Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Thought you might want to check on on The Dude.

As expected, he’s cool.

The DNC was the best convention I have ever seen. Beyond ‘best.’  In the past, I never watched the entire broadcast from start to finish. I would check in and out, or tune in for the final speech of the night. This time, I didn’t want to miss anything. And I’m happy to say I didn’t. One powerful speaker after another – our bench is really deep – one moment laughing, the next crying. I could try to highlight certain moments, but frankly, there are way too many! (And I have ‘stayed-up-too-late-too-many-nights-in-a-row’ brain.)

Tim Walz. What an extraordinary man. And his son Gus shouting “That’s my dad! That’s my dad!” Pure, unbridled love for his father.

All of it culminating in the best acceptance speech I have ever heard. Kamala knocked it out of the park…out of the universe!

So glad we watched it on C-Span. We got to hear the house band, and watch the dance breaks with the delegates dancing along with the music. No pundits explaining something I just witnessed. Just the pure, unfiltered experience.

I’m feeling so hopeful this morning. I’ve never been a big flag waver. And then the ‘other side’ coopted it when they claimed to be “patriots.” We have taken it back, thank goodness.

Oh gosh, my thoughts are a jumble this morning. Thank you to the DNC for a masterful and joyful convention.

It’s been a week of late nights, lots of mowing, lots of reading, and lots of naps. Oh, and lots of good weather!

More tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

It’s 57 degrees out there. What???  It was 61 yesterday. I know this is a brief respite as it will get warmer in the next couple of days, but I’m in the “I’m ready for fall” stage. I had to put on a sweater this morning! Funny how one minute I’m saying I’m not ready for fall, and the next minute I’m completely ready.

Oh, my goodness, the DNC is fabulous this year! We are glued to the television every night. On C-Span, I might add. No talking heads, no cutting away to some pundit’s take, no commercials. Just the feed. There is also a DNC feed on YouTube. Even PBS, which I thought I might try the first night, had pundits sitting around a special set. So we moved on. It’s been so lovely not being lectured on what I’m already seeing and can grasp on my own.

Last night’s Roll Call, with music by a DJ, was brilliant. Each state had different music. For example, Michigan’s music was by Eminem, who is from Detroit. Tennessee’s music was 9 to 5 by their own Dolly Parton. They took something that is usually rather boring and made it joyous.

And the Obamas…there are no words. Michelle Obama knocked it out of the park. I’m still thinking about that speech.

We’re a bit tired because, not long after 16 days of late nights with the Olympics, we’re doing it again. But only two more nights, so we can do it. It’s worth it. I feel inspired and hopeful and I’m watching smart people speak with passion and intelligence, which is heaven.

I mowed a lot on Monday and will mow some more today. The front lawn is getting too long and today with its cool temperatures is the perfect day to tackle it. But I’ll wait until around noon when the grass is less dewy.

My monstera plant is in the midst of its annual spurt of new leaves. Usually, there are 4 – 6 new leaves. What boggles my mind is the fact the the plant knows exactly when to start a new leaf. A new leaf will emerge from a stem – very slowly – and over the course of 4 or 5 days it will slowly unfurl. At the exact point when the leaf has fully opened, the beginnings of a new leaf starts to separate from another stem. How does the plant know how to do this? All the energy goes to one new leaf, then, when that’s accomplished, the energy is transferred to another new shoot. Amazing.

One more of Wren:

The little worrier.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

This sunset occurred about a week ago. If you look just above the sunset near the trees on the left, you’ll see the crescent moon.

Monday again. We had rain and thunderstorms yesterday and it looks like we’ll get more later this afternoon. There was terrible flooding in Connecticut. I hope the readers of this blog that live there are okay.

I thought I might mow but it looks like Mother Nature has other plans. I’ve been cleaning bathrooms (my least favorite job,) reading a lot, and hanging out with my husband. We finished watching season 4 of Babylon Berlin and now we’re going to watch it again from the very beginning. The same with Northern Exposure, which we also finished. The last season of that show was not as good as the others. Rob Morrow, who played Dr. Joel Fleischman, wanted to leave the series to work in film and the producers talked him into staying for a portion of the final season. After his departure, they brought in another doctor and his wife and the writing and storytelling declined. We have lots of thoughts on what went wrong. Morrow was the heart of the series and his departure left a huge hole. They shouldn’t have brought in two new characters. The rest of the cast was excellent and wonderfully quirky and their storylines would have been just fine. The writing was uneven. Watching the latter half of that season found me sighing. A lot. We want to watch it again, but this time it will only be seasons 1 – 5.

This week, however, will be primarily reserved for the Convention. Conventions often bore me, but this time? I think it will be exciting and hopeful and just what the doctor ordered.

This morning Don has to go to the eye doctor and I am going to attempt – again – to return a book to Amazon, which means I have to drive to a Staples south of us. If you remember, the last time I tried to return the book, I got all the way to Staples and a woman coming back to her car told me that their online connection to Amazon wasn’t working so they couldn’t process returns. I’m girding my loins and giving it another try.

Little birds, probably Carolina wrens, are sleeping in the hanging plants overnight and I can hear them waking up in the morning. It is the sweetest thing. I heard them on Saturday morning and then three of them appeared on the porch railing. This morning, I heard them again. It was still dark out but light was beginning to appear in the sky. Last year, we had a Carolina wren sleeping on top of the porch light. I’m glad they feel safe here.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.