Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Visitor

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I did end up buying some pansies and some calibrachoa at the nursery yesterday morning. There isn’t a whole lot of inventory there yet as it’s been quite cold lately, but I expect that will pick up next week. After I came home, I cleaned out a bit more in the garden beds near the porch – so more wheelbarrows full of leaves were carted to our pile. I potted the pansies (oh, they’re so bright and cheery!) and the calibrachoa, which I always place in the vintage plant stand.

So I did quite a bit of work and was very tired, once again. But I have to remember that the last vestiges of the virus are still with me as well as allergies and just plain tiredness from the show, etc. But I am going to take it easy today before we mow for the first time tomorrow.

But the BIG thing about yesterday?

I was standing on the porch and I heard an extremely loud bird sound unlike anything I had ever heard before. Up and down the scale, screeching and calling. I looked up and saw a bald eagle right next door in my neighbor’s tree! Don happened to be outside getting ready to take a walk, so I alerted him and then I ran in the house for my telephoto lens.

You know, you just aim at the bird and hope at least one photo is good. This one is very good. Look at that fierce face! He was very, very vocal, making all sorts of sounds. I’d love to know what he was thinking. Eventually he took off but spent quite a bit of time soaring above us.

Don has occasionally seen bald eagles near the river across the road but this is the first time we’ve seen one on this side of the road and so close!

That was the highlight of my week.

Today is supposed to be quite warm and it’s sunny. I’ll take it.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Coaching, Former Students, Cleaning up the Garden

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Found this crabapple by The Dude on the edge of the Secret Garden. This is my favorite kind of crabapple because of those pink buds. It’s just like the one that was cut down by that idiot last spring. I miss that tree so much, but seeing this yesterday helped a bit.

Well, I’m done with the show. I drove to New Jersey, checked into the motel, checked out of the hotel, took notes at the show, and drove home late Tuesday night, getting home at 12:15 am. Too long a story as to why I decided to check out, but I’m glad I did. The show is in pretty good shape, needs a bit of tightening. The actors are doing well with the dialects, save for a few mistakes here and there.

One of the nicest things to happen on Tuesday was reconnecting with a former student from Boston University who works for the Paper Mill Playhouse as Production Manager. He came up to me and surprised me, and my goodness, it’s so wonderful to see former students again and find them happy and working in the theater. Mike lives with his wife and two kids fairly close to the theater. Confession: I’m always wondering if students from that time in my life are shocked at how much I’ve aged, my gray hair, etc. I’m always slightly embarrassed and then, because I’m insecure, I make jokes about it.

Speaking of former students, I posted this recently on Instagram:

Both Maura West and Cynthia Watros were students of mine at Boston University. And both have them have been working on soap operas for years. They are terrific actresses and human beings. Recently, Maura wrote me to tell me that she and Cynthia were on set one day and were reciting a monologue I assigned to them years ago. It’s from The Caretaker  by Harold Pinter and I used it as tool to learn the Cockney dialect. 30+ years later, they both remembered every word! Maura said “We remembered and laughed together with such love for our memories of you!!”

Oh my. That fills my heart, it really does.

She also added that she’ll probably be ‘blathering it (the monologue) in the nursing home!” I get it, Maura. I still remember every word as well!

I worked outside yesterday, but I got tired fairly quickly. I’m just now coming out of that upper respiratory thing, and I was tired from my trip to NJ. Plus, every year at the beginning of gardening season, I realize I’m out of shape. I did clear a chunk of the big garden bed, annoying the robin who is adding to the nest on the shed as I traveled back and forth with a wheelbarrow.

It was also very windy. I wore a mask and sunglasses, but the pollen got to me. And my back, of course. Today, I think I’m going to go to the nursery and hope they still have pansies left. I’m about a week behind on everything around here.

Glad to be coming out of that dreadful illness. Glad to be home. Glad to finally start working outside. Grateful to have had employment.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Signs of Spring and Reading

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The forsythia is gorgeous this year. At times during the day, it is such a vivid yellow.

It’s ridiculously hot here. Yesterday it hit 89, today it will hit 90 degrees. As I walked around the property, taking photos, moving some chairs off the porch and into the Secret Garden and Funky Patio, and picking up branches that fell during the winter, I didn’t think that this unseasonably warm weather would wreak havoc with my allergies. Well, actually, I did, but I didn’t think I was out there long enough for it to impact me. I was wrong. I started coughing late yesterday afternoon and into the evening and my night’s sleep was ruined by yet more coughing. It’s so frustrating! My cough was all but gone. Don felt crappy, too, and he went outside to clean out the culvert. Idiots throw their beer cans and trash into it as they drive by.

Anyway, today we are staying inside, especially because there is an air quality advisory having to do with ozone levels.

It was nice to be outside, though, and I felt twinges of excitement at the thought of cleaning out the garden beds, planting some pots – all the things I do in the early spring. Usually, I’ve planted pansies by now. But everything has been thrown off by being sick and working on the show.

Tomorrow, the temperature drops and we’ll have rain for the next few days.

The beginnings of the lilacs.

Except for War and Peace (and we just passed our 100th day of this read-along) I’m reading nonfiction at the moment, which is not like me. I can’t seem to find any fiction in my voluminous To Be Read pile that excites me at the moment (don’t worry, that will change.) So, I take it as a sign that I’m meant to be reading nonfiction. I’m close to finishing Underland  by Robert MacFarlane. It’s simply extraordinary. I’m also reading a bio of Rodgers and Hammerstein called Something Wonderful  by Todd Purdom. I’ve read several bios about them in the past, but this one is newer and it’s very well written and researched. Decades ago, I sang the song ‘Something Wonderful’ when I was in a production of the The King and I.

I also have a book called London Fog  that I’m anxious to start.

This morning, I started reading as soon as I sat down and didn’t turn on my phone until I had to retrieve these photos for the post. I used to do that every day in the days before iPads and phones and laptops. I would make a cup of coffee and read for hours. I need to do that more. Actually, I didn’t want to stop, but it was my turn to make our second cup of coffee and I had to write this post.

But today will be a reading day. Don is actually reading a book by James Michener as well as War and Peace. He usually reads nonfiction. What the??? We’re topsy-turvy.

Adrian got out of bed yesterday and sat in a chair for a short period of time. Such welcome news!

And for the first time ever, two huge crows stopped at the birdbath for a drink of water.

Note: Sometimes when I send comment replies, I get a message back from the email provider of the addressee saying that they can’t authenticate my email, or that it’s suspicious, or bulk. This has to do with your email providers. Today I got one for Chris K, but it happens with others, as well. Nothing you can do about it, I suppose. I’m just letting you know that 98% of the time, I respond to comments, so if you don’t get an email saying I’ve replied, check back here anyway. xo

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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