Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I lied. I am posting today because I’m writing it yesterday!

Oh, hello!

Our first groundhog sighting. He was right outside the living room window, chomping on some grass. Rather sizeable, this one. That made us happy.

As do these sweet grape hyacinths that pop up right next to the porch.

I want to get better for many reasons, not the least of which is it’s time to start cleaning up the garden beds. We’re heading toward temps in the 80s at the end of the week. Very unseasonable, of course, but spring fever, here we come.

I’m in NYC as you read this, but at the end of Wednesday, I will be through with commuting back and forth to the city for the time being. I’ll head to NJ next Tuesday for an overnight stay.

I want to make something clear about commuting and trains and buses, etc. When we realized we would have to move quite a bit north of the city in order to afford a house, we knew there would be a a trade-off. And that is the long distance from our house to Manhattan which means our commute is longer and quite a bit more expensive. We wanted a house, so we went into it with our eyes wide open. No not-for-profit theater can afford to pay for a hotel in the city for someone who lives within commuting distance. Reality check: they wouldn’t, nor should they, and do you have any idea how expensive hotels are in Manhattan??? As it is, they reimburse me for the cost of the train or bus. I have to pay for all those things up front, submit my receipts, and eventually a check will arrive in my mailbox.

Also, no Broadway show with a big budget will pay for hotel accommodations for yours truly. I’ve worked on Broadway twice and that just didn’t happen except for a couple of nights during tech week for Anastasia. I commuted back and forth to the city every day I had to be at rehearsal. There are a lot of people who do what I do in the NYC area, so if I’m offered the job, I count myself lucky, indeed. Also not-for-profit theaters were devastated by lockdown and many of them are having trouble surviving. They cut back on the amount of weeks in rehearsal, they do whatever they can to save money and build up their subscriber base to what it once was.

When we moved out east, I was 49. I’m now 70. It was somewhat difficult even at the age of 49, but for the first four years we lived in the East, we lived closer to NYC, so it was much more doable. We’ve lived here 17 years and I still do it, as does Don, but it takes a lot more out of us. It’s something I’m going to have to come to terms with. Usually, I have a short spurt of travel back and forth for a week or so. This time, I have more, and I am sick. What would be hard normally is extremely difficult when you’re sick.

Now, imagine Don doing that for years – traveling into the city, killing time, traveling on the subway to his audition, waiting to audition, spending about 60 seconds in the room auditioning, racing to get back to the bus station, then traveling back home. All for a minute of not-even-work. That’s much worse.

But it’s what we do, so when we get a chance to work, or a chance to audition for work, we take it.

This has been a tough one because I’ve been sick for 2 weeks of the 2½ weeks we’ve been in the rehearsal studio. Hopefully, that will never happen again.

Anyway, I wanted to add context because it isn’t like your normal 9-to-5 commute.

I’m looking forward to a few days of rest after this.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.