Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You Never Know What You’ll Find When Recycling

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First, proof that the butterfly bush is still alive:

After I took this, I cut back more of the old wood. Growth is really slow this year, but we haven’t had much rain. Thankfully, we got rain off and on during the day yesterday and lots of rain last night. We may get some thunderstorms today, as well.

What do you see in this picture that is new? If you follow me on Instagram, you already know the answer.

I recycled yesterday and when I went to the transfer station/town dump, I noticed this:

I took a quick picture for IG and went on my way to our local nursery. The IG post said something about the discovery of the dollhouse and that I needed another dollhouse like a hole in the head.

I promptly forgot about it as I went to work laying down more mulch and adding another plant to the shade garden. I was busy doing outdoor things until about 2:00, at which point, I came in the house, took a shower, and had lunch. Not until about 2:45 did I check Instagram. I saw comment after comment about the dollhouse, that I should get it, that I could redo it and give it away, or auction it off, etc.

Suddenly it hit me upside the head. I had to rescue it.

I jumped in the car, hoping that the transfer station was still open. I knew that someone else might have snagged it by then, which would have been mildly disappointing, but – let’s face it – I have more dollhouses than I know what to do with and I haven’t done anything with at least three of them. It’s been a dollhouse dry spell for quite a long time.

When I pulled up, there it was. Still sitting on the ground, all by itself. I asked Dan, who runs the place, if I could take it. He said I could. Dan sees things that people throw in the large dumpsters and occasionally pulls something that he thinks someone might want. He almost always pulls toys that are in good shape, knowing that someone will love it.

So I grabbed it and he said if he came across any more dollhouses, he’d save them for me. (Gulp.)

Here it is. It’s an inexpensive house and, though not put together as badly as Hummingbird Cottage was when I first got it, it needs work.

Not the best picture as it’s very gray outside and there’s not a lot of light.

I’m thinking ‘Carpenter Gothic,’ a style I’ve always been drawn to.

As you can see, I’ve already started ripping up the ugly green carpet and the kitchen tiles. Whoever put it together did a good job of it. I need to repair a few things and add wood putty to those slits that show on the outside and inside The shingles are the same shingles that are on Hummingbird Cottage. I’ll get rid of the trim at the top because it’s out of scale and makes the dollhouse look too childlike. As you know, my dollhouses aren’t for kids, they’re for adults!

The bedroom.

Bathroom.

Kitchen.

Living room.

There is trim missing here and there:

It needs a fair amount of work. But somehow, even though I have my modern dollhouse (which I have done next to nothing to) and my loft, also next to nothing, and my 1/2″ scale house that I’m supposedly building, this little freebie has jump started an urge to work on something. Just like Hummingbird Cottage, I get energized by the chance to rehab, flip, whatever you want to call it.

I’m glad everyone urged me to go back and get it. After I picked it up, I wondered what I had been thinking when I left it behind. I know what I was thinking: we have no room for it. But, what the heck. With the horrific things happening to our country, I need something, in addition to reading and gardening, to keep me sane.

Maybe the angels thought the same thing and led me to it.

More later.

Don told me that Christy (the lead in Anastasia  and one of my favorite people in the world) had a rare night off last night and she came to the show with her boyfriend. He got to talk to her afterwards. She loved it. I’m so glad she got to see it before it closes. I like it when my worlds – Anastasia  and Escape to Margaritaville  – collide.

Happy Thursday.

Thoughts on Wednesday

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Penstemon growing wild down by the road.

I worked on the new shade bed yesterday. I added some compost, planted the hostas I bought last week and transplanted the hosta and the heuchera that I had planted in the big garden bed earlier this spring. Because of the loss of some big maple limbs in various storms, it’s really not shady enough to support those two plants. So, they are now in the shade garden.

The ten milkweed plants that are right by the porch are blooming and the scent is heavenly. But something out there, whether it’s the milkweed or some other culprit, is making my allergies flare up. I sat on the porch this morning and I’m definitely feeling worse. Hmmm…

A freakish early morning glory. I plant both blue and purple morning glories and the purples always grow more quickly than the blues. I was surprised to see this little bloom this morning and it brought a smile to my face. Clearly, the bugs love the leaves.

You certainly don’t have to comment on this, but since this is a very difficult week for us, I will be sharing my thoughts on the closing of Margaritaville. Don always calls me as he’s walking away from the theater after having signed autographs outside the stage door. Last night, as we were talking, people kept stopping him to tell him how much they loved the show. I can hear the conversations in the background as Don tells me to ‘hold on’ while he chats with everyone. He loves people, he loves the show, he loves the character he plays, and most importantly, he loves bringing joy to the audience members. When I hear these conversations, I am reminded, once again, of what an enormous loss this is. For the cast and crew and creatives, for the audience members who come back again and again, and for my husband. I love him so much and my heart breaks for him. He, being the man he is, is trying to keep a positive attitude, but I know he is hurting.

We are well aware of the blessings that have come to us via this show and we acknowledge them all the time. Maybe something else will come along, maybe not. But it won’t be this show, this role. Don has been acting professionally for over 40 years and he has done every kind of role there is, from Shakespeare and Shaw to Frasier  to L.A. Law  to PBS American Experience  to Escape to Margaritaville. He has always felt that this role was a perfect fit. I’ve certainly never seen him happier with a role and I’ve been with him almost 24 (next week) years.

I’ve also never seen such a closely knit cast full of beautiful souls.

Sunday is going to be a very emotional day.

I think about it all the time and I can’t even type this without crying. It is what it is, I know that. But what it is, sucks.

Deep breath. Off to recycle and buy some more mulch. We may – fingers crossed – get some rain today.

Happy Wednesday.

Back at the Cottage

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A lovely and crazy 24 hours or so in NYC.

I got to spend some time with Don before he left to do the matinee and we made plans to meet at the theater at the end of the show and then go on to dinner. I decided to go down to Greenwich Village to visit a bookstore. It was incredibly hot and humid in the city and it was Pride weekend. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, but of course the Village, of all places, was going to be packed with celebrants!

As I tried to make my way to the bookshop, there were crowds everywhere, music playing, people dancing and…the parade.

Wherever I went, I ran into the parade, which seems to meander all over the village. It was wonderful, it was joyous, but it was everywhere. I couldn’t cross streets until I found a crossing point and then I’d have to wait in line a long time until a break in the parade allowed a mass of us to cross the street.

When I finally got to the bookshop, it was closed. Of course it was, you couldn’t do business in a normally quiet bookshop during the parade! While the parade was an amazing thing to behold, I was sweating and exhausted and after many tries, I finally found my way to the subway station where I got on the A train, which goes to 50th Street and where I could walk the 3 blocks south to the apartment. All I wanted to do was shower.

Only this particular train didn’t stop at 50th. It went to 59th, so I had to walk 12 blocks south. I finally made it back to the apartment and air conditioning.

I revived myself enough to meet Don at the theater and go out to dinner.

Thai food. Meredith and I ate at this same neighborhood restaurant when she visited.

Pad Thai – my favorite.

I managed to get a photo of Don on the marquee. The cast and crew provided birthday pies and serenaded him. If you want to see it, visit Don’s feed on Instagram. It’s @donsroadtrip. It is very moving – at least to us. They are such fine people. This is the second birthday that Don has celebrated with ETM and the knowledge that it is closing in a week made everything more poignant. Once again, I stood with Don when he signed autographs outside the stage door and heard people say how much the show means to them. It was a second or third or fourth visit or the very first Broadway show they’d ever seen. One woman ran into Don in a local restaurant last week and shared that she had lost her daughter 6 weeks before that, and that the words Don sings in He Went to Paris, “Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all of the way” comforted her and moved her to tears.

That happens all the time. This show changes people, even if it’s just the chance to experience joy for a few moments, to escape. It shouldn’t be closing.

I think that they chose a theater that was too large, making it hard to make back their investment. In fact, I worried about that as soon as I heard they’d chosen the Marquis. It has about 500 seats more than the average Broadway theater. The Broadhurst, where Anastasia  plays, has 1100 seats. The Marquis, in contrast, has 1600. 500 seats x 8 shows a week equals 4000 more seats they need to sell every week. The only other theater that has that many seats, I believe, is the Minskoff, where Lion King  is currently running. I worked at the Minskoff on a show that wasn’t a big hit and it couldn’t sustain itself. You need a sure-fire, long running hit to make it in either of those spaces. They made a mistake in choosing the Marquis and, though it isn’t the only factor, I think the show could have kept running in a smaller space.

It breaks my heart.

This will be a tough week for the cast and everyone involved in the show.

And now I’m back home. I arrived to wilted potted plants which makes me think that the promised rain and thunderstorms never arrived on Sunday. I ran outside and watered everything. Then I called the Jury Duty phone number to hear: ‘No jurors are required tomorrow or for the rest of the week. Your service is complete and you are exempt for the next six years.”

Huzzah!

Today is a primary in the state of New York. So if you’re a resident – VOTE. We have to fight back and undo the damage done by this horrible nightmare of an administration. Keep making calls about the children stolen from their parents. The more pressure we put on the administration, the better. Keep fighting.

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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