 innings, this was a long and tedious process. Tonight, thank goodness, it’s available.

We won, by the way.

Okay. Have to coach Ben today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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