egg cups — Page 35

Hibernating

January 15, 2019 at 11:01 am by Claudia

Just because I like looking at this cabinet. I pass it countless times a day because it’s at the bottom of the stairs, with the bathroom just to the right. Can’t miss it. It never fails to make me smile.

Now I just need that Sleepy egg cup. Still looking. Still slightly obsessing over it. Regular egg cups are pretty and I like them, but figural egg cups are whimsical and happy-making. They are still my first love, they’re just harder to find nowadays. I think I got into collecting figural egg cups in the nick of time. I managed to scoop them up before they disappeared. I still see them occasionally, but not nearly as much as I did in 2002 – 2005.

It’s friggin’ cold here! The kind of cold that makes you want to hibernate inside the house all day. I didn’t get around to my closet yesterday, as I was washing sheets, cleaning the house and the bathroom, watering all the plants, and doing some research. I think I’ll start on it today.

The weather forecast is saying there’s potential for a big winter storm on Saturday and Sunday, with lots of snow and ice. Let’s hope that ‘potential’ fizzles out. I wouldn’t mind a bit of snow, but snow and ice? No and no and no. Other than that freak snowfall in October, we’ve been pretty lucky so far. Can we just keep it that way, Mother Nature?

We watched part of Bruce Springsteen on Broadway last night. We’re going to finish it tonight. I cannot say enough about this show. It’s just Bruce, telling us about his life and career in his poetic words and images, both spoken and sung (accompanied by acoustic guitar.) It’s amazing. I’m not a big Springsteen fan, by the way – I mean, I like and respect him, I just never listened to a lot of his music. But you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy this filmed version of his recently closed Broadway show. I have friends who saw it live and raved about it and now I know why. It’s on Netflix and I recommend it highly. It’s honest and touching and funny and powerful.

I’m reading the newest James Lee Burke – The New Iberia Blues. It was published last week. Excellent, as always. There’s none better.

That’s it, my friends. Winter brings too much time indoors, a sense of hibernation, no flowers in the garden, no critters running around outside. It gets a bit harder for me every year, though I try very hard to find beauty in the stark landscape.

Happy Tuesday.

Happy New Year

January 2, 2019 at 9:17 am by Claudia

Happy 2019!

Tomorrow, the Democrats take over the House. I can’t wait!

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve, no surprise there. We went out for a late breakfast, walked to a vintage record shop, bought some cheese from our local cheese shop, shopped a bit at the antiques barn, had a veggie hot dog, and headed home. Late in the afternoon, we poured a glass of sparkling cider, had some cheese and crackers, and had an early toast to the New Year.

Those are my grandmother’s wine glasses. I was fond of them as a child because they had flowers etched into the glass.

Then we organized our records and watched four episodes of the Twilight Zone Marathon. We were in bed by 11:00.

From the antique barn:

A sheep and an egg cup. Is the egg cup Pyrex, Westmoreland, something else? I’m not sure. Glass egg cups have not been a part of the collection until now. But I loved the white and orange combination. Cheery. It’s tall and it won’t fit in the cubby cabinet, so it’s on the little shelves in the den.

I spent an hour or so yesterday making a backdrop for my mantel sheep. During a trip to Michael’s a couple of weeks ago, I found some interesting scrapbook paper that I thought might work. So I measured the width of the shelf and cut pieces of cardboard (which I found easily because I had just reorganized my pink cabinet!), taped them together, then I cut corresponding pieces of scrapbook paper and taped them on the cardboard with painter’s tape. That way I can change them out when I want to.

The paper has clouds and little airplanes. Keep in mind that the background is only 3½ inches high because the wall begins its slant at that point.

The ornament that is hanging on the right is made from a real egg and has two doves inside. Don gave it to me for Christmas because they’re turtle doves and because I love doves. It’s really beautiful. I’ll share a closeup sometime soon.

A closeup of the paper.

I finished the Louise Penny book this morning. I really liked it – Penny can’t write a bad book. The storylines were compelling. But, it’s not my favorite. Normally – and I’m not kidding about this – I am in tears at the end of one of her novels because she has woven everything together in a way that is life-affirming and transcendent. I didn’t cry this time and I knew I wouldn’t cry when I was reading in bed last night. Now, I realize that is no way to judge a novel. It’s just an indicator that, though I was engaged in the writing, it didn’t take me where it has taken me in the past. Something was missing for me.

All that being said, she is a wonderful writer and I love the characters and the setting of Three Pines and everything about that community and the people who live in it. And I can’t wait for next year’s book to come out.

Today? Christmas comes down. I’m ready for a change. I asked Don if he wanted me to keep the tree up for New Year’s Day and he said yes. So today it is. I’m also going to drop my book donations off at the library.

Happy Wednesday.

Shuffling: Indoors and Outdoors

November 12, 2018 at 10:30 am by Claudia

Available cubbies are getting limited. Book now.

Sometime this week, I have to grab my museum wax and use it to adhere each egg cup firmly in place. At some point soon, I’m going to have to pull the cabinet out to get to the cupboard under the stairs, which I open about twice a year. I store some outdoor cushions there as well as the small white Christmas trees that I use. Which reminds me: where am I going to put the plants that are currently on the bistro table when I need to move them out of the way for the Christmas tree? I don’t decorate until mid-December, but I’d better start thinking about that particular problem. Small house = no storage, no usable basement, no attic, no mud room. The result? Constant shuffling of items from one room to another.

Anyway, I have sliders which I’ll put under the cabinet. I think that I’ll stow the cushions in there next week and take all the Christmas stuff out and store it upstairs in the office until I’m ready to decorate. Then I’ll only have to move it once more to put everything back. And that will be it until I need to retrieve the cushions in the Spring.

Now that I’ve bored you to tears, thanks for all your comments yesterday. I see that we’re all coping with this same problem to one degree or another. I was fairly successful yesterday. I finished the book by Michael Connelly, read a short novel that I bought in London – finished that, and started on the newest by James Lee Burke – Robicheaux. I’ve had it for a few months and am just now getting to it. What a poetic and lyrical writer Burke is, an amazing feat when he’s writing about murder and corruption in Louisiana! He’s one of the best.

Today we’re having brunch at Rick and Doug’s. A colleague from our days at the Old Globe is visiting.

We talked on the phone with Little Z last night, who lost his two front teeth in an hour’s time – one after another! The adult teeth are coming in right behind them. He’s so adorable, even more so with the gap in his smile.

That’s about it. The potted impatiens bit the dust last night – we had a hard freeze. I’m not sure of the status of the other porch plants, but I am going to have clean all of that up this week, do some more shuffling (into the shed, into storage) and get ready for winter. Yikes.

Happy Monday.

Hibernating

Happy New Year

Shuffling: Indoors and Outdoors

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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