books — Page 128

Books, Sunsets & Late Nights

September 8, 2017 at 9:26 am by Claudia

I’m not kidding. This was what I saw when I looked out my window, minutes before leaving for the theater. Pretty gosh-darned spectacular.

There was a little rain just about to roll in, but only a little. A few drops hit me as I walked to the theater. Then it was over.

I’m sleep deprived as I’m not adjusting to this new nighttime schedule very well. I come back from the theater and I have to wind down for a while. Then I take a bath. Then I try to get to sleep.

And then I wake up at the same time I always do.

Sigh.

The show looks great. We had our first audience last night and a good time was had by all. I’ll post a photo of the set when the theater officially posts their photos. I always wait until the ‘all clear.’

An interesting phenomenon: I keep getting new followers on Instagram who are male, middle-aged and are either private accounts or suspiciously without many photos or followers. What the ??? I block them, of course. Are they bots? (Bots on Twitter are often without many followers.) Are they fake? Are they insane? Am I on some sort of list?

I imagine this same thing must be happening to lots of women. File that under ‘bizarre.’ Fortunately, the Block Option is at my fingertips. Bye, guys!

The coffee table. I always bring far too many books with me. I’ve accepted that about myself. I panic at the thought of not having anything to read, whether it’s in an apartment on the road, in the car, or in a waiting line. Have to have backup! I’m behind on the NY Times. I’m behind on my crossword puzzles. I’m in the middle of at least three books.

Yikes.

Okay. I have to type up notes and email them to the actors. See you later.

Happy Friday.

Forty-Eight Hours

August 20, 2017 at 10:44 am by Claudia

I’m home for 48 hours. I got home in time for one of Don’s great dinners (how I’ve missed his cooking!) and The Manchurian Candidate on TCM. I’ve seen it many times, but I’ve watched it twice since Trump took office and its chilling premise is not far off from our current political climate. What seemed only faintly possible at the time it was released is happening in its own way now. Frank Sinatra had to hold the release of the film at the time as the assassination of President Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, who had Russian connections, was so devastating that the subject matter of the film would have been too much.

It’s always been chilling. It’s even more so now.

Don found some treasures in our ongoing archaeological dig in the corral:

Another portion of a plate with gold edging and blue flowers, another piece of the plate, and a white marble. Pretty soon I’ll be hiding these in a tree just like Boo Radley did in To Kill a Mockingbird.

The hollyhock that I planted this year has new growth near the base of the plant with flower buds. By the way, everything needs to be weeded here. There’s been a lot of rain in the last week and I can tell! Some of it was so heavy that it beat down some of the phlox and coneflowers. And a nest fell out of a tree.

Morning glories – this morning.

And zinnias.

Lots to do here today. Work on the sticky floor, laundry, weeding and weed whacking.

Finished the Michael Connelly on rehearsal break yesterday – it’s excellent! I started Karin Slaughter’s newest but it’s a bit slow going at the present. I’ve learned to trust her writing, though, because she knows what she’s doing.

Happy Sunday.

Great Reads & The Cottage

August 19, 2017 at 9:37 am by Claudia

The weather was quite strange yesterday with threatening skies most of the day and, by the time I left rehearsal, very heavy, oppressive and humid air. It rained more than a few times back home but it didn’t rain here until after I went to bed. I know this because I was reading the latest Michael Connelly – The Late Show – in bed and was so engrossed that I read too late and couldn’t sleep for a while.

Anyway, sunny skies today.

I have an afternoon rehearsal to attend and then…I’m headed home for two days! I’m taking advantage of having both Sunday and Monday free, a rarity when I’m working out of town, and I’m headed home to the cottage.

We want to put down some pavers next to the shed, I have to work on that sticky floor, and I want to clean our current stove.

Mostly, I want to spend time with my husband.

By the way, The Late Show is great. Connelly introduces a new character in this series – Renée Ballard, a Los Angeles cop – and I really like her. As always, Connelly is a master of this genre and he writes seamlessly. He can build tension like nobody’s business.

Louise Penny’s newest Inspector Gamache novel, Glass Houses, is being published on August 29th. That’s a Tuesday, so yours truly is hoping she has the morning free to get to the bookstore and purchase her copy. Yes, I know I can order it online, but with her books, I like my little ritual of walking in the bookstore, looking for it on display, picking one with a dust jacket that is pristine and holding it in my hand as I walk to the check-out counter.

Okay, my friends. I’m off to hit publish, drink my second cup of coffee and finish The Late Show.

Happy Saturday.

Books, Sunsets & Late Nights

Forty-Eight Hours

Great Reads & The Cottage

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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