Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Potting

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It’s rainy today, but I find I’m not minding it at all. I’m sure this is because I got a lot done yesterday and the day before, and though there is more to do, I don’t feel so desperate for a rainless day.

It’s a gentle type of rain today; Don’s playing the guitar in the living room, we’ve had our second cup of coffee together on the sofa, I finished the Donna Leon this morning, and I meditated.

We watched Marty  last night on TCM. Don hadn’t seen the movie version, just the live television version that aired in the early fifties with Rod Steiger. All I said to Don before the movie started – which I’ve seen – is that it will change the way in which you see Ernest Borgnine. If your experience of him is only that of McHale’s Navy, well then… But if you see his beautiful performance in Marty, well, that’s another story.

What a wonderful actor he was, pitch perfect in this role. And much better than Steiger, in my humble opinion. Steiger was a method actor and it sometimes showed in a bit or more than a bit of self-indulgence. Don’t get me wrong, Steiger was a fine actor. But I can tell the difference. Anyway, method acting is a topic for another day.

Betsy Blair, in the female lead, is also wonderful. It’s not an easy role to play; it requires no artifice, no excess. She is also pitch perfect.

It’s only about 90 minutes long and if you haven’t seen it, I hope you can someday.

I worked outside yesterday potting plants.

Eventually, the impatiens will fill out these pots and last until the first frost. I don’t have quite enough, so I’ll have to buy some more.

I also potted the coleus and vines in the antique pots I have out back in the Secret Garden, but it’s so wet back there with this rain we’ve been having, that I can’t get a good shot at the moment. Later this week, fingers crossed.

Nothing here yet; the plants I want for these pots aren’t yet in stock at the nursery.

There’s more weeding and mulching to be done, more pots to fill, more potting soil to purchase, as well as top soil. I will plant my seeds sometime this week. When all of that is done, I will sit on the glider and relax.

Happy Sunday.

 

Saturday Rambling

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Sick of the endless gray and rainy days, I headed off to our local nursery to buy some plants. Weather: You’re not going to stop me any longer! I need to pretty up my porch!

You can see just how gray the skies were, but the plants on display everywhere are lovely! This is my favorite nursery and it’s a straight shot down the road from us. Ten minutes at the most.

I bought coleus and vines for the vintage pots out in the Secret Garden, two hanging plants (not the usual three – trying to save a bit of money,) impatiens, some calibrachoa, and a hollyhock. I’ve no idea where I’m going to plant the hollyhock as we’ve dismantled the raised bed that was just outside our kitchen door. That area gets a lot of sun, so hollyhocks do well there. I have to find some sort of planter.

But it was cold and rainy, so I held off planting anything until today. It rained all last night here but the day itself will be rain free. Cloudy, but no rain.

We watched the end of the movie version of Our Town as we were eating dinner last night. It brought forth groans from both of us. Our Town (one of my favorite plays) was – more than most any play I can think of – written for the stage. Not film. The sets are suggested with a chair or a table. The Stage Manager breaks the Fourth Wall to tell us the story. None of that transmits well to the screen, so filling out the story with real sets just looks silly.

Both of us know this play well, as Don has been in it and I’ve coached it.

And…our mouths dropped open as we gasped in disbelief when we realized they had changed the ending of the play so that Emily lives, rather than dies. Are you kidding me? That’s the most important and heartbreaking scene in the play! Unbelievable!

I’m sure the producers decided the audience needed a happy ending. Oh, for heaven’s sake, give the audience some credit! Plus, Martha Scott and an almost unrecognizable William Holden are too old to play George and Emily. When we watch whatever is playing on TCM while we eat dinner, we get a glimpse of movies that we might not watch otherwise and sometimes we make sure to watch the entire movie after that. This one? No. Way.

This is the month in which our new sofa will be delivered. We’re excited. It probably won’t be here until the end of the month, but it’s coming. And every time I sit on the loveseat and feel it sinking a bit more (broken wood brace in the front) I cross my fingers, willing it to hang in there until the new loveseat arrives.

Don’s been working on his guitar playing, teaching himself via a well-known guitarist’s videos. I am fortunate to have Don playing in the background as I write this. Beautiful.

Four of the actors nominated for a Tony Award are actors I have worked with and coached. All of them are incredibly talented. I’m so happy for them. And for everyone else, including some designers I have worked alongside on various productions. And Terrence McNally, the writer of Anastasia  as well as many other plays, is getting a special Tony this year.

Okay. Have to get a move on!

Happy Saturday.

 

Friday, No Blue Skies in Sight

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Okay. I’m going to moan and grown for a second. Another day of gray skies, colder than usual temperatures, and rain. That seems to be our Spring. The sunny days have been the rare exception and it’s getting both Don and me down. We keep busy, but come on! Enough already!

Plus, the weather forecast is all over the map. I’ve never seen it change as much – and, on a dime – as it has lately. Yesterday, I mulched the memorial garden bed. I was about to mulch another garden bed when I checked the weather app. Rain was due at 3 pm. The front lawn was really overdue for a mowing, as we’ve had so much rain. Don wasn’t home. So I hauled out the mower – I’m still not in full mowing mode muscle-wise – and I mowed the front lawn. If I hadn’t, the grass would have been impossible to cut. I made an ‘executive decision’ because I knew Don would want to be in on the mowing, but I felt I had to do my best to outrun the rain.

I finished, put everything away, came in the house and took a shower, looked at the weather app again and, in the 90 minutes since I had made the decision to mow, the forecast had changed from a lot of rain at 3 pm to some ‘drizzle’ in the evening. What the heck? Last night, it looked like there would be two sunny days next week – Tuesday and Wednesday. Today’s change in the forecast? Rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. And every other day of the week.

Screaming.

Okay. I’ve gone on too long. I know many of you are going through the same thing. As Don said, “We went through such a long winter, don’t we deserve some sun?” He really wants to take photographs, but so far, there has only been one weekend – 3 weeks ago – that wasn’t rainy.

Thanks for your patience. I won’t rant anymore.

Flowering quince. There aren’t as many blooms as last year (lack of sun?) Or did I miss them? They’re also somewhat buried in the bush making picture taking difficult.

I took this late yesterday afternoon as Don and I were inhaling the scent of the lilacs. I was entranced by the different shades on the blossoms.

More lilac beauty.

Even with all the gray skies, there is so much growth in the garden beds. There are changes every day and I’m, as always, fascinated by them. Watching green things grow is better than watching a movie. And that’s saying something!

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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