Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1022 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Opening Night

May 28, 2016 at 9:37 am by Claudia

I’m getting started very slowly today as we didn’t get home until 1 am from the Opening Night of Anastasia. It was a long day – driving there took almost twice as long as usual because of the Memorial Day weekend, I suspect. I almost gave up, thinking we should just head back home. But oh! I am so glad we kept going.

I cannot tell you enough how glorious this musical is. Opening Night was one of the most magical nights I’ve even been a part of, and I’ve been in theater for, ahem, many years. I am sitting here, this morning, in my blogging chair, remembering bits and pieces of the night, snatches of songs, magical moments onstage, the roar of the crowd at the end of certain musical numbers, the cheers and foot stomping and bravos that filled the theater. Don was completely enthralled. He couldn’t stop talking about it and said it’s the best show he’s seen in years.

I love the cast, a group of super talented actor/singer/dancers with big hearts and a wonderful, positive attitude. I love Darko, of course – his brilliance is a given. The music and lyrics, the libretto, the choreography, the music direction, the costumes, the set design, the lighting, the projections – are superb. I grew up acting in musicals. They are my first love. And what I love about the musical theater are the lush, gorgeous songs of the greats: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Jule Styne, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin….what I don’t like is the Pop sound in a lot of recent musicals. I avoid them like the plague. Musical Theater should be larger-than-life, it should take you to a different place, a place where the feelings and emotions in a moment are so big, so momentous, that the character just has to sing.

Anastasia does that. Oh, how wonderful it is to witness something like this.

We spent some time at the party afterwards and then, about 11 pm, headed home. Not much sleep, but so worth it. It’s headed to Broadway sometime in 2017.

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Before we left for Hartford, I noticed the clematis was blooming!

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As is the Lamium.

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With these 90 degree temperatures, I suspect a lot of blooms are going to pop open. Staying inside with the A/C on today. Don has a gig tonight, poor guy, so he’s trying to sleep in.

Happy Saturday.

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Book Review: June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

May 27, 2016 at 9:27 am by Claudia

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Today I am reviewing June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): Twenty-five year old Cassie Danvers is holed up in her family’s crumbling mansion in rural St. Jude, Ohio, mourning the loss of the woman who raised her – her grandmother, June. But a knock on the door forces her out of isolation. Cassie has been named the sole heir to legendary matinee idol Jack Montgomery’s vast fortune. How did Jack Montgomery know her name? Could he have crossed paths with her grandmother all those years ago? What other shocking secrets could June’s once-stately mansion hold?

Soon Jack’s famous daughters come knocking, determined to wrestle Cassie away from the inheritance they feel is her due. Together, they all come to discover the true reasons for June’s silence about that long ago summer, when Hollywood came to town, and June and Jack’s lives were forever altered by murder, blackmail, and betrayal. As this page-turner shifts deftly between the past and present, Cassie and her guests will be forced to reexamine their legacies, their definition of family, and what it truly means to love someone, steadfastly, across the ages.

My review: This type of book, I suppose I would call it a romantic mystery, isn’t my usual sort of read. However, the opportunities I get to review books often open up reading possibilities to me that I would normally avoid and I’m happy to say I enjoyed this sweeping novel.

The story moves back and forth between the past, when June was a young woman and a movie was being filmed in St. Jude, and the present, where Cassie is dealing with the death of her grandmother, the news that she is an heiress, and the search to find the reason behind the inheritance. Beverly-Whittemore handles this moving back and forth in time adroitly, and the story has a lovely flow. There is a very real mystery that has to be solved; did Jack Montgomery know June? What was their relationship? Is Cassie related to Jack? What happened all those years ago? The author unveils that mystery slowly, bit by bit, until the reader finally puts the pieces together.

So, while we’re reading the here-and-now story of Cassie, we are also reading the story of June as it happened long ago, as told by June’s friend Lindie. And while Cassie and Jack’s daughters are searching for the truth, we are in on the mystery as it happened. It’s quite well done.

It’s a great summer read and you’ll most likely happily lose yourself in the pages of the book. The characters are well drawn. St. Jude and the family’s mansion – each a character in itself – are written with great detail, the images so rich that you’ll feel like you’re there.

A very good, lose-yourself-in-the-story, read.

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About the author: Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is the author of three other novels: New York Times bestseller Bittersweet; Set Me Free, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, given annually for the best book of fiction by an American woman; and The Effects of Light. A recipient of the Crazyhorse Prize in Fiction, she lives and writes in Brooklyn.

One of you will be the lucky winner of a copy of June. Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner on Sunday evening. Good luck!

Happy Friday.

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Flora and Fauna at the Cottage

May 26, 2016 at 9:15 am by Claudia

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The weather was so hot yesterday that I spent a lot of time watering the newly planted barrels and pots and planters. The hollyhock was drooping under the heat of the sun. That got watered, too. More heat today, tomorrow and into next week.

Mother Nature, it’s too soon.

Luckily, we put the a/c window units in on Monday, knowing what was coming. It’s nice and cool inside the house.

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I pulled a lot of weeds. Cripes, there are so many already! I trimmed a couple of stray mini bushes that are growing in the big garden bed – there’s a wild honeysuckle trying to take over, a mini catalpa, and heaven knows what else. Their roots are deep so it’s tough getting them out of the bed. So, I just keep pruning them throughout the summer until it’s too hot to care anymore.

Birds are using the birdbath constantly. A sip of water, a refreshing bath; there’s lots of activity. And bunnies are everywhere. In fact, they’ve been getting into the big corral and then they can’t remember how they got in and we have to guide them out. After a few efforts at herding them from inside the corral and seeing them freak out in panic, now we do it from the other side of the fence. It’s an interesting turn of events. They rarely made their way inside the corral when Scout and Riley were alive. But now? Those scamps are in there all the time.

I haven’t seen Henry in a long time. In fact, I haven’t seen him since I opened the front door to get him out of the big garden bed. He ran off quickly, as groundhogs do whenever they hear a sound. And I haven’t seen him since. Maybe he is a she and babies are being born? Maybe he decided to move on? Maybe he’s exploring other parts of the property? I have no idea. But I miss him.

My neighbor tells me they have groundhogs living under their shed, as well.

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Plants in the photos: Geranium, Dame’s Rocket (a wildflower), and Boxwood.

I have a book review scheduled for tomorrow. Early tomorrow afternoon, we will be headed to Hartford to see the Opening Night performance of Anastasia. I can’t wait to see it again and I can’t wait for Don to see it.

Happy Thursday.

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Opening Night

Book Review: June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Flora and Fauna at the Cottage

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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