Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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When You Don’t Want to Leave the Pages of a Book

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I moved my laptop back to the office yesterday after having it temporarily in the den during my illness/running back and forth to NYC. This morning? The wind is so strong and so loud up here that I feel like in the midst of a tornado! Yikes.

So I’ve turned on my Bose bluetooth speakers and I’m streaming some music to drown out the wind. Can I say that I’ve had it with wind? I’m not a fan, it makes me edgy, and we’ve had a lot of it over the past 3 weeks or so.

Don’s still under the weather, but this particular virus is different than the one I had and, it seems to me, much milder. Nevertheless, I’m making him take it easy over the next few days. He already had a doctor’s appointment scheduled about something else and the doctor confirmed it was a virus. We just have to wait these things out and drink plenty of fluids and rest. Too many antibiotics are overprescribed these days so we avoid them unless absolutely necessary.

I finished Rules of Civility  last night and I feel like I’m in mourning today. I cannot say enough about the writing of Amor Towles. He creates the life, topography, culture and flavor of a different era so vividly that you feel as if you’re there. In Rules of Civility, it was 1938 Manhattan. In A Gentleman in Moscow, it was Russia from 1922 until the 1950s. In both cases, I was entranced, completely transfixed. The characters are complex and completely three-dimensional. I felt as if I was saying goodbye to friends when I finished the books. As I lay in bed last night and first thing this morning, I found myself replaying moments from the story, missing my friends, missing that time. I didn’t want it to end.

Towles has written only two books – these two – so now I must wait a few years for a new one. Heavens, I love this man’s writing! I love it so much that I might have to reread them. As it is, I think I’ll have to trundle off to the bookstore today to find something that I can only hope and pray is as compelling. Towles has spoiled me.

Don’t stop, run to your bookstore or library and read these treasures.

The newest page on my calendar from Rifle Paper Co. Fabulous!

If you’re not watching Rachel Maddow, you’re missing a spy story more gripping than anything on screen or in the pages of a novel. We are riveted as Rachel takes the Trump/Putin connections and connects the dots. Each night, a new connection, a new confirmation of the information in Christopher Steele’s dossier. Far better than any fiction, far, far more important, and far more shocking.

The best thing on television at the moment, Of course, this is only our opinion – but we think anything else pales in comparison.

Happy Thursday.

 

Books, Clutter and Beautiful Weather

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Cluttery office. Charging cords, stacks of receipts from NYC, printer…you know, stuff.

This fits right in with my thoughts about living in a space, a home, that reflects who you are, not what you think you should be. There are too many styled interiors on Pinterest, Instagram and blogs. I know I’m not alone when I look at some of these very pretty pictures and think to myself, “Does anybody live there?”

I’ve written about this before, so I don’t need to belabor the topic. On our excursion yesterday, I found a lovely book that beautifully illustrates that very idea.

It’s the book in the upper left hand corner, Life Unstyled  by Emily Henson. Beautiful photos of interiors that are real, funky, imaginative and not styled within an inch of their lives. I’m a bit more than halfway through it and I’m really enjoying it. And Emily is a stylist! (I’ve also written in the past about the book Undecorated, which covers this same subject. It’s in my personal library.)

Hope in the Dark  by Rebecca Solnit was recommended to me by Sarah, Darko’s assistant. Sarah and I have worked together before and we both love books and reading (Sarah’s mother is a librarian.) This book has been a beacon for Sarah during this period since the election. Our local independent bookseller had a copy, so I snapped it up.

I picked up The Creative Cottage  when I was staying in NYC a week or so ago. I’d seen it last year and found it absolutely charming, so this time I bought it. I love the cottages that the author has chosen to highlight – all of them artistic and individual. All of them the kind of place where you walk in the door and know that you will not see this anywhere else because the space absolutely reflects the owners’ tastes and passion.

I also found Inside the Dream Palace on the shelves at the bookshop. It’s about New York’s famous and storied Chelsea Hotel, a place that has always fascinated me. So many artists and musicians and writers have lived there over the years.

Don got a book about the history of the railroads in our neck of the woods.

We had lunch at The Commissary, where this message was on the wall next to the cash register:

Indeed.

I had the Tofu Pocket – oh, so tasty! And vegan hot chocolate, of course.

It was 60 degrees and sunny here and everyone was out on the streets, lapping it up. College students in t-shirts and shorts, people carrying their coats rather than wearing them, happy, laughing and crowded, as it’s a three-day weekend.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather today. Coughing, stuffed up, not at all fun. But I trust it will all go away in the next 24 hours or so. In the meantime, I’m taking it easy.

Thank you so much for your blog birthday wishes yesterday! Here’s to ten years.

Happy Monday.

Books and Records

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On our little excursion Saturday, we stopped at the used record shop and the bookshop. Since I’ve written several posts about how much I love records and books, you will immediately realize how happy that made me.

At the bookshop, I found this:

I remembered hearing about this book. It’s absolutely charming. Bob Eckstein is a cartoonist for the New Yorker. I’ll quote from the back of the book: “Bob Eckstein has gathered the greatest untold stories from seventy-five of the world’s most renowned bookstores (both past and present) and paired them with evocative color illustrations of each shop.”

Right after my love for books, especially novels, comes my love for books about books and books about bookstores.

A glimpse inside:

I’ve read this profile, but only this one, as I’m looking forward to sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate and this lovely book in the not-too-distant future.

Also:

I bought this – a book that’s been on my radar for a while. While I was chatting with the young women about the March and about books, I noticed that one of the women was holding this. Ah, I thought, a message that it’s time to buy it. It’s only about $7 or so and a quick read.

In my favorite record shop, a shop that is meticulous about documenting the condition of the records they sell, I found an album of music by Ravel that was in near mint condition and an album by Pat Metheny – Still Life (Talking) – that includes my all-time favorite by him; Last Train Home. Now, I have it on CD and on my playlist, but records sound different. In my humble opinion, they sound better, much more live, much richer. So I grabbed it. And then, when I got home, I played Last Train Home  for Don. I’d played it for him before but this time, for some reason, he really got it. And then he made me play it for him about seven times.

I’ve won him over.

But the best, the best is this:

Eeeek!

You are entitled to a little back story. When I was 12 and The Beatles made their radio debut here in the States, I, like every other young girl I knew, went nuts. I distinctly remember listening to them on the big radio in our living room and thinking that I had never, never heard  anything like that sound coming from the speaker before. (I’ve had this feeling a few times in my life. That’s another post.) The sound of their voices, their harmonies, the guitars – all of it – was strange and wondrous and I was immediately and completely entranced.

We didn’t have much money when I was a girl, but somehow, whether it was from my parents or from babysitting, I managed to come up with the money to buy this 45. What was the cost in those days? Maybe a dollar?

It had the exact same cover and I held onto it for years. But, as with many things I loved, when I moved on to college and then life on my own, my mother got rid of it in some cleaning frenzy. (Let’s not talk about my Tiny Tears doll with clothes handmade by my grandmother – I can’t even go there. Or my piano, passed down through the family, that she was about to give away until my aunt stepped in to save it.)

I never saw that 45 again. I cannot tell you how many times I have thought of it – remembering every detail on that record jacket – and mourned its loss.

And there it was. In VG+ condition (very good +) and, yes, $20. I looked at Don. I had to have it. So I bought it and I came home and put the 45 adaptor on the turntable and, oh my heavens, it’s in perfect condition! No skips, no scratches.

Interestingly, Mr. Beatles Fan, otherwise known as my husband, had no desire to acquire it for himself. I was the one who wanted it.

But he sure liked hearing it!

Side note (from Don): This cover has Paul holding a cigarette. Eventually, in some later printing, the cigarette was excised from the photo. I don’t remember whether the record I had years ago included the cigarette. But this one does! I sort of love that.

Oh, Paul. What a crush I had on you! I so wanted to see the Beatles in concert when I was young, but again, not enough money to do that. And I’m sure the tickets sold out in a flash.

But now, years later, we have a good friend who plays in Paul’s band and tours with him all over the world and we got to see Paul at CitiField a few years back, with a VIP pass and comp seats in the sixth row. That was a night we will never forget!

Happy Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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