Well a lot has happened in the past 24 hours. My friends who work on Broadway are all out of work for at least the next month, and by that I mean not only actors, but ushers and front of house staff, dressers, props, all crew members, stage managers, orchestra members. Regional theaters are closing productions and in some cases, the rest of their season. Regional theaters are already hurting, this could ruin some. Independent bookshops are actively worried about their survivability. All small businesses are worried, in fact. Though I know the impact will be far and wide, in businesses, trade, schools closing, museums and theme parks, and on and on, I’m speaking to what I know; theater, books, music.

Tours will be cancelled. My friend Noble, who is touring in The King’s Speech, is now out of work. It was just about to open at Hartford Stage. I haven’t heard about the Anastasia  tour yet, but I’m sure they’ll have to hit pause, at the very least.

I know each of you knows of other businesses that will be impacted.

It’s really a nightmare, isn’t it?

Consider ordering from small businesses if you can over the next month.

Just when we thought we had done everything to prepare to stay in place, we have to go out to get Don’s prescriptions and grab a few things at our local supermarket. As I said to Don this morning, “After today, can we please  stay home?” We’re using hand sanitizer, washing our hands, and using disinfectant wipes on door handles and shopping carts. But I’m over this now. Time to stay home.

I finished The Pursuit of Love  by Nancy Mitford. Simply wonderful; very funny and moving. Going back to The Hypnotist  by Lars Kepler seems a little jarring. I have to take a few deep breaths before I move on.

Other than that, my friends  – and ‘that’ is a lot –  we’re doing what everyone else is doing.

Let me share this quote from Shelf Awareness, which is all about books and booksellers. Organizers of The Bay Area Book Festival, which has just been cancelled, said this:

During this tough time, let’s all remember one tried-and-true way to promote wellness. Stress and anxiety are terrible for our immune systems, and there’s a proven antidote for that: read a book. In the midst of the chaos and uncertainty, it can help to spend half an hour escaping with a novel, feeding your soul with poetry, or finding companionship in a memoir.

I suspect I’m preaching to the choir. Grab a book, make a cup of tea or coffee, and read.

Happy Friday.

Taken yesterday during a supremely sunny day. Today, on the other hand, is gray and cloudy and we have rain forecast for tomorrow. Oh – the sun just peeked out for a second. What a difference that makes!

We are immersed in Season 3 of Babylon Berlin – to me, the finest series I have even seen. It’s a relief to know that this season is just as good on every level as the first two. I’m just about to finish M Train  by Patti Smith. Don read Year of the Monkey  all day yesterday and he finished it late in the afternoon. Soon – when I finish – we’ll trade books.

These rocks – rose/pink agate and a geode – have been with me since my childhood. I was always fascinated by rocks and gems, routinely gathering them on family vacations – especially that well known stone from Northern Michigan, the Petoskey Stone.

We had a family friend who lived in Arizona and he collected and polished rocks. I was fascinated by his work. I had visions of him scaling mountains, chipping away at rocks, and then taking them to his workshop to polish. He gave me these. I used to have them on display in my childhood bedroom.

Over the years, as I moved from place to place, they were put in storage – in my red trunk that Don brought back from Detroit last year. I had conflicted feelings about the things in that trunk, if you remember. Too many memories of another time and place. So many, that I asked Don to take it all to our storage facility. But I kept the rocks, hiding them away inside some McCoy Pottery. Occasionally, I would pull them out and hold them.

I pulled them out today. I think it’s time to display them again. I’m not sure where…maybe on my desk? Or in the pink cabinet in the office?

Oh, some good news to share about something I never told you about. When we got back from Paris at the end of October, there was an official letter awaiting us from the State of New York. We were being audited. Neither of us had ever been audited before and I went into a panic. New York and California did not go along with the Federal Government’s tax bill/changes. They still support the deductions that actors and performers and freelancers and artists have always been allowed and that the federal changes took away, resulting in our having to pay several thousand dollars in taxes, far more than we had ever had to pay before. I suspected the return was flagged because Don had to live in NYC for six months during the run of Margaritaville – was required to – which resulted in far more deductions than we’ve taken in the past.

We contacted our tax preparer (she lives in California,) signed over Power of Attorney, and proceeded to gather every bit of documentation we could to support our claim. This took some time, of course, and I don’t mind telling you I was very nervous the whole time. Finally, on New Year’s Day as a matter of fact, we spent 5 hours collating and copying and writing a detailed document explaining everything and we sent it off to California the next day.

I was pretty sure that we’d lose money – maybe all of it; that something, or a lot of things, wouldn’t be allowed. I resigned myself to it. Both of us ended up feeling at peace with the investigation, knowing we had been honest, that everything had been documented, and that if there were any errors, they had been unintentional.

Fast forward to one week ago. I went online to check our bank balance and it was far more than I had expected. I looked at the statement and there was our refund.  Plus interest. The entire amount. I yelled to Don, who panicked thinking something had happened to me. No, I said. Good news!

I have to tell you that I didn’t expect it and I was delighted and so, so relieved. We are scrupulously honest and it bothered me that we might be perceived as dishonest. Just the other day, we received the official letter from the State. I feel like framing it (just kidding!) That audit had stayed in our daily consciousness for four months and leaving it behind – officially – is an enormous relief.

Happy Monday.

Stairway art, part 1.

I’ll do part 2 tomorrow as I didn’t get a particularly crisp picture of that part of the wall.

The “Life is Very Short”….finger is a new piece made to look old. I got it at the Country Living Fair several years ago as a present for Don.

Next to it, a modern print that Don loves.

Above and to the left, an oil painted by my Great-aunt Ruth. She was a talented artist. This hung in my grandmother’s home for years.

Next to that a cow print that we love.

Above the cow print, a little framed piece that I found in an antique shop and a piece of architectural salvage.

To the right: two oil paintings by my dad. The top painting is of a beach and waves breaking on rocks. The other, below it, is of our cottage. My dad painted this for us right after we moved in. What makes this especially delightful is the yellow exterior. Our exterior is a green-gray, but Dad looked at the photo and thought it was yellow.

Top row, on the left: a Norman Rockwell print of Main Street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, including the building in which he had a studio.

Next to that, a very old landscape that we found in San Diego. It needs a good cleaning, but I sort of love its dark tones.

Next to that, another oil painting by my Aunt Ruth, this time of their childhood home on the family farm in Orillia, Ontario.

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It’s rainy and gray today. Most of the snow is gone. We may be getting more tomorrow night. We’re headed to the grocery store this morning and will be running a few errands, as well.

We watched Stagecoach  on TCM last night. It’s one of my favorite movies. Don was reluctant, but I managed to persuade him and, in the end, he loved seeing it again. A great old John Ford movie with a very young John Wayne and a cast of wonderful actors. It’s my favorite John Wayne performance and Claire Trevor breaks my heart, every darned time.

Happy Tuesday.