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Whoa, Nellie

June 1, 2017 at 8:40 am by Claudia

Except for snow, we had a bit of everything around here yesterday. The day started out with rain. Thunderstorms were predicted, but the sun came out for several hours and the weather forecast changed to no storms. Then in the late afternoon, the sky darkened and I checked the weather app. Oh. Severe thunderstorm watch. And we got a doozy. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain, and hail. Then the sun came out. And then, at about 10 pm, another thunderstorm.

Whoa, Nellie.

From the day:

I recycled. I weed whacked. I pulled weeds. I ended up mowing the entire front lawn on a very humid day. We don’t live in an area where there are orderly plots of land with orderly grass that grows in an even, orderly way. Nope. We have different kinds of grass, weeds within the grass, buttercups in the grass, etc. So when it starts to get out of hand, it looks uneven and messy. So after all the rain, I was itching to mow the lawn. And I did.

After I took a break and showered, I went outside to take some pictures. I love a freshly mown lawn!

The dead nettle is blooming

As I was taking these pictures, the sky started darkening and that’s when I realized we were under a severe thunderstorm watch – which became a warning.

Back in the house.

After the rain, birds were everywhere, looking for worms.

This female northern flicker was in the corral.

My lonesome dove had clearly been caught in the rain.

And spotted way, way off in the woods:

A baltimore oriole.

This morning, as I was waiting for my coffee, I saw a hummingbird and a bunny rabbit within inches of each other. Alas, no camera.

I’ve seen two young mourning doves resting on the porch railing on two different occasions. Newly fledged, I imagine. And after the storm yesterday, I saw four mourning doves together, looking for food. So I’m surmising that the two young doves are the progeny of the pair of doves that live on the property.

Now, if only my lonesome dove could find a mate. The pair chases him/her away. Breaks my heart.

Happy Thursday.

Henry, Rain, & Nancy Drew

May 31, 2017 at 9:03 am by Claudia

Endless rain.

That’s all I’ll say about that.

Another Henry sighting yesterday. (Side note: my climbing hydrangea is starting to bloom. If the sun would come out and stay out, it would be in full bloom.)

Don and I have decided that Henry (and this is Henry) is like a crotchety old guy who looks around and grumbles. Here, he’s looking toward the street.

“Damn traffic!

“Tell these birds to get off my lawn!”

Though this cropped version is somewhat blurry, I wanted you to see the claws on his feet.

Eventually, he looked even more disgusted and went back to his little home under the shed.

In yesterday’s mail:

Not one, but two Nancy Drews! This is the very first book in the series, The Secret of the Old Clock. I’ve been trying to nab a copy of this one for a long time. Love, love her cloche hat, the jaunty scarf, the dress and the shoes.

And this, The Secret of Red Gate Farm. It’s number six in the series. I’ve never read this one and I’m intrigued by the spooky hijinks that Nancy is secretly observing. A cult? People dressed up like ghosts? Ku Klux Klan?

This one is in as-good-as-it-gets condition. Excellent.

The titles I’m seeking now, including these two, seem to be the hardest to find. If they’re in good condition, they often go for a lot of money. Heck, I’ve seen tattered covers which still sell well. So I have to be patient and snag one when I see a good deal. Only five more to go before I have my complete set of Russell H. Tandy covers.

Some of them, like The Secret of Red Gate Farm, have mylar covers, which protect the book jacket. I’m going to buy some of them from a supplier and cover all of the uncovered Nancy Drews, as well as the dust jacket for my autographed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. They’re pretty inexpensive, and the books are worth it.

Rain or no rain, I have to recycle today.

Vicki, a reader of this blog, was rear ended by a hit-and-run driver the other day. Her car is totaled and she appears to have a neck injury. Understandably, she is very shaken up. Despite the shock, she managed to memorize most of the license plate number on the other driver’s car. The police are involved. If you read yesterday’s comments, you’ll see Vicki’s story. Let’s keep her in our thoughts and prayers.

Happy Wednesday.

Cast Albums, Opening Nights & Blue Jays

May 30, 2017 at 8:41 am by Claudia

While I’m blogging this morning, I’m listening to “My Petersburg” from Anastasia. Over and over. Sung by Derek Klena, it is my favorite song in a scoreful of favorites. I remember when it was added in the middle of the rehearsal process in Hartford. It’s simply great – as is Derek, the young male lead who is one of the nicest people on the planet. And handsome, to boot!

Anyway, it makes me happy. And since I woke to more rain and a forecast that does not bode well for the next week and a half, I’m resorting to music and crossword puzzles and flowers in vases and homemade biscuits and maybe a trip to the nursery to look for plants for the Guy Wolff pots.

Opening night for Escape to Margaritaville was a big deal, a joyous and happy celebration. Jimmy Buffett came onstage at the end and everyone sang Margaritaville. There was a huge party afterward and lots of VIPS and producers and Parrotheads. Don had a great time and now everyone will settle into the run of the show. As always, it’s hard to know what to do with all the spare time you have once the daily rehearsals have ended. I well remember from my days as an actress. Now, as a coach, I’m usually leaving town the day after opening.

I sent Don flowers. He sends them to me and I thought “Hey, I should send some to him, too! This is a big deal!” If I had asked him if he wanted flowers, he would have said “Oh no, don’t bother.” But he was delighted by them and I’m glad I did it. We won’t mention my panic when I couldn’t find out whether they had been delivered. The company I used is supposed to email when the flowers have been “hand delivered” but they didn’t. I called them twice and they couldn’t get hold of the florist. It was now one half hour until curtain and I couldn’t contact Don and didn’t want to try to contact him as I knew he would be preparing for the start of the show. Finally, I messaged him (after the show had started) and said that I’d sent something to him and if he had received it, could he message me? At 3 am my time (I was sleeping) he sent a photo of the flowers. Sigh of relief. They were brought to him in his dressing room about 10 minutes before curtain.

The email? It came a day later. Not helpful.

This guy was way, way across the yard and as I snapped several pictures of him, I wondered if he was another kind of jay. I was confused by his gray feathers. But then I googled ‘blue jays and gray feathers’ and discovered that blue jays look completely blue in the sun but in the shade they look gray because their melanin is more in evidence.

I love learning things like that.

Just as I was finishing this, the free weekend streaming of the Original Broadway Cast Album of Anastasia ended. Sigh. Now I have to wait for my CD to arrive in the mail in about two weeks.

Happy Tuesday.

Whoa, Nellie

Henry, Rain, & Nancy Drew

Cast Albums, Opening Nights & Blue Jays

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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