Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Humidity, Slow Motion & A Gift

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It’s so hot and humid here that I have to get going on this post, so I can do a few things outside before it becomes unbearable. Many of you are going through the same thing, I know. Miserable. When it becomes this humid, my brain feels fuzzy and it feels like I’m moving in slow motion.

Great weather, right? Wrong.

I love my hydrangeas, the Annabelle hydrangeas always being the first to bloom. They aren’t standing quite so erect after the heavy rain we had the night before last, though.

Too many mosquitoes to use the Secret Garden.

I walked up to the back forty and gathered about 10 ripe black raspberries and I came back with two mosquito bites.

Blooming on the far side of the house. Come to think of it, I’ve never given that little garden bed a name! I’ll have to think on that.

In that same garden bed, coneflowers.

Escape to Margaritaville  story: Don’s understudy is a great guy. He went on for Don during the run in Chicago when Don lost his voice, remember? Don found out that about 50 of his understudy’s friends and family were coming to the show for the matinee last Saturday. For ‘some reason’ Don didn’t feel well enough to perform in that matinee, so his understudy got to go on as J.D. and his family was surprised and delighted. Funny how it worked out that way…

Smile.

Lesley, a longtime reader of the blog who lives in England, sent me this British gardening magazine! I haven’t opened it yet because I’m saving it for an afternoon when the heat requires me to take cover in the den, which will most likely be today. Thank you, Lesley!

Two books read, by the way, and I’m well into number three, which is the newest by John Connolly – The Woman in the Woods. Huzzah!

Happy Thursday.

Thoughts on Wednesday

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Penstemon growing wild down by the road.

I worked on the new shade bed yesterday. I added some compost, planted the hostas I bought last week and transplanted the hosta and the heuchera that I had planted in the big garden bed earlier this spring. Because of the loss of some big maple limbs in various storms, it’s really not shady enough to support those two plants. So, they are now in the shade garden.

The ten milkweed plants that are right by the porch are blooming and the scent is heavenly. But something out there, whether it’s the milkweed or some other culprit, is making my allergies flare up. I sat on the porch this morning and I’m definitely feeling worse. Hmmm…

A freakish early morning glory. I plant both blue and purple morning glories and the purples always grow more quickly than the blues. I was surprised to see this little bloom this morning and it brought a smile to my face. Clearly, the bugs love the leaves.

You certainly don’t have to comment on this, but since this is a very difficult week for us, I will be sharing my thoughts on the closing of Margaritaville. Don always calls me as he’s walking away from the theater after having signed autographs outside the stage door. Last night, as we were talking, people kept stopping him to tell him how much they loved the show. I can hear the conversations in the background as Don tells me to ‘hold on’ while he chats with everyone. He loves people, he loves the show, he loves the character he plays, and most importantly, he loves bringing joy to the audience members. When I hear these conversations, I am reminded, once again, of what an enormous loss this is. For the cast and crew and creatives, for the audience members who come back again and again, and for my husband. I love him so much and my heart breaks for him. He, being the man he is, is trying to keep a positive attitude, but I know he is hurting.

We are well aware of the blessings that have come to us via this show and we acknowledge them all the time. Maybe something else will come along, maybe not. But it won’t be this show, this role. Don has been acting professionally for over 40 years and he has done every kind of role there is, from Shakespeare and Shaw to Frasier  to L.A. Law  to PBS American Experience  to Escape to Margaritaville. He has always felt that this role was a perfect fit. I’ve certainly never seen him happier with a role and I’ve been with him almost 24 (next week) years.

I’ve also never seen such a closely knit cast full of beautiful souls.

Sunday is going to be a very emotional day.

I think about it all the time and I can’t even type this without crying. It is what it is, I know that. But what it is, sucks.

Deep breath. Off to recycle and buy some more mulch. We may – fingers crossed – get some rain today.

Happy Wednesday.

Back at the Cottage

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A lovely and crazy 24 hours or so in NYC.

I got to spend some time with Don before he left to do the matinee and we made plans to meet at the theater at the end of the show and then go on to dinner. I decided to go down to Greenwich Village to visit a bookstore. It was incredibly hot and humid in the city and it was Pride weekend. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, but of course the Village, of all places, was going to be packed with celebrants!

As I tried to make my way to the bookshop, there were crowds everywhere, music playing, people dancing and…the parade.

Wherever I went, I ran into the parade, which seems to meander all over the village. It was wonderful, it was joyous, but it was everywhere. I couldn’t cross streets until I found a crossing point and then I’d have to wait in line a long time until a break in the parade allowed a mass of us to cross the street.

When I finally got to the bookshop, it was closed. Of course it was, you couldn’t do business in a normally quiet bookshop during the parade! While the parade was an amazing thing to behold, I was sweating and exhausted and after many tries, I finally found my way to the subway station where I got on the A train, which goes to 50th Street and where I could walk the 3 blocks south to the apartment. All I wanted to do was shower.

Only this particular train didn’t stop at 50th. It went to 59th, so I had to walk 12 blocks south. I finally made it back to the apartment and air conditioning.

I revived myself enough to meet Don at the theater and go out to dinner.

Thai food. Meredith and I ate at this same neighborhood restaurant when she visited.

Pad Thai – my favorite.

I managed to get a photo of Don on the marquee. The cast and crew provided birthday pies and serenaded him. If you want to see it, visit Don’s feed on Instagram. It’s @donsroadtrip. It is very moving – at least to us. They are such fine people. This is the second birthday that Don has celebrated with ETM and the knowledge that it is closing in a week made everything more poignant. Once again, I stood with Don when he signed autographs outside the stage door and heard people say how much the show means to them. It was a second or third or fourth visit or the very first Broadway show they’d ever seen. One woman ran into Don in a local restaurant last week and shared that she had lost her daughter 6 weeks before that, and that the words Don sings in He Went to Paris, “Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all of the way” comforted her and moved her to tears.

That happens all the time. This show changes people, even if it’s just the chance to experience joy for a few moments, to escape. It shouldn’t be closing.

I think that they chose a theater that was too large, making it hard to make back their investment. In fact, I worried about that as soon as I heard they’d chosen the Marquis. It has about 500 seats more than the average Broadway theater. The Broadhurst, where Anastasia  plays, has 1100 seats. The Marquis, in contrast, has 1600. 500 seats x 8 shows a week equals 4000 more seats they need to sell every week. The only other theater that has that many seats, I believe, is the Minskoff, where Lion King  is currently running. I worked at the Minskoff on a show that wasn’t a big hit and it couldn’t sustain itself. You need a sure-fire, long running hit to make it in either of those spaces. They made a mistake in choosing the Marquis and, though it isn’t the only factor, I think the show could have kept running in a smaller space.

It breaks my heart.

This will be a tough week for the cast and everyone involved in the show.

And now I’m back home. I arrived to wilted potted plants which makes me think that the promised rain and thunderstorms never arrived on Sunday. I ran outside and watered everything. Then I called the Jury Duty phone number to hear: ‘No jurors are required tomorrow or for the rest of the week. Your service is complete and you are exempt for the next six years.”

Huzzah!

Today is a primary in the state of New York. So if you’re a resident – VOTE. We have to fight back and undo the damage done by this horrible nightmare of an administration. Keep making calls about the children stolen from their parents. The more pressure we put on the administration, the better. Keep fighting.

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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