Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Non-Cheery Tuesday

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A quick post this morning. When it rains, it pours; this morning Don heard a grinding sound coming from his brakes, so we have to take it in. It’s most likely the rotors. Tomorrow, I have to pay for new tires. And, in a couple of weeks, for a 30,000 mile check-up.

$$$$

I’m also dealing with some potential weather problems this week – a week in which I have to make it to Hartford, either Thursday or Friday, for a run-through. Tomorrow night we are supposed to get 3- 5 inches of snow which will turn to – you guessed it – ice  on Thursday morning. There’s no way I’ll get out of here for a run-through on Thursday. So we have to hope we can clear all the snow and ice out by Friday so I can get to Hartford then.

I briefly considered going there today, but I don’t want to drive there without my new tires on the car and that won’t happen until tomorrow.

And I have to have dental work done in the not-too-distant future.

Suddenly, I’m feeling overwhelmed.

I want to leave you with this quote from Transcription  by Kate Atkinson, which takes place (partly) in wartime London – I read it this morning and marked it to share with you:

“The future was coming nearer, one relentless goose step after the next. Juliet could still remember when Hitler had seemed like a harmless clown. No one was amused now. (“The clowns are the dangerous ones,” Perry said.)”

Sound familiar?

This isn’t the cheeriest post, is it? Ah well. Life happens.

Leanne, if you read this, I need your phone number for Barbara – she can’t ship from Canada to the United States without a phone number for customs. I sent you an email last week and haven’t heard from you.

Happy Tuesday.

 

 

Monday & What Are You Reading?

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Because I miss Paris and this favorite place of ours, and because this photo is currently the wallpaper on my phone.

It will be warmer for the next two days and then it will drop back into the thirties. I’ll take 50 degrees tomorrow, thank you very much! I get two new front tires put on my car on Wednesday and then, depending on the weather, I’ll either drive to Hartford Thursday or Friday to watch a run-through of Jane Eyre. There’s a run-through tomorrow as well, but I didn’t want to drive there without the new tires.

Next week, I go to Hartford on the 14th to watch the first preview, spend the night, and give notes to the actors the next day. Then I’ll be done with the show.

Today? I’m not sure. My chores are all done; I was on roll over the weekend and accomplished a lot. I think I’ll get back to the stones on the dollhouse.

We had our weekly chat with Little Z yesterday. I love that kid. There is much laughter on every call and usually a detailed description of the elevators he has visited that week. He’s extraordinary, our Z. All I know is that after each call, I am filled with joy. And he brings that joy to everyone he meets. Just as Scoutie was a magic dog and spread joy everywhere, Little Z is a magic child who does the same.

We finished Hinterland  last night. The last episode was powerful on every level. What a finish! We really loved this series. What next? I’m not sure. We’ll have to see what we discover tonight. Didn’t care one whit about the Super Bowl; in fact, it was barely on our radar.

We have established a cocoon here at the cottage. We do what we want to, when we want to (except for work responsibilities, of course.) It’s one of the joys of being semi-retired and older, isn’t it? What works for us doesn’t necessarily work for someone else. But every day, especially with the world as it is, we express gratitude for our little cottage and the life we have built here. We have our little retreat (and it’s really all we need) where we can shut the world out as best we can. It isn’t always possible, but most of the time it is.

It’s time for my favorite question: What are you reading? I’m reading Transcription  by Kate Atkinson. I just started it yesterday and I’m about 50 pages into it. She’s an excellent writer and this book is no exception.

What about you?

Happy Monday.

 

 

Sunday: The Night Circus and Hinterland

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Slice of life: Don’s glasses, some nylon guitar strings, a toleware crumber that Don gave me years ago, one of our favorite houseplants, Don’s phone and a stack of books and New Yorkers that he is reading, and my McCoy bulb planter with mahjong tiles.

It’s sunny right now but it’s going to rain this afternoon.

One more episode of Hinterland  to go and we’ll watch it tonight. Despite my complaints about the interview style, the show is truly excellent. Wonderful, rich acting by all, from the leads to the small one-time-only appearances. And a great arc of character development with the lead character that has been written and acted beautifully. I’ll miss it. I’m glad we stuck with it because it was well worth it.

I feel about Hinterland  as I do about The Night Circus  or any book, movie, series that I’ve been so caught up in that I can’t imagine it ending. And then I go through a period where I have no idea what to read or watch and everything I consider will be judged, whether fairly or unfairly, on the merits of what I’ve just finished.

I finished The Night Circus  yesterday afternoon. I loved it. It’s magical, wondrous, beautifully written and imagined. It’s a love story contained within a rich fabric of the mysterious, the imagined, shifts back and forth in time, and the relationships of all who work in or encounter this circus. The descriptions of place and time are so vivid that you feel you are there. It’s very different than most books I read and I’m so glad I pulled it off the shelf at Oblong Books a couple of months ago. I recommend it highly. In fact, I can’t recommend it enough. Be patient in the beginning as you try to sort out the movement back and forth in time. It’s well worth it.

I walked around the den, pulling this book and that book, and I finally hit on a Kate Atkinson that I’ve had in my TBR stack – Transcription. That’s what I’ll be reading next.

I didn’t get to Rick’s plants yesterday, so I’ll head on over there this morning.

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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