Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1409 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The Problem With Doing Paperwork In The Kitchen

April 3, 2013 at 8:57 am by Claudia

My kitchen table is that catch-all we all have: a place for incoming mail, things to be sorted and, occasionally, the place I spread out and work. Yesterday, I was all set to start work on Twelfth Night, so I headed to the kitchen. Along the way, I noticed some cobwebs way up on top of the pantry, where we have an old bread tin and a basket on display.

Well, that simply had to be dealt with before I could start work on the text. So I grabbed my long handled duster and eliminated the cobwebs. The next thing I knew, I was climbing up on my stool, taking everything down, cleaning the top of the pantry, and washing the bread tin.

pantry

But what about all the pottery that is displayed on top of the kitchen cabinets? You know, those places that are out of reach and somehow never get dusted?

Well. Now that I was aware of just how dusty things could get up there, I had to take action.

Yep. I was soon climbing on counters, retrieving my pottery, vacuuming the tops of the cupboards, washing the pottery.

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While the pottery was drying, I sat down and started Act 1 of Twelfth Night. About halfway in, I returned the pottery you see in this photo to its proper home and grabbed some more from the other set of cabinets. Same drill.

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I continued my work on Act 1 in the middle of my own particular stage setting consisting of vacuum, attachments, stool, duster, table filled with books and paper, pottery drying in the dish rack and Scout sleeping beside me.

That’s what happens when you try to do paperwork in the kitchen. Too many distractions.

Today I tackle the top of the hutch. And Act 2. But first, I have to run some errands.

Don’s having a great time. Yesterday, he had costume fittings and got his hair cut. It’s short. The look reminds me of old photos of George Orwell. He also met the rest of the cast and had lunch with the director. And explored Prague. He thought he would start filming today, but he has the day off. So he’ll have at least one more full day to sightsee. Lucky Don! Then it’s an early call on Thursday and filming all day.

Skype is wonderful. We can see each other and chat a couple of times a day and I love that. He is having a great adventure and I love that, too.

Happy Wednesday.

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Work to Do, Prague and What Makes Me Laugh

April 2, 2013 at 9:01 am by Claudia

balljars

The sun is pouring through the kitchen windows this morning. I had to get a shot of the Ball jars – so pretty. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of my flannel pajamas. Though it’s sunny and slowly getting warmer, it’s not quite warm enough yet to switch from my flannels.

It’s quite cold in Prague and there was a bit of snow falling yesterday as Don arrived. He is absolutely charmed by that beautiful city. He walked around in his jet-lagged state and took scads on pictures on his iPhone. We’ve Skyped a couple of times and I saw the view from his hotel window. Gorgeous. You can see a castle in the distance. Here’s hoping he got a good night’s sleep last night. Today he has costume fittings and will most likely be getting a hair cut. The man he is portraying had short hair. It’s been a long time since Don had short hair. It will take some getting used to!

coffeetable

Once again, the minute Don leaves, the piles on the coffee table in the den seem to magically increase. Reading material, crochet, the remote, quilting supplies. I spent the evening last night hand quilting. I want to get that done while Don is gone, so that I can maybe bind it before I leave. Maybe. I might be biting off more than I can chew. Because I also have to clean up the garden (too cold right now) and do this:

shakes

That’s on the docket for this morning. I have the finished edited version of the text and now I start the slow process of checking pronunciations, meter, stress, and word meanings. It’s a slow process on any Shakespeare text, but because I’ve coached Twelfth Night so many times, I think it will go a bit more quickly.

We’ve been watching episodes of Frazier at night on the Hallmark channel. Such smart, witty writing – the kind you have to keep up with, the kind that makes you laugh out loud. It’s such a contrast to most of the stuff on television these days. Except for maybe Modern Family, I rarely laugh out loud when I’m watching something on the tube. And even that show (written and produced by one of my former students – yay, Abe!) doesn’t make me laugh like Frazier does. When you have a combination of smart writing and wonderful actors, you get that increasingly rare phenomenon: a truly funny and witty show. Don and Kelsey Grammer have worked together a few times – onstage and on Cheers and Frazier. Cheers: that’s another show that I can watch in reruns and laugh out loud. It’s timeless, as is Frazier. Anyway, I don’t want to go on and on. I just don’t like writing that is dumbed down.

Okay. Have to get a move on here at the cottage. There’s work to be done! How are you spending your day?

Happy Tuesday.

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Learning and Crafting On The Road

April 1, 2013 at 8:45 am by Claudia

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I’m a worrier, a be prepared type of ex-Girl Scout, always thinking ahead. I’m very seldom a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of girl. When I moved away from my home state of Michigan to attend grad school in Philadelphia, I drove out there ahead of time and found an apartment. I made lists of what I was going to take with me. I organized the move. My classmates simply came to Philadelphia and started classes while looking for a place to live. That was unthinkable to me.

When I am on a bus or a train or away from home for an extended length of time, I have to make sure I have enough reading material with me. The thought of running out of reading material leaves me more than a little panicky. So I always end up packing more than I’ll need. I’m already thinking about what to take with me to Hartford.

Likewise projects. When I went to San Diego for 6 months in 2009, I packed boxes of fabric and a rotary cutter and mat, and scissors and everything I would need for a project or two. I also sent a box of yarn.

mabelcover

So as you can imagine, I’m planning projects for Hartford. You already know that Mabel is going with me. I’m taking my smallish quilt that I made in San Diego – there’s still some hand quilting and finishing that needs to be done. I’m not sure if I’ll take any yarn. I’ve done so much crocheting this year that I need a break.

Maybe a little yarn.

But what I’m really excited about is a class I’m taking online via Craftsy. Have you ever explored that site? Lots of wonderful classes in quilting, sewing, jewelry making, knitting and more. I signed up for Craftsy long ago but just recently decided to bite the bullet and take a class. I’ve long been a fan of Camille Roskelley of the blog Simplify. That girl is amazing. She designs a fabric line along with her mother, quilts like a dream and is raising 3 young boys.

But what I especially love are her fabric designs. She uses bright, cheerful, wonderful color combinations and patterns. They make me smile. More and more as I get older, I want and need color. When I was younger, I craved darker, more dramatic tones. Perhaps because I was darker and more dramatic – and I was. Now: cheery color, whether it is pastel or bright. That’s what I want.

redfabric

I seem to craft in waves. It’s been crochet and all-crochet for a long time. Now, perhaps because I’ve been hand quilting the big bed quilt, I’m now finding myself drawn to piecing and quilting again. And maybe because of Mabel, who’s portable and likes to travel. (I know she does. She told me.)

I love fabric but I don’t have the budget to buy whatever I like and build a stash. Truth be told, I have lots of fabric from the years when I could do that. So I love the idea of using jelly rolls or layer cakes of fabric, already pre-cut and from a particular line of fabric. It’s cost effective for me.

Camille is teaching a class on Craftsy called Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple. (I bought the class at a discount because it is my first class with Craftsy, though I don’t know whether that was a special offer or not.) She’s sharing her techniques and showing how to piece a few of her quilt designs, using jelly rolls and layer cakes and fat quarters.

I’m so excited! I took a class when I first started quilting, but have not taken one since then. My skills could definitely use some improvement. And the wonderful thing about online classes is that they are portable. The class will go with me to Hartford. Isn’t that fun?

Being away from home involves long hours of work on the play, yes, but there are also big chunks of time that I have to fill. No husband, no dog. Just me. That is sort of liberating but at the same time it can be lonely. I’d much rather fill my non-rehearsal time with something creative than sit there like a bump on a log, watching television or spending too much time on my laptop.

Hey, if you go to Camille’s blog, check out her gorgeous studio. I’d be grinning from ear-to-ear if I was working in that space.

Haven’t heard from Don yet, but I don’t expect to until he gets to his hotel and can send me a quick email. I miss him. Scoutie misses him.

Blogkeeping: I’ve been meaning to mention this for a while. I used to have a widget on my sidebar for Linky Followers. I took it off for a couple of reasons. One: It often slowed up the loading of the blog. Two: Following a blog through Linky Followers is a fine idea and I appreciate every one of you who followed me that way, however, new posts are not updated automatically. I would have to visit Linky Followers every time I wrote a new post and manually update it there. Not happening. In fact, it’s never happened. I post every day and that’s a step I just don’t have time for. So I’ve come to the conclusion that inviting readers to follow that way is misleading and not fair. That’s why it’s gone.

Update: Just heard from Don. He’s at his hotel. We skyped. He’s tired but he has to stay up until bedtime Prague time. Prague is 6 hours ahead of me, so it’s 4:30 Prague time as I type this. Hang in there, Don!

Happy Monday.

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The Problem With Doing Paperwork In The Kitchen

Work to Do, Prague and What Makes Me Laugh

Learning and Crafting On The Road

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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