Mockingbird Hill Cottage

An early morning shot of the living room.

I’m quite lucky to have this little apartment. It has plenty of space – the bathroom and kitchen are on the small side but that is to be expected in a NYC apartment. Don may feel a bit cramped in the bathroom, but believe me, this one is spacious compared to the one he had when he was doing Margaritaville.

The bedroom is off the living room, through a pair of french doors. My windows look out on Annie’s garden as well as the back gardens of many other brownstones.

I was so, so tired yesterday. I kept thinking that when it stopped raining, I would venture outside, but I just didn’t have it in me. I started a jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table, read a bit, went online, and that’s about it. Annie came upstairs later in the afternoon and we had a lovely chat. She also gave me some subway information and a great app to keep track of the trains.

By 9:00, I was barely holding on, so I started to get ready for bed and was making an attempt to read when I fell asleep at 9:30. I slept until 6 am, so I feel much better today.

I actually will venture out in an hour or so and navigate the subway system into Manhattan, where I have to get a Covid test. It’s very windy today after yesterday’s storm. We just had a huge gust. I hope it’s finally stopped raining at home.

The girls are sitting on one of the chairs.

Okay, my friends. I have to check in with Don, make some oatmeal, dry my hair and get out of here.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Good morning from Brooklyn, where we are currently getting so much rain that there are flood warnings. It’s a real deluge out there and that means I will not be venturing out today. Luckily, I don’t have to. I have a zoom seminar this morning, but I can do that right from the sofa.

Heavens, yesterday was a long, pain-in-the-tush day. In fact, Sunday was as well. I spent two days organizing everything for the trip into the city – washing, packing, cleaning the kitchen, crossing things off my list.

We got out the door around 11 am and then the ‘fun’ began. We’ve driven into Manhattan many times in our 20 years here. It’s crazy, but we’re used to it. But, to get to Brooklyn, specifically the area where I am – Park Slope,  is a whole other story. You have to come via the Bronx and several freeways, then down FDR Drive to the Battery Tunnel, which leads to Brooklyn. Since we weren’t used to any of that part of the journey and since we’re dealing with NYC, which is always insane, we missed some turns along the way, but the GPS always corrected and we found a way to get there. By the time we reached Park Slope, we were starving, so we stopped at the Whole Foods that is in this neighborhood, grabbed some food to eat for lunch and also did a bit of shopping. By that time, I was ready to pass out. We ate in the car, and then drove to the apartment, which is on a street where it is virtually impossible to find a parking space. There’s also a school nearby and kids were being picked up by parents and the park across the street was full of kids shooting baskets and skateboarding.

I was immediately worried that my apartment would be full of the sounds of skateboards and balls being dribbled – all day, every day. Annie was busy teaching in Manhattan, so she left the keys in an accessible place and Don double parked. But it’s very narrow on the street, so someone had to stay with the car. I unlocked the front door and managed to drag every suitcase and bag into the foyer. Then Don tried to find a parking space. Please note that I had spent the morning at our house going up and down stairs at least 20 times. Now, I was faced with going up and down two long flights of narrow steps to the apartment, each time lugging something or other.

I have to say by this time, I was frigging exhausted. Don also got winded. We’re just not used to it. The stairs themselves aren’t bad but when you’re carrying lots of stuff after doing the same thing at your house earlier in the morning, well….my body was screaming. In the meantime, Annie got home, so we got to say hello and she got to meet Don. Annie has always been a lovely human being and I knew she and Don would like each other. Don, having not found a parking space, was now parked in an illegal zone, so we decided he should get back on the road and we said a quick goodbye. Fortunately, no ticket. But his journey out of Manhattan was bumper-to-bumper and it took him forever to get home.

I could barely function for a while, but I finally unpacked everything and collapsed on the sofa.

Meanwhile, a bag that held three pairs of shoes wasn’t in the apartment. I only have the pair of sneakers I had on yesterday. Don eventually found it in the trunk of the car, so he’ll bring it when he comes here for the weekend.

It’s a nice apartment – on the top floor of their house. There’s nice sized living room, kitchen and bedroom. It reminds us of the apartment Don stayed in during Margaritaville’s run, except the bedroom and kitchen are bigger. And, the best thing is that the apartment faces the back garden, so no noise from the playground!! You can’t hear it at all. Whew!

I’ll try to take photos some day this week, but today is just too dark.

The girls checking out our temporary digs.

They’re not quite sure what to make of all of this.

More tomorrow, when I have to go get a Covid test, the first of many while I’m here.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

This morning, looking out on the Back Forty.

Oh, it will be so hard to leave all of this. I’m such a homebody, such a nester – leaving is always hard, especially when I will be on my own in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Everything in me screams, “Stay home!”

On the other hand, this is a wonderful opportunity and an adventure. A job – the biggest I’ve ever had. And I’m profoundly grateful for it. I know it will be exciting and scary and my first thought is “I have no idea where to go when I get to the first shooting location, or what to do when I get there!” But, I’ll figure it out and as Don says, there will be people there to help me figure it out.

The first few days will be about acclimating myself, figuring out the subway from Brooklyn and where I connect in Manhattan. There’s a Whole Foods two city blocks away from my apartment – I’m pleased about that! We spent some time online yesterday looking at the neighborhood, trying to figure out what is where, etc. Don is in charge of driving directions, which, as you might expect when you’re traveling from upstate NY, through parts of NJ, across the George Washington Bridge, down to lower Manhattan/Battery Park and then through a tunnel to Brooklyn, are very complicated. Then he has to reverse them and drive back home. It will be a long day for him. But he has to go back on the same day as his car is in the shop and he’s expecting a package.

He’ll come back on the weekend, probably on the train.

I’m very fortunate to be renting this apartment from Annie, who is a former student of mine from my Boston University days. She and her husband own and live in the building, which is a brownstone in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. The apartment is on the top floor, but I enter through their house. Annie has already answered a lot of my questions and I’ll have plenty more of them re: mass transit. She often works in Manhattan, so she’ll have all the answers. So, it seems like the best of all possible worlds.

Traveling into Manhattan for filming will take some time and adding the Brooklyn leg to the trip means my commute will be longer than usual, but I expect I’ll have it down soon enough.

Anyway, this post will be it until Tuesday, as I have a LOT to do today and tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.