Paris

Day Two

March 15, 2020 at 10:53 am by Claudia

I made sure to buy some tulips during our last trip to the grocery store. I’d prescribe a bouquet of flowers to everyone who is at home, waiting this out. In our area, the landscape is still dull and brown, with tiny bits of green emerging, though not enough to change the view. Flowers help a great deal.

More and more news emerging. Paris! No cafés open, Shakespeare and Company closed; it’s truly hard to imagine. Cafés are such a huge part of the everyday life of Paris; they’re everywhere, they’re open into the wee hours, I simply can’t imagine them empty.

Our library is closing for two weeks as of Monday. Thankfully, they gave us a heads up, allowing time for people to stop by and stock up on books.

Don got an email from his agents yesterday. The woman who heads the agency said that every working client, whether in television, film, or the theater, has been laid off. No one is working. That means the agency is not making any money. So, to remain solvent, she’s had to lay off the other agents for a few weeks and she’ll man the office and also work from home. Every actor, writer, and director either lost their jobs or is being laid off indefinitely. It’s so hard to get a job as an actor. You finally get one and you’re laid off.

I know that we’re not special – this is happening to everyone on some level. But to those who are working and still being paid and can work from home, you’re very fortunate. Actors and dancers and musicians and singers cannot do that. Their work ultimately depends on a live audience. And live audiences are now a health risk.

It was interesting here yesterday. Even though I’m a homebody and can easily spend days at home without going anywhere, I discovered that staying here of my own free will is very different than knowing I have to stay here. Suddenly, I was restless. I know that I’ll get used to it, but it was telling. I want staying home to be my choice. When it’s not, I get a wee bit edgy.

We’re reading, listening to music, Don is practicing his guitar, I’m cleaning and doing laundry and spending too much time online. But I’ve found that Instagram is rather comforting – I really get a sense of camaraderie there – we’re all in this together.

Anyway, my friends, hang in there.

Happy Sunday.

Tuesday Thoughts

March 3, 2020 at 10:52 am by Claudia

Goodness! Yesterday was supposed to be cloudy and rainy but it remained sunny all day. Today was supposed to be cloudy and rainy in the morning and it’s sunny, with a high of 59 degrees. It will most likely rain later in the day, but I can’t complain. It’s beautiful out there.

On the wall in the office. A map of Paris that Don gave me for my birthday a year or so ago. A gold Paris/Eiffel Tower medal that I found in San Diego many years ago. And three Wallace Nuttings. It’s hard to get a clear photo because the sun pours in on either side of this wall. Those are sheep in the Nutting on the bottom right.

I finished M Train by Patti Smith this morning and Don and I promptly traded books. I’ve now started Year of the Monkey. I really love her writing. She has a strong streak of the mystical in the way she sees life and those around her. She’s also a bit of a loner. As I am one, as well, I identify.

As more and more signs of an early Spring show themselves, I am treasuring this time to read with no distractions. Soon, the garden and clean-up will be calling me. The lawn will have to be mowed. I’ll be distracted – happily- by bees and bugs and butterflies and blooms. I saw the beginnings of one of my day lilies yesterday. The daffodils have started to poke through the ground.

So for the present, I’m fully into reading mode. And I’m so grateful for this time in life when I don’t have a 9 to 5 job that takes me away from my books. Been there, done that. I feel as if I’m heading into a stretch of non-fiction, what with the Patti Smith books, the book about the Seine, which I’m still reading, and some other books that are catching my attention over in my TBR piles.

That’s one of the joys of winter that I discovered this year in our attempt to live in the present season, to be patient, to fully see the beauty in the winter landscape. We are afforded the opportunity to hunker down and nest. And that includes reading.

I was discussing ‘alone time’ the other day with our friend, Doug. I’ve always had a great need for privacy and time with myself since I was a young girl. Whether this would have been in me no matter what, or whether it was shaped by four kids and two adults and a dog being crammed into a tiny bungalow, I don’t know. I just know that I need it. I need quiet and reading time, time for reflection, time away from the world. Happily, I am able to find that with Don right here in the house with me. He gives me space. He needs his space, as well. We compliment and support each other that way.

I’ve worked in the theater for most of my life; coaching and teaching. That means that when I was working, I was surrounded by lots of people all of the time. Lots of lively people. I had to be ‘on.’ (Teaching is rather like performing, at least in an acting program.) When I went home at the end of the day, I craved quiet. When I was teaching at Boston University and had the summers off, I was fully capable of being alone for weeks at a time. I would venture out, of course, and take a walk, run an errand, converse with the grocer or the clerk at the bookstore, but mostly, it was time to replenish my energy.

I have friends who are very social. They need to go out to lunch or go somewhere with some friends. I always felt they were normal and that I was not normal. But I now know that it’s normal for me and that there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m an introvert living and working in the theater. That may seem impossible, but there are more of us than you’d think!

Don is more social than I and that’s a good thing. He balances me and his spontaneous ideas for adventures get me out of the house. I’m pleased to say I’ve come up with a few spontaneous ideas as well.

As so often happens in these posts, I had no plans of writing about this, yet here we are. That’s what I love about blogging. I rarely know what will come up in a post.

Happy Tuesday.

Art: Living Room

January 27, 2020 at 9:58 am by Claudia

Monday morning – a cloudy one, at that. Most of the snow has melted because of a combination of warmer temperatures and rain. That’s good and bad. Good because the young deer can eat our grass on the front lawn again. They like to feed there during the winter. Bad because it looks gray and blah out there again. The snow was pretty!

I know, be careful what you wish for, Claudia!

More artwork, this time we’re back in the living room.

You know all about our vintage lithograph on the left. We purchased it on our first Paris trip and finally had it framed this year. We are completely besotted by it. It’s an ad for a coffee that was made by monks and this particular illustrator loved to use children in his work. It’s delightful, it makes us smile, it’s a tangible memory of Paris, it’s in French…what more could we want?

Next to it, one of my two vintage Maxfield Parrish prints. These are not modern reproductions, they’re vintage prints that were sold soon after Parrish painted them for publication. I have loved his work for years, dreamed of owning one of his creations, and it was only in the past 8 years or so that I was able to acquire two. This was the second of the two. It’s called Dinky Bird and it was part of a commissioned set of illustrations for a volume of Eugene Field’s poems. The original oil painting was purchased by multimillionaire Henry Russell Sage, was put in storage and disappeared for years until one of his grandchildren discovered it. It was painted in 1904.

I love the colors in this one. Parrish’s blues were rich and unlike those of any other artist.

My first Parrish, found at a local antique store and part of the collection of a longtime Parrish lover, is next.

Pierrot’s Serenade, one of Parrish’s illustrations for The Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics.

Trying to capture the golds in this print and the blues in the other print is impossible via the camera. They are gorgeous. The original was painted in 1908.

It’s funny. I wanted some of Parrish’s work for so long. Now that I have these two, I don’t feel the need to collect any more.

Well, let me correct that. If I found a vintage print of The Lantern Bearers, my favorite Parrish, I’d snap it up in a second. It is simply gorgeous. So far, I have never seen one.

Okay. Business: The winner of a copy of The Overstory is Leanne Shawler. Leanne, I’m going to send an email your way, but if you see this in the meantime, send me your mailing address and I’ll pass it on to Barbara. Congratulations!

Happy Monday.

Tuesday Thoughts

Art: Living Room

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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