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Zinnias and Work

September 4, 2021 at 9:33 am by Claudia

Sunny, but with a golden quality to the light that tells me autumn is coming.

I’ve had to reschedule my coaching sessions at the last minute twice this week as the actor is filming a series in England and the filming has gone past the time originally scheduled. We’re going to work tomorrow on his day off. (Not his fault, of course!)

I also was contacted by the next Anastasia tour – this one is non-union, as it’s the second national tour – and we’re trying to schedule some days where I come in and work with the actors. All of this conveniently falls in late September – mid October, before I start work on the movie. I am grateful for the opportunity to be the main source of income for the next few months. Really, really grateful.

As you might imagine, our lawn throughout the property is very overgrown because of all the rain. Today, we’ll start to tackle that. I’ve been wearing a mask when I mow because my allergies are so bad this year. I don’t know if it helps, but I do it anyway. Anyway, we have our work cut out for us this weekend.

Hopefully, I’ll get some time to paint. Fingers crossed.

Sad to see summer ending, but ready for fall.

Hope all is well with you.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

The Aftermath

September 3, 2021 at 9:50 am by Claudia

My walk down to what is known as the ‘creek’ but is really a river (we also have another river steps away from the creek) showed me just how bad this storm was around here. I’ve never seen the level of the creek so high, completely covering little trees that were on bits of land within the river. The sound of the water is so loud, even this morning. I stood on the bridge (which has a deepening crack in the road – I called the county to report it) and looked down on the water, stunned. Then I walked down the road that my neighbor lives on, which also leads to a very popular campground. The entrance to the road said ‘road closed’ and it was quickly evident why it was closed. The water from the creek was right up to the doors of two different houses, one of which is a sort of shack, but lived in and maintained by a guy I’ve spoken to before. They weren’t trapped, as they could get out the back door, but it was frighteningly close. And down the road, another home that had been raised with supports (I’m not sure what you call them) under it because of another storm – that storm happened a few months after we moved in – had water covering the entire property.

The road to the campground was closed because water was completely covering the road. At 2:30 am, they had to evacuate everyone camping there. Everyone was transported to our fire station.

Don went into the neighboring town and the river had flooded the area called ‘the flats.’ Roads were closed. Bridges were closed. And this doesn’t take into account the horrific scenes in NYC, the tragic deaths throughout the Northeast.

I’m going to walk down there with Don when I finish this post to see how much of the water has receded.

We are on higher ground. The creek which is across the street is well below my neighbor’s property. And we are at a higher elevation than they are. The elevation changes that make mowing this property a bit of a pain are, it turns out, a good thing.

It’s a beautiful day today. The ground is very soggy, but as so often happens, you’d never guess what was happening two days ago.

After nearly a month of not painting, I did start one the other day. But I haven’t been able to get back to it because of…life. I was supposed to coach Ben yesterday via Zoom, but he asked if we could do it today instead as he’s got a heavy filming schedule and he’s just plain tired. So today, I’ll be working in the afternoon.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Rain and Floods

September 2, 2021 at 9:11 am by Claudia

Taken a few days ago – that’s all I’ve got!

We had a deluge yesterday. Endless, heavy rain that resulted in floods in the Hudson Valley, floods in New York City, tornadoes, and loss of life. It was terrible.

We are fine. Don is looking at the large river that is just down the street from us. It’s running very high as you can imagine. Our bridge looks – at least to Don and a few neighbors – like it’s got a crack. That may have nothing to do with the rain but between the last hurricane two weeks ago and Ida, we’ve been subjected to extraordinary amounts of rain. The campground at the end of our road is flooded out – it borders on the river. The house next to it has water up to their front door. I don’t know it I’ve ever seen the river this high (just saw Don’s videos that he shot a half an hour ago.)

Park Slope, where I will be staying when I’m in the city, was flooded. Subways were flooded. People died.

Climate Change is here. We knew that, of course, but it seems that every day brings us verification of that fact. I read an interesting article online this morning about small towns that have been decimated by flooding or tornadoes or forest fires simply not being able to bounce back. People move away. The town dies.

Anyway, that is what is on my mind this morning. I’m going to take a walk later on this morning to check out the damage.

And then I’ve got a coaching session with the actor I’m working with in the film.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Zinnias and Work

The Aftermath

Rain and Floods

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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