Things are slowly getting better here at the cottage. Don is still pretty weak, but he is staying downstairs for longer periods of time. We even watched a few episodes of Frasier last night. His sleep patterns are off, his dreams are very intense, and the weather we’re having doesn’t help. We’re under a heat advisory and an air quality advisory through tomorrow night. It’s extremely hot and humid here.
After I write this post, I’m going outside to water everything. We try to keep the a/c off as long as possible in the morning but I suspect I’ll turn it on soon.
We’re very grateful. It’s been a scary week but Don is improving and his eyes are clear and he’s had no fever for the past 24 hours. We’re both wiped out, for different reasons, so we’ll take it easy today.
I finished Death in La Fenice and have now started two books: Weather by Jenny Offill, which I bought several months ago – it seems a lifetime ago – from Oblong Books, and Let’s Just Say it Wasn’t Pretty by Diane Keaton, which I’ve had on my shelf for a few years. I pulled it out because Don and I were having a conversation about Keaton, about how much I have always loved her ever since the Annie Hall days. I love her wit, her style, her humor, her talent, and her determination to live life on her terms. I follow her on Pinterest – though I almost never go there these days – and on Instagram, where she has been doing wonderful videos during lockdown. If I could sit down and chat with anyone it would be Diane Keaton. I think of her as a long lost sister.
She recently did a video about wearing hats (I love hats) and I showed it Don, saying that I needed to get some hats like hers. After researching, I found a place in Hollywood that designs a lot of hats for her. The one I liked was $750.00. Gulp. I guess I’ll have to find a Claudia version that is much less expensive. And then there’s the pair of jeans she wears: wide leg, almost like the bellbottoms we used to wear way back when. They are so cool! I’d love them. On to the research: they’re from a company in Italy and they cost $650. Gulp again. I also love her house, which she highlighted in a book I used to have The House That Pinterest Built. Why I donated it to the library, I’ll never know. Anyway, it’s not my style, but it’s really fabulous; so unique, so her.
Though I can’t afford that hat and those jeans, I love her nonetheless. She inspires me. She’s down to earth. She sees the absurdities in life. And this book, which is a series of essays on beauty, perceived beauty, her family, children, friends, is so honest. She’s insecure just like the rest of us. She doesn’t like the shape of her eyes. Her forehead is too high. Her hair is too thin. She, like me, has to come to terms with aging, with things that cannot be changed, with negative self-talk, for want of a better word.
I will always be an adoring fan. And this book is a lovely read.
Okay, friends. Thank you again. I have to do some watering STAT.
Stay safe.
Happy Sunday.
Also love Diane Keaton! Gap has some wide-leg pants for $39, cropped, maybe not what you want. But I googled Kamm Pants and got lots of different styles and price points for wide-leg jeans and pants.
One of my favorite movies is one she (Diane Keaton) directed but wasn’t in—Unstrung Heroes. Sad, funny, quirky—just everything I associate with Diane K. Even the music was just what I needed at the time—quirky. I actually bought a CD of the soundtrack. Wish I still had it. Another lifetime, the nineties.
She is wonderfully quirky so it figures a movie she directed would be. xo
I’ll look around, Shanna. Thanks for the tips! Stay safe.
hooray and thank God for progress! keep healing, don! and claudia, i hope you are getting enough rest and feel better, too.
i, too, am a fan of diane keaton and for similar reasons … her acting in movies like “annie hall” and her independent style (wardrobe and seeming to live life on her terms).
i love and have many hats … but being a smidge over 5’2″, wide-legged pants don’t work for me. too bad, because i like the look. you are tall, though, and could wear them well. hope you find what you’re looking for at real-life, not-insane prices.
hope your list of chores is short and you get them done early in the cooler part of the day, can then rest in the air conditioning. been a super-hot and humid weekend here, too. should get a break and have it only reach 88 degrees here tomorrow … that’s about 15 degrees above my comfort zone. i am ready for fall.
need to get going around here, get some stuff done. having a socially-distanced visit and lunch with some family members today (i stay in my car) and not going to a store. :)
hope you and don and everyone else here have a comfortable and safe day.
kathy in iowa
Well, I’m almost 5’9″, so I can probably get away with it, but it would help if I was thinner than I currently am!
Except for watering twice, I’ve stayed in all day long. Don was up for quite a while, but now he’s back in bed taking a nap.
Thanks, Kathy. Stay safe!
Love love Diane Keaton
Respect and admire her for adopting two children as a single person
Oh, me too! Thanks, Linda. Stay safe!
I love the bit of color from the coleus plants in the otherwise green garden.
I hope you get some rest today.
Thank you! I love that splash of red, too. Stay safe, Kay!
Yes, me, too. I’ve had a ‘thing’ for Diane K since Annie Hall, Dick Cavett Show appearances, etc. I still have my beige canvas pants, white shirt, & black sweater from late ‘70s-80s — my AH-look.’ Oh well, there they sit — can’t wear them now!
Definitely you have a better possibility of carrying off one of her ‘looks’ with your height, Claudia.
Nice to see your sitting place; hoping for the days to be able to sit out there again soon for you both.
Hartford to be 100 today! Hoping everyone behaves, drinks water, & keeps well during this heatwave.
I had an Annie Hall outfit, too, but sadly, it’s long gone.
Thank you, Martha! Stay safe.
8-0 ))
I’m a Keaton fan, too, for all the same reasons, and it looks like I’m in good company. I love that she has her style and her own way and it’s not everyone’s and that’s OK. And she’s talented and gorgeous.
Good news that Don is improving. I know that was very scary. Good wishes for continued rapid improvement.
What did you think of the ending of La Fenice? I just finished Atkinson’s Big Sky and at the end saw a similarity. Did you catch it? I’m sure nothing new in the art of mystery writing! I love her descriptions of the food, even the liver (which I do not like at all!)
I liked the ending. I had an inkling that he did it, but the twist with his wife was unexpected. I read Big Sky but it was quite a while ago now, so I can’t remember the ending!
Thanks, Jeanie. Stay safe!
I had a similar feeling but the wife element was good. And I liked how he basically let her go. Because what was the point? A heart, we saw. In Big Sky, if you recall, there was a sex trafficking ring and the one who killed a fellow in the place where the girls had been held long before was a current victim whose sister was dead. But Brodie let her go and was able to cover that. Because it was the right thing to do. Both good books!
Exactly, what was the point? Both very good books! xo
I’m so glad to hear Don’s getting better little by little. I’m sure it was so scary not to know what was wrong at first.
I enjoy seeing your photos of your yard and gardens. Unfortunately, I am not much of a gardener. And down here where I live, it’s hard to grow a lot of things because the soil is so sandy.
Thank you, Carol. Stay safe!
I’m happy that Don is on the mend and that you can now get some rest.
In March, right before the lock downs went into effect, my friend and I went to New Orleans for a conference. She wanted a fascinator to wear to her son’s wedding (which has since been postponed). I told her that the shopping was probably much better in New Orleans than where we live and that we should look around while we were there. After our presentation, my brother and his wife, who live a couple of hours away, came to see us. SIL has spent a lot of time in New Orleans so she served as our tour guide. She took us to the French Quarter and there we found a nice hat shop. She and I helped my friend pick out a nice, reasonably priced fascinator. Now I’m sure that you can’t get to New Orleans any time soon, but there’s got to be some affordable hats out there on the web.
I’ve spent time in New Orleans, though I wasn’t looking for hats at the time. I’m sure NYC has a lot of hat shops and it’s just a short trip away. Though I don’t know when I’ll be comfortable hopping on the bus again.
Thanks, Bridget. Stay safe!
I looked up the book to buy and it was only 53 dollars and some, plus shipping. I cannot afford that!! Will keep it in mind though.
The one by Diane Keaton? I didn’t pay nearly that much. Someone is jacking up the price.
Thanks, Jan. Stay safe!
There is just something about her–for me it’s that combination of self-deprecation and confidence with a dash of humor. Whatever, I can see I’m in good company even if I’m much too short and way too voluptuous (ha!) to ever try emulating her style. Love her movies!
Glad Don is on the upswing! Stay cool, stay strong, stay healthy. Let’s hope this is a good week.
Thanks, Roxie! Stay safe.
Another Keaton fan here. Years ago people told me I looked like her and I took that as the ultimate compliment. Once at a wedding reception the couple across the table who I’d just met commented on it and said I even had her mannerisms. I was in heaven the rest of the night. After “Annie Hall” I incorporated neckties and more tailored clothing into my wardrobe. Have always loved her style. And I admire her for not having any “work” done on her face and body. Aging gracefully, just as we all should.
So glad Don is feeling better.
Take care,
Kay
That is a great compliment, Kay! I feel the same way. She doesn’t judge others who have had work, but she hasn’t had it done. So refreshing!
Stay safe.
Glad you can put the week behind you and look forward to this one ahead, on the mend. I can see where you’d be wiped out, the both of you.
I don’t know much about Diane Keaton other than that she’s one of my most fave film actors. And although I often can’t figure out much about some of her outfits, I love that she dances to her own drummer style-wise. I don’t know if it is still the case, but she was also known to us Los Angelenos as quite the real estate mogul. It’s cool, too, that she seems to make a movie every year despite being on into her 70s now.
I wouldn’t wear half the stuff she does, but she makes it work and it is totally HER. I love that.
Stay safe, Vicki.