Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Off to Get the Jab

September 22, 2025 at 7:44 am by Claudia

We’re off to get vaccinated this morning, so I’m posting early.

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. I loved seeing the plant that’s across the room reflected on this wall. It was a ‘perfect timing’ kind of thing.

We took it easy on the weekend. Something happened to my neck and a muscle in my upper back – most likely from sleeping funny – and I was having a lot of pain. So I was very careful for a couple of days and now it’s almost back to normal. So what do I do? I proceed to get shots in my arm, which will be sore, along with my neck. Thankfully, I can stay home and get through any reaction I might have without any work obligations.

I’m almost done with Katabasis. I’ve really loved reading this book. I will finish it today.

Ever hopeful, I sow morning glory seeds every year. There have been changes in our climate in the past several years and morning glories don’t bloom – if they bloom at all – before October. They used to bloom in late August/September. Last year, for the first time in a long time, I had an actual flower and lots of buds which were promptly destroyed by an early frost.

Now, it’s the last week of September and I see no signs of flower buds. Will there be any?  I even planted the seeds a week earlier this year. I don’t know what will happen. I do miss the masses of morning glories I used to get.

Fingers crossed.

Okay. Have to make our second cup of coffee before we head off to Walgreen’s.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Filed Under: life 10 Comments

Random Thoughts on Saturday

September 20, 2025 at 8:53 am by Claudia

A quick little post today, as I don’t have a whole lot to say! It’s a beautiful Saturday and Autumn is officially two days away. We had a lovely but hard summer with lots of extremes in temperature, rain, no rain, air quality warnings from smoke, and excessive heat warnings.

So, Don and I are definitely ready for Fall. Oh yes indeed.

A little grocery shopping today, a lot of reading (I didn’t read enough yesterday,) and I’m not sure what else. I was going to mow today but I’ve pulled a muscle in my upper back. I’m sure it will calm down but I don’t want to aggravate it by mowing.

We’re getting our Covid vaccine and flu shots on Monday morning. None of this “no vaccine” nonsense for us. We’ve never had Covid because we’re very careful and we’ve renewed our vaccines every year. Heck, if I have to wear a mask again, I will. I wore a mask for 15 hours a day when we were shooting Spoiler Alert. For six weeks. No one on that set got sick – and we worked all over NYC. We have a responsibility not only to ourselves but to everyone around us.

End of lecture.

I’m really loving Katabasis. Lots more reading on the docket for today.

Jessie resting in the basket right before we set out for New Jersey.

Jessie in the hotel room.

These girls are great company when I have to travel solo.

The play opened last night and it went really well. Hurrah!

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: life 12 Comments

Pink

September 19, 2025 at 8:59 am by Claudia

I love that limelight hydrangeas turn pink. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to happen in the spring – pinkish pastel flowers – but no, limelights turn everything upside down and give us this delicate pink in the fall. What an unexpected treat.

This week has been quite beautiful, with temperatures in the 70s, cool mornings, and abundant sunlight. We’re still in a drought and the rivers are very low. This is a repeat of what happened last year. I’m not so stressed about it this time because I know at some point we’ll start getting a ton of rain. Just not now.

I’m reading Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang. It’s quite magical, in fact, it’s about doctoral students at Oxford University studying to be magicians. It’s much more than that, though. Two of them travel to Hell to bring back their recently deceased mentor. The first Kuang I read was Babel. I really loved it. I then tried The Poppy Wars Trilogy (maybe her first books?) and I got about halfway through them and lost interest. Then I read Yellowface, which was wonderful. And now, Katabasis. Rebecca is a truly wonderful author. I love the way her mind works. Fantasy fiction is not a genre I am drawn to, as a rule, but Babel was so impressive that I vowed to read more of her work. And she is impressive. If you ever read her bio, you’ll see what I mean. I can’t conceive of accomplishing all she has at such a young age. I’m reading at least 100 pages a day so I can finish it and get to the next book in my queue. Katabasis  is due on the 25th, and The Hallmarked Man  is due on the 30th. A note about the latter book. It’s written by Robert Galbraith who is really JK Rowling. I’ve read all the books in this mystery series, and hesitated about this one because of Rowling’s hateful anti-trans stance. I’ve been disgusted by her actions. So, I vowed not to buy the book and I haven’t. No more money in her coffers. I got in a queue for it in our library system. It clocks in at 897 pages, so I’ll have to do the same kind of scheduling I did for Katabasis. Luckily, I have a fair amount of free time at the moment.

I also have the newest in Mick Herron’s Slough House series, Clown Town, which I preordered a few months back and promptly forgot about. It arrived here last week. And Louise Penny’s newest is on the horizon. It’s a good time for losing myself in books, and heaven knows, I need that. We all do.

Tonight is opening night for the play. Break a leg, my friends! (I’m also happy because that means I will get the second half of my fee and a check for travel reimbursement sometime next week.)

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: books, flowers 12 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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