Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 478 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Day Three Hundred Thirty-Three

February 9, 2021 at 10:24 am by Claudia

You can’t see it very well, but it’s snowing. Lots of snow has been falling all night long and by the end of the day, we should have at least 6 more inches of snow on the ground. More likely 8. That will result in more than 30 inches on the ground at the moment. It’s very cold and snow isn’t melting. It’s accumulating.

I started in on The New Yorker puzzle – The Opera House. These are notoriously difficult because they’re based on art work, with all the brush strokes and squiggles and slashes of paint. Plus, this company – as I well remember from last year – doesn’t use traditionally shaped puzzle pieces. There are all sorts of weird shapes. I managed to finish the top of the puzzle and believe me, though it was quite difficult, it’s the easiest part of the puzzle.

And the other puzzle arrived in yesterday’s mail:

Appropriately, given my years of piano lessons, it’s entitled The Piano Lesson. Love this cover, with class clearly taking place in a New York City studio.

In the Sixties, as you can see, The New Yorker was 25 cents an issue. It’s now $8.99 per issue. Yikes.

Two things:

1. Don released a new single, one I really love. Here is the link. They’re all available for download – free of charge. It’s called Red to Red. Don plays his electric guitar in this one. It’s a nod to Don’s beginnings in his godfather’s Polynesian band, with (in my humble opinion) another nod to Les Paul and Mary Ford.

2. I’m just about to finish Winter Solstice. Love, love it. I read some Rosamunde Pilcher decades ago, some of her earliest novels. What would you Pilcher lovers recommend that I read next? I’d love your advice.

Thank you for all the lovely comments about our girl. We miss her terribly. We were her parents for 16 years, but she was actually 17 when she passed away. We rescued her at the age of 11 months. All of our dogs were rescues. We wouldn’t do it any other way.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day Three Hundred Thirty-Two

February 8, 2021 at 10:27 am by Claudia

• Sunny, but very, very cold out there.

And we’re getting more snow overnight and into tomorrow. Maybe 6 or more inches. Crap.

Don is happy. I, on the other hand, appreciate that we already have 2 feet of snow on the ground in very cold temperatures which ensure it won’t melt, so we don’t need more.

February is a pain in the tush. It looks like we’ll have very cold temperatures for most of the month.

She said, trying to be positive, “At least it’s sunny today!”

• I finished the C. S. Lewis puzzle:

And started on the new puzzle, which is much more difficult. I knew it would be. The grid puzzles are fun and a nice respite from the more difficult ones. The C. S. Lewis grid was my last puzzle of that kind, so I’ll probably have to order another one soon. But I like a challenge and the Opera House cover of The New Yorker is definitely a challenge.

• Finally, today marks the fifth anniversary of Scout’s transition.

She loved her pillow.

She loved to pounce.

I loved to watch her sleep.

Here she is, talking to me.

And howling. How we loved to get her to howl! All three of us would be howling.

Do you see why we fell in love with her?

She smiled all the time and never met a stranger.

Family portrait when she turned sixteen.

We toasted her this morning and told her how much we missed her. I cried. There isn’t a day I don’t miss her presence in this house. She was pure joy. She taught us to live in the moment. She was fun, she was smart as a whip, she was our baby girl for the sixteen years that we had the honor of being her parents.

We miss you, little girl.

We love you.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Three Hundred Thirty-One

February 7, 2021 at 10:13 am by Claudia

We’re getting more snow today but none of the forecast models agree, so it looks like we could get anywhere from 2-5 inches. Our local guys are forecasting 1-3 inches but say they will be updating as the day goes on. Don is happy. Normally, I groan when I hear more snow is coming – and truthfully, I still do – but it makes him happy. He does most of the shoveling and cleanup so it gives him something to do. And both of us love seeing it fall outside our windows when we’re snug and cozy here in the house.

What’s new? Cleaning – but that’s always the case, lockdown or no lockdown. We watched The Producers on TCM last night – one of our favorite movies. I’m currently working on another book puzzle that was sent to me by a reader – this one consists of C.S. Lewis titles. I remember thinking when I saw the box, yes, he wrote a lot, but certainly not the number of books in this grid. Turns out that the same titles are repeated, but in different editions, cover art, and fonts. It’s a bit maddening.

You can see two different covers of The Screwtape Letters in this shot.

Funny thing: I’ve never actually read any C. S. Lewis, but I’ve coached at least four different adaptations of his books, most recently, The Great Divorce.

And yesterday’s mail brought my next puzzle challenge:

I love the New Yorker cover puzzles. (I got them on Amazon, if you’re interested.) I have one more arriving on Wednesday.

We’re always trying to see the positives of this isolation we’re all going through. I certainly have days when I’m restless and tired of it, as does Don. But in a conversation we had the other day, we reminded ourselves that during the course of our 26 years together, we have gone through many periods where one or both of us were on the road, where we spent long spells apart from each other. When you freelance in the performing arts, that’s what happens. You go where the work is. It is something that I believe we’ve handled with grace, but it is never easy. But now, we’ve been given the gift of time together. No travel to another city. No home-away-from-home living. Just here, in our home, together. And we’re blessed.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Day Three Hundred Thirty-Three

Day Three Hundred Thirty-Two

Day Three Hundred Thirty-One

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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