Don — Page 158

We Are Sixteen, Going On Seventeen

October 12, 2014 at 8:03 am by Claudia

morningafterwedding

Sixteen years ago today, I married the love of my life.

Gosh, we look young here! This photo was taken the morning after our wedding by my sister-in-law, Suzie.

We’ve grown older. We’ve been together twenty years and have been married for sixteen. Our small, very private ceremony took place in Nevada City, CA, where Don was doing a one-man show, Jeeves Takes Charge. It was Monday, Don’s day off and, coincidentally, Columbus Day. The ceremony was beautiful. We both cried all the way through it. I had a cast on my left ankle, which had been broken in August. We exchanged single white roses. Afterward, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the autumnal streets of Nevada City and since it was a holiday there were a lot of people around. They smiled and waved and it was beautiful.

I once thought I would never marry; indeed, had absolutely no desire to be married. Thank goodness I waited. Thank goodness I was happy enough with myself that I never felt I needed a relationship to feel fulfilled. But when, in my forties, I was ready to open the door to that possibility, Don walked into my life and the girl who didn’t want to marry suddenly wanted very much to be married. But only to this man.

What an amazing ride it has been! Thank you, dearest love, for everything. Thank you for understanding my eccentricities and neuroses, for making me laugh so hard that I can barely contain myself or my bladder, for your compassion and love for your fellow man, for your everyday kindness to everyone, for your wisdom, for your intelligence, for your cooking skills, for your wonderful craziness, for your infinite patience, for your back rubs, for being as silly as me – if not more so, for loving to cuddle on the sofa, for sharing the adventure that is our life together. And for being such a good dad to our dogs.

See you tomorrow, my love. Happy Anniversary.

P.S. Scout did it again last night! Running and running in the lamplit park. Amazing.

Happy Sunday.

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A Big Book & A Vase of Flowers

September 23, 2014 at 8:22 am by Claudia

When I was out and about yesterday, and thank goodness I know how to navigate around West Hartford where I can visit Target, Trader Joe’s and Barnes & Noble all on the same road, I made a quick run into B & N. I was looking for a copy of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, a simply wonderful book about the writing process, and one that I own, but…you guessed it, it’s packed away in the shed. (I wonder how many books I have purchased that are duplicates of the ones that I can’t get to?) Given B & N’s increasing lack of books, it’s a miracle that I found a copy, but I did. And I have to say that this particular B & N, one I’ve been to many times before, has changed during the past year. Less books, more tchotchkes and games and stuffed animals. Like all B & Ns, I guess.

Anyway, I also ended up buying another book, which was on the remainder/sale table.

hotel-books

Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George. I have a bit of history with this book. I have checked it out from my local library on three different occasions, only to return it, because, at a whopping 608 pages, it was impossible for me to read it in the allotted 3 weeks the library allowed me to have the book. Well, I suppose it wasn’t technically impossible, I’m a fairly quick reader. But the pressure I felt to get it read ended up being too much for me. So each time I checked it out, thinking “This time I’ll do it!” I ended up defeated before I ever really had a chance to start it.

It was on sale for $7.98. Aha! Now I have it, I own it, and I’ll get around to reading it someday when I don’t have other books to read/review. By the way, I love Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mysteries and I’ve read most of them. So I really do want to read this one!

From Trader Joe’s:

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Because every hotel room and/or temporary apartment needs flowers. – preferably easy-care, long-lived ones like alstromeria.

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Yesterday was my day off. Theaters almost always have Mondays as the day off. But, for some reason, the theater where Don is currently working decided to make Thursday the day off during the rehearsal process. So, even though we are 40 minutes apart here and were excited to be able to spend time together, we can’t. What’s wrong with this picture?

Have to go. Today is the first day of rehearsal for the entire cast. A long day ahead and I have to get Dame Scout over to the park before I leave for the day.

She insists on it.

In case you missed it, I posted a lovely interview with Deborah Crombie on Just Let Me Finish This Page yesterday.

Happy Tuesday.

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Potpourri on Tuesday (I’m All Over the Place)

September 16, 2014 at 9:18 am by Claudia

As Thursday draws nearer, I find I have lists and more lists all over the cottage. Errands to run. Things to pack. Phone calls to make.

And I’m more than a bit spacey. The other day I posted a photo on a blog post that I realized – several days after the fact – I had already used in a post last week. After rereading yesterday’s post, I worried that it was sort of the same thing I’ve said before. And it is. Ah, well. Sorry.

Forgive me if I’m a bit stressed. Packing for five weeks is always hard, but now I’m also taking Scout. And, unfortunately, for the first two weeks, we have to be in a hotel. After that, we will move to an apartment. It’s sort of a pain in the tush. I like this hotel. I’ve stayed there before. Everyone who works there is really nice. But how will Ms. Scout adjust? I don’t know. It’s a bit further from the park and Scoutie has a limp these days, so I worry about her.

Oh lord, I’m all about worrying. I’ve been that way since I was a wee girl.

If Scout doesn’t adjust to the hotel, she’ll move to her dad’s for a week or so. Hopefully, she’ll weather the change and be okay.

beatles sign on piano

Remember the sign I got Don for his birthday? We temporarily propped it up on the piano until we could decide on a good place to hang it. Eventually, we realized that we like it where it is. So, for the time being, it’s staying right there. I added a photo I took of Don when we were in Boston – he’s doing his best to recreate the famous Abbey Road picture.

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Stepping back. I am still so in love with that lithograph of the Aquitania.

Yesterday was gorgeous. Today is rainy. I took advantage of yesterday’s beautiful weather and took at least a hundred photos of the gardens and the flowers and bugs and things like that. I’m stocking up on photos for future blog posts. Rehearsals are pretty intense for the first week and I might not have time to walk around Hartford and take pictures. And when I do walk around Hartford, I will often have Scout with me, so there’s that.

Don, my love, more of your zinnias:

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for don 2

We miss you.

We’ve talked about the ad income I receive (believe me, it’s minuscule) from this blog before, right? That’s the only income I receive. I say this only because a sweet and lovely reader assumed I was getting paid for my book reviews and I wondered if other readers thought the same thing? I never thought about it before, but I can see where someone might think that is the case.

I do not get paid for my book reviews. I receive the book in exchange for my honest review. If I got paid, I wouldn’t be able to be completely honest in my reviews. Now, if I worked for a newspaper or journal or something like that, I would expect to be paid because I would be working for an entity that is neutral as to the books being reviewed. But, since I get the books from the publisher and/or author, accepting any pay would be tantamount to writing a post in which I would feel pressure to give it a thumbs up. That’s why I include that statement in every review that thanks either TLC Book Tours or the publisher or NetGalley for a copy of the book “in exchange for my honest review.”

Just wanted to clarify that.

I’m off to read my lists and make a plan for the day.

Happy Tuesday.

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We Are Sixteen, Going On Seventeen

A Big Book & A Vase of Flowers

Potpourri on Tuesday (I’m All Over the Place)

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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