Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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A Groundhog, Some Flowers, and Commuting

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I lied. I am posting today because I’m writing it yesterday!

Oh, hello!

Our first groundhog sighting. He was right outside the living room window, chomping on some grass. Rather sizeable, this one. That made us happy.

As do these sweet grape hyacinths that pop up right next to the porch.

I want to get better for many reasons, not the least of which is it’s time to start cleaning up the garden beds. We’re heading toward temps in the 80s at the end of the week. Very unseasonable, of course, but spring fever, here we come.

I’m in NYC as you read this, but at the end of Wednesday, I will be through with commuting back and forth to the city for the time being. I’ll head to NJ next Tuesday for an overnight stay.

I want to make something clear about commuting and trains and buses, etc. When we realized we would have to move quite a bit north of the city in order to afford a house, we knew there would be a a trade-off. And that is the long distance from our house to Manhattan which means our commute is longer and quite a bit more expensive. We wanted a house, so we went into it with our eyes wide open. No not-for-profit theater can afford to pay for a hotel in the city for someone who lives within commuting distance. Reality check: they wouldn’t, nor should they, and do you have any idea how expensive hotels are in Manhattan??? As it is, they reimburse me for the cost of the train or bus. I have to pay for all those things up front, submit my receipts, and eventually a check will arrive in my mailbox.

Also, no Broadway show with a big budget will pay for hotel accommodations for yours truly. I’ve worked on Broadway twice and that just didn’t happen except for a couple of nights during tech week for Anastasia. I commuted back and forth to the city every day I had to be at rehearsal. There are a lot of people who do what I do in the NYC area, so if I’m offered the job, I count myself lucky, indeed. Also not-for-profit theaters were devastated by lockdown and many of them are having trouble surviving. They cut back on the amount of weeks in rehearsal, they do whatever they can to save money and build up their subscriber base to what it once was.

When we moved out east, I was 49. I’m now 70. It was somewhat difficult even at the age of 49, but for the first four years we lived in the East, we lived closer to NYC, so it was much more doable. We’ve lived here 17 years and I still do it, as does Don, but it takes a lot more out of us. It’s something I’m going to have to come to terms with. Usually, I have a short spurt of travel back and forth for a week or so. This time, I have more, and I am sick. What would be hard normally is extremely difficult when you’re sick.

Now, imagine Don doing that for years – traveling into the city, killing time, traveling on the subway to his audition, waiting to audition, spending about 60 seconds in the room auditioning, racing to get back to the bus station, then traveling back home. All for a minute of not-even-work. That’s much worse.

But it’s what we do, so when we get a chance to work, or a chance to audition for work, we take it.

This has been a tough one because I’ve been sick for 2 weeks of the 2½ weeks we’ve been in the rehearsal studio. Hopefully, that will never happen again.

Anyway, I wanted to add context because it isn’t like your normal 9-to-5 commute.

I’m looking forward to a few days of rest after this.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

A Beautiful Sunday

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Yesterday was a beautiful day; sunny and in the mid-sixties.

We were busy.

First time using the potting area in the shed! Note: I potted some urns by the porch as I didn’t want to carry them all the way to the shed. But everything else? In the shed. I’m starting to look at everything on the porch that I’ve stashed there out of necessity in the past; broken bits of pots for potting, tools, a big rubbermaid tote that I kept under the picnic table and I’m realizing that all of it can go in the shed!

We also mowed the corral and the back forty in the middle of my ongoing potting of plants.

We also saw a huge hawk in one of our maple trees – right by the corral. I ran inside the house to get my telephoto lens. This guy wasn’t budging, even though we tried to shoo him away. They’re around here more often lately because of the chickens next door. – I’ve often chased them off. In the middle of all of this, I realized I hadn’t heard the rooster next door for a long time. I wonder if he was taken by a hawk? I’m afraid to ask. This is one of the reasons I won’t keep chickens. Too many predators. Too much heartbreak.

Hawk flying away. Finally. Since he was in silhouette, I can’t be sure, but I think he’s a Northern Goshawk. They have that white eyebrow marking. His wing span was massive.

Side note, we’ve also seen a Bald Eagle recently, hanging out near the river.

After we finished our chores, I took a shower and then we traveled several hundred feet down our road, made a left turn, and visited the Taco Truck. We recently learned that about its existence and that it would be parked by the Old Grist Mill across the road on a daily basis. We were thinking that we’d buy something to help them out because surely not that many people would know of their location. We were wrong. There was a long line of people ordering and while we were in line, a group of bikers roared up the road and also got in line.

Delicious food which we ate while sitting on one of the decks right outside the Mill – one that not many people know about. We know because we live across the road and sometimes walk around the grounds.

This was our view:

Water flowing under the now unused mill and the river. If you walked out of the upper right corner of the photo and crossed the road diagonally, you would arrive at our cottage.

Also yesterday:

Our first groundhog sighting. This guy seems to be living in the tunnels under the big maple. Or maybe he was just hanging out there, which often happens. He’s on the smallish side, but I’m betting he’s the one who ate the tulip and is nibbling on some hosta leaves.

It was so beautiful that I wandered around the property and took some photos with both of my big girl cameras.

A baby crabapple right by the maple on the far side of the porch, near our property line.

Working outside, potting, feeling the warmth of the sun, doing a bit of mowing – that’s my happy place. I felt my shoulders drop for the first time in a long time. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

We will be taking it easy today as it’s raining.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

The Scamp

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We mowed the front lawn and the back forty yesterday. Even though it was relatively early in the morning, it was so hot and humid that we were drenched by the time we finished. But we knew we had to get it done before the weekend, which is going to involve a lot of rain and thunderstorms.

I always love looking at the lawn after it’s just been mowed. Everything that wasn’t an early bloomer is blooming in the garden now. The brown-eyed susans just started opening. July in the garden is the best. By August, things will start winding down, but let’s not go there yet.

Anyway, we worked very hard and we were pooped for the rest of the day. I also yanked some weeds while I was at it.

This morning as I was sitting in the den, I heard a little noise on the porch. Couldn’t see anything. But I got up to investigate and sure enough, our little groundhog had been exploring. And by little, I do mean little, this one is on the petite side. He apparently felt rather scampish this morning because he was soon heading toward the edge of the big flower bed, where he munched on some weeds. When he got up on his hind legs and started to investigate a coneflower, I opened the door and told him to move on. At one point this morning, I heard Don say “What is he doing?” Apparently our unnamed groundhog had climbed up on the bench on the funky patio, where I have two pots of lavender and a brush that I use to clean out the birdbath. Don told me the groundhog actually put the brush in his paws and held it up! Boy, I wish I’d been able to get a photo of that!

We actually don’t see him very often and we’ve remarked on that. So this morning’s frolics were unexpected and amusing.

Because of all that activity, I had to go outside a couple of times, so I gave in and yanked some more weeds. In this unbearably humid weather, early morning is the best time to do that kind of thing and I often forget to.

Still haven’t begun a new painting. See: exhausted from mowing.

Hey, I have a favor to ask of you. We’ve noticed that when we google Don’s name, that box that appears on to the right of all the search results sometimes shows something from Rotten Tomatoes, which is a film site. And it says, “Don Sparks was…” We’ve written them several times about that and I finally got a response from a guy who said that their data provider always uses the passive tense. And that, despite Rotten Tomatoes challenging that, they won’t change. I investigated the passages on Meryl Streep and Harrison Ford, and sure enough, they are also in the passive tense. The problem on Don’s is that the third word is ‘was’ which most people would assume means that he is no longer with us.

So, we are wondering if clicking on Don’s IMDB site a few times would, in Google’s “mind,” make that a more active result for Don and eventually eliminate the Rotten Tomatoes reference. I hope this makes sense. Anyway, if you’re willing, you could search “Don Sparks” or “Don Sparks, actor” and when the IMDB site comes up, click on it. I’m going to do that several times today.

We just don’t want anyone to think he’s left us.

Sigh.

Thanks in advance.

Today, some painting, finally, and a lot of rain.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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