Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Is That The Sun?

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I see sunlight. It’s been pretty dismal here since I got home. Lots of gray skies and, yesterday, lots of rain. Believe me, the sun is welcome. I shot this through the kitchen window (you can see the reflection of my phone.) The snow on the back forty is always the last to melt because it’s a higher elevation.

I really miss my husband. Since I can’t really do anything outside yet, I occupy myself by doing a bit of hand quilting, cleaning and reading. It’s awfully quiet around here and Don’s absence is palpable. He had his first rehearsal yesterday; lots of people to meet, costume and set designs to see, and a read-through of the play. Jimmy Buffett was there.

Don found a Peet’s coffee shop – yes, they have them in California, we had a local Peet’s in San Diego – and he sent me a picture of it. I’m jealous!

The time change makes it difficult for us to talk more than briefly. He didn’t get home last night until I was just about ready to go to bed. It’s the new normal for a few months. But I’m really happy that he’s having this adventure, working on a new musical in a warm and sunny place. I tried to get him to take pictures of his apartment and hopefully he’ll do that when he has some time.

Today? Gathering tax info, mailing it off to our tax person in California, recycling, a trip to the bank.

Thanks for the great discussion yesterday about HGTV. Your comments were so interesting – it seems we are not  their demographic. Of course, they wouldn’t be where they are without us, as we were viewers in the early days of the network. But, in the end, it’s a business and they don’t really give a hoot about all of that. So, I’ve moved on.

Here’s to the sun!

A new book review is up on Just Let Me Finish This Page: Conviction  by Julia Dahl, one of my favorite authors. Click here to read it.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

A Triumph (Sort Of)

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As I write this, I see tiny leaves on the maple tree that I can see through the den window.

Leaves!

The past two days have been in the high seventies and sunny, so plant life is growing by leaps and bounds. Don took his first stab at mowing part of the front lawn yesterday. I was jealous, because I love mowing the lawn, so I took a few passes until I realized I was exhausted and just might be pushing it a wee bit.  And Don gave me the ‘Time Out’ sign. But it felt good. There’s lots more mowing to be done, on spring green colored grass. It looks so pretty.

Since my brain isn’t functioning at its normal whip-smart level (I joke), I find myself aimlessly on the laptop and, when I get a spurt of energy, reading a book. Maybe watering a plant and running the vacuum. Letting Scout in and out. Feeding her. Or watching the last three episodes of the second season of Broadchurch. (Good, but not as good as the first season, in my humble opinion.)

I want to be doing much more, but simply cannot, so there you go.

This particular bug is a pain in the tush.

Don had to go into the city on Thursday and Friday. Late in the afternoon on Thursday, I received a text with a picture of Don pointing to something. It was this:

5-3 magnolia bakery

Yes, that sly devil bought four cupcakes. His audition was on the Upper West Side, and what was facing him as he exited the subway? A Magnolia Bakery.

Yesterday, in a fit of feeling sorry for myself, I ate one with yellow cake and chocolate icing (my favorite combination.) It was so scrumptious that I ate another; which, if I had been in my right mind, I would have refrained from doing. I overindulged.

I actually left a bit on the plate. Untasted. Unconsumed.

This is what happens when you’re housebound and your husband knows you’re miserable and wants to make you feel better. He brings you cupcakes. You see cupcakes and you eat them. Because, even with a stuffed-up nose and a less than sharp sense of taste because of said stuffed-up nose, you can taste that chocolate icing and, well….it’s really a sort of triumph over the debilitating side effects of a cold.

Right?

Happy Sunday.

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Green

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Let’s get the under-the-weather stuff out of the way. Still feeling crappy. Still congested. Have now entered the coughing my lungs out stage.

I was trying to decide whether to go to a run-through of Kiss Me Kate  on Sunday or Wednesday. Well, no one needs to hear me coughing constantly as he/she is trying to remember lines and sing and dance, so Wednesday it is. Thank goodness I have some flexibility there.

And I just found out I’m going back to Chautauqua for 3 weeks to coach Our Town. The director is an old friend of mine – one of the most delightful people I know – and I loved Chautauqua, so this is a win-win. Don will hold down the fort here. Don was just in Our Town. Now, I’m coaching it. Full circle in the Hill-Sparks household.

And you’ll get to see photos of Chautauqua – a delightfully charming place, which is like another world. Sort of like Brigadoon.

I ventured out in the afternoon yesterday to see what was happening on the property. My word for this post is: Green. New growth is everywhere.

5-2 spirea

Spirea

5-2 flowering quince buds

Flowering quince buds

5-2 climbing hydrangea

Climbing hydrangea

5-2 lilacs

Lilacs – just about ready to open

5-2 wild honeysuckle

Wild honeysuckle

5-2 hydrangea

Limelight hydrangea

Glorious. Everything is late this spring, but today’s temps in the high seventies and bright sunlight will move things along.

I still haven’t mulched, simply because I don’t have the energy to go the garden shop to buy it. Maybe Monday? For now, I’m taking it easy because I have no choice. I’m just about finished with my current book and then I have to start another one to review. I have several book reviews coming up in the next month or two and that means more giveaways. Huzzah!

That took all my energy. I’m going to sign off now.

Happy Saturday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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