Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Home, Briefly

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Greetings from the cottage.

To say I am wiped out is putting it mildly. On Thursday, which was a day off for us, I grabbed some stuff, threw it in a suitcase, and took the train home. Yesterday, I drove to the set, which took about an hour. Honestly, it’s a toss-up whether I should stay here or in the city because it takes about the same amount of time to get to the set. The only difference is that I have to add in travel time from Brooklyn to the van pick-up point in Manhattan. Plusses: I get to see Don, although briefly. I get to drive and ‘you don’t have to wear a mask’ (Ben’s quote.) Minuses: In the van, I don’t have to drive and I can take a nap. Plus, upending things in the middle of my established routine in Brooklyn throws me off. And I’ll miss two weekends in Brooklyn. But my birthday is next weekend, and I can spend it here with Don before I return to the city.

From a night shoot in Greenwich Village.

From a night shoot in Queens, looking across the East River to Manhattan.

The 59th Street Bridge aka Queensboro Bridge.

If you’re not already doing it, keep your eye on my Instagram account because I often post photos from the day. I can post quickly and you can get an idea of where I am and what I’m doing.

Honestly, most of it is a blur. What we filmed on Tuesday? I have no idea.

A new girl has joined our little Blythe family. I ordered her more than 2 months ago and she just arrived on Thursday – the day I got home. She journeyed from Moscow – getting out of Moscow took forever, then she was transferred to Poland, then to Germany, where she seemingly sat inside her box for about 5 weeks. In reality, some of that time was spent on a ship crossing the ocean. We lost all sense of where she was – the seller was also checking on her – and then, on Wednesday, the seller wrote me to say she was in the USA. Except she didn’t show on the any USPS tracking, so I didn’t fully believe it. But on Thursday, it showed she had arrived at my local post office and, because she was a registered mail package, they delivered the package despite the fact that it was a holiday.

A quick photo this morning of Maeve.

This is how she arrived. She also had an adorable bow in her hair but I removed it in order to get her hair to ‘unkink.’ The bow had been there a long time!

The girls. Sophie is holding a hedgehog on a cart, made by Gifts by Loubilou who has an Etsy shop. I’ve had the needle-felted sheep for a long time. The little Boston Terrier was found in a toy shop in Brooklyn.

More pictures later. Once I knew that Maeve was about to be delivered, I packed a dress for her to wear.

I’m crazy about these girls!

Today’s irony: I packed about 6 books to read while I am in Brooklyn and I have no time to read! But I did start the newest Louise Penny and I’m going to devote some time to reading a chunk of it this weekend.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Walking around Brooklyn

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I have a few hours free this morning (after getting up at 4:15 am yesterday and not getting home until 8 pm yesterday) because we have two late shoots in a row. I’ll be working until midnight tonight and tomorrow. This topsy-turvy schedule!

I had a nice weekend, just laying low, dropping off laundry at the laundromat, taking a long walk around the neighborhood on Sunday. At the same time, the NYC Marathon route was right at the end of my block, so I heard cheering and helicopters all day long – very exciting!

The brownstones in this neighborhood are beautiful. I never get tired of seeing them.

Brooklyn, especially in this area, is very lively – full of young and old people, and lots of kids. I walked down 7th Avenue, which has a lot of shops, and I counted four toy stores. One of them carried a whole bunch of New Yorker jigsaw puzzles! I picked up a few things that I needed, but mostly enjoyed the walk.

Also on the walk was a Barnes & Noble, but even better, a lovely book store called Community Bookstore. It reminded me of Oblong Books back home, with a great selection of fiction and non-fiction. Nicely curated.

Yesterday at 6:30 am in Greenwich Village. I was standing in line for my first Covid test of the week. I get three of them.

I love this particular section of Greenwich Village and I took a walk at lunchtime. This is one of my favorite bookshops in NYC – Three Lives & Co. They are in their temporary space for another 6 months as they wait for the building they’ve always been in to be remodeled. It’s still a lovely shop, with a wonderful energy, but I must admit, I miss the corner location with the old wooden floors and nooks and crannies. I heard an employee say they should be back in the original shop in the spring.

We finished filming at about 6:45 pm and I got home at 8.

Oh, and I met Sally Field yesterday. She dropped by the set to say hello.

She’s pretty darned cool.

The girls.

One of the nicest parts of my day off on Sunday was playing with my dolls. I dressed them in fresh clothing, brushed their hair, and posed them for some pictures.

Incredibly calming and a wonderful respite from the insane schedule of 14+ hour days.

I recommend it highly.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

 

Exploring

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Tomorrow will be my first day on the set. Today is the actual first day of shooting and let me tell you, the start time for crew is 7 am. I’m sure that will also be the case tomorrow so I will have to get up at 4:15 am in order to shower, get dressed, have a least one cup of coffee and navigate my way to the shooting site via the subway. I am not a morning person, as you well know. And, most likely, these will be 12 hour workdays. I’ve never done this before and, though I’m mostly looking forward to it, I’m also dreading it a little.

Yesterday, I figured out the best way to get to my Covid testing appointment. As per usual, I emerged from the subway and went in the wrong direction. I’m not in Manhattan enough to remember which way is north or south, etc. But I got there early, the test took about a minute, and then I traveled back to Brooklyn. Since I was on the F line, I stopped at Bergen St. so I could visit Books are Magic.

The bookstore used to be a beloved local shop called BookCourt. The last time I stayed in Brooklyn was several years ago and I remember wanting to visit BookCourt, but I didn’t have the time and it was winter and it was freezing. When the owners of BookCourt retired and put the store up for sale, author Emma Straub and her husband, who live in this section of Brooklyn called Cobble Hill, bought it and reopened as Books are Magic.

It’s charming, on the small side as are most independent bookshops, and it has a great fiction inventory.

I found a couple of books that I wanted as well as a t-shirt. Cobble Hill is a neat neighborhood, full of old brownstones. I am continually impressed by the way these buildings are decorated for Halloween.

Wow!

After my short visit to Cobble Hill, I walked all the way back home, stopping at Whole Foods on the way. Whole Foods is expensive normally, but in NYC? Ridiculous. I haven’t had time to find another neighborhood market, though Annie gave me a list. Anyway, I walked a heck of a lot yesterday and by the time I got back home and climbed two very long flights of stairs with two heavy bags, I was wiped out.

I had plans to figure out tomorrow’s trip via a pre-trip today, but I woke up early and I’m tired, so I’m going to take it easy today. I think I’ll take a walk later to Prospect Park.

As we start filming and my days are long, I might not have time to respond to your comments, though I’ll read them all. I won’t get home until late and I’ll have to get up early the next day. So I’ll post when I can. Wish me luck!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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