Scout — Page 60

Presenting: Miss Scout as The Lamb with the Party Hat

November 19, 2013 at 8:57 am by Claudia

I have a dear friend who is an actor. His first name is Noble. (Isn’t that lovely?) I met Noble while coaching The Tempest a couple of years ago and, lucky for me, he was also in the cast of Macbeth and La Dispute. In one of those ‘small world’ things I love, it turns out Noble and his wife Tina live in our neck of the woods.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Tina these last few months. We’ve had some wonderful conversations. She is also a reader of this blog. Tina is a woman of many talents, not the least of which is her amazing ability to concoct and construct wildly wonderful costume designs for doggies.

Miss Scout has been the most recent recipient of one of her her magical designs.

You see, Scout confided in Tina.

“Why is this darned lamb the symbol of Mom’s blog? It’s on the header. It’s on her watermark. I’m sick of seeing it everywhere. Now that friggin’ lamb is even staring at me from the wall of our living room. Enough, already!”

Tina, being the compassionate person she is, heard Scout’s cry for help.

So, Tina decided that Scout should have her very own Lamb with the Party Hat costume. She brought it over to the house on Sunday. I died when I saw it on Scout.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Yesterday, I attempted to wrestle Scout into her costume once again for some pictures. I wasn’t able to completely close all the velcro seams, Tina, so forgive me if some of Scout’s hair is popping out in places it should not be popping out.

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Oh my. Look at the intense look of concentration on her face. What an actress!

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Here you can see her ‘transforming’ into The Lamb with the Party Hat.

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And now, the transformation is complete. Scout IS The Lamb with the Party Hat.

As you can see, Scoutie’s version of The Lamb with the Party Hat has it’s own heart-shaped marking on the side.

She makes the role her own, doesn’t she? Always imbuing it with her mark, her particular take on the character.

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She has two party hats and that’s one more than the lamb has.

“See?” says Scout. “I’m just as cool as that lamb. In fact, I’m prettier.”

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Sans costume, with Party Hat.

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I die. Too, too adorable for words.

I don’t know how Tina does it. She usually makes these costumes for much smaller dogs and she estimated Scout’s size from pictures on the blog. The fabric is soft and wonderful, it’s lined, there are velcro closings, openings for Scout’s ears, and even an opening for her leash.

Ssshhh, don’t tell her I said this, but I also sense that Scout was feeling more than mildly competitive with her father. I mean, he gets to wear costumes all the time. And as you well know, Scout feels she is also a part of the theatrical world. Heaven knows, she is a bit of a diva.

Thank you, thank you, dear Tina. You have helped Scout through a difficult time. She has worked through her resentment of the Lamb and she has ‘triumphed ‘ (Scout’s words).

I’m already itching to put it on her again.

Happy Tuesday.

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Miscellany

November 15, 2013 at 9:00 am by Claudia

friscout

This is Scout sleeping on the floor in the living room. Check out the rug. She has taken to sleeping with her right rear leg thrust under the rug. I don’t know quite how this happens but I can assure you that the end result is a rug with the edge curled under. And I don’t mean slightly. Every day I try to smooth it out and get it to lie flat again, but Miss Scout, in her later years, has decided she likes sleeping this way and my efforts have proved fruitless.

She had a bath the other day and her coat is sort of wild and curly and matty. This girl hates to be brushed, so making her stay still for a few minutes of brushing is problematic. I’ll keep trying.

frilamp

The visit to the DMV was surprisingly easy. When I got the notice that I had to renew my license this year, I also got a notice that I had to have my vision checked. There were inserts giving all sorts of information as to where I could have the test done – eye doctors, pharmacies, etc., so that I wouldn’t have to wait in line at the DMV. It seemed complicated. I didn’t want to have to make an appointment elsewhere in order to read a basic eye chart and then deal with sending it all in to the DMV or filing it online.

We have a Mobile DMV unit in our county. Yesterday was the day it was scheduled to be in a nearby town, so I figured, why not try to get the whole thing done there? For once, there was a very short line. I think I waited 10 minutes for my turn. And in the end, all I had to do was read the bottom line of the eye chart. Which I did. Then I opted to have a new photo taken because the last photo is from 12 years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t look like that now. Five minutes inside the truck. Done.

Wow. A good experience at the DMV.

I finished How the Light Gets In and am now officially in mourning. Quite frankly, Louise Penny has made it exceedingly hard for other authors, including those I have to review. It’s quite an adjustment to go from her deep, richly textured, seamless prose to prose that doesn’t flow quite as freely, which seems labored in comparison. I have to shake her off in order to read a review book with an open mind.

Every once in a while, I consider trying to write a mystery. I started one several years ago. Anyway, as that little thought pops into my head, I read Penny and think….No way. Don’t even try it.

I bow at her feet.

friplants

Though most everything outside has bit the dust, I valiantly continue my battle with the elements for the sake of my potted plants. They’ve been indoors for three days and today is the day they can return to their positions on the porch. Until there’s another night with frigid temperatures. I almost let them go the other day, knowing it was going to go down to the twenties. But I couldn’t.

I hope they appreciate all this maneuvering. Note to the universe: I need a greenhouse.

And a fully paid for home. And another car. And some built-in bookshelves.

And finally, Don keeps asking me what I want for my birthday. The rather pathetic reply? Snow boots. Or work boots.

How boring. My shoe size has increased in the last two years and I have very few shoes that fit. But snow boots? Really, Claudia? That’s the best you can come up with?

Ideas, anyone?

Happy Friday.

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An Early Morning Chat

November 7, 2013 at 8:22 am by Claudia

coffee

My sleep cycle has been problematic lately. So has Don’s. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night for what must have been an hour or more, finally fell back to sleep and then promptly woke up again. Don was also awake for a long stretch. I finally admitted defeat and got up around 5:45 am. Don, who is much better at this than I, went back to sleep. Or at least I think he did. He hasn’t emerged from the bedroom yet.

Once I’m up, I’m up.

I can always tell when I haven’t had enough sleep. My eyes feel irritated and sting-y (as opposed to stingy.) I feel a wee bit edgy. I know that I could easily slip into ‘irritated mode.’ So the day becomes, in part, about trying not to descend into snappishness, trying to stay cheery and positive.

Don always says, “You can take a nap this afternoon.” But I don’t really nap anymore. Maybe, if I’m lucky, a doze of five minutes or so while sitting in my blogging chair that will take the edge off.

Though I’d much rather have had more sleep, I do like the early morning here at the cottage; still dark as I pad down the stairs, Scoutie asleep on the loveseat, coffee brewing, lamps lit.

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A pile of books and newspapers on the coffee table. And Vaseline. (I use the Vaseline for my feet, which get very dry in the winter.)

As is.

It’s a quiet time, with the sound of early morning traffic in the background. Scout wakes up, goes outside, comes into the den with me, and after some time in the ‘tunnel,’ promptly goes back to sleep again. I’m envious.

scoutieearlymorning

As I write this, she is dreaming. Her little body is jerking and she’s making sounds of distress. What is she seeing in her dream? Now she wakes, opens her eyes, makes sure I’m here and then fades back into sleep. Peaceful again.

I love that girl.

Yesterday, I used a long extender handle with a brush and scrubbed down the side of the house that is north-facing and never fully gets the sun. It needed it. But boy, was it a messy job. A bit of chlorine-free, environmentally safe bleach added to a bucket of water, scrub, scrub, scrub, turn on the hose and rinse, more bleach, more water and on and on it went. The hose played tricks on me and doused me with water a couple of times. It was cold and gray and I was very wet at the end of the whole thing. Plus the dang extender handle locked into place and I couldn’t adjust it, so I had to do the whole job with the handle/brush at a weird angle because it was too long.

The house looks better. It was a task I should have attended to long ago. Working out-of-town for an extended period of time tends to put a lot of projects on hold. I have an ongoing list that plays on an endless loop in my brain. Do you have a To Do list that is always lingering in your thoughts? Don is sort of amazed by it. In the course of a routine conversation about something like the beauty of the leaves, I will suddenly come up with three things that have to be done that day. He can’t quite process the U-turns my thoughts can take. Is this a female thing? I don’t think Don’s thought process runs on the same switching system as mine.

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Ah, but all is well when I’m wearing my flannel pajamas. The other day, after a really bad bout of sleeplessness, I kept them on all day long. Defiantly. Happily. It was just the excuse I needed. And I broke out the hot chocolate.

By the way, I have been remiss in not announcing the winner of a copy of Backlash. The winner is Nancy Blue Moon. Congratulations, Nancy! Send me an email with your mailing address and I will pass it on to TLC Book Tours.

I used to do other giveaways on this blog but I have to say that nothing makes me happier than the opportunity to give away books. I’m passionate about them and love that I can share them with you.

Happy Thursday.

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Presenting: Miss Scout as The Lamb with the Party Hat

Miscellany

An Early Morning Chat

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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