Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A cool and foggy morning, but we’ll reach 91 degrees this afternoon.

Our lawn is mostly brown now, as you can see in this photo. You can also see the dried up coneflowers.

We got an email from our town yesterday declaring a burn ban because of the extremely dry conditions. They also said that we are experiencing a drought which could impact the town’s water supply. Most of us just outside of town have wells, but I know the center of town has its own water supply – no wells.  I was pleased (doesn’t seem like the right word to use here) to see the town officially using the word ‘drought.’

It’s really bad here.

We’re making an effort to conserve water. Quicker showers, less watering outside – only the pots on the porch, not doing small loads of laundry, but waiting to combine things in one big load.

I have one coaching session today because the rehearsal for one of the actors ran over and he couldn’t make it to the coaching session. Technically, I could charge them extra for this day, but I won’t. Things happen, and 30 minutes out of my day today is no big deal.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t turn my brain off, so a nap will be necessary this afternoon.

I wish I had more exciting things to write about, but I don’t. I will not be blogging on Saturday and Sunday. I have to leave very early on Saturday morning for Rochester. And I won’t have time on Sunday, either. Plus, I don’t really want to take my laptop.

But I’ll be back on Monday. And I’ll blog tomorrow morning, of course.

Okay. Have to take a shower, eat something, and prepare for a short coaching session.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Voted.

We went grocery shopping right after we voted. The one item that motivated the trip was half and half. We also stocked up on other items.

This morning, we discovered that we never got the half and half.

Don just left to go to the grocery store.

Today, I’m coaching from 11 -2. This will be my last zoom session for Jane Eyre. I’ll attend a run-through on Saturday afternoon. And then, the following weekend, I’ll drive to Rochester again – on Sunday – to watch a tech run-through in the evening, which will conclude my time on Jane Eyre.

Back to the lakes and cottages on lakes. My cousin Eileen commented on that post. She’s in one of the photos I posted, and Aunt Lettie was her mom. That photo showing all of the old-fashioned wooden cottages represents what it was like there when we were young. In those days, the cottage seemed very far from our house and most of the cottages on the lake were seasonal. There were some year-round residents but not many. Now, according to Eileen, most of those cottages have been taken down in favor of big year-round homes. Much of what made the lake charming is gone. I remember being fascinated that some people lived there all year round. Was it lonely? What did they do in the winter? With urban sprawl, everything is connected in a way it wasn’t when I was a kid.

We used to walk down the dirt road to a little shop that sold pop (Michiganese for soda pop) and candy and pretzels. Just a humble little mom and pop store. I remember my brother taking off after dinner for parts unknown. There was always an air of mystery about those adventures. What was he doing? Where was he going? (The older me has a pretty good idea.)

Maybe if I visualize it hard enough, a cottage will magically come into our possession.

Can you tell I’m nostalgic these days?

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Let me start by saying I’m sleep deprived. Don got up to go to the bathroom around 4 am. Since he rarely does that, I woke up, too. Neither of us got back to sleep, so I’m feeling rather testy and tired. To top that off, I came downstairs to see Don trying to move 2 huge bees out of the kitchen and back outside. So there we were at 4 am, standing on chairs and reaching up to the overhead lights trying to capture bees in a cup. Thankfully, they were pretty docile, but boy, was their buzz loud!

Now we have to stay awake until we vote today, something we were going to do several days ago…but didn’t.

Yesterday? Big forecast for “torrential rains,” radar showing huge thunderstorms, lots of warnings? We had a nice hour-long gentle rain around 11:30. Then we waited for the deluge that was predicted and much needed.

Nothing.

This has been a very disheartening summer.

It did spritz a bit during the night because the sidewalk was wet when we got up. Supposedly, there’s a chance of some storms later in the day. But, I don’t believe them anymore. I’ve never seen so many forecasts bomb; over and over, all summer long.

Anyway, I’m grateful that I don’t have to coach today because it would be really, really difficult for me to find any energy.

One good thing about the hour of rain we did get: I’d noticed that the leaves on the limelight hydrangea were very limp – the bush wasn’t getting enough water, like everything else around here. A few hours after the rain, they looked much better, so the rain did make a difference.

I’m slowly making my way through a challenging jigsaw puzzle. But it’s a hard one.

That’s it. I’m tired. Looking forward to the afternoon when I can nap.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.