life — Page 283

Walking Together

February 21, 2012 at 9:48 am by Claudia

On a not-a-cloud-in-the-sky Monday, Don and I took a walk on the Rail Trail.

There is such beauty in the stark landscape of winter.

A splash of red berries against the browns and grays.

It felt good to be walking in the woods with my sweetie.

We, like everyone else I suppose, tend to get in a rut. Don works until late in the evening and I’m usually asleep before he gets home. I rise early. If we just let the time go by, Don doing his thing, me doing mine, before you know it, it’s time for him to leave for work and then our little window of opportunity is gone. We’re going to make a concerted effort to change that.

Yesterday we talked of camping, the smells of the forest, childhood memories, being a camp counselor, lashing together a lean-to. You know, the kind of exchange that doesn’t happen on just any old day. It was special and we need those special times together.

Then last night, I spoke with my dad. After our usual early evening conversation, he called me back. He’s so sad nowadays as he watches my mother drift away. He wanted – needed – to share some memories. Good memories. And some of them were of our family camping trips, days at the lake, driving us back to our respective colleges after a weekend at home. He talked about having very little money when my brother and I were kids. I assured him I never felt deprived. And that he was and is a good father. I’m crying as I write this, because my heart was touched so deeply by his need to talk about happy memories. His days now are about visiting my mother, hoping she might feel like talking, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wife he once knew. He’s devoted to her. He takes her magazines, and plays her favorite music, sometimes just sits there as she sleeps, holding her hand. Such sadness nowadays.

Don and I have been together over 17 years. My parents have been together 66 years. I don’t know how I would feel if I felt Don slipping away from me. I can only imagine the heartbreak, the realization that the end of our days together was near. How my parents, together so many years, can even begin to face this is beyond me.

Sometimes life is so beautiful. Sometimes it is absolutely heartbreaking. All in the course of one February day.

My Blogiversary

February 20, 2012 at 11:39 am by Claudia

With all the drama surrounding the septic system, I didn’t realize until yesterday that my 4th anniversary of blogging had come and gone. I started this blog on February 17, 2008. Four years and 944 posts later, I love blogging more than ever. I wish I had chronicled the various looks of this blog. My first was, I’m sure, just the basic template and a photo of the house. Eventually it evolved to this:

It’s hard to see, but the background was in a pretty shade of brown.

At one point, I used this header:

Then I had Mandy design the font:

Then I used a favorite photo of peonies, with Mandy’s font design:

Eventually I had someone design a new header and background:

I had it for about a year and a half. But there was a problem with that designer. She stopped designing and didn’t tell her clients. She also stopped communicating with her clients. I saw the writing on the wall – I knew there was a very good chance she might pull her designs or let her Photobucket account lapse – and I redesigned the blog on my own. (By the way, her account lapsed several months later and many bloggers woke up one morning to missing design elements. Make sure you are in control of your blog. Keep those images in your own account. After all, you’ve paid for them. They should be yours. Or better yet, create your own design.)

And that brings us to today. Blogs evolve, don’t they? I had an idea of what this blog was to be, but it kept changing as I found my blogging voice. The professional design never really suited me; I see that now. It was an idea, a concept, that I wanted to fit into, much like a pretty dress that is perfect for someone else, just not for me. I’m finally comfortable with who I am, what Mockingbird Hill Cottage is. This blog design, much simpler, fits me perfectly. And I did it myself.

I’ve learned so much along the way. I am not overstating things when I say blogging has changed my life. It truly has. My loves; writing, photography, design, collecting, gardening, decorating, crafting and my husband and dogs, all come together at this little URL. I’m grateful. I’m blessed.

Thank you for being there. Some of you have been with me since the beginning. Some of you are newer readers. I’m thankful for each and every one of you. I’m looking forward to my fifth year of blogging. The adventure continues.
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By the way, I’m behind in visiting everyone and I know it. Life has been a little hectic here and I find that I am crocheting things for the shop in every spare moment. I will try to visit everyone this week. Fingers crossed.

Some of you have mentioned wanting a scarf but missing out when a new one is listed. I just listed this one yesterday (update: sold).

And I’m working on this one in silk and bamboo. Perfect for spring. It will be listed tomorrow.

Happy Monday.

Falls from Grace: Why are we Obsessed by them?

February 19, 2012 at 10:20 am by Claudia

Am I the only one out there who found the media coverage of Whitney Houston’s death and funeral excessive? CNN covered her funeral all day yesterday. And then proceeded to air more specials throughout the evening. All week long – in a world filled with heartbreak, wars, the slaughter of innocent citizens, people desperately trying to survive – the lead story was Whitney Houston.

I don’t remember a head of state getting this much attention.

I, like so many, loved her extraordinary singing voice. I own some of her CDs. She was blessed with incredible talent. She could sing like an angel. But she had serious addictions that sent her into a downward spiral. That is what makes the media obsessed with her. There is something disturbing here; the morbid fascination our society seems to have with those celebrities who seemingly have it all and then crash and burn. It’s as if we get a sort of sick pleasure from watching someone else fall.

Her death was untimely. She was far too young. I feel for her daughter who has lost the mother she adored. But I wonder? If she had lived an addiction-free life, had made better choices, had simply kept performing with no need for tabloid coverage of her problems, would the media be covering her death and funeral with quite the same fervor? I doubt it.

The same thing happened with Michael Jackson’s untimely death. I suppose the same thing happened with Marilyn Monroe, although we didn’t have 24/7 cable channels then. We seem to love nothing more than reading and hearing about a fall from grace. Does it make us feel superior? I don’t know. But I find the media’s obsession very disturbing.

This, and so much more, is why I very rarely watch 24 hour news channels anymore. Give me PBS, NPR or the BBC; news organizations who acknowledge that there is a world out there beyond our little corner of it.

What are your thoughts?

Walking Together

My Blogiversary

Falls from Grace: Why are we Obsessed by them?

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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