Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 737 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Notes from the Infirmary

February 7, 2019 at 9:59 am by Claudia

Notes from the infirmary:

At least that’s what it feels like here. Poor Don! He’s really miserable. I feel so badly for him.

I’m still coughing and blowing my nose, but I’m definitely on the mend. It’s taking a bit too long for my taste, but it is what it is.

The soundtrack here at the cottage is the sound of coughs and sneezes and blowing noses and the occasional moan. And then, sick of that particular soundtrack, we put on some Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Much better.

I should finish up Lee Child’s latest today. I love the Jack Reacher series but this one doesn’t seem quite as compelling to me. I can see the plot twists way before they happen. Usually that isn’t the case. There’s been a wee bit of disappointment this winter in the newest releases from Lee Child, Louise Penny, and Susan Hill.

I’m going to be reviewing the occasional book on the blog. Nothing like it was in the past, but here and there. When I had both the book blog and this blog and I was reviewing books right and left (hundreds of them) I reached burnout. One day, I simply deleted the book blog. And I stopped reviewing. I wanted to read for pleasure once again. And I have. It makes an enormous difference in the reading experience.

I contacted TLC Book Tours a month or so ago and asked to be put back on their list of reviewers. Right now, it looks like I’ll review one book in March and one in April, which is perfectly doable.

Oh, by the way, I also deleted my Mockingbird Hill Cottage Facebook page. I never post there. It’s just taking up virtual space. I doubt whether you’re looking for it, but if you are…it’s gone or just about to be gone. I think it stays up for 30 days after you delete it.

Cleaning house. I’m also just about done with cleaning out the office. I need to throw a few things in a trash bag and we’ll be good to go. Just haven’t had the energy to lug the trash bag outside!

I still plan to write about the movies we’ve seen, however, that takes a kind of mental energy that I’ve been lacking during this illness. But soon!

Happy Thursday.

Changes

February 6, 2019 at 10:10 am by Claudia

It’s now been a week and a half and I’m still dealing with this crappy illness. Much better, of course, but it’s tenacious and I’m still not tip-top. It isn’t until late afternoon and into the evening that I feel like I might be getting better! Don is down and out and in that stage where your head hurts and your eyes are watery and your chest is achy. Poor guy.

I heard the news last night that Anastasia Broadway is closing on March 31st. It’s been running for two years, which is a good, long run. Nevertheless, I was hoping it would run through the summer, for the sake of everyone involved. It’s left me feeling very sad. With Darko leaving Hartford Stage in the spring and Anastasia closing, I’m definitely at the end of an era in my career. I’ve been with Anastasia since its beginning at Hartford Stage – three years ago – and I truly love the show and everyone involved in it. It will take me a while to sort through all these emotions. It’s a fact: “Show Business” is a business. And when ticket sales start to wane, the producers have to make a tough call. Sometimes they make it too quickly, but their bottom line is profit and any big show has to rake in a lot of money to survive. Anastasia has had a glorious run. There are national tours in America, Stuttgart and Spain. It will live on.

Sigh.

We remain positive and know that there are opportunities awaiting us. We just can’t see them yet. And I’m deeply grateful to Darko and Hartford Stage and Anastasia.

Thought I’d share this with you. It arrived on Monday:

I couldn’t resist.

And as I searched for it online, including Maileg’s site, I quickly realized it isn’t being produced anymore. I found it online at a store in San Francisco that still had some stock and I quickly ordered it. (That will be the last frivolous thing I buy for a while!)

It’s about 6 inches high and the room with the bed slides into the outside box (the castle.) You can see the sleeping Princess through the window. It’s utterly adorable and whimsical.

And now to the mundane: time to blow my nose.

Happy Wednesday.

Strange Emotions

February 5, 2019 at 9:43 am by Claudia

I apologize for being a sporadic blogger of late. This “whatever-it-is” is taking its own sweet time leaving my system. I’m definitely seeing progress but I don’t have a lot of energy. Still coughing, sneezing, etc., but the chest is clearing and that’s a good thing. Frankly, when it takes all morning and into the afternoon for me to begin to feel halfway decent, the last thing I want to do is take a picture and blog.

And now Don has come down with it. He’s feeling pretty yucky this morning and I’m going to try to muster the energy to take care of him, like he took care of me.

For the time being, the loveseat and trunk are in our storage locker. I had a negative emotional reaction to them the other day – quite a strong one. I don’t quite understand it, and I’m sick, of course, which must have an effect on my emotions, but I couldn’t get everything back in that trunk soon enough. I also couldn’t handle seeing the loveseat in the living room and not knowing where, if anywhere, I wanted to put it. Same with the trunk.

It’s interesting. I’ve known I would have to retrieve this stuff eventually, and I kept putting it off. Most of the stuff in the trunk is memorabilia from high school and college and my time as a camp counselor. None of it symbolized an unhappy memory. But I couldn’t stand looking at it. I tried to articulate it to my husband and he, being the incredibly wise man he is, stepped in and said he understood and did I want him to move them to storage for now?

Yes, I said. So he did just that yesterday and I felt a wave of relief. All of this has been in my friend’s basement since I moved away to go to graduate school, which would have been 1983. Why it’s triggering such strong feelings, I have no idea.

I almost didn’t share this with you but I knew you’d ask me where I decided to put things. So there’s your answer: in storage.

I did keep the Haviland china here. No negative reaction to that.

This is the Pink Roses pattern. It’s Haviland Limoges and it was made in France – at least, the serving pieces have those markings- the teacups are marked ‘Austria.’ I’ll have to do some research into Haviland patterns. Since this was my great grandmother’s set of dishes, it’s from the late 1880s – early 1890s. As with much of the Haviland pieces of the time, there’s a lot of gold on the handles and edges.

I’m going to try and clear a shelf in the china cabinet in the den and display them there, which means I’ll have to re-home some of my McCoy pieces.

Okay. That’s it for today.

Happy Tuesday.

Notes from the Infirmary

Changes

Strange Emotions

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives