Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Well, let’s get the crappy news out of the way, first. On my way to Rochester, I stopped at a thruway rest stop to use the bathroom. The parking lot wasn’t crowded. I backed out of my space, then proceeded, very slowly, down the aisle toward the exit. Suddenly, I heard a crunching sound. A man driving a VW bug had backed out of his space and right into my car. Couldn’t believe it! His first words to me were “I didn’t see you.” He repeated that several times. I was upset, but kind, because I know how many times I’ve almost hit someone because I looked away for a moment. There was more damage to my car than his and, although he wanted to brush it off as something you could buff out, I have lots of scratches and a significant dent. I insisted that we exchange phone numbers.

And then I called Don, who said he would handle calling the guy. Long story short, after Don left a few messages, the gentleman returned his call and we will get an estimate for the damage. Thank goodness, it was a fender bender and I was driving less than 5 miles an hour.

The rest of the drive was uneventful and I arrived in Rochester. This time, I stayed in company housing, which is right down the street from the theater. Another loft-like space, not unlike the company housing at Hartford Stage.

The next afternoon, I coached a woman who is replacing the lead actress (who got a great job with the national tour of The Kite Runner) when the show travels to Dallas. I also worked with a couple of understudies. Then I took notes on the first preview, went back to the apartment, wrote them up via email and that was that. The next morning, I was up at 5:30 and started prepping for my trip home. On the road at 8 am and home by 1 pm.

Lots and lots of driving, and a few snow squalls on the way home, but no snow to speak of on the journey. It did snow in Rochester during the day on Tuesday, but much less than it snowed here. But it is  snowing right now.

I’m satisfied that I did the best I can do on this show, given the time constraints. I need to mention how nice the actors are and lovely to work with. And I got to see Elizabeth, the Artistic Director, who is an old friend, and her assistant, Fiona – also an old friend – both of them were at Hartford Stage. I’m still coaching in a way, as I’ve been answering questions from the actors via voice message and email. I’m fine with that – anything to make them more secure as they head toward opening night tomorrow.

Pru accompanied me. Here she is when we first arrived at the apartment, standing on the window ledge.

I missed Don, of course. After so many years of having to be away from each other when working out of town, we really LOVE being together here at the cottage. It’s much harder to be apart these days. He felt it and I felt it.

What else? Not much. I’m still tired from the trip. Instead of taking it easy yesterday, I had to pack two Etsy orders as well as buy a box and more packing tape and going back and forth to the post office. So most of the morning was spent on that.

Today, I’m going to chat with my friend Doug at 10 am and then hang out with my husband.

Thank you for all your supportive comments the other day. I so appreciate them. I had a comment from someone who I’ve never heard from before telling me I was self-absorbed and whiny. It was quite mean and, despite my efforts to shake it off, it stuck with me a while. But I did shake it off, thankfully. Don’t know her. Never have heard from her before. The blog is about me and my life and I’ve been writing it for nearly 16 years, so what can I say? I write about myself. Don and I had a good laugh about that.

She turned out to be a nasty person and came back when I deleted her first comment. Very troll-like. So I blocked her.

It’s been a strange and stressful week. But last night, we caught up with the first episodes of All Creatures Great and Small  and now, all is well.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.