Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A River, A Book & A Movie

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From our morning walk, which, even though early, was pretty humid.

Literally just down the road from us. The same river that is also just across the street from us.

We live in a beautiful place.

88 degrees and humid today. And tomorrow. And Saturday. Yikes. I do my best to refrain from turning on the air conditioner until it becomes unbearable. It’s nice to get some fresh air in the house before we have to close it up.

I guess we went right from rainy spring to hot and humid.

We watched a foreign movie last night on Netflix: Todos lo saben – or Everyone Knows. It stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, two extremely talented actors who happen to be married to each other in real life. I won’t give away the plot. It’s terrific – beautifully filmed and a gripping story line. It was so powerful for us that we talked about it for an hour this morning over our second cup of coffee and we’re going to watch it again tonight. The cast, most of whom I’m unfamiliar with, is uniformly excellent. There’s something about watching a foreign film, where most of the actors are unknown to you, that allows you to sink into the plot. Not that American actors aren’t talented, they are, but there’s so much ‘image’ and ‘celebrity’ larger-than-life stuff that you already know about them and you can’t help but be aware that it’s Julia Roberts, say, or George Clooney, playing a role. It’s not fair to them, of course. It’s just the way it is.

Anyway, it’s quite well done. Excellent.

I’m about midway through The Diary of a Bookseller  and I’m really enjoying it. The author is slightly irascible in a wonderful way and his observations about the book trade, customers and the looming threat of Amazon are edifying. I find myself chuckling out loud frequently.

Happy Thursday.

 

Wednesday

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You can see some of the yarrow that is growing in the corral. It’s taller than this now, as this picture was taken last week. Interestingly, it has self-seeded on either side of the path that the dogs created. And that we use, as well. The path isn’t marked. It just is, and it’s as if the yarrow knew that.

Very hot and humid here in the Hudson Valley. We had very heavy rains yesterday morning (of course we did, the hydrangeas had just bloomed – another unwritten rule) but we managed to escape the thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon. I stayed indoors reading. As with the day after all ‘big events’ a slight feeling of letdown permeated the day. I was slightly irritable, my allergies were a pain in the tush, I didn’t know what to do with myself. And, most importantly, I couldn’t get those children being held in detention, aka concentration, camps at the border out of my mind. I can’t write about it. I’ll cry. It’s all I’m thinking about right now. And trying not to think about.

I was stationed on the sofa in the living room, reading The Diary of a Bookseller, which I’m really enjoying.

We installed the air conditioner in the office this morning. We’d held off on that one but it’s been really, really warm in there and I have lots of plants scattered around the room. Plus, Don keeps his guitars there. Too much heat isn’t good for them.

We’re going to take a little walk as soon as I finish this. We keep forgetting to do that and I want us to get back on track. Books, blogs, guitars, gardens – we’re quite easily distracted and, before we know it, the day has passed without a walk.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Flowers & Celebrations

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Some garden pictures, taken on Sunday:

We had a lovely low-key celebratory day yesterday. That’s what Don wanted and I was more than happy to comply.

I found a small cake for him from a local bakery – if I was eating sugar, I would have been thrilled because it was chocolate and buttercream and hazlenuts and all things yummy. It was the perfect size, not so big that you feel you have to eat it for days, not so small that it’s all gone in one bite. (I didn’t really even have a craving for it, which is a good sign, as I’ve been off sugar for 3 weeks now.)

I sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles and he loved his presents. He had asked for an inexpensive watch because he was sick of checking his phone to get the time of day. I found a rather stylish Timex that I thought he would like and it was a big success. He also was the recipient of two new books.

Don is such an interesting guy. He has a thirst for knowledge that I deeply admire. He never went to college. He’s self-educated and he’s whip smart. In the past year, he has been delving into several subjects – he calls them his ‘courses.’ The non-fiction books he reads are dense – far too dense for me. He reads a lot.

And, though he’s played guitar since he was 12 years old, he is studying online with a well-known guitar player. He practices every day for hours. All of the pieces are complicated and completely instrumental.

He’s so disciplined about his reading and his guitar study. I am not nearly so disciplined about anything!

We also had a FaceTime call with our Little Z, who is not so little anymore. He was having a great birthday, but was yawning because all that celebrating is tiring! He sent a video Happy Birthday message to his Uncle Don in the morning and we sang to him on the phone until he interrupted us to tell us all about his new iPad. I love hearing him talk about pretty much anything, including an iPad.

He’s still young enough that he gives us kisses on the phone. I hope that lasts a bit longer.

A lovely day. Two lovely guys.

I finished 84, Charing Cross Road  this morning. Absolutely charming. And now, on to The Diary of a Bookseller.

We’ve got thunderstorms headed our way this afternoon and the rest of the week will have temperatures in the high eighties. I guess it’s summer.

Thank you for all the lovely birthday greetings!

Happy Tuesday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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