Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for winter

Potpourri on Monday

January 15, 2018 at 10:22 am by Claudia

• In terms of blog photos, I alway feel limited at this time of year. I can’t run out to the garden and take lots of flower photos. I’m not traveling at the moment and the landscape around me is rather bleak. So I do what a lot of bloggers do and focus on the inside of the house.

But you’ve seen a lot of this before. Nevertheless, I remind myself that some newer readers haven’t and the idea is to find a new angle, a new take. Sometimes I’m successful. Sometimes I’m not.

The challenges of blogging every day.

• It’s Monday, it’s a holiday (drat! no mail!) and it’s friggin’ cold! Next Monday, Don will be back in rehearsals for Escape to Margaritaville. Our plan at the moment, once we find out when he can move into the apartment, is for me to accompany him and spend a few days there as we make his/our (he insists I call it ‘our’) apartment a home. That will be fun! I think I can be there at least 3 or 4 days until I have to return home to deal with snow and the subsequent shoveling required.

Hello, sweet Monty!

• Two big events are coming up in February. On February 16th, the Broadway Cast Album of Escape to Margaritaville  will be released. Oh my goodness! And on February 17th, I’ll be celebrating TEN years of blogging. What??? How can that be?

And Don will start previews in February at the Marquis Theater on Broadway.

So I was wrong. That makes three  big events.

• Real life here at the cottage. Two ukuleles. Pillows askew, laptop, headphones, sweatshirt draped on the sofa. I am documenting it because soon all of this stuff will be in Manhattan.

Sob.

Actually, I’ll miss him a lot, but I know he’s only a bus ride away and when it’s hard for him to get home – actors only get one day off – I’ll try to get into the city. Weather permitting, of course; it’s winter on the East Coast with snow and ice a distinct possibility on any given day.

• I managed to get my car out of the ice in which the two front tires were encased. First, I tried chopping the ice with our ice chopper. But every time I tried to do the old “put it in drive, then reverse, drive, then reverse” to get it out, nothing happened except the smell of burning rubber. Then I remembered that my dear father had covered the floor of the trunk with indoor outdoor rugs from Target, so I grabbed them, put them behind the tires, and I backed the car out. Smooth as silk. Of course, I then had to bring the rugs in and wash them. They’re still drying.

But I’m out. So I think I’ll run an errand or two today – just to do  something.

• We watched Dunkirk  last night, which wasn’t one of our screeners, but was available on pay-per-view. Since The Darkest Hour  takes place at that time, with Churchill trying to find a way to rescue over 300,000 British soldiers stranded at Dunkirk, we thought Dunkirk  would be the perfect companion piece. Both were released in 2017. Dunkirk  is really wonderful. I was so tense during the movie – even knowing how successful it ended up being – and that’s a tribute to the direction, acting and screenplay. Beautifully shot. Beautifully conceived. Loved it.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Filed Under: blogging, Don, Escape to Margaritaville, movies, winter 34 Comments

On Sunday

January 14, 2018 at 10:13 am by Claudia

Good morning. I’m moving slowly because I slept in. It seems that the older I get, the more a change in my normal routine seems to throw me ever-so-slightly off for the rest of the day. Grateful to have caught up on some sleep, of course, but I’m just a wee bit behind.

It’s turned very cold again here and will be for the next 3 days or so.

But it’s sunny! Yesterday’s dire predictions for ice and a wintry mix changed around noon and the sun came out. Immediately, my mood lifted. The sun makes an enormous difference, especially when you feel a bit housebound.

I just noticed how tall the new growth on this ZZ plant has become. Goodness! I love these hardy houseplants – any plant that survives in the shadows of the den is a winner in my book. I’m going to buy one more for my office.

A closer look at the top of the new shoot. I love the glossy, thick leaves.

We watched The Darkest Hour  last night. It’s the story of a few weeks in 1940 when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. Riveting. Gary Oldman is brilliant as Churchill. I learned a lot, as there was much I didn’t know about that particular time and its challenges for Churchill and Great Britain. I recommend it highly.

In a rare instance for us, we watched about 20 minutes of Mudbound  before we turned to each other and said, “Let’s stop.” There were too many directorial ‘devices’ and screenplay problems that didn’t work and were annoying. Every time yet another character became a narrator, we groaned. So we moved on. I’m sure some of you have seen it and liked it and that’s great. And I’m sure there’s solid acting. But we weren’t in the mood to put up with the rest of it to get there. It just wasn’t our cup of tea.

So far, our favorites are The Shape of Water, The Darkest Hour,  and Get Out; each of them completely different, but all of them brilliant and inspired.

Oh! Forgot to add –  we enjoyed I, Tonya, as well. It’s darkly funny and very well done by all. Allison Janney is wonderful.

Today? I might get out there and do something, but only if we can get rid of the ice surrounding my car. The warm weather melted a lot of snow and ice and then the sudden very cold weather promptly froze it all.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: houseplants, movies, winter 28 Comments

My Kingdom for some Oil

January 7, 2018 at 10:40 am by Claudia

The subzero saga continues.

We ordered more oil on Friday. But it wasn’t going to get delivered until the end of next week.

Meanwhile, I urged Don to check to see how much heating oil we had left a couple of times to no avail. I can’t really fault him; I am also perfectly capable of checking on the level and didn’t. Anyway, I was reading someone’s Instagram account and they’d run out of oil yesterday, earlier than their scheduled delivery, due to the relentless cold temps causing our oil burners to use a lot more oil than usual.

When Don came home after running some errands, he announced he was checking the oil because he had just talked to a guy who had also run out.

He came back and said we had less than an eighth of a tank left – actually, about a sixteenth. Yikes. He immediately called the emergency number and told them we needed it STAT. But STAT won’t be until sometime today. So we turned down the thermostat, bundled ourselves up in layers, and I found my fingerless gloves.

Don snuck in this photo of me in a baggy sweatshirt, wool cap, fingerless gloves, dinner tray on my lap and bundled up in a throw:

He keeps calling me Apple Annie, after that Damon Runyon character who was immortalized by Bette Davis in the movie Pocketful of Miracles. This morning, I’m in much the same attire, only the sweatshirt is over flannel pajamas.

The good news: we still have heat. We just don’t know how long it will be before the oil is delivered today. These guys are working around the clock. There have been hundreds of emergency calls as no one was prepared for this relentless onslaught of subzero temperatures with dangerous wind chills.

One more day, and it will start to gradually warm up. Last night it went down to -12 with wind chills taking it down even more. Today, it’s very sunny and we’ll hit a balmy 18 degrees! Tomorrow, even warmer.

Yikes.

The obligatory greenery. Some new growth on the schefflera.

I’ll be very happy when we don’t have to run drips all day long. I don’t mind doing it at night, but hearing them all day long, forever adjusting the stream, making sure we didn’t accidentally turn off the water? I’m over it.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: winter 43 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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