Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

Friday

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Because it’s Friday at the end of a long week: Pippa in her new crocs.

I can’t get over this pair of crocs. Oh my goodness!

They were made by my favorite “cobbler” Cora Huang. I have shoes and boots from other makers and I love them. However, when I first purchased Sophie and was wondering where I could get shoes and boots, and was completely new to the Blythe community, I stumbled upon Cora. In a truly international doll/clothing/shoes world, Cora, much to my delight, lives in Connecticut. It’s nice to order something that won’t take weeks to get here. But the best part is her craftsmanship. Her shoes are beautifully made.

I’d say the majority of the shoes the girls wear are Cora’s.

I have one more new pair that I’ll share when I actually put them on one of the girls. They remind me of back-to-school shoes. I always got one new pair of shoes in the fall, invariably brown. As I got older, they were invariably brown penny loafers. Do you remember Bass Weejuns?

Now ask me when I last bought new shoes… Answer: last year. A new pair of Birkenstocks. Ask me when I last bought any new clothes…Answer: last fall when I had to order long underwear and heavy socks for cold location shoots on Spoiler Alert. I don’t much care about clothes these days. I’m happy with a new t-shirt. Maybe one new sweater in the winter. But I don’t have a lifestyle that requires being fashion conscious. I used to love it. Now I find it  exhausting.

Technically, the girls don’t need any new clothes or shoes, but much of the fun in collecting these girls lies in dressing them up.

Today I coach Jim for a bit in the early afternoon and then we’ll go vote.

Yesterday, on my one day off from coaching this week, I cleaned, watered plants outdoors – all sorts of little things that needed to be done.

Very satisfying.

To close,  I marvel at Lucy’s strength! She’s been holding her arm up to give the peace sign for two weeks now. How does she do it?

I certainly couldn’t do it.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

A Slow Morning

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I’m moving rather slowly. I slept in today, and while I’m very grateful for the much needed extra sleep, I’m also very groggy. But I’m enjoying a nicely slow morning, that’s for sure.

I coached for about two hours yesterday, not all that much when you look at it in terms of hours, but a lot in reality, as coaching is very, very concentrated work. All of the actors in Jane Eyre  have been delightful to work with, very open to my suggestions, and very professional, including the two young girls who play Adèle/young Jane.

I’m not working on Jane Eyre today. I’ll most likely work with Jim either today or tomorrow.

We have a primary on Tuesday, but New York has early voting now, so we’ll probably vote in the next couple of days. Don has jury duty next week, so we can’t know if he’ll be available to go to the polls on Tuesday. He’d actually like to be selected, so I hope he is.

Today? Vacuuming (my heavens, it’s been too long!) and maybe some weed trimming. It’s so dry here that barely anything is growing right now except for some weeds on the edges of the Secret Garden.

Last night? Rain predicted, heavy rain coming from the northeast. Can you guess what happened?

Yep. Nothing.

Time for a bit more coffee.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

Seasonal Shift

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I started a new puzzle the other day but I never got to it yesterday.

It was a full day, with a first read-through of Jane Eyre in the morning and 3 hours of coaching in the afternoon. I’m tired.

I have more coaching to do later this morning.

The actors are very nice and eager to figure out the dialects.

It takes such concentrated effort to coach one-on-one. But when you’re in the same room as the coachee, it’s easier to pick up on facial expressions or frustration or whatever mood the actor is in. It’s much, much harder to do when coaching via Zoom. With Jane Eyre, I was coaching actors sitting in a board room and they were quite far away.

By the way, after I finished for the day I told Don I was absolutely sure I was speaking too loudly the whole time I was coaching. Not on purpose, of course, but I think that “They’re far away and I have to talk loudly” feeling crept into my voice. I’ll try to do better today.

On my break between the read-through and coaching sessions, I ran outside to water everything, folded clothes that had just come out of the dryer, and made a quick lunch. Don had gone out to take some pictures.

I’m coaching for two hours today, so it won’t be quite as tiring.

Then Jim again, later in the week.

The theme for this week is Zoom Dialect Coaching.

Don mentioned that it’s dark now when he gets up. And we both keep mentioning that it’s getting darker much earlier in the evening now. Sigh. Summer, you’ve been a huge challenge, but I’m not sure I’m ready for you to go. I think it’s fortunate that I’m coaching now, just as I was last year around this time when I coached during September – December. I’m so busy that I won’t have the time to be sad for very long..

And the light is different. You can tell that we’re heading into Autumn.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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