Scout — Page 12

Potpourri on Wednesday

June 8, 2016 at 9:30 am by Claudia

Lots to cover today!

First, thank you so much for the great discussion on yesterday’s post. It was fascinating and informative. Of course, there was the usual “You’ve lost a loyal reader” email. I respond to that sort of thing with my sincere best wishes and an acknowledgement that the reader is free to move on.

It does make me wonder, however, how anyone who has read this blog for any length of time – a daily blog of 8+ years and one in which I think I have been transparent enough for you all to have a pretty strong picture of who I am – could think I would ever tolerate those ideas or that sort of speech? There is nothing anywhere in this blog that supports that kind of thinking; in fact, I have been pretty vocal about my feelings over the years. If you’re a “loyal reader,” surely this isn’t a shock?

Inclusion, not exclusion. Love, not hate. Tolerance, not intolerance. Civility, not incivility. Those issues have been covered repeatedly on this blog. And they will continue to be.

And I’ve never hidden the fact that I am a feminist and a proud one. So is my husband. We wouldn’t be together if he wasn’t. I don’t blame women for their husbands’ indiscretions and the reverse is also true. Just as I don’t blame the rape victim for the rapist’s actions. I don’t denigrate women or define them by their physical attributes. I want to see women rise to the top. We are more than fully capable. We can and will make this world a better place.

Okay. Let’s move on!

Yesterday, I continued working in what will be the memorial garden. Don had an audition in the city. Lots of digging, lots of rocks to uncover, but it felt so good to be out there working on this project. It was sunny and warm and, yes, I am happiest when I am outside working. I really love it.

6-8 yarrow1

I love self-seeders, like this yarrow that has planted itself smack-dab in front of the Chicken Wire Fence Garden. Welcome!

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Feathery and delicate. There’s some coming up in the big garden bed, as well.

6-8 musicstand

I happened upon a listing on eBay for this music stand. It was a souvenir made for a NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts) National Houseparty that took place in Cleveland in 2011. It’s signed and dated by artist Tom Walden. It’s made out of walnut and is simply lovely.

No one bid on it but me, and I got it for $7.99! Isn’t it beautiful?

I thought it would be perfect for the Top Secret Project.

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Also included was a piece of music, though I have yet to put it on the stand. I like the idea of a mix of vintage and new in this studio and the music stand looks vintage, doesn’t it?

16 days and counting.

Today marks four months since we had to say goodbye to our beloved girl. Only four months, yet it seems like a lifetime. The other day a package arrived in our post office box from Shanna, a reader of this blog. I knew she was sending what she called a ‘small token’ of appreciation, but when I opened the package, I was stunned.

Shanna is an artist and she has been experimenting with machine embroidery. This is what she created:

6-8 scoutmachineembroidery

She has perfectly captured our girl. This is simply amazing, Shanna. It’s so beautiful! I’m going to frame it and it will live in a place of honor in our home.

She also sent along the preliminary sketch she made.

6-8 scoutsketch

Don wants to frame the sketch and I think we’ll hang it by his favorite chair, so he can feel she is right by his side.

Shanna, I wrote to you yesterday and I hope you’ve had a chance to read our heartfelt words. I can’t tell you how much this means to us, especially on this day. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

You’ve captured the look in Scout’s eyes, the way she held her head, the joy in every fiber of her being. Bless you. We are so, so grateful for your generous and compassionate gift.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on Monday’s book review if you want the chance to win a copy. I pick a winner tonight.

Happy Wednesday.

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Bunnies, Henry & the TSP

May 9, 2016 at 8:44 am by Claudia

I took the day off yesterday. Frankly, I was having a very hard day, which started the night before, as I anticipated the arrival of Mothers Day – the second Mothers Day without my mom and the first in 21 years where I was not a mom. It was also marked three months to the day since Scout left us.

All in all, a very hard day for me, with tears the night before and lots of tears in the morning. My extraordinary husband was there for me throughout, surprising me with flowers and cards in the morning and a lovely book of essays on Beautiful Older Dogs.

He understands. He will go through much the same thing on Fathers Day – his first without Scout.

I simply wasn’t up to writing about my feelings yesterday and I know you understand.

The rain has stopped. We are supposed to have a very nice week ahead, so that means mowing and planting seeds and fixing up the porch are on the docket. I need to get outside and do something, to get my mind off loss and heartbreak and just do something physical.

5-9 deck

I painted the TSP’s deck. (I’ve told Don not to check out the blog for an indefinite period of time.) It’s gray with two coats of varnish.

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Thought you’d enjoy a bird’s eye view of the TSP.

Henry (our groundhog/woodchuck) has been back in business lately. (Whether it’s actually Henry, or Henry II or III, we don’t know.) No babies spotted yet. We also have several bunnies on the property.

5-9 henry

Henry (from the living room window) likes dandelions. We watched him come up to the house and deliberately, yet delicately, eat each individual flower. He has apparently signed on as my personal weed whacker.

5-9 bunny

One of the bunnies.

The other evening, I watched Henry nibbling on grass over by the corral. He kept eating as he slowly walked toward the ramp to the shed. In the meantime, a bunny appeared, having come down the path from the woods, blithely hopping toward the same ramp. As the bunny stopped, he looked up and saw Henry and did that thing that animals do – he froze in position. Meanwhile, Henry kept moving toward the shed, eyes downward as he nibbled on the grass. He was less than a foot away from the bunny when he suddenly looked up and discovered that bunny smack dab in front of him. He did a double take. The bunny did a double take.

And they both ran off.

Better than television.

I’ve posted a book review on Just Let Me Finish This Page – another winner from Robert Dugoni, In the Clearing. Please stop by.

Happy Monday.

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If Only

April 29, 2016 at 9:09 am by Claudia

4-29 about to be lilacs

So close. I expect them to pop any day now.

My plans to head into NYC were changed when the director of the project (whom I have never met) decided he was going to ‘pull back’ on the accents the actors were using, so he wouldn’t need my help. That’s fine, though I lose some potential income. I laughed a little, however, because asking an actor to pull back on a dialect or accent without telling them specifically what to change or how to change it is problematical. You have to give them specific sounds to change so that they’re not put in the awkward position of having to ‘soften’ something. Oy.

I worked on miniatures for a bit yesterday afternoon. Today? Mowing day. At this time of year, the grass grows so quickly that we have to keep on top of it.

4-29 about to be lilacs2

Yesterday, we were on a trail walk. Don starting talking about how wonderful it would be to live in a small town where the pace of life was slower, where you knew everyone and shopped for your food daily, where children could play outside and be safe; basically, where you could hide away from the horrors and politics and stress and pressure of the world.

I said “That’s Three Pines! That’s why everyone who reads Louise Penny’s books about Three Pines says they want to move there.” (I’ll add Mitford, as well.) I described Three Pines to him, hidden away in Quebec, not on any map, a haven for all, with spotty cell phone and internet coverage, if any. A bistro, a bookstore, a bakery, a general store, and a green in the center of town where children play.

We’ll leave the murders that are the basis for the plots out of the picture.

I second him on that wish. In the meantime, we can limit our time online (we do), we can limit our exposure to 24-hour cable news, we can choose when and how to engage. We were saying that we often think it would not matter one iota if we ever knew about most of the stuff we read online or hear on the news. Much of it just sparks more fear, more worry, more stress. There’s something to be said for the bliss of not knowing. (I’ll add that of course I believe that being informed about certain things is necessary and important – you know that.)

Sometimes, I have a strong desire to live off-grid somewhere, or move to a small town in Italy, where the pace of life is entirely different than it is here. Heck, my mother was Canadian – if Three Pines really existed, I’d be moving there.

Ah well.

Today marks six months since my father died. A bittersweet day. That, and the realization that Scout would never lie in my ‘tunnel’ again led to me starting the day in tears. Mowing is just the thing I need today!

Happy Friday.

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Potpourri on Wednesday

Bunnies, Henry & the TSP

If Only

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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