I’m moving rather slowly. I slept in today, and while I’m very grateful for the much needed extra sleep, I’m also very groggy. But I’m enjoying a nicely slow morning, that’s for sure.

I coached for about two hours yesterday, not all that much when you look at it in terms of hours, but a lot in reality, as coaching is very, very concentrated work. All of the actors in Jane Eyre  have been delightful to work with, very open to my suggestions, and very professional, including the two young girls who play Adèle/young Jane.

I’m not working on Jane Eyre today. I’ll most likely work with Jim either today or tomorrow.

We have a primary on Tuesday, but New York has early voting now, so we’ll probably vote in the next couple of days. Don has jury duty next week, so we can’t know if he’ll be available to go to the polls on Tuesday. He’d actually like to be selected, so I hope he is.

Today? Vacuuming (my heavens, it’s been too long!) and maybe some weed trimming. It’s so dry here that barely anything is growing right now except for some weeds on the edges of the Secret Garden.

Last night? Rain predicted, heavy rain coming from the northeast. Can you guess what happened?

Yep. Nothing.

Time for a bit more coffee.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Yesterday turned out to be a helping others day. Always a good thing. Late in the day, I heard some commotion outside. I got up to see what was happening and saw this car, which had apparently gone off the road and down into our culvert. I alerted Don.

This family was on their way to the campground nearby. The driver had missed the turn. Instead of turning in our driveway, he tried to execute a U-turn, thinking that the expanse of green near the road meant it was level ground. Uh oh. The car went down into the culvert and there was no way they could move it. I went out on the porch to find out more. Long story short, I called the campground to see if they could help – they couldn’t, didn’t have a truck to tow them out – and then I told the guy he should call his car insurer for a tow.

Some time passed. He couldn’t get a wifi signal which is not surprising since we’re out in the country. I eventually went out to the funky patio and gave him my phone. He called Geico, but – again, long story short – they couldn’t get the right kind of tow truck out here in a timely manner. I invited the family members to hang out on the funky patio. All of them were from Brooklyn and Queens and this was their weekend out of the city. Don came out to put out our orange cones, as the back of the car extended onto the road, and learned that Geico told the guy to call the local police who would get a tow truck out there. The State Police arrived and took over. I talked to the grandmother and one of the kids, who was nervous and needed to be reassured. I offered them water, but of course they didn’t need it as they had all sorts of supplies in their car. Finally, the truck got there and carefully towed the car out of the culvert. I think they were here at least a couple of hours, kids pacing on the lawn, grandmother trying to calm her granddaughter down (I think she might be on the spectrum).

Such a very nice family. The father kept thanking me and offering to ‘give me something’ but I told him no, we were happy to help and that we hoped someone would do the same for us if we ever needed help.

Earlier in the day, Don was driving near our local bridge and saw a young sky diver standing on the bridge with his parachute. There is a skydiving facility nearby and we often see people who have landed off-course waiting to be picked up. So Don loaded him into his car and drove him back to skydiving facility, where, much to his surprise, he saw a huge campground full of skydivers – an entire community hidden way back on the property. Fascinating!

I’m sickened by what happened to Salman Rushdie yesterday. It happened in Chautauqua. You might remember that I worked there for two summers and I know it well. It’s an incredibly peaceful and artistic place, with a summer full of concerts and book readings and theater and lectures. That it happened at all is shocking, but that it happened there  is beyond shocking. I’m very familiar with that outdoor amphitheater, I’ve been there several times. I heard Hugh Downs and Tom Brokaw give talks there. I still can’t get my head around it. Praying for Rushdie, who appears to have been terribly injured by this madman.

And then, the unfolding news about espionage and the conman.

What a day.

A recent picture of Maeve helping me figure out my deductions:

Today, a little more work on dialects. I officially start in on Monday.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Before the heat advisory hits. Over 90 degrees today and 98 degrees tomorrow.

What fun.

A story to share with you:

Last year, I worked on the film Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, based on the book written by Michael Ausiello and starring my dear Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge, the actor I coached. You know all about this, of course.

At one point we were filming on location in a county that was halfway between NYC and my home, so I decided to come home for that week and drive to the set myself. We were filming a lot of hospital scenes there. One day on the set, as we were waiting for another scene to be set up, I walked downstairs to get something to snack on from Craft Services. Then I came back upstairs – I was gone about 5 minutes.

Picture the hallways where we were filming filled with crew members; wardrobe, props, camera crew, etc. You had to weave your way through a sea of people. As I was doing just that, Todd, one of the producers came up to me and said “Oh, there you are! Come with me.” I asked him what was going on and he said that the director wanted to talk to me. My first thought: I’m being fired. But when I asked Todd if it was good news or bad news, he said “Good news.”

So I walked into one of the many hospital rooms and there, waiting for me, was Mike S. (the director,) the First Assistant Director, and Michael Ausiello, as well as some production staff. And Todd. The director said that they had had to make a quick switch in the casting of one of the nurses. Mike S. said that he wondered if I would be willing to play the nurse.

I stood there, frankly dumbfounded. It took me a couple of beats to process what he had just said. He assured me that they thought I would be perfect for the scene – my response was “I haven’t done any acting in years!” He ignored that and said there was absolutely no pressure on me and if I didn’t want to do it, they would come up with another solution. But I knew they were in a pinch. Mike S. said they’d give me a few minutes to think about it. When he left, Michael Ausiello and Todd and Mika (assistant to Mike S.) stood there and urged me to do it. Mika ran lines with me. Michael A. said they needed someone with compassion and I had that in spades. Finally, I agreed. Then I was promptly whisked into wardrobe and makeup. Suddenly, I had been made up, my hair was braided in the back and I was wearing scrubs, a lanyard, and a stethoscope.

Honestly, I only had a couple of lines, but the scene was/is pivotal. It took place in Ben’s hospital room. So I would be acting with Ben, Jim, Bill Irwin, and Sally Field. Gulp.

That it happened so quickly was a blessing. I didn’t have time to stress about it.

I found out later that when Todd went to fill Jim and Ben in on what was happening, Jim teared up. What were the chances that his former teacher and Ben’s dialect coach would act in a scene with them? There was a lovely symmetry to the whole thing.

Filming was relatively stress-free. Michael S. is a fantastic director and he helped enormously. Sally and Bill and Jim were incredibly supportive. Michael Ausiello took a screen shot of the monitor while I was filming, which I eventually sent to Don. Very grateful for that. Can’t post that, though.

And then it was over and I went back to being a coach. Sally called me ‘my nurse’ when she saw me the next day.

The sound guys, the First Assistant Director, and every person on the set had my back. They were incredibly supportive.

I’ve held off telling you this because one never knows if the scene will end up on the cutting room floor. It’s happened to Don a few times. Plus, I couldn’t talk about it during filming. But along the way, Jim assured me that I was still in the movie. The final version of the movie – the final cut – was just shown to the producers and Jim told me it’s really wonderful. And I’m still in it. So I guess it’s a done deal!

I had two lines, and my appearance in the scene is brief, but I’m with people I adore and admire and that’s pretty darned great.

I couldn’t wait to tell Don. As soon as I could, I stole away to call him. He was stunned! Wanted to know every detail. He said “This never happens!”  And of course, he’s my biggest supporter, so when I came back home late that night there were flowers waiting for me.

So there you go. Double duty on this job!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.