Don — Page 147

In the Mail & A Trip to Hartford

April 21, 2015 at 9:09 am by Claudia

This is supposed to be a McCoy-free post, as the series continues tomorrow, but I had to share something with you.

My godparents lived on the next block over from us when I was growing up. I called them by their first names: Edith and Nick. You might remember that they gave me my very first egg cup, the second one from the left in the picture below.

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Luckily, I held onto that egg cup for years and eventually it sparked the desire to start a collection.

Edith and Nick had three children and all of us grew up together. Kay, their daughter, was just a few years younger than me. We played together all the time. I call her my godsister – is there such a word? She’s also my friend.

Kay and her husband lived in Maine for many years but when Edith and Nick, now living in Florida, grew ill, they moved down there to watch over them. Sadly, Edith and Nick are gone now, as is my mom. Kay reads this blog, much to my delight. When I started the McCoy series, Kay sent me an email with a photo of a piece of McCoy pottery – a pitcher – attached. Did I want the pitcher? It had been her mother’s and Kay remembered it being around for years. Of course, I said yes. Having something of Edith’s here at the cottage, something sent to me by Kay, would be a wonderful thing indeed. It arrived yesterday.

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This pitcher is from the 1940s and its simple lines are lovely. The design reminds me of the Strap Vase I showed you in an earlier post.

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Thank you, Kay (and Edith)! Kay wrote me a few days later to say that she saw the basketweave jardiniere pictured in a post and recognized it as an aqua pot she had stowed away in her shed. She ran out to the shed to retrieve it. Needless to say, it’s all cleaned up now and Kay has a beautiful piece of McCoy.

I’m headed to Hartford this afternoon to spend the night. I am working a few days here and there on their new production of Kiss Me Kate, directed by my pal Darko Tresnjak, the Tony Award-winning director of the musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Kiss Me Kate is based on The Taming of the Shrew, so it includes text from Shakespeare, which is where I come in. I’m supposed to put in a total of five days work on the show, so I imagine that will include a few rehearsals and a Preview performance. I’m excited, because musical theater is my first love and Darko knows how to stage and direct a musical like nobody’s business.

Since the rehearsal day is 8 hours long and the drive there is 2 hours, the result would be a 12 or 13 hour day, so the theater is putting me up for the night. That makes things much easier!

But I have to leave these two.

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And I have to take our only car. Don will be hanging out at the cottage with his little girl, no doubt playing his guitar and watching the Red Sox.

I’ll be back here tomorrow night. In the meantime, I’m writing the next McCoy post ahead of time so that I have access to all my reference books.

The winner of a copy of Threshold, by G.M. Ford, is Debbie Price. Congratulations, Debbie. I’ll send you an email right away.

Happy Tuesday.

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Sunday: Performance High Still in Effect

April 12, 2015 at 8:41 am by Claudia

Whoa, Nellie. I have to settle down after last night’s performance!

We’re both still on a high; Don even more than me because he was the one performing, of course.

It was simply great.

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Don usually performs solo but occasionally he performs with Dan – who is the guy on the right. Dan plays Dobro, Mandolin, and Lap Steel Guitar (all of which he played last night) and ‘Vintage Suitcase with Brushes’ which he introduced last night. May I say it was the coolest thing ever?

Dewitt, on Upright Fretless Bass, was a new addition, and let me tell you, these three guys together were an amazing trio. They have to do this more often. They play together as if they have always done this sort of thing.

The 3-D’s? What do you think?

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Do you like Don’s shirt? I have the same shirt. No…we will never wear them at the same time.

As you know, I rarely get to hear Don perform live nowadays. Gigs around here usually involve a commute of at least 45 minutes one way – often longer – and when you add in the time to set up, play, and return home again, Don’s usually gone for several hours. I can’t leave my little girl for that long. So last night’s gig, which was just down the road from our home, gave me the opportunity to sit, listen, and be enormously proud of my husband – in public.

The addition of Dan and Dewitt was the icing on the cake.

I shot a video, but it ended up being too short because my iPhone ran out of storage space. Sorry!

Don is a talented man. I know that. But when I hear him live, with an audience reacting to his words and music, I am in awe.

And bursting with pride.

I wish I could have taken you all there with me.

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He dedicated a song to me.

And he sang one about Scout.

How’s that for a great guy?

All that, and the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

Happy Sunday.

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Pondering: The Dollhouse, Food & (The Absence of) Flowers

April 8, 2015 at 8:52 am by Claudia

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I haven’t done a speck of work on the dollhouse in the last couple of months.

I have big plans for the rooftop garden, as you know. I began to gather some things for the garden several months ago. But I’ve done nothing.

During the odd moment or two, I would idly wonder why I didn’t seem to have any desire to work on the garden. After all, it was winter, I was stuck inside a great deal of the time, why not lose myself in a little garden design?

I finally hit on the answer the other day. All of the other rooms are finished – at least, they’re finished in terms of the major decorating elements. I’m sure I’ll add a thing or two along the way. The rooftop garden will be the last ‘room’ design.

And then, I’ll be finished.

I’m thinking I don’t want to be finished. That’s why I’ve been avoiding the roof. When that’s done, what will I do? Get another dollhouse, you say? Where would I put it? There’s only so much room in this little cottage and believe me, it’s all being used.

What’s a girl to do? Bite the bullet, I guess, and start on the rooftop.

But I’m not ready yet.

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It’s rainy and cold here, so nothing is going on outside. We decided to head to Trader Joe’s yesterday. Since it’s an hour away from us, we only go once or twice a month. After nicely filling our shopping cart, we headed back home, stopping to get Scout’s food at the Vet’s.

So I guess you can say that yesterday was all about food.

Shocking, I know, but I didn’t buy flowers. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m invested in the outside of our house right now? Anyway, mark yesterday down on your calendars. April 7, 2015: Claudia went to Trader Joe’s and didn’t buy flowers.

Don’s playing a gig in town on Saturday, with two of his friends backing him up. I can’t wait. Normally, I can’t go along on his gigs because I’d be away from Scout for too long. But this one is right down the road, so I’ll be there. I’m so excited!

Happy Wednesday.

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In the Mail & A Trip to Hartford

Sunday: Performance High Still in Effect

Pondering: The Dollhouse, Food & (The Absence of) Flowers

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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