Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I’d say 20 – 24 inches.

It never stopped. It snowed constantly during the day and all night long. It’s still snowing. This was one of the more massive storms I’ve seen. And we’re getting more snow on Sunday.

Don just went outside to start up the snow blower. I’m encouraging him to take breaks. We don’t have to be anywhere.

I shot this through the front window this morning:

I’m calling it Ghost Furniture.

It got windy in the evening and throughout the night, so there’s lots of drifting.

February promises to be…interesting.

While that was going on, I fixed my wallpaper mistakes by adding this:

Since I have beams and supports downstairs, I figured I could get away with this in the bathroom. It is a very old English Cottage, after all. In the future, I will NOT wallpaper these sloped walls. I should have stuck to what I did in the bedroom but I couldn’t make up my mind what color to paint the wall, so I went with this.

Now for the floors and then the windows and trim.

A word about Hal Holbrook who passed away on January 23rd. His death was just announced today.

I knew Hal and I was blessed to have known him. When I first moved to San Diego to teach in the MFA program at the Old Globe/University of San Diego, Hal was performing in King Lear, as, of course, Lear. He was brilliant. His daughter, Eve, was a second year student in the acting program, so I became her teacher. Because Hal had a connection to the Globe and to the MFA program, he would visit Eve from time to time. That first fall, he came to watch a dress rehearsal of a show we were doing in the MFA program. I walked into the performance space and there was Hal, sitting in the last row. It was just Hal and me in that room and it was the first time I met him. We got to chatting. Hal was the rare person who was focused completely on whoever he was talking to. I felt that throughout our entire conversation. He wanted to know all about me, where was I from, what was my background, did I like San Diego, everything. We spoke about King Lear and he mentioned he’d like to try that role again when he was 80. We talked about Eve. We talked about Mark Twain.

He was enormously talented, but he was even more kind and compassionate and good. A few months later, we went to see him in Mark Twain Tonight  and met with him backstage. I will never forget that performance, nor his graciousness to all of us. I saw him several times during that first school year. Every meeting was a blessing.

Don had a similar experience during the summer before I met him. Don was performing in Morning’s at Seven (the show I saw him in before I met him) and Hal came backstage to Don’s dressing room, grabbed his hands and told him how great he was in the role. Again, focusing entirely on Don. Don has said he’ll never forget that experience.

Rest in Peace, dear Hal. Thank you.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

We’re in the middle of a huge storm that will go on for over 24 hours. I’m not sure how much snow is on the ground at the moment, but Don has been out twice, just to clear a path to the porch and attempting to stay on top of the end of the driveway where the plow piles up a lot of snow. The last official prediction I read yesterday was 12 – 18 inches for the entire Hudson Valley, with some areas getting up to 2 feet. On one hand, it’s an enormous amount of snow and wind to deal with. On the other, it’s a relatively quiet day with very little traffic.

I added the drawer pulls to the desk yesterday. I’m quite pleased with the way this piece turned out. It will go in the bedroom, where I imagine the owner(s) take a moment to sit down and write letters, journals, etc. Oh, since I’m such a fan of planners – I have two of them on the coffee table here in the den at all times – wouldn’t it be neat to find a mini version of a planner? Hmmm.

Here’s a peek at the bathroom wallpaper. I still haven’t dealt with the mess I made, hopefully, that will be done today. But this wall is okay, so here it is.

We have thrown in the towel on Miss Scarlett and the Duke (airing on PBS just before All Creatures Great and Small.) We tried. We vowed to withhold judgement. But after countless eye rolls during last night’s airing, we are moving on. I won’t say more because some of you may be enjoying it and I don’t want to be negative – after all, it’s only our opinion. In its place, we’re going to rewatch episodes of Sherlock, one of our all-time favorite series.

February. It’s coming in like a lion. This is a strange, bittersweet time for me as in one week we will be facing the 5th anniversary of Scout’s passing. It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been five years. But it has. My dad passed away at the end of October 2015 and Scout passed away 3 months later. I need say no more, as all of you are familiar with the heartbreak of loss. You understand.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.