It’s a gray day today but I find it beautiful. It’s a Sunday so our normally busy road is quiet. The autumnal colors are just gorgeous and with a cloudy sky they have become muted and almost sepia-like.
I’m going to rest today. Between working on Anastasia, coaching Ben three times via Zoom, and wrestling with blog problems, it’s been an intense week. (By the way, the blog is fixed.) Today? Reading, some laundry and cleaning (but only a little) some list-making and then, later in the afternoon, the Red Sox.
In two weeks I’ll be heading to Brooklyn. It once seemed so far off, but now it’s just around the corner. I’ve never been on a movie set, I have no idea where to go or where I will work on that set but I’m going to ask Jim to show me around.
I’m more and more convinced that I need ‘play’ in my life. Of course, the theater is play in the purest sense of the word. But in my downtime, I also need to play. Dollhouses, miniatures, stuffed animals, charming little egg cups, and now, Blythe dolls in the form of Sophie and Imogen.
You remember ‘playing dolls.’ That’s what we used to call it in my neighborhood. Not ‘playing with my dolls’, but ‘playing dolls’. “I’m going to go play dolls with Kay, Mom!” Kay, my dear friend of, I think, 65 years or so, lived on the next block. Her parents were my godparents. They also happened to give me my first egg cup. Kay and I would play with Barbies for hours – sometimes at her house, sometimes at mine. Edith, my godmother, had big books of wallpaper samples. I can see them even now. We found patterns we liked and papered the inside of our Barbie cases. I used a dixie cup suspended with a piece of pipe cleaner as a hanging light. We also made houses out of shoeboxes. All of this was the precursor to the fairly recent reappearance of dollhouses and miniatures in my life. And now, dolls are reappearing.
Play. It’s so important to me. It grounds me in a way nothing else can, especially during these tumultuous times.
I was coaching Ben recently. I use our office and I carefully try to position my laptop so that Ben can’t see the Beacon Hill or Don’s collection of Big Boys. But, eagle-eyed Ben has, on two separate occasions, noticed both of those things. And he was fascinated – wanted to see the dollhouse up close. So I gave him a little tour. I briefly wondered if he might think me wildly eccentric. I don’t think he does. It turns out his mom has a dollhouse she wants to work on.
Am I becoming a bit more eccentric as I get older? Most likely. But I hope it’s a pleasant eccentricity – harmless and maybe even a little interesting.
Stay safe.
Happy Sunday.
hopefully the cleaning you want to do is quick, easy and already done.
glad you’ve had that recent work and have a big, exciting job ahead. i am praying and expecting it will all be fine for you.
couldn’t agree more about the importance of play, time to relax, having creative outlets and things that inspire … glad you are doing that for yourself.
more online job applications for me today … necessary but exhausting. yesterday it took me an hour to complete one (city) app … ugh.
on a brighter note, i get to spend time with members of my family today and they help me and i love them all so much!
also, hopefully i will finish a crafty little project today. been on my list a long time and serves a purpose (doorstop), but took a long time to figure out the design. will feel good to cross that off my list.
happy sunday!
kathy in iowa
ps … i can see you writing a children’s book, maybe about sophie and imogen (though you’ve always had a great way with words), … enjoyed the bits you’ve shared about sophie’s background, for example, and “soon enough i heard laughter coming from the den”. you are very creative!
I hope you get to finish that doorstop, Kathy, and that you’re happy with the results.
Thanks for your kind words!
Stay safe.
I’m sure your dolls and dollhouses are an excellent antidote to the times we live in. You are in control of your environment and create such beautiful, peaceful narratives. Every little detail is meaningful and you are in your happy place. Thank you for sharing.
Cheers to the eccentrics, may we live long and prosper.
Anne
I AM in my happy place! Thanks so much Anne.
And yes to all eccentrics – I find them fascinating.
Stay safe.
No, Claudia I don’t think you are eccentric. Hobbies and collecting aren’t eccentric. A 75 year old woman dying her hair purple is eccentric. Saving your cat’s fur to knit with is eccentric. This is a real person in my knitting group and she is definitely eccentric!
Imogen is adorable. I loved playing dolls as a child too.
Have fun with your girls.
Stay safe
I don’t mind being a little eccentric. I have a lot of eccentric artist friends and I find them fascinating!
Yes, that Imogen is so beautiful! I fell in love with her the first time I saw a picture of her.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
Oh Claudia, your Coleus are beautiful in the fall picture. I think I will make plans to pot some next spring for fall color. We are still cutting grass and raking leaves in Alabama. The yardwork is hard work for us, 66 and 70. But I have a friend who bowls twice a week for play time. I’m going to look for more play time. I love your dolls! You are my inspiration! You are my friend that works with the theatre and is going to work on a movie….and has been to Europe.
Thank you for sharing!
Don just mowed today – the grass is really long! And we have lots of leaves to rake. It isn’t quite as easy to take care of as it used to be.
Thanks for your sweet words, Lottie! I’m glad to be your friend.
Stay safe.
Claudia — the pixs of the coleus are so beautiful — can you cut small sprigs to root in water?? seems like I have done that in a past life, lol!! is Jim a member of the movie cast? or only producer/director, etc. really enjoy his acting abilities. have a productive week — time seems to speed by much too quickly — one thing, housecleaning IS not my favorite thing, only do that when absolutely necessary. stay safe/healthy
I just buy new plants every year – I have no more room for houseplants and no space in which to root them.
Jim is in the cast.
Stay safe, Linda.
Certainly makes good sense; ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ or some such quote from my older relatives back in the day. It’s why soldiers need their R&R, their rest and relaxation off the battlefield, no? It’s all in the balance, so that there’s not TOO much play that gets in the way of ‘work’ and vice versa. Really, balance is really just about everything in life, isn’t it?! (But not always so easy to achieve.)
I’ve always heard that having kids and then enjoying grandkids keeps a person young. You revisit the happy times of youth with them; play their games with them that were, a thousand years ago, YOUR games and playtime; you wind up revisiting your own childhood. I have neither kids nor grandkids, so I have to find my own ideas of play and not feel guilty about wedging in playtime to everyday/’work’ time. I think down time/play time/’me’ time is as essential as other necessities of life to survive and thrive.
I can remember the last full-time job I had before becoming disabled with illness, of how I was often working a ridiculous (for the type of support-staff position I had that didn’t warrant it) 12-hr day; and, when I was finally home at night, I couldn’t switch off: It was all THEIR numbers and their projects in my head; what I had to make sure I got done in the next day, like should I plan to go in to work earlier the next morning or not; etc. I didn’t care that much about the work or them; I needed a job and I did my best, was always a conscientious and reliable/responsible worker, but they required too much of their employees and were running some of us into the ground. I had no life; my husband and I both were consumed with our employment. When I finally stopped working, I once calculated that it took at least 3-4 months to get that place fully out of my brain, so that my brain cells were finally unclogged enough that I could actually read a whole book and be able to concentrate on it, rather than just hurriedly thumbing thru a magazine in between doing something else. I definitely needed ‘play’ in those days, but I couldn’t create enough space in any one day for it, so I was suffering with that proverbial ‘all work’.
Anyway, prime example for all we should heed from those come before (hence how old rhymes or sayings exist after centuries of being around us), and not become Jack The Dull Boy who never plays.
Thanks, Vicki!
Stay safe.
Did you see CBS Sunday Morning show today with segment on Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton’s book? If not, you can find it on YouTube now. It was entertaining.
No, I didn’t see it as we don’t watch television during the day. Thanks, Mary!
Stay safe.
Yes we did spend many carefree hours playing dolls. Language is interesting. I was so lucky to have a slightly eccentric interesting friend. That is probably why I enjoy eccentric people.
Play all you want. It is your life and we all need more play time.
I look forward to hearing about your adventures on the movie set. I am so proud of you.
I’m drawn to eccentric souls. So interesting and vibrant!
Thanks, Kay.
Stay safe.
My dear Claudia your eccentricities are what drew me to your blog in the first place. Your interests are very interesting to me.
xo
Thank you, Mo!
Stay safe.
We’re all getting more eccentric. What’s wrong with that, I ask? Nothing! However we play, it’s important. And I’m always surprised at how people we never think would be interested in what we do, are! I’m not surprised Ben was intrigued. Doesn’t mean he’ll build a dolls house but definitely recognize the skill involved! (And October is flying.)