Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Flowers

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We’re almost halfway through August. My goodness, time seems to move so quickly. The long awaited summer turned into something not-so-wonderful in terms of the weather. However, I work hard to find little pockets of wonder and gratitude no matter the weather woes.

It’s turned humid again and the temps have been in the low to mid eighties. When I was growing up in Michigan, August was the humid month. Philadelphia was unbearably humid for a big chunk of the summer. Boston? More like Michigan. San Diego was rarely, if ever, humid. We didn’t need an air conditioner. Now it can be humid for several weeks. I’m lucky to have lived in San Diego when it had that perfectly moderate weather that people raved about. My husband grew up in that climate – lucky him!

Today is a mowing day. The front lawn has grown way too much and we have more rain coming this week so we have to get on it.

Finished.

I’m not happy with the leaves, but I’ll work on leaves another day. This painting was mainly about the rose and I like the way it turned out. It’s my first time painting a flower in detail and as the main subject matter and I feel pretty good about the result.

I’m still contemplating what to choose for my next painting. Since today will be about mowing, I won’t start a new painting. But ideas are percolating!

Don had a gig on Saturday and has at least three more slated for September. I’m so happy he’s doing this again. He needs to perform and share his music with others. He’s a born entertainer and I know he’s been missing that. It’s been a very tough 4 years with no acting work at all and it breaks my heart. He’s such a wonderful actor. I hope, once the strike ends, that things turn around for him.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Friday Thoughts

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A young deer has been trying to chomp on the plants in the big garden bed. I happened to look up this morning and saw him eating something. I shooed him away – boy, was he cute – and just now, he was right by the shed and the hostas planted there…I shooed him away again. Both times, he ran up the trail into the woods.

He’s young. He doesn’t understand my Rules For Eating yet.

I mowed the lilac side of the front lawn yesterday and I have to admit it, it was hard, probably because I’ve mowed a lot this week and my arms are tired from pushing that front wheel drive-less lawnmower. I finished, but I’m taking a break for a bit. The back forty needs to be mowed, but sometime next week will be fine. The lawnmower has now moved to the top of the repair list.

Don has been coordinating and hosting a series of concerts this summer. They are held outdoors in a park in a town north of us. Don recruited all of the performers and he emcees each concert – once a month for four months. Anyway, there is another one tonight. It has rained or threatened to rain every Friday there has been a concert and true to form, it’s doing the same for tonight’s concert. So he’s spent a lot of time this week ensuring the performers are coming, pressuring the powers-that-be to find an indoor location and making that decision, not at the last minute, but a few days beforehand so that the public knows the venue is changing. I think they’ve been doing this for 14 or 15 years. Don played in the very first concert long ago. He has noticed that the number of people attending has decreased considerably since Covid. It’s very depressing. The same thing has happened with theater – subscription bases have decreased. Theater – especially regional theater – is struggling. I’ll write more about that later, but several well-known theaters are in serious financial trouble. Back to the concert series: it almost seems as if lockdown kept us home and once lockdown ended, people didn’t return to their previous activities and support of the arts. I’d say it was about money – and it is, of course – but this series is free.

The Arts are in trouble – not-for-profit theater is really in trouble. It seems as if I hear/read something about that on a daily basis.

I’m proud of all the work Don has done to make these concerts happen. I don’t know if he’ll do it next year, but I’m betting that after some time away from it, he will.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Saturday Potpourri

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• Sophie as Barbie.

Pardon all the Blythe pictures this week. I haven’t really been able to get outside to take any pictures, so Blythe is what you get.

• Thankfully, this oppressive weather is supposed to break later in the day when storms roll through. And the forecast is for much better weather for the week ahead, including much less rain. Huzzah!

• The same guy who looked at the washing machine last February came to look at it yesterday. We are greatly relieved that it is hanging in there. Something or other in the washer was a bit corroded and clogged, which was causing it to leak small amounts of water during the wash cycle. He cleaned and cleared everything and said it’s been fixed. This washer/dryer combo was purchased not long after we moved into the cottage, which would make it nearly 18 years old. He said that everything seems to be working well. Of course, we had to pay for the initial visit and for labor, but it turned out to be about the same as the charge in February and was much less than we were were fearing and, of course, much, much less than replacing the unit. Very good news!

• I haven’t had a vicious comment in a long, long time but the one brief sentence I wrote in yesterday’s post – “I’m on indictment watch” – apparently set someone off. I didn’t mention any names and that was all I said, but heavens, what vitriol! So easily triggered. I won’t share the vile content and Don did say I should have left it there for you to see, but I thought I’d spare you that. Why bother? She’s not worth our time. Blocked, of course – she’s a repeat offender.

• Don has a gig this evening and he’s looking forward to it. It’s not all that far away and I know he’ll have fun. Lucky audience, to hear him sing and tell his stories!

Every once in a while we think about doing a podcast together, sharing our many stories about our work in the performing arts. It’s still something that comes up every once in a while and, darn it, I’m now thinking about it again. Would you be interested?

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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