Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Insects, Former Students, & The Overstory

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I took a little walk around the gardens yesterday in between massive thunderstorms. We had two days of big, prolonged, and loud thunderstorms. Huge cracks of thunder which shook the house, torrential rain that seemed to go on and on – what I think of as summer storms.

Anyway, sometimes I wander around just to see if I can spy some insect life on the flowers.

Look at this guy! Miniscule!

I looked for the yellow garden spider. The web was still there, but no spider. When they leave, they usually dismantle the web, so I figured he was still around somewhere. Then I noticed him on top of one of the nearby coneflowers.

He was expanding his web. You can see part of it on the left. This guy is like a major property developer. If you could only see how large this three-sided complex is, you’d be astounded! By the way, one of my former students commented on IG that I should name him Edward.

So Edward it is.

I was chatting on Instagram with a former student, Brian Hutchison, who is currently out in Los Angeles filming The Boys in the Band, along with another former student, Jim Parsons. They were part of the cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production about a year ago and now it’s being recorded on film. Anyway, apparently Jim and Brian were talking about me the other day and that made me smile. I’m so proud of both of them – truly nice guys who have done well. Brian sent me a picture of the two of them on set. We’re all still friends and I’m so grateful for that.

It’s always nice to hear from former students – both from the Old Globe/USD and Boston University. My extended family, I suppose. Thankfully, most of them keep in touch via Facebook or Instagram or email. I can follow their careers, their marriages, babies – quite frankly, that’s the only reason I remain on Facebook. It connects me to hundreds of former students.

I finished the Kate Atkinson yesterday and dropped it off at the library. I’ve started The Overstory  by Richard Powers, which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It’s rather extraordinary, unlike anything I’ve read before. I don’t have the words to describe it yet, so I’ll use the words from the publisher’s blurb on the back of the book.

“National Book Award winner Richard Powers’s twelfth novel is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of – and paean to – the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, The Overstory  unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours – vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.”

So far, I’m completely enthralled and I expect to feel even more so as I delve further into the novel. He is a beautiful writer. I’ve had my eye on it for a while, but it just came out in paperback and that clinched the deal.

My back is getting much better. It’s still sore when I first wake up and begin to move around, but on the whole, I’ve turned a corner.

Happy Thursday.

Deconstructed

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You might have seen this on Instagram yesterday.

My dear husband had been watering the plants for me while I rested my back. He tends to be overzealous with the water. The day before yesterday, I felt ready to water the porch plants once more (Don was in the city.)

I immediately noticed a large amount of water on top of the former kitchen island. And some of that water had run down the front of the piece. I ran for some paper towels and quickly realized that the water had probably been there for a couple of days, resulting in the veneer warping – both on top of the cabinet and on the drawer fronts.

I was actually pretty calm about it since I knew the veneers were problematical given the fact that this piece is now outside on the porch. The sides of the cabinet had already shown some evidence of warping. I grabbed a screwdriver to separate the two drawers (which had expanded due to the water) and then I started peeling the veneer.

Current status.

There’s more to do. Frankly, I had already envisioned getting rid of the veneer, which has been troublesome from the beginning – way back when I first painted this formerly dark sideboard. When it was still in the kitchen, I pondered taking the top down to the raw wood. But then Stella came and all of that was shelved.

The whole thing needs a new paint job and some weather proofing. Whether I keep it two-toned or paint it all white again is the question. So far, the cupboard doors are fine. I may peel the veneer on the sides of the cabinet.

Don, having been told of his overwatering mistake, said: “I like it better this way.” (I’m sure he does.)

I’m not averse to it either. It gives it some texture. And I like chippy things, which, given the current condition of the sideboard, is putting it mildly.

This will be a good Autumn Project.

Maybe Don is just trying to keep me busy.

Happy Wednesday.

 

The Mundane

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“These are the days of our lives…”

For some reason the theme music for that soap went through my head this morning as I wondered what I would write about today. My days of late consist of babying my back. Or not babying it and paying the price.

What a giant bore!

As you know, I like to be active, even if ‘active’ consists of routine chores. I did do some chores yesterday, mostly because I was so sleep deprived. When I’m really, really tired I tend to do more chores as it keeps me from feeling sorry for myself and/or sighing constantly and bemoaning my lack of sleep. So I did do a few things and it helped me get through the day.

But I’m really sick of talking about it. So let’s move on.

Don is in the city today for an audition. I’m glad he has one, but the grass needs to be cut and I can’t do it. And we need groceries. These are first world problems, I realize. All in good time.

I will most likely finish Big Sky  by Kate Atkinson today. It’s wonderful, just as I expected. I’m not sure what I’ll start next. Maybe a bit of non-fiction? Another first world problem: trying to figure out what to read from the piles of unread books sitting in my den.

So far so good, the rest of the sunflowers haven’t been chomped on – I checked this morning. We did have a visit from our lovely bunny, but he eats the grass and weeds. I’m most appreciative.

That’s about it, my friends. I realize this is rather mundane, but it’s real!

I just read that Toni Morrison died. What a profound loss. Rest in Peace.

Happy Tuesday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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