Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Lazy Sunday

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The skies were overcast and it rained much of the day yesterday. So I took some pictures up in the office.

Oh, Sir Ian! Thank you for one of the best experiences on our trip last year. I will always remember your performance.

We finished watching The Worricker Trilogy  last night. David Hare, the award-winning playwright, wrote the screenplay and directed it as well and I can’t imagine a smarter, more engrossing series. To watch something that doesn’t dumb down the writing, but, instead, expects the audience to be intelligent and quick and writes with that in mind, is so satisfying. Many of my favorite actors made appearances; Bill Nighy, Helena Bonham-Carter, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Judy Davis, Christopher Walken, Ralph Fiennes, and more. (I had the privilege of watching Michael Gambon on stage in London about 15 years ago – in Pinter’s The Caretaker – and I was stunned by his performance. In addition, he has a gorgeous voice that is like thick caramel, and voices are everything to me.) Hare has written strong female characters for this series; women who have and are in power, and it’s so refreshing to see.

Obviously, I recommend it highly. It’s on Amazon Prime.

I moved the bulletin board a month or so ago and ‘redid’ it.  It’s a wee bit neater now.

Today, Don is taking portraits at the Farmers Market. I’m washing sheets and doing various chores around the house.

And I’m reading, of course.

During the past couple of days, I’ve started to see the trees begin to change color. It’s just a tinge, a muted color change, but it’s happening. Not that I want to go there yet, but I wonder when we’ll have our first frost? Sometimes it comes in early October, when my morning glories are in full bloom. Fingers crossed that it holds off a big longer this year.

It’s a nicely lazy Sunday and I plan to enjoy it.

Happy Sunday.

Thursday Thoughts

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It’s a rainy day here, which suits me fine. Yesterday was crazy humid, but only for a day. Now we’re back down to the high sixties.

I don’t like the thought of summer ending in a week or so, but I’m ready for autumn. The gardens are well into their transition; I watch them, I note the changes, I see some leaves turning – and my body and mind realize it’s time. I don’t look forward to winter, on the other hand, but we need it in this land of deciduous trees and lilac bushes and peonies and more – all of which need winter and a hard frost.

I aim to handle this coming winter with a bit more grace. (We’ll see just how successful I am in the midst of February…)

Don has to go into the city today. I have to run a couple of errands. I have only two hundred pages to go before I finish The Book of Bones  by John Connolly. You may recall my mentioning that it is 694 pages long. Connolly is a master at this kind of other-worldly thriller/mystery and it’s not at all difficult to become completely engrossed. What a story teller he is!

I didn’t mention the anniversary of 9/11 yesterday because I’ve written about it several times. We were living a mile from the Hudson River at the time and the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center flew over our community. Later in the day, when all planes had been grounded, I heard the drone of fighter jets flying over my head. I couldn’t see them, but I heard them. It was eerie and comforting at the same time. Don was working out of the country in Calgary: all he could think about was getting back home, which, of course, was impossible. He was in rehearsal for a play. It was a horrific day which is still taking its deadly toll on first responders, all these years later.

Of course, we will never forget. How could we?

And no, Donald Trump was not a first responder. He was busy bragging that he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan. And making up lies about seeing Muslims in New Jersey cheering the attack. That, of course, never happened. And saying that he lost hundreds of friends in the WTC. He didn’t. I won’t say anything more, but I’ll let you imagine the words that I said out loud yesterday when I heard he said he had been a first responder.

You know who actually was  there? Hillary Clinton.

Happy Thursday.

 

Allowing More Time for Reading

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The mornings are definitely cooler nowadays. Our walks include wearing a hooded sweatshirt. It’s brisk out there!

On today’s walk, we kept hearing (and seeing) acorns drop to the ground, black walnuts falling from trees, bird skirmishes up in the branches, and squirrels running up and down the trunks.

Speaking of noticing things, when I mowed the back forty last week, I stood for a moment on the edge of our property that borders our neighbor’s property and looked at the trees that abut that huge grassy field I showed you the other day. I noticed – for the first time – that we have two catalpas there. I guess I had to be standing in just the right place to identify them, as it’s on a slight hill. That makes at least 6 catalpa trees on the property. Since they’re one of my favorite trees, this discovery made me happy.

It’s 9:53 am and I haven’t turned my phone on. This is part of my new attempt to not have it on, and therefore, tempting me, for most of the day. I want to read more and look at the phone (and my laptop) less. I read a post by a young woman who I follow on my other Instagram account, which is for books and reading. She may be only 29, but she is very wise. She also felt that her attention was too often being diverted to her phone and iPad/laptop. It all came to a head when the Wi-Fi in her apartment kept failing. She didn’t have it for about 3 weeks. During that time, she read far more than she had been and she liked it. Eventually, she made the decision to have no Wi-Fi.

Now, I can’t do that, because I write this blog and do other things that necessitate having Wi-Fi. But, I can severely limit my time online. I’ve written about this before and it can be a struggle for me. But both Don and I are of the same mind on this one. I’m going to work hard to turn my computer off after I write this post and check back in later in the day. Likewise, I’ll do my usual Instagram check-in and then turn the phone off. If there’s a phone call/message, I’ll know soon enough. And we still have a landline, so there’s that.

We’ll see how it goes.

I’m reading John Connolly’s latest, The Book of Bones, which is 694 pages long. Interestingly, I had just ordered 3 books from the library when I picked up this book to read. Those books are going to come in this week and I will still be immersed in this almost 700 page long book. A quality problem, but a problem, nonetheless. I couldn’t help it, the Connolly is what I was in the mood for.  I’m a bit less than a quarter of the way through it.

We’re off on our weekly visit to the grocery store.

Don had a good day at the Farmers Market. His photos are wonderful.

Happy Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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