Scout — Page 3

Tuesday Thoughts

January 28, 2020 at 9:59 am by Claudia

I quickly took this photo this morning, not realizing until I took it that we’re coming up on the fourth anniversary of Scout’s passing. I know because it was less than four months after I lost my dad.

Can’t go there right now. I just read the post I wrote the day after Scout died and was in tears.

Let’s see. What’s new? Not a whole lot, though today and tomorrow, I have Skype coaching sessions with the cast of Jane Eyre. Fingers crossed that we have a good connection! Most of the afternoon today will be devoted to checking in with the actors. Next week, I drive back to Hartford for the day to watch a run-through. The following week, I go back for one night to watch a preview and give notes the next day. And then I’m done.

I’m reading The Night Circus, which I find utterly fascinating. It’s very different than my usual fare and I’m enjoying the change of pace.

I had to call our local post office and complain about one of the carriers yesterday and I never like doing that. Our main carrier is wonderful. The guy who substitutes for her is nice, as well. He always delivers the mail on Monday. I was expecting a priority mail package yesterday. I took note of the time he delivered mail across the street and quickly calculated that he’d be coming by our house in 2 or 2 1/2 hours. I told Don that I was going to be on stand-by around that time because I knew the box was too big for our mailbox and for some reason, I didn’t trust that this particular carrier would deliver it. Sure enough, when he approached our mailbox, he put envelopes in our mail box and started to drive on. I ran outside and sprinted toward his truck. He had just finished putting mail in our neighbor’s box and was starting to drive away. I was shouting loudly (all that voice training pays off) and he heard me and stopped, pulling up in our neighbor’s driveway. When I asked him if he had a package for me, he pulled it out of the truck, saying that he was wary of driving up our driveway. There’s no snow. No ice. The driveway was totally clear. It’s just a gentle slope. And he’s done it before. I assured him he could drive up there, turn around at the top and go back down quite easily. He thanked me for stopping him and I moved on. I would have let it go at that point, but when I went to the mailbox to get the rest of the mail, I discovered that he hadn’t even left a yellow slip saying that he had attempted delivery. That’s what did it for me. How would I have known what happened to the package? And it had a tracking number on it, so it was clearly supposed to be delivered that day.

I called the post office and explained the whole thing, making sure to say that he’s a nice guy and please don’t be too hard on him, but really…that was ridiculous. Our usual mail carrier will often pull up to the box, tap on the horn, and wait for me to emerge from the house. Or, if we’re not there, she’ll pull up in the driveway and leave the package on the porch. I told the supervisor that we’re semi-retired and there’s almost always someone here.

Anyway, the supervisor was kind and understanding and assured me he’d be gentle with the carrier. Gosh, I hate complaining about anyone.

Sigh.

It’s not like we live on top of a mountain, although it feels that way sometimes when we’re shoveling snow!

Okay. Hopefully, that won’t happen again.

Happy Tuesday.

Coneflowers, the Porch & Scout

July 15, 2019 at 10:03 am by Claudia

From my seat on the porch this morning. I slept longer than usual and Don had to leave early to catch the bus to NYC for an audition, so all we had time for was hello and goodbye. Normally, we sit in the Adirondack chairs for our second cup of coffee, but I chose the glider this morning.

I took it easy yesterday, turned the A/C on by mid-morning and, though it was hard for me to stay indoors, I did. I listened to one of my favorite radio programs, read, putzed around the house, checked Instagram, read some more, and had lunch. I’m thinking I’ll do the same today, after I finish watering the seedlings, which I had to do twice yesterday because it’s so damn hot!

Grace’s beautiful capture of Scout arrived in the mail last week. We will be framing this eventually, but it’s currently propped up on the piano’s music rack. (It has a protective covering at the moment, which is why it’s a bit blurry.) This Scout is ‘old Scout’ and we love that because it captures her at a time when she was starting to have real trouble getting around, but could still run from the back of the corral, down the little hill and, with a big jump, land on the elevated threshold of the house.

Gosh, we miss her. Thank you so much, Grace!

The coneflowers – mostly purple, but we also have white and yellow coneflowers – are popping out everywhere in the gardens. I think they may be my favorite flowers. I love peonies, of course, but they’re short lived. Coneflowers last a long time in the garden.

Thank you for all of the incredibly supportive comments on yesterday’s post. I am so grateful for all of you.

Have to go over to Rick and Doug’s mid-afternoon, to let Sam out. They’re gone for the day and won’t be back until this evening. I love that boy, so I’m looking forward to it.

Happy Monday.

Yarrow, Unwritten Rules & Scout

June 15, 2019 at 10:23 am by Claudia

For the second year in a row, yarrow has self-seeded in the corral and I’m happy with that. There are, I don’t know, maybe 20 different plants? Yarrow is wonderful. It’s sturdy and the blossoms last for a long time. This all began years ago when I planted yarrow in the big garden bed. It didn’t last long there for some reason. A few years later, I noticed a plant here and there on the property. And now, there is this wonderful cluster of blooms just beyond the entrance to the corral.

I think there are some unwritten rules about flowers – at least on my property. The first is that the moment peonies start to bloom, rain will fall. And it won’t be a soft rain, it will be the kind of rain that pummels the blooms to the ground. The second is this: as soon as the Catalpa trees are covered in blooms, a strong, all-day-long wind will come that sends hundreds of blossoms to the ground. Which is what happened yesterday.

Can I just say how sick I am of wind? It seems like every time we get a day of rain, a day of heavy winds will follow. Like friggin’ clockwork. We are so over them. Yesterday, both Don and I were left feeling edgy and unsettled by the winds, which were relentless.

Thank goodness, today is calm. Because we have to mow and that was impossible yesterday.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen this, but I know some of you aren’t on IG. A longtime reader of the blog, Grace, messaged me the other day to ask if she could post a drawing of Scout. Grace is a wonderful artist and the drawing was inspired by a picture I took of Scout galloping down the little hill outside the corral. She loved to do that and at the end of the gallop she would jump up and over the threshold of the kitchen door – just like a show horse. I can’t tell you how much we loved seeing her do that, especially as she got older and had trouble walking. Somehow, in that moment, she was young again.

I was so moved by the drawing. Grace perfectly captures an older, yet still feisty, Scout.

Isn’t it beautiful? Grace is on Instagram as @alightinglightly and I encourage you to look at her other creations. She is an animal lover like so many of us and her drawings are exquisite.

(That darned watermark! I hope it doesn’t look like I was the artist! It just happens automatically with my photo editing software.)

Thank you, dear Grace. Don and I just love this. That’s our girl!

Happy Saturday.

Tuesday Thoughts

Coneflowers, the Porch & Scout

Yarrow, Unwritten Rules & Scout

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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