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Getting Away Helps

January 9, 2011 at 12:41 pm by Claudia

I’m not one to let a somewhat sad blog post linger too long on MHC. I’m still battling the blues a bit. Yesterday, Don and I decided to get out of Dodge for a few hours. That helped enormously. It was cold and gray but beautiful at the same time. We drove south to a little town we used to visit much more frequently when we lived in our rental cottage. Cold Spring is situated right on the Hudson and is charming.

In the summer time this little town is packed with visitors but yesterday we had it almost to ourselves. We decided to grab some lunch at a favorite restaurant, The Foundry. It’s funky and wonderful – my kind of place. (I’ve never been one who is drawn to elegant restaurants. I like warm, inviting, slightly off-beat places.) I wanted to stand and applaud when I saw this message on their chalkboard:

We ordered our favorite dish, Lentil Cakes. I cannot tell you how much I love these.

I don’t know how they do it, but they are scrumptious. Several years ago we asked the chef what he used when making them and he reeled off a list of ingredients. We tried to recreate them and failed miserably.

Cold Spring has lots of wonderful Victorian architecture. Some day (when it is considerably warmer) I’ll take lots of photos of the wonderful buildings on Main Street. I did manage to take this photo.

And this one of the very icy Hudson River.

As we drove home, we saw an Ice Breaker chugging down the river, clearing a lane for river traffic.

There are several antique shops in Cold Spring and we ran into one that has a little area with vintage clothing. I had seen this hat when we were there a few months ago. I wanted it then but didn’t buy it. When I saw that it was still there, I took it as a sign. It was designed by Hattie Carnegie – a famous millinery and clothing designer who died in 1956. I think it’s fabulous!

Wish I had a hat stand…I can see Jean Arthur wearing this in a Frank Capra movie.

Gaze upon that wonderful detail. The hat is in such perfect condition. Here’s the label inside:

Whoever wore this little number had a smaller head than me. Who can I get to model it? Let’s see…

Ah, the famous model with the one word name – Scout. Can we see another angle?

Perfect.

Wrestling with the Blues

January 8, 2011 at 9:53 am by Claudia

This is the time of year I have to watch myself closely. Christmas is over, the new year has begun and what seems like endless gray skies and cold weather stretch before me. We had a lot of snow yesterday. It’s light, fluffy and quite beautiful. But the snow and the steel gray of the sky can quickly take me to a place where I feel claustrophobic and blue. When I first moved to San Diego after a lifetime spent in the upper Midwest and in the Northeast, I realized just how much those gray, wintry skies had affected me. I came back to San Diego after spending Christmas in Northern Michigan with my family and it was 70 degrees. The sun was out. Heaven.

Of course, after 8 years out there, I was craving the seasons again. So there you have it. I have them now. And that means I have Winter.

Don, being a Southern California boy, wrestles with this even more than me. He yearns for the sun. Every year at this time, he wants to be back in San Diego. It’s a given. And I don’t blame him. (Don’t tell him, but I often feel the same way.)

I’m heading into this year with hope. Hope for a better year for us financially. For work that is creative and satisfying. For all good things. But, my heart is heavy as I see my mother decline and my father exhausted from caring for her. I know that this year might bring the most awful of changes in my life. This awareness permeates my being. It is always there. And it is intensified in this wintry darkness.

We lost Don’s father last year as well as some dear friends. A neighbor of ours was in a terrible, terrible car crash right before Christmas and is fighting for his life in a hospital just north of us. All of it is heartbreaking.

I have coaching work starting at the end of this month – a production of The Merchant of Venice that will rehearse in NYC and eventually tour to Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles. Being immersed in a project will surely help fight the blues. I have to begin my prep work this weekend.

Do you feel blue at this time of year?

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On a side note: some of you have asked about the yarn I used in the scarves. It is Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace Yarns. The pattern is here. (There are at least two links for this pattern, but this is the one that worked for me.)

Also, for those of you who have commented on my chalkboard: I’m proud to say I made it and the tutorial is here.

What’s in a Name?

January 5, 2011 at 11:33 am by Claudia

My name has never been one that is easily found emblazoned on mugs or pins or pencils or any of those sorts of things. You know, those racks where you see something with ‘Megan’ on it or ‘Sarah’ or ‘Amy’ or whatever names are popular at the moment. When I was a kid, this upset me. It seemed as if everyone else could find some souvenir with their name on it. Me? Never. Don’t get me wrong, I love my name. I’m very pleased that my Mom and Dad chose it for me. It suits me. But it wasn’t the sort of name that was on the ‘popular’ list.

Not long after I first started blogging, almost 3 years ago, a woman named Donna saw a comment I had made on another blog and asked me if she could send me something. I was shocked that anyone would want to send me anything – I hadn’t yet encountered the generosity of this blogging world. The package arrived, beautifully wrapped, with a note from Donna. This was inside the wrapping:

Donna wrote that she had held onto the hanky for a long time and was just waiting to give it to someone named Claudia. And when she saw my name in that comment, she chose me. Amazing, isn’t it? One person reaching out to another; our only connection being that we were readers of the same blog. To say I was touched is an understatement.

Recently, I couldn’t find the hanky. I looked everywhere. Over the course of several months, the thought that I might have lost it hovered in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to contemplate that possibility. It represents so much about the blogging world to me – the generosity, kindness and priceless connections made. One day, I was reorganizing our linen cupboard and there it was. Now it lives on my yellow dresser where I can see it every day.

I have one other treasure with my name on it. My dear friend Lynne, who lives in Canada, gave me this silver napkin ring:

She found it in a shop somewhere and couldn’t get it out of her mind. So she went back and bought it. I’m very grateful she did. In a home where the table setting included engraved silver napkin rings, a Claudia called this one her own. It found its way to another Claudia. That seems right.

Speaking of words, I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers are choosing a word for 2011. I’m incapable of narrowing down my choices to one word, so here are mine:

Getting Away Helps

Wrestling with the Blues

What’s in a Name?

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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