Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Over It

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Paris puzzle finished. Finishing off the trees was tedious. But I love this puzzle and, though I can barely imagine begin able to visit Paris again, this sure makes me want to.

I have had it with the heat. Yesterday, the heat index was 105°. Once again, I spent a long time watering everything in the morning, then I stayed inside for the rest of the day. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon – a 90% chance. I watched the radar and was so happy to see that we were going to get some rain. The wind kicked up, so much so, that Don went outside and took down the umbrella and I put the hanging plants on the floor of the porch. Storms were supposed to arrive by 7 pm.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Dumbfounded, I looked at the radar and there wasn’t a storm in sight.

This has happened EVERY TIME a major storm has been predicted. We are desperate for rain. The grass is brown, the plants are suffering. The humidity is high and my allergies are out of control.

Okay. Thanks for letting me vent. This has been a depressing summer and it looks like it’s going to continue.

Pippa and and the girls are sick of it, too.

Short of going naked, this is the coolest outfit we’ve got and Pip won out. They’d like to run in the sprinkler, but we don’t have one. Maybe we should walk over to the river?

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Endless Heat

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Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments yesterday!

It’s really just a little blip of an appearance on the screen. A re-emergence from retirement for a brief moment to be of service. But it was fun and unexpected. And most importantly, it was very moving to be in that room, sharing the scene with Jim and Ben, especially. Add in Bill Irwin and Sally Field and there’s the icing on the cake. By the way, Sally and Bill are incredibly kind and nice and funny. On their last day on the set, Bill stopped and told me how happy he was that we got to work together in that scene.

Anyway, on to the realities of this day: a heat advisory, an air quality advisory, and temperatures that will be well over 100 degrees when you add in the humidity. I’ve already been out to hand water all the plants, but of course, there’s only so much I can do. I’ll water again later in the day or early in the evening. We will be in this insane stretch of weather through the weekend.

This has been an awful summer – abnormally high temperatures that would be okay for a day or two, but, instead, stay here for two weeks at a time. Then a slight break, and they’re back again. My plants are suffering, the lawn is brown. It’s just dreadful.

Adding to that are my allergies which are particularly bad in this kind of weather.

Okay. Enough complaining. I have a lot of work to do. But brain fog is not helping me accomplish anything at the moment. All I want to do is sleep. I can see why siestas are so popular!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

A Story

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Before the heat advisory hits. Over 90 degrees today and 98 degrees tomorrow.

What fun.

A story to share with you:

Last year, I worked on the film Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, based on the book written by Michael Ausiello and starring my dear Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge, the actor I coached. You know all about this, of course.

At one point we were filming on location in a county that was halfway between NYC and my home, so I decided to come home for that week and drive to the set myself. We were filming a lot of hospital scenes there. One day on the set, as we were waiting for another scene to be set up, I walked downstairs to get something to snack on from Craft Services. Then I came back upstairs – I was gone about 5 minutes.

Picture the hallways where we were filming filled with crew members; wardrobe, props, camera crew, etc. You had to weave your way through a sea of people. As I was doing just that, Todd, one of the producers came up to me and said “Oh, there you are! Come with me.” I asked him what was going on and he said that the director wanted to talk to me. My first thought: I’m being fired. But when I asked Todd if it was good news or bad news, he said “Good news.”

So I walked into one of the many hospital rooms and there, waiting for me, was Mike S. (the director,) the First Assistant Director, and Michael Ausiello, as well as some production staff. And Todd. The director said that they had had to make a quick switch in the casting of one of the nurses. Mike S. said that he wondered if I would be willing to play the nurse.

I stood there, frankly dumbfounded. It took me a couple of beats to process what he had just said. He assured me that they thought I would be perfect for the scene – my response was “I haven’t done any acting in years!” He ignored that and said there was absolutely no pressure on me and if I didn’t want to do it, they would come up with another solution. But I knew they were in a pinch. Mike S. said they’d give me a few minutes to think about it. When he left, Michael Ausiello and Todd and Mika (assistant to Mike S.) stood there and urged me to do it. Mika ran lines with me. Michael A. said they needed someone with compassion and I had that in spades. Finally, I agreed. Then I was promptly whisked into wardrobe and makeup. Suddenly, I had been made up, my hair was braided in the back and I was wearing scrubs, a lanyard, and a stethoscope.

Honestly, I only had a couple of lines, but the scene was/is pivotal. It took place in Ben’s hospital room. So I would be acting with Ben, Jim, Bill Irwin, and Sally Field. Gulp.

That it happened so quickly was a blessing. I didn’t have time to stress about it.

I found out later that when Todd went to fill Jim and Ben in on what was happening, Jim teared up. What were the chances that his former teacher and Ben’s dialect coach would act in a scene with them? There was a lovely symmetry to the whole thing.

Filming was relatively stress-free. Michael S. is a fantastic director and he helped enormously. Sally and Bill and Jim were incredibly supportive. Michael Ausiello took a screen shot of the monitor while I was filming, which I eventually sent to Don. Very grateful for that. Can’t post that, though.

And then it was over and I went back to being a coach. Sally called me ‘my nurse’ when she saw me the next day.

The sound guys, the First Assistant Director, and every person on the set had my back. They were incredibly supportive.

I’ve held off telling you this because one never knows if the scene will end up on the cutting room floor. It’s happened to Don a few times. Plus, I couldn’t talk about it during filming. But along the way, Jim assured me that I was still in the movie. The final version of the movie – the final cut – was just shown to the producers and Jim told me it’s really wonderful. And I’m still in it. So I guess it’s a done deal!

I had two lines, and my appearance in the scene is brief, but I’m with people I adore and admire and that’s pretty darned great.

I couldn’t wait to tell Don. As soon as I could, I stole away to call him. He was stunned! Wanted to know every detail. He said “This never happens!”  And of course, he’s my biggest supporter, so when I came back home late that night there were flowers waiting for me.

So there you go. Double duty on this job!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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