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You are here: Home / Archives for flowers

Morning, Evening, Bugs and Tattoos

September 21, 2016 at 9:08 am by Claudia

Let’s start with last night’s spectacular sunset:

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And move on to this morning’s fog:

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Taken from the point-of-view of a morning glory. I’ve dubbed this photo: Foggy Morning Glory.

I do love a foggy morning, something that seems to happen in the fall in these parts. Fog is mysterious and wonderful; the world is slightly out of focus, and memories of foggy mystery stories come to mind.

I’ve ordered some basic wooden dollhouse furniture handmade by a seller on Etsy  for Little Z’s dollhouse. It will take a week or so to get here, but I really like the idea of buying from someone who makes the furniture by hand.

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A newish zinnia with a little bug. I often take pictures, not realizing at the time that there’s a bug on the flower.

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The same thing occurred with this morning glory.

Okay. I have a question for you. How do you feel about tattoos?

Personally, I can’t stand them. Neither can Don. When we see a picture of someone with lots of tattoos, we invariably say, “Yuck.”

I don’t need to have Don’s name permanently inked on my body. I know who he is and I’m quite confident that he’s my husband and the love of my life. Neither would I want him to have my name on his body. It creeps me out.

I fully realize this is a generational thing. When I used to work for a local vet, a couple of the younger staff members loved tattoos and kept going back to their favorite ‘inker’ for more.

I didn’t get it. But that’s because it’s not my thing.

I often work with actors who have tats.  They have to be artful about where they’re placed. You can’t be working in the theater and have designs all over your arms. And some of our family members have highly intricate tattoos covering a great deal of their appendages. Again…not attractive to yours truly.

First of all, that’s a lot of money to sink into inking one’s skin. Think of it. They’re putting a foreign substance on their skin and that skin has pores.

Also, as a member of another, albeit older, generation who can see the larger picture, it ain’t going to be pretty when those arms start to sag and wrinkle. And they will.

You can get a tattoo removed, but it’s painful.

I’d rather buy some earrings. Or a bracelet. Or, even better, a good book.

But you may view tattoos as art, as many people do. They may be a part of your life or your loved one might be sporting them. Your opinion might be very different than mine.

What are your thoughts?

New book review on Just Let Me Finish This Page. It’s for M. J. Arlidge’s newest Helen Grace Thriller, Little Boy Blue. Click here.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

 

Filed Under: flowers, garden 109 Comments

Butterflies, Spiders and Morning Glories

September 20, 2016 at 9:40 am by Claudia

We’re in a fairly humid stretch here in the Hudson Valley – I thought those days were past, silly me! And we’re due for some very warm temperatures for the rest of the week. Oh, September, you fickle month, you!

A big chunk of time was spent in the waiting room of the car dealership yesterday. Oh, how I wanted to escape! The television was on – turned to the NYC Fox affiliate – as news was breaking about the capture of the man who was behind the bombs in the city and in New Jersey. I was happy to know he’d been caught, of course, but I had to listen to endless filler as the anchors ‘guessed’ and ‘supposed’ to fill time until they actually knew the facts. When an ‘ex-FBI agent’ got on the horn and decided to use his questionable expertise to attack Democrats and Obama when the breaking news had nothing to do with them; and said something like ‘they let this guy in this country,’ when in actuality, he immigrated with his family at the age of seven, I had to get up and move far, far away. Too many people with a political agenda spouting off when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Another reason I don’t watch that crap at home. Being a captive audience did not make me happy. Fortunately, just after I moved, a woman asked one of the staff to change the channel. To Seinfeld. Sigh of relief.

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A great spangled fritillary on the butterfly bush yesterday afternoon.

And this guy spun a complex web that extended from the porch railing to the gutter.

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The black and yellow garden spider. You can see that he’d caught his prey and was protecting it. I saw a little gnat caught in the web, over on the edge, so I freed it. That didn’t make my spider friend happy, but I figured he had enough food for dinner.

He promptly moved very quickly to the edge of his web, presumably to guard against intruders.

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Don came out to take a look. These guys are fascinating. I usually see them in the garden or down by the culvert. They spin this complicated web, with that seam you can see in the first photo, and then take it all down again rather quickly. I checked this morning. It’s gone.

If you’re squeamish, sorry! But really, you’re looking at a photo. Not the real thing!

Morning Glories to soothe the soul:

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They’re still blooming!

Louise Penny’s beloved husband, Michael, passed away yesterday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Louise and Michael showed us what true love is throughout this challenge, with a steadfast devotion that was unending as they made this journey together. May he rest in peace.

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: butterfly, flowers, garden, media, morning glory, spider 26 Comments

I Found It

September 18, 2016 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Yesterday found me searching for a copy of an old contract, which I ended up not finding. That search took me to my file cabinet in the office, long ignored, and I tossed tons of paper, documents, and old files that are no longer needed – that kind of thing.

But I did find something I’ve been searching for. I probably should wait to post this until our official anniversary, which is October 12th, but what the heck!

A photo of Don and me on the day we met, during our very first conversation:

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There is Don, with an impressive tan (he’d just finished working on a play in Arizona). There’s the shirt he has worn on each consecutive July 4th, and only on July 4th.

We’d spent the day at our friend Kathy’s house at the beach. At this point in the day, it had become much cooler outside, so I threw on my BU sweatshirt. I’m not sure what’s on my jeans – looks like paint. That’s my dear friend Rick next to me. We worked together at BU, were hired at the same time to work in San Diego, and he still heads up the MFA program there. (We both found the loves of our lives right around the same time. Isn’t that lovely?)

There’s the photo date stamp in the lower right hand corner.

I didn’t know this photo existed until about 5 years later, when Jonathan McMurtry, a wonderful actor that we’ve known for years, put it in an envelope and left it in my mailbox at the Globe. Needless to say, we were thrilled that we had some documentation of the day that quite literally changed our lives.

Gosh, I was skinny in those days!

We’d been having a conversation about the fact that we were now in our forties and we couldn’t believe we were that old.

Oh, Don and Claudia! Now you look at this photo and think how young  you were!

I’ll share it again on our anniversary. Promise.

Nancy asked for a photo of the zinnias. Here’s one. I’ll take more.

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Today I counted 13 morning glory blooms. It’s a rainy Sunday, so I didn’t take a picture of them, but I do have more to share with you over the coming days.

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Like this one.

We took a trail walk yesterday, where we saw our old friends munching on their dinner.

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They’re shy. When they saw me, they turned their heads away from me. One of them is the mother, the other is the son. Aren’t they beautiful?

Rest in Peace to the great Edward Albee, a playwright who had an enormous influence on a young actress finding her way in the world of theater. I acted in his plays, I loved his words. I heard him speak during my time in Philadelphia and I’ll never forget that day. Bravo.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: animals, Don, flowers, garden 32 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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