Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Manhattan: Coaching, Book Reading, Book Buying

October 21, 2015 at 9:29 am by Claudia

I’m late to my laptop this morning.

Blame it on this:

10-21 lee child make me

I read it on the bus to NYC yesterday. I read it on the way home. I read it in bed last night. And I read it this morning. I’m getting very close to the end. But, as with all good books, I don’t want to race through the final pages. I want to savor them.

Because I know the final pages will be unputdownable (my new word) and I also know that it will be another year until a new Jack Reacher adventure arrives in the bookstores.

Tom Cruise? What were they thinking??? Don’t answer. I already know. They were thinking box office.

I got into Manhattan a little early yesterday and I had to walk from the bus station to East 59th Street, which took me up expensive Fifth Avenue, past Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany and the Plaza. Along the way, I stopped at Barnes & Noble because who can resist a bookstore? Not me. I saw many books I wanted, but didn’t bite. Except for one: Broken Monsters  by Lauren Beukes. I read about it last year and tried to get a review copy but I was too late, it had already been published. It takes place in Detroit, which always draws me in because it’s my hometown. While browsing in the Mystery Section yesterday, I remembered the book and tried to find it, but I wasn’t sure of the author’s last name or even the title. I figured I’d see the last name and find it that way. No go. I finally resorted to signing on to NetGalley on my phone so that I could find the rejected request for an advanced reader copy. Ah, Beukes! As sometimes happens, it wasn’t under mystery but it was under literature.

Like I need another book on my To Be Read pile.

Anyway, it was a lovely day and I was on the edge of Central Park, but had no time to explore it. People were everywhere, as you can imagine, and I find I am always amazed at how many wealthy people there are in this part of Manhattan. You can see it in the clothes they wear, in the way they carry themselves. And there are many, many wealthy tourists. Where does all that money come from?

And then there’s me, in jeans and sneakers, wearing a sweater and a funky jacket that’s more than twenty years old. More like twenty-five.

My coaching session lasted twice as long as I had planned and was a difficult one, and I was hungry and dehydrated when I left the theater but, you guessed it, I had to walk about 25 blocks back to the bus station in order to grab the next scheduled bus, so I grabbed something to go and ate it on the bus. New York is lovely, or can be, but I’m usually racing through it on my way to and from some point in the city.

10-21 red leaf

We have about a gazillion leaves to rake over the next few days. They are everywhere. Did I mention I don’t like raking leaves? When you’ve got as many trees as we do, it loses whatever appeal it has very quickly. And we don’t even tackle the back forty.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page with some links for your reading pleasure.

Don’s CD is back in stock at CD Baby. You can either click here or travel over to my sidebar and click there.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: books, bookstores, New York City, On The Road 29 Comments

Meanwhile

October 20, 2015 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Meanwhile…

10-20 hollyhock

The hollyhock is still standing.

The buds look healthy. The flower isn’t wilting. This volunteer that appeared out of nowhere is still hanging in there.

The porch plants are all back outside and the temps are going to be nice and warm for the rest of the week.

I know that it may be difficult for some people to understand my sadness about losing everything in the garden so suddenly. I get it. “It’s Mother Nature’s way.” But I’m not just a dabbler in the garden, someone who plants things and then moves on. I absolutely love gardening and flowers and plants and watching things grow. Recording the changes that happen on a daily basis in the gardens is one of the great joys of my life. I watch everything. Every bud, leaf, bug, bee,  butterfly – everything. I know it intimately and it’s my baby.

So it is  a big deal to me. And it broke my heart a little this week. I was short tempered yesterday and  more than a bit blue.

I’ll get over it, of course. But I’m sad. No doubt about it.

I have to go into the city today for a bit more work on the show, so this will be short.

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: flowers, garden 32 Comments

Creating in a Small Space & Another Project for the TSP

October 19, 2015 at 9:43 am by Claudia

We will not say anything about the hard freeze and the death of my plants. Or the fact that it will be close to 70 degrees this week. Yes, I know it happens. It just shouldn’t happen in mid-October. I also watched the catalpa drop every one of its leaves yesterday. All  of them. I’m wearing black today.

Don was away in Massachusetts and didn’t arrive home until the wee hours, so I consoled myself with a little creative work on the Top Secret Project.

Don: Stop here.

I’ve had this project bookmarked for a long time. I just had to gather all the supplies I needed. It’s a tutorial from Kris at 1 Inch Minis – a great site, by the way, full of incredible tutorials that Kris generously shares with her readers. I saw the project and thought it would be perfect for Don’s Studio. After having read the post, it turns out Kris is using it for the same HBS ‘Denise’s City Cottage’ project.

It was too perfect not to try. I needed mat board, card stock, a 3/4″ dowel and glue. I’m getting a bit better at these things, but I admit that I curse like a sailor when doing them.

10-19 fireplace

This is the fireplace I’m going to place in the corner of the room. I love these retro fireplaces that remind me of the A-Frame houses that sprung up in the sixties. They were often a bright orange, and I’ve obviously not painted it yet and there are some tweaks I want to make, but here it is in its unadorned state. (Paint color to be determined later – maybe a metallic black? Should I use spray paint? So many questions.)

10-19 fireplace2

I think it will sit in this corner. I will determine the exact height of the stove pipe when I put the roof on, so I’ve left it the way it is until then.

10-19 topofthestairs2

My creative space at the top of our stairs has been altered for mini work. The sewing machine has been put in the closet since I’m not doing any sewing at the moment.

As you can see, there’s not a lot of space available, and truth be told, when I’m working on this stuff, I’m often using the kitchen table or the top of the kitchen island (which was the case yesterday.) I did all the painting and trim on the TSP right here in this little niche. Just depends on the project. I have supplies stashed in bins which are stashed in closets, in a soda crate under the table where my dollhouse is perched, in shoe boxes, in cupboards…everywhere. I’ve tried to corral together the things I need for this project here in this space.

10-19 studio1

Wood, trim, dowels – all of it in tubes stashed in this wicker flower basket. Card stock and mat board stored in a cardboard ‘file’ next to the table.

10-19 studio2

Paints and glue in a vintage egg basket. Bits of sandpaper stuffed in the little shelf. Ruler, pens, pencils and bits of wood trim are in a piece of McCoy and a vintage wall pocket. My cutting mat is stashed between the table and the wall. Clamps are on either side of the table. (The shelf of mini pottery moved upstairs when we moved the dollhouse back into the den.)

10-19 studioretry2

Foam board stashed against the wall behind the vintage flowered fireplace screen.

10-19 studioretry1

This space was highlighted in an article in Studios magazine a few years back. That particular issue concentrated on creating in small spaces. This, my friends, is a very  small space. We simply don’t have the room for an entire studio/office for yours truly, though I can’t help but dream of one off on the horizon, somewhere, someday. So, like so many others, I make do with what I have.

It’s sunny up there, I’ll grant you that. So sunny that taking photos is problematic! I do love my little creative space at the top of the stairs.

We often wish we could get rid of the bed in the guest room and then Don and I could share that space. We’ve had a couple of overnight guests lately, but months and months will go by where no one is using that bed and in a two bedroom house, that matters. Meredith tells me we should get a futon and she’s right. It’s not in the budget now. Even so, we have Don’s dresser in there and a cupboard that serves as a linen closet, along with chairs, a desk, file cabinets and my grandmother’s trunk….Oy. It seems impossible, or at the very least, overwhelming.

I’ve rattled on long enough.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

 

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures, studio 40 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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