Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Fall, Books, and Redford

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The landscape has changed so much! Leaves on the ground, flowers decreasing, the light changing. It’s definitely autumn around here. I have to get out and do some weeding, but I’m still a wee bit tired from the job in New Jersey. Don has been urging me to rest.

I love autumn, but it leaves me a bit melancholy, as it means winter is just around the corner. But mostly, I love it and it’s always quite beautiful around here. The black walnuts started dropping leaves a month or so ago. The maple leaves are turning gold, and the limelight hydrangeas are turning pink. (I’ll get some pictures today.)

I just finished Daniel Silva’s newest mystery and returned it to the library yesterday. While I was there, I picked up another book I had on hold. I now have two rather large tomes to read before the end of the month. One is due on the 25th, the other is due on the 30th. I have mapped it out; I have to read a certain number of pages a day in order to finish both of them on time. Will I finish them on time? Stay tuned.

The news that Robert Redford passed away has left me feeling so sad. Don, too. What an amazing man he was; so talented, so dedicated to his work and to Sundance and to the environment. His was a noble life and we are all better for ‘knowing’ him. I had a poster from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  on the wall of my dorm room. Three Days of the Condor  and All the President’s Men  are two of my favorite films. And his direction of Ordinary People  was simply exquisite. He was a true movie star in the best sense of that phrase and there aren’t many of them left. He was also an extraordinarily good man. Rest in Peace.

The girls are getting a change of clothing. Four down, many more to go.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday,

 

Back Home

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I’m back and my work on the show is finished.

I’m really tired. But the experience of working with Darko and this wonderful cast of actors was so satisfying. Gems – all of them. Saturday was the first preview performance and the house was full. Oh my goodness, what a reaction! They got everything – every bit of humor, every bit of mystery (there were several audible gasps.) It was so exciting. I was sitting next to Darko and what happiness to see the joy on his face. This is his baby. As he says, he is wearing two hats – playwright/adapter and director. I think both were very proud.

There’s still work to be done as is normal in the theater. There will be preview performances at night through next Thursday. During the day, they’ll be rehearsing, fixing things, adding things, playing with lights, etc. Though Darko does sometimes ‘freeze’ a show a couple of days early. It just depends. Opening night is next Friday.

I’ve loved coaching again; working with actors, watching, noting, communicating. I love my work.

The exhausting part came from the logistics, the insane drive in New Jersey, trying to eat as cheaply as I could while staying in a hotel, that kind of thing. I’ve driven over 700 miles commuting back and forth, much of it on the Garden State Parkway, a road I will studiously avoid in the future. I have several more gray hairs because of that parkway.

So I’m tired.

But when I said goodbye to Darko, I thanked him for bringing me on board and he said “Until the next time.” So I know he’ll use me again. That makes me happy. When Darko discovers that he likes and respects you and wants to work with you again, you are gathered into his circle, his family. He is very loyal.

I don’t need to work a lot. But I do need to work.

And I can still do it.

After a year and a half of no work, I cannot tell you how satisfying this experience was.

Busy

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For two basically sedentary senior citizens, we’ve been awfully busy lately. I’ve been going back and forth to the theater in New Jersey, Don had a gig this past weekend, along with having to borrow a truck to get there. He also had a theater audition in NYC on Monday and got a call back for yesterday, so he had to go into the city twice. This morning, we have to film a self-tape audition for a movie and on Friday, I go back to New Jersey.

Plus, I mowed the front lawn on Monday and weed whacked everything yesterday.

Don’s audition was for a play on Broadway. Before you get excited, he’s pretty sure he didn’t get the part. BUT, the good thing is that he auditioned for a very famous British director who was terrific and kind and clearly loves working with actors. When he called him back for a second audition, he gave Don specific adjustments to work on. Actors love that. So, Don ended up having a great experience which reminded him that he is a very good actor and that acting is what he loves to do. I had an experience like that several years back and I know what that feels like. You remember: “Oh, that’s right! I’m really, really good at this!” It’s a huge high. So I’m very happy for him.

He saws lots of actors there that he knows and are in his same age range. One of them walked up to Don and asked if he was Don Sparks and when Don said yes, he said he’d worked with me. I remember him and it was at Hartford Stage. A lovely man

But, we’re tired….a good tired, though.

I’m going to take it easy today and tomorrow before I have to head back to New Jersey on Friday. Then I work on Friday and Saturday, check out of the hotel on Sunday, and head home.

Yesterday, while Don was gone, I was watching goldfinches in the garden. All photos taken from inside the house.

Enjoying the birdbath.

Three of them were in this patch of coneflowers, munching on seeds.

(I think he saw me.)

Goldfinches are beautiful and they happen to be one of Don’s favorite birds. I wish he had been here to see these bright flashes of yellow, flitting throughout the gardens.

See you on Monday,

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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