Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for On The Road

Home Again (For a Few Hours)

October 2, 2014 at 7:27 am by Claudia

Thanks for all of the IKEA support, my friends! You are the best. I now have two blinds on the way to me at the cheapest price to be found on eBay; courtesy of a link sent by Diane, a reader. Meredith found one in Tampa – so that makes three! I can get by with three. Would I like four? Yes. But, hey, I’m thrilled with three. I don’t claim to know what goes into a decision to discontinue an item, but a quick google search of Emmie Roll-Up Blinds found lots of blog posts about them and lots of fans. So, it begs the question: Why? Maybe IKEA is coming back with something similar but different? Who knows? Anyway, as I told Meredith, if I put out a call to my readers, something should turn up…and it did.

Still coughing, sometimes for what seems like hours, still blowing my nose. But I am better than I was a few days ago. Nevertheless, this cold is a miserable one. Since I have bad allergies, my sinuses are usually already inflamed, so  something like this hits me with a double-whammy. And, having just gone through antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease, I wonder if my immune system was a little weakened. Not sure about that, of course. But, as a rule, I avoid antibiotics and rarely use them. For the Lyme, of course, they were a no-brainer.

Today? A quick trip home. There and back in one day. This is the only day I can get away and I have to check in at the house, pick up our mail, and get more dog food. Next Monday, my day off, is the day I have to move from the hotel to the apartment. Days off haven’t been a whole lot of fun lately.

from the side morning glory

I’m afraid to see the state of the garden, as I’ve had to rely on Mother Nature to water it and we’ve had very little rain. I imagine the porch plants might have seen their last days, as well. Gosh, it is so hard for someone like me to leave them for a chunk of time with no one to water them. I feel like I’m pulling the plug on them. But that’s what I had to do.

So, I’m bracing myself for what I will see as I head up the driveway. Based on what I’m observing around here, that will also include lots of leaves on the ground. I might rake a little, check the gutters, run a couple of errands and then head back to Hartford.

Scout is going to be awfully confused.

Home? Then back to that hotel? What???

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: On The Road 26 Comments

This Being Sick Stinks

September 28, 2014 at 8:50 am by Claudia

Crap-ola.

And some other words I choose not to use on this blog. But you can bet I’m using them offline.

That’s how I feel.

I’m coughing constantly. I’m waking up in the middle of the night..coughing. I’m blowing my nose…constantly. I simply feel rotten. I worked yesterday and it was a struggle: coaching actors one-on-one while sucking on a lozenge hoping to stem the tide of coughing, only to have to temporarily halt the session while I collapsed into a coughing fit. Not fun.

Today I also have to work, but only to about 12:30, thank goodness. Here’s the part that stinks…besides the being sick thing…I was planning to drive home today and spend tomorrow mowing the lawn, checking in on things, picking up the mail, etc. But, even though my heart says go for it, I know that I’m simply not up to it. It’s a two hour drive and I don’t want to be driving on the Interstate while being overcome by a coughing fit.

And, really, do I think I’m up to mowing our massive front lawn? Short answer: no.

Hopefully, I can swing a quick trip back home later in the week.

But for now, I think I have to hang out in the hotel room and get better.

Gosh, I wish Don and I had the same days off. I need some husbandly care-giving. I miss him. He would rub my back and get me orange juice and say comforting things.

tunnel position

Dame Scout in the tunnel position. I usually sit in that chair and watch TV or go online.

s on quilt

Quilt position. I got up to leave the room for a minute and this is where I found her. She moved from her tunnel position to the quilt. Who knows why? All I know is she’s awfully cute. And she’s really good company.

Hopefully, I’ll be up to taking her to the park later.

Almost forgot: It’s my dad’s 91st birthday today.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: On The Road, Scout 25 Comments

Clarifying Thoughts in my Cold-Ridden Brain on a Saturday

September 27, 2014 at 8:08 am by Claudia

That little cold/sinus thing became rather a big thing and I’ve been very much under the weather. I even had to miss the last day of table work yesterday. To be perfectly honest, I’d love to stay home today but I just can’t. Since I’m usually suffering from some sinus/allergy thing on a daily basis, when a cold arrives, it hits me smack upside the head and I go down for the count.

As I said on Facebook yesterday, being sick is crappy but being sick when you’re away from home is even crappier. I know that is not the most elegant use of language, but I feel far from elegant. I am grateful for a rather large suite here at the hotel. I think if I was in a small room, I would feel very confined and want to climb the walls, especially because I was room-bound yesterday. I wanted Don to be here and he couldn’t be here. I needed a cuddle.

You understand.

I’m supposed to drive home tomorrow night in order to spend Monday mowing the lawn, etc., but we’ll see about that. Right now, it’s the last thing I want to do.

thistle - fuzzy

A thistle turned silky.

I’ve been pondering something for a while now. I’m just going to say it: I’m really tired of decorating blogs. I find myself reading them less and less. Why is that? This is purely from my particular point of view, of course, and I’m sure many of you feel the exact opposite. And, let me hasten to assure you, I still read the blogs of my blogging friends – I don’t count them in this equation.

But in general? I’m over them.

Now, I’ve loved decorating from my childhood days of wallpapering my Barbie case to the present. I’ve spent who-knows-how-many dollars on decorating magazines over the course of my lifetime. I love to see unique and striking rooms. And I like decorating my little cottage. I’m a nester, for sure. So, it’s not as if I’m a person who just doesn’t care about that sort of thing.

I used to love reading them. But, there is such a glut of decorating/diy blogs now – so, so many that it makes my head spin. And quite frankly, there aren’t a whole lot of new ideas out there, just variations on the same theme. To be fair, I suppose that’s the way it is with most things, not just decorating.

Is this just a phase I’m in? Maybe. I do tend to do things in phases; for example, crochet. How many scarves and throws did I crochet? Over a hundred. And I haven’t picked up a crochet hook in about a year. Been there, done that. So, you see, I do tend to be that way about things.

But, further examination brings me to the realization that there is just too much out there in this virtual world. Too many decorating blogs, too many photos on Pinterest, too many faux animal heads, too many vignettes, too many, too many. I suppose I can be included in that: too many garden and flower photos. Maybe even too many decorating photos, though I haven’t really posted anything of that nature for a while now. I mean, you’ve seen my house. If something changes, I’ll share it with you, but in the meantime, nothing’s new. You may get a shot of the living room every once in a while, but that’s about it.

Your response to this might well be: “Well, Claudia, if you’re tired of all that, don’t visit those blogs. You have control over where you go on the Internet.”

And you’re right. I do have control and I haven’t been clicking on those sites lately. I’ve stayed away. I’d much rather read about a good book or a social issue or see someone blog from the heart or, if we are talking about decorating, see a room that has been decorated in such a purely individual and quirky way that it doesn’t look like anything else I’m seeing on the Web. That takes some digging, of course, but to me, it’s worth it.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I get bored too easily. Maybe writing the book blog has sent me in a new direction, has solidified what I am truly interested in. I’m not sure.

Anyway, when I’m wrestling with some realization, I generally try to put it in words in this online journal of mine. The process of writing about it always helps me come to terms with whatever change is on my particular horizon.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

 

Filed Under: blogging, decorating, life, On The Road 50 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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