Well, look what I saw from the bedroom window yesterday morning! I thought I was seeing things so I went outside to investigate. One lone beautiful bloom – about two months after they normally bloom. The same thing happened last year. I did see another bud but I don’t think I’m going to see a lot of flowers at this time of the year. It’s been fairly warm for October so far, but we can get snow and hard frosts and have.
A nice little anniversary present!
Speaking of our anniversary, thank you for all the lovely comments. We had planned to go to a restaurant in Woodstock that has a beautiful outdoor dining area, but I ended up having to work. So, Don got Chinese food take-out from a place in a neighboring town which we just learned about. This little area we live in suffers from a lack of good Chinese restaurants, so it’s been ages since we’ve had any – in fact, I think it was several years ago in NYC. Oh, it was good! And we have leftovers, which is always nice.
It was a busy day but we kicked back in the evening with good food and a Nordic Noir series.
Today, tomorrow, and Friday, I coach Ben. The director called me the other day with some things he wanted adjusted – all good ideas – so we’re doing that. I’m in a different world now and I’m aware that in this world, people can get fired at the drop of a hat – unlike theater. There are a lot of people with input; production companies, money people, directors. It’s a bit overwhelming, honestly. And we’ve basically been working in a vacuum up until now, so it’s good to have feedback.
And then there’s the possibility of a strike.
I have to fight the urge to just toss it all and stay here in my little nest.
New things can be hard.
So, I coach, then I help Don self-tape an audition. That’s our day today.
By the way, yesterday and the day before, there was a sweet Carolina wren singing on our porch, flitting from chair to chair. Right next to the picture window! Maybe one of our wrens was visiting the old home site? It made me very happy.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
Happy Anniversary, if a day late!
Yes, new things can be hard. I like to stay in my comfort zone more and more these days. I think you will have a good time (considering it is work) once you get into the swing of things.
Chinese sounds good. We don’t get Chinese very often. It’s hard to find good Chinese around here too. The best I ever had was in Chicago.
Take care
My favorite Chinese restaurants were in San Diego and NYC. Sadly, both have closed.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
Good Chinese isn’t something we’ve found around here, either. But I end up cooking it at home a lot. Guess my own’s my favorite outside of many beloved restaurants in San Francisco. Since we moved from there in ’06, it’s been mostly homemade for us.
Oh, Morning Glory !!! (Another thing I miss) This one is a beauty!
I see more buds and there is no frost in the forecast for the next couple of weeks, so I expect to see more.
Stay safe, Shanna.
Your sweet morning glory is cheering on this cold morning in my area. Lots of on and off again wind with power outages mainly in the North Bay. One worrisome fire near Santa Barbara and another well-controlled one in the North Bay, seemingly set by another nut-case (pardon my attribution).
DH has purple finches surrounding his house and they spend their free time back at the nest. I’ve not heard the song of Carolina wren (must check it out), but I imagine it’s as sweet as these purple finches.
Looks like Monday is the walk-out date. Hope they can get closer together on a deal. So many people would be affected., you included.
The fire near Santa Barbara is in a locale that is one of my most favorite places on God’s beautiful earth. Above Goleta, north of SB, as you head up the coastline past the beaches of El Capitan, Refugio and Gaviota. There is sweeping vista after sweeping vista of gorgeous coastline unmarred by development, ocean to the left, grazing land for mostly cattle to the right.
There’s a well-known 14,000-acre ranch (Rancho San Julian) which is part of an old ‘Spanish’ land grant where the family is still living after something like eight generations (ancestors are the De La Guerras; this is Elizabeth Poett who has a show featured on the Magnolia TV network which I unfortunately don’t get, but she has a website called Ranch To Table). Anyway, I’m worried for them; I hope their land and vintage homes/barns/orchards (their range cattle and farm animals; horses!) are okay (they’re a little-more further north, nearer to Lompoc [so, fingers crossed], but she’s often featured at the weekend Santa Barbara Farmers Market where she sells a lot of stuff from the ranch including honey [Santa Barbara is 10 miles from Goleta, a town which could be threatened by this ‘Alisal Fire’ {they’re saying the fire is actually in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County; Santa Ynez is wine country and home to a lot of celebs; the name “Alisal” is very common to the area, and Alisal Road is actually in Solvang, CA; there’s a luxury dude ranch there; Lompoc and Solvang are just 20 miles from each other as you move away from the coast}]).
The wind-driven wildfire has now burned 15,000 acres and isn’t contained as yet (the officials are saying MAYBE they can put it out by Oct 25). It’s affecting travel on the 101 highway (major north-south U.S. route from Calif all the way to the state of Washington) and also the SurfLiner (Amtrak passenger train/coastal route).
What these fires want to do in this part of my world is simply burn right down to the sea. The wind stirs them up in the mountain canyons and it’s like a funnel to the ocean. It’s another dry autumn for us; no measurable/significant rain. Intense drought. I’ve read in the LA Times newspaper, too, that “shrublands are being permanently replaced by invasive grasses, and that raises the risk of wildfire; invasive grasses don’t anchor soils as well as deep-rooted chaparral plants and ignite easily, fueling more and more fires” (but of course it’s SO much about climate change).
Actually, and I’ll quit being a news reporter here (everybody can read about the fires!), there are many historical ranches in the area of this Alisal Fire which are threatened, and I just despair to think of all that burned-scarred land (which, in a rain year like we haven’t had for awhile, is the greenest, most beautiful place in, say, April; wildflowers, sea, Black Angus cows grazing, the sloping coastal bluffs and large expanses of bare land [a treat for urbanites to get out and see the land the way it might have been 150 years ago]; I’ve been trying hard not to well up; people and animals first, though, just praying everyone can stay safe including the fire-fighting heroes, on the ground and in the air).
Very sad. So much devastation!
xo
Yeah; and, yesterday afternoon, we started getting the smoke even though I’m an hour south of the fire. Between the smoke and an indoor air cleaner that failed on me, of which I only noticed too late (polluting my inside air rather than cleaning it), I’m in a world of hurt with my wheezy airways/lungs today. Oh, and did I mention Santa Ana winds return to my locale tomorrow and Saturday? And with them comes the ash and dirt. My husband’s been away out of state for the past week, and the first thing he said when he got in at 2:30am earlier today was, “All I smell is smoke, inside and outside the house!” Yep, which is why I can’t breathe. I’m old(er) now; my human breathing apparatus is old(er). Each time I get inflamed like this, it takes longer to recover. When we had the Thomas Fire in 2017 and I got exposed to too much smoke (who had masks then ..?.. um, nobody, not at the beginning; it was an emergency and life was frantic as people fled the huge fire — we were preparing to evacuate that night [loading up the cars and pets in the fierce, hurricane-force wind with no electricity and it was COLD]), it took me four months to heal my lungs (the protective cilia [filters] in the lungs have to re-grow and it takes a while). I had to resort to a potentially habit-forming prescription cough syrup last night so that I could calm down the asthma cough enough to sleep. I know I’m going to have to go to the doctor. But my problems don’t amount to a hill of beans compared to those in the line of fire — the ranchers, the homeowners, the fire personnel. I feel I can’t complain about my breathing misery. I live in a beautiful but often hostile area of Southern/Central Coast California. I choose to be here, so I have to deal with the consequences.
xoxo
The fire is very worrisome.
I saw the wren yesterday and heard him again today. He/She is definitely hanging out around my porch!
Stay safe, Martha.
All shall be well. The wren and morning glory are signs!
Fingers crossed!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Claudia says: “I have to fight the urge to just toss it all and stay here in my little nest. New things can be hard.”
I so get this; I know I used to be more courageous when younger.
Just had a long talk with myself about keeping hope alive in my life. To fight for a good life in whatever time I have remaining. We have to be brave! Good health, positive thinking; purposeful tasks; small achievements.
I was never much of a fan of Goldie Hawn (not saying she wasn’t a good actress; I enjoyed a lot of her films [and who, of a certain age, can forget her in the TV series called “Laugh-In”]) but she seems to have a spiritual side, or so I’ve read, and there’s a good quote from her I’ve always remembered from years ago, “Make a conscious choice for joy.”
That you find joy in your little wren and today’s blue bloom? How wonderful that you can bask in their wonder.
But all so true; we can choose, in most every instance, how to be, how to think, how to react, how to plan, how to LIVE. And we deserve to make the best choices for ourselves. We’re worth it!
We are!
Thanks, Vicki!
Stay safe.
It sounds like you had a busy, but rewarding day. Your bloom is perfect! I have a Mande villa that I thought was done…but has three buds. Joy!
I’m sorry that the possibility of a strike is still hanging over everyone’s head. I guess the best thing is to forge ahead, and try not to worry about something over which you have no control.
Chinese food sounds wonderful….especially leftovers. Enjoy your evening! ;)
Yes, the only thing to do is forge ahead.
Thanks, Donnamae.
Stay safe.
Love the blue of that surprise bloom! I have started Louise Penny’s new book and am having trouble putting it down! You won’t want to go to work if you start reading!! Just a warning! Good story!
I know! I’ll have to time it or even wait until filming is finished.
Stay safe, Ellen.
glad you saw that beautiful bloom and heard the wren singing. :)
and that you and don had a lovely anniversary, found some favorite food and have leftovers!
praying that a fair deal can be worked out and you won’t be affected by a strike.
i agree with the wish to stay home and about how new things can be so hard (especially after the past 19+ months) … however, i am determined to find something new … a new job. it is a very hard, scary time for me at work, but also necessary. today i received a call back on an application and hope to have the phone interview (that was offered in a message) tomorrow. prayers are needed and appreciated! thank you very much.
we had rain last night, it’s been nice and cool today and i loved it.
time to go get things done around here.
hope you are having a nice night.
kathy
Dear Kathy, prayers, good thoughts, white light, & Buddha are all on your side. May this particular job be the wonderful fit you need and want.
XOXO
hej, martha. :)
thank you so much for the prayers and good wishes! i had a screening phone call interview for that job today. hopefully that will lead to an in-person interview and a job offer. it’s for a job not in my field, would/will mean a pay cut … but it would/will (trying to be positive) get me away from what has quickly turned into a very, very bad situation at work. more later, if anyone wants to hear, when there’s good news to tell.
anyway, thanks again for your support.
how are you? and your loved ones? hopefully well, safe, happy.
kathy
kathy, continued prayers for you in your job search — good for you, for forging ahead with your plans so that you can be more content and fulfilled in the workplace!
hej, vicki. :)
thank you very much for the prayers.
adding on to what i wrote to martha … this job i interviewed for today is not my dream job by any means (pay cut, working every weekend, not a job i want to work anyway, let alone in this awful pandemic), but it might be the door that God is opening for me to leave a now-horrible job situation and for that i will be grateful.
really do appreciate your support.
how are you? hope you, your husband and rest of your family are well, safe, happy … especially given his travels and reasons for same, the wildfires …
i pray for everyone here.
thanks again.
kathy
Since the time when I have memories of birds, I can’t ever remember a summer when I didn’t hear and love the song of wrens. This was the very first summer I never heard a single one. So sad. And I didn’t plant any MG’s this year because the past few they haven’t bloomed until a few days before we had a frost. This weather is just so crazy.
Hope things can be settled before a strike is declared. I’m sure it is a nervous time for many. Glad you had a good day for your Anniversary! Chinese food is always a treat. Hope you are having a nice evening! Take care.
Yes, for the past two or maybe three years, the bloom from the MGs happens two months later than it used to. But no frost in sight for the next two weeks and I saw lots of flower buds yesterday. Fingers crossed!
Stay safe, Chris.