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You are here: Home / Archives for Don

Flowers, Old Movies, Coffee & Books

July 27, 2014 at 8:22 am by Claudia

You know I love my deer. They share this property with us and I do everything I can to protect them. But just like beloved children, sometimes their behavior makes me a bit unhappy.

Like when they chomp on my plants.

Part of that is my fault. I was away in Chautauqua and totally forgot about spraying the flowers with a natural deer repellent that I use. By the time I got home and realized that, it was too late. So, they dined on some day lilies and ate 99% of the leaves from the hostas that are planted in front of the shed.

But my hostas are sturdy little things and they had something up their sleeve.

take that

Take that, deer! They aren’t going to let a little de-leafing get them down. Not when they can deliver flowers like these.

We’ve been watching some old black and white films (my favorite.) Friday night was Random Harvest, starring Greer Garson and Ronald Colman – a great love story that takes place right after WWI. Colman’s character has amnesia, Greer helps him and the story goes on from there. Simply beautiful and, at times, heartbreaking. Then Don watched another movie, one of our favorites, Waterloo Bridge. (I’d seen it recently and it was late, so I went to bed.) But just as we did the first time we saw it, Don and I ended up talking about it for an hour the next day. It stars Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh. Another love story with a WWI backdrop and a heartbreaking one, where you find yourself saying “If only she had said something,” or “If only she hadn’t let her pride get in the way.” It haunted me for days after I saw it for the first time. It’s a beautiful movie – I recommend it highly.

Then last night: the great 1927 classic, Metropolis. Simply stunning. A visual triumph with a powerful story. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

There’s nothing like a great old movie. We’ve hit the jackpot lately.

pink zinnia

I also just finished Cop Town by Karin Slaughter, which I’m going to review on Just Let Me Finish This Page tomorrow. Now I’m reading Deadly Assets by Wendy Tyson. I’ve reviewed some of Tyson’s books on this blog, so I’m looking forward to this one. It will be also be reviewed on the book blog

Today is rainy, which is just fine. The gardens need a little rain. Scoutie is in the tunnel, I’m sipping my Peet’s French Roast (no little K-Cups for me, thank you very much, I brew a pot of coffee.)

By the way, what is with the K-Cup craze? I know a lot of people use them, but they seem expensive to me and rather like a fad. Suddenly everyone is using K-Cups and buying a special coffee maker just so they can use them. If you limit yourself to one cup of coffee a day….maybe. Or if you and your mate have different tastes in coffee? But if I were going to go with one cup of coffee, I’d go with a filter cone. Much better result. We have one here and my roommate in Chautauqua had a collapsible filter cone made out of silicone that she used for traveling and she won me over. She spooned some of my coffee in the filter, boiled some water, poured it into the filter and oh my goodness! Was that coffee great! Much cheaper than K-Cups, obviously, and much, much better. I’m going to buy one for Don and one for me. We both have out-of-town gigs coming up.

Don’s late father, Lee, loved his K-Cups. He proudly showed them off to me when I visited him in San Diego. I think he liked having a variety of flavors on hand and would treat himself to a different one every day. That’s when I can understand the K-Cup thing. That’s when it makes sense. Anyway, just my opinion – I’m very serious about my coffee, as you know. If you love K-Cups, tell me why – I’d love to know.

There. I’ve gone off on a tangent. Don would tell you that kind of thing is rather routine around here.

The phlox have started blooming.

phlox

Oh, that scent is heavenly!

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: books, coffee, Don, flowers, garden, life 66 Comments

Garden Bugs

July 22, 2014 at 8:12 am by Claudia

Sometimes when I walk around the yard and gardens, camera in hand, I will find myself seeking out insect life. I like to get pictures of bees and ants and unnamed bugs living in and among the flowers. That’s what happened the other day when I ventured out of my sick bed for a little exploration.

bee on coneflower1

bee on coneflower 2

bee on coneflower 3

tiny tiny bee

red bug

ant on coneflower

I’ve been observing the bumblebees, especially in terms of the coneflowers. I’ve got tons of coneflowers here. I’ll watch them land on the flower and leave in a split second if the flower isn’t ready for them. The available pollen has to be at a certain level, I think. And visually, their preferred coneflowers do seem to have a plusher-looking cone, which must mean the pollen is ripe for the picking. I could watch them for hours.

I’ve seen my friend, the Hummingbird Moth, flitting in and around all the flowers. Don, in fact, thought it was a hummingbird. I have a lot of flowers that attract hummingbirds here in the garden, but I can count on about 3 fingers the times I have seen one on the property. But I’m sure happy to see the Hummingbird Moth back again.

This particular bug, the one that I’ve got, keeps hanging on. I’m feeling better overall, but every morning I end up feeling clammy and sweaty. I also have a LOT of congestion. Whether the two things are related or not, I’m not sure. As the day goes on, I feel better, but I find myself taking a nap or two. Don tells me I have to patient and take it easy.

Do not like.

And my father, always a difficult man, has ratcheted things up in the ‘difficult department.’ He’s impossible at the moment. Mean emails, bad decisions, childish behavior, lies…you name it. I think that when Mom was alive, the daily schedule he had, the visits to Mom, all of that kept him in check and focused. And he was terrifically devoted to her – no one could have done better. Now that she’s gone and he no longer has that daily routine, he has reverted back to the kind of behavior that, sadly, we saw all the time when we were younger. It pushes every button I’ve got and then some. Trying to find compassion instead of anger at the moment.

It isn’t easy.

Send some good thoughts our way, will you?

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: bees, Dad, Don 50 Comments

Sigh of Relief

July 19, 2014 at 8:20 am by Claudia

The last three days? Insane.

The attack started on Wednesday and continued through yesterday. The techs at my host assured me that kind of attack isn’t personal – it’s done by a bot with some sort of script and they just keep at it. And at it. Anyone with a blog has been on the receiving end of a hacking attempt – they might not know it’s going on, but it is. Usually, they are a few hours long. But this one was a whole new thing. By Thursday, I decided to add another level of security, even though I really didn’t want to spend the money.

My blogs mean a lot to me and feeling peace of mind about any future attacks makes the expense worth it. Unfortunately, these DDoS  attacks and Brute Force attacks are becoming more and more common. You’d think these idiots could find something better to do with their time.

roadside lilies

When I was on Blogger, my blog was hacked four times. That’s why I moved to WordPress. On Blogger, getting any tech help is next to impossible and after the first hacking attempt, no one answered my questions. Not one person. I felt helpless. And as I scrolled through the Blogger Help Forums, I saw lots and lots of unanswered pleas for help. Some people had lost their blogs, some were hacked, sometimes Blogger just deleted a blog for some reason or another. Very disheartening. At least with WordPress, I can get help. I can add security. I have a host that will answer my questions and solve the problem. I have my security company that, I have to say, worked overtime yesterday to get everything in working order. But there were lots of hiccups on the way, which is why you saw 403 and 404 errors.

My body was so tense from hours of sitting hunched over my laptop that I went outside and mowed part of the lawn just to get some sort of physical release.

Anyway, all is well.

And, once again, I am reminded that I have the best readers in the world. The best friends in the world. Thank you for your support and for the emails alerting me to problems. Thank you for responding to my test posts. Bless your hearts. I am so, so grateful for your presence in my life.

Unfortunately, I ended up the day feeling feverish and achy. I’m not feeling much better today. I have a lot of congestion – maybe a sinus infection? I’m not sure. So I’m going to be laying low for the rest of the day.

the cupcakes

These ladies are The Cupcakes. They are extremely talented and I really love their work. They are based out of Woodstock, NY. The area I live in is full of musicians. Somehow, the Hudson Valley, including Woodstock, attracts musicians and there’s always lots of music going on. This is their new CD. The title song? A song written by my husband.

I’m busting my buttons with pride. Don is a very talented songwriter and musician. The Cupcakes have been singing their version of Trouble and Joy for a couple of years now and they decided to use it as the title song. Isn’t that neat?

You can go to their site on ReverbNation to hear Trouble and Joy.

Tonight is their CD Release Party. I hope I’m feeling better so I can go!

Oh, and in case you missed it, there was a new post on Just Let Me Finish This Page yesterday.

Oh and Bloglovin’ is somehow showing that I have a new post up, but when you click on it the text is blank. Don’t know why that is happening and, frankly, I find it sort of a pain in the tush. So do me a favor: if you see I have a new post up, just come on over directly to the blog. That’s the way I’d like you to read the posts anyway…I work hard at my blog design and the look of a post and readers don’t really show any of that. I’ll try to figure it all out at some point, but now? I’m tired.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blog, Don, music 39 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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