miniatures — Page 21

Day Three Hundred Sixty-Three

March 11, 2021 at 10:12 am by Claudia

Some thoughts this morning:

I had a little ‘discussion’ with someone on IG about a week ago. This person lives in Texas and was of the opinion that wearing or not wearing a mask should be up to the individual and that there should be no judgment involved. In other words, “To Each his Own.” You obviously know what I think about that. We politely discussed that issue and then I wished her well and ended it because how can you teach someone about caring for the welfare of others, about the greater good, about the fact that there are times when that is essential, that anything else is bordering on criminal?

That stuck with me this week as I read A Chelsea Concerto, which is all about London during the Blitz. As an American, I certainly have some knowledge of the Blitz, but let’s face it, I’m influenced by a slightly romanticized version of that horrific time, fueled by Hollywood movies and “Keep Calm and Carry On.” The reality was very different. Sometimes I have to put the book down because the enormity of loss that I’m reading about is just too intense. It seems as if everyone was involved in some capacity, volunteering for the war effort; as Air Raid Wardens, as Operators who helped to spread the specific warnings, as nurses and doctors, those who helped the enormous amount of refugees pouring into Britain cope in a new country, translators, and the list goes on and on. I’m thinking those who seem to be fine with that ‘whatever’ attitude about wearing masks during a pandemic wouldn’t have coped so well during the Blitz.

We’re also watching one of the best series we’ve ever seen, A French Village, which is all about a village that is occupied by the Nazis during the war. It’s historically accurate, as a famous and respected French historian advised the writers. The performances are excellent and the grim realities of those jockeying for power, whether German or French – those in the Vichy government who collaborated with the Germans to get along, those who were in the Resistance, local police and German police, the SS and the Gestapo, and those villagers just trying to survive – it’s all fascinating and horrific and heartbreaking and everything in between.

Two different views of that war from opposite sides of the Channel. It’s certainly consuming my thoughts lately. I cannot recommend A Chelsea Concerto and A French Village (on Amazon Prime) highly enough. We are riveted to that series every night. Brilliant.

And now I’ll do a 180 and show you photos of two miniatures I received yesterday, from Tiny Doll House in NYC.

An umbrella for the umbrella stand.

And this teapot made by Keith Brown. The lid is removable.

Today we hit 65 degrees! Crazy, as the temps will soon drop about 20 degrees, but we’re going to enjoy it while we can and hopefully watch the last of the snow melt away.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Day Three Hundred Sixty

March 8, 2021 at 10:26 am by Claudia

Five more days until I mark a year of lockdown. Perhaps we started it here a few days earlier, but I can’t remember. I think that the moment we officially hunkered down coincided with my decision to change the titles on my posts. Does it seem unreal that it’s been a year? Not one bit. It seems every bit as long as a year.

Today starts a warming trend here in the Hudson Valley. Baby steps today, but by tomorrow it will be in the mid-fifties and on one day this week – actually two – we will be in the mid-sixties! It won’t stay that way, of course, temperatures will drop down to the forties next week, but even that is welcome!

I’m going to cut my hair today. I cannot stand it any longer! Since it’s baby fine, it looks straggly when it gets too long and believe me, it’s too long. Don has promised to assist with evening out the initial cut. Fingers crossed!

I put the little wooden house from Helga on top of the desk. It probably won’t stay there, but maybe it will!

Thanks for all your thoughts on bathroom/no bathroom in the English Cottage. A reminder that though this is a period house, it has an eclectic mix of more modern and period pieces of furniture and it will be occupied by someone living in 2021. I don’t do period houses inhabited in times of yore. Many miniaturists do, but I don’t. So, any house of mine is living and breathing in the present day, just as Hummingbird Cottage, a Victorian house, is. So…no outhouses. In eliminating the bathroom, we will just imagine it just out of range of our eyes. I may put a little whimsical sign up, pointing to the loo, or I may just ignore it. Also, this is a very small house and all wall space is taken so I won’t be putting in false doors on the walls – besides, the bathroom would be somewhere just beyond the open back of the house, not in the side walls that are already established as exterior walls made of stone.

This is the kind of thinking and rethinking that goes into any dollhouse construction or renovation. The Beacon Hill, with 8 or 9 rooms, will definitely have a bathroom, as does Hummingbird Cottage. But I’m learning that bathrooms are expendable, if necessary, in my particular imaginary world.

In the meantime, the room won’t be a library. I’ve already purposely added a large shelf system in the living room and it’s filled with books. I do see a stack of books by the chair, however. A nice place to retreat and read in private, if necessary. I do think it will be more of a studio, an artist’s studio. I see an easel and art supplies. The rest of it will evolve as I work on it.

It’s sure more exciting than a bathroom!

Yesterday, Don mentioned that he’d like to work on a small house that functions as a guitar shop. Whoa! Needless to say, I was immediately on board. It would be his baby. Why not two floors, I suggested, and he can live above the shop? Yes. He’s already thought up a story for the owner who is gradually acquiring inventory for his shop. His 70th birthday is coming up, so a kit for the shop might be in order, don’t you think?

Okay. I have to pay a couple of bills, cut my hair, clean, etc.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Three Hundred Twenty-Six

February 2, 2021 at 9:16 am by Claudia

I’d say 20 – 24 inches.

It never stopped. It snowed constantly during the day and all night long. It’s still snowing. This was one of the more massive storms I’ve seen. And we’re getting more snow on Sunday.

Don just went outside to start up the snow blower. I’m encouraging him to take breaks. We don’t have to be anywhere.

I shot this through the front window this morning:

I’m calling it Ghost Furniture.

It got windy in the evening and throughout the night, so there’s lots of drifting.

February promises to be…interesting.

While that was going on, I fixed my wallpaper mistakes by adding this:

Since I have beams and supports downstairs, I figured I could get away with this in the bathroom. It is a very old English Cottage, after all. In the future, I will NOT wallpaper these sloped walls. I should have stuck to what I did in the bedroom but I couldn’t make up my mind what color to paint the wall, so I went with this.

Now for the floors and then the windows and trim.

A word about Hal Holbrook who passed away on January 23rd. His death was just announced today.

I knew Hal and I was blessed to have known him. When I first moved to San Diego to teach in the MFA program at the Old Globe/University of San Diego, Hal was performing in King Lear, as, of course, Lear. He was brilliant. His daughter, Eve, was a second year student in the acting program, so I became her teacher. Because Hal had a connection to the Globe and to the MFA program, he would visit Eve from time to time. That first fall, he came to watch a dress rehearsal of a show we were doing in the MFA program. I walked into the performance space and there was Hal, sitting in the last row. It was just Hal and me in that room and it was the first time I met him. We got to chatting. Hal was the rare person who was focused completely on whoever he was talking to. I felt that throughout our entire conversation. He wanted to know all about me, where was I from, what was my background, did I like San Diego, everything. We spoke about King Lear and he mentioned he’d like to try that role again when he was 80. We talked about Eve. We talked about Mark Twain.

He was enormously talented, but he was even more kind and compassionate and good. A few months later, we went to see him in Mark Twain Tonight and met with him backstage. I will never forget that performance, nor his graciousness to all of us. I saw him several times during that first school year. Every meeting was a blessing.

Don had a similar experience during the summer before I met him. Don was performing in Morning’s at Seven (the show I saw him in before I met him) and Hal came backstage to Don’s dressing room, grabbed his hands and told him how great he was in the role. Again, focusing entirely on Don. Don has said he’ll never forget that experience.

Rest in Peace, dear Hal. Thank you.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day Three Hundred Sixty-Three

Day Three Hundred Sixty

Day Three Hundred Twenty-Six

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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