Sunlight hitting our Mockingbird Hill Cottage sign in the kitchen. Almost as if there was a spotlight on it.
Feeling rather wiped out today, due, I suspect, to shoveling yesterday. Don and I had to go out and shovel the driveway because we were due for a heating oil delivery. It took every ounce of strength and my muscles are still very weak from this bug. We felt great satisfaction when we did it, but we laid low for the rest of the day, not even going to the grocery store, even though we’re out of almost everything.
Getting my strength back is my new goal.
We watched Wings of Desire last night. Brilliant. Beautiful. Uplifting. Bravo, Wim Wenders. And Bravo to the late, great Bruno Ganz. You will be missed.
Don and I have spent an inordinate amount of time together over the past month. First he was taking care of me, then he came down with the bug, then we were taking care of each other. Long, long days where we feel like we might be slowly losing our minds – as I said in one of my comment replies yesterday, it’s a wonder we haven’t killed each other. Thank goodness we’re here together and that one of us isn’t working away from home. This would be much harder for me on my own. Much, much harder.
We’ve been reminiscing this morning about our old neighborhood in San Diego. It was called Kensington and it had a lot of craftsman homes. We could walk a couple of blocks and be on Adams Avenue, which was the main drag. It had a great movie theater and lots of great restaurants. Our favorites: DeMille’s (Italian), Ponce’s (Mexican), the Kensington Cafe (just around the corner from our house) and further down Adams in Normal Heights, Jhyoti Bihanga – a vegetarian restaurant we loved. They had the best brunches!
We love where we live, but we miss walking on sidewalks and having easy accessibility to local eateries. It was a great walking neighborhood. And, of course, about this time of year, we miss the warmth of the sun. And the beach.
Sigh.
Do you remember when I was talking about sheet music and mentioned a store I used to frequent in San Diego? I mentioned that it was very near to Balboa Park but I couldn’t remember the name. I finally found the name of the music store stamped on one of my pieces of music. McEvoy Music on Fifth Avenue. It was right by my bank. It’s closed now. Mr. McEvoy, the owner, died in 2012. I remember him. He was almost always behind the counter when I stopped by. His wife died in 2015. I imagine that is why the store is now closed. (They were married for 55 years!)
As you can tell, we’re missing San Diego a bit. Happens like clockwork every year. This year, with illness and snow and ice, we really miss it! As soon as spring arrives, however, that feeling will fade away and we’ll be very happy that we live in the Hudson Valley.
Happy Tuesday.
There was ice on windshields and a heavy frost this morning in San Diego! Snow in Julian! I went to the extent of putting gloves on for my commute into work!
Our warm San Diego is not so warm!
oh, i can imagine how you two must feel today after shoveling-while-sick (for knowing how bad i felt trying to muster enough energy to just take a shower or wash a few dishes when i’ve been sick) … exhausted!!! hope you can stay inside and rest.
do you have a store that can deliver groceries for you?
hope you both feel better soon.
we are to get eight inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. don’t know where the snowplows can push it … the streets (especially residential ones) get narrower and narrower from all the snow we’ve received so far. i am ready for spring, but will be glad (truth be told) if i can stay home tomorrow. will see.
in the meantime, again, hope you and don get better soon!
kathy in iowa
We buy a lot of healthy food and we get it from a few different shops. Too complicated!
Hang in there with all that snow, Kathy!
too bad a necessity like grocery shopping can be complicated (and time-consuming) … especially for the healthy stuff.
hope you and don can rest and feel better soon.
thanks, claudia. and now a mix of ice, sleet, freezing rain, snow and even thunder is forecast for saturday … ugh. hope everyone stays safe!
kathy in iowa
Grocery shopping is always complicated!
This is such a hard time of the year for those of us who live “up north” so to speak. The shorter days, and, of course, the weather. Being sick just adds to the woes! You and I have “chatted” about those who lived on the prairies a 100 years ago. The isolation must have been beyond brutal, and the fact that people certainly didn’t understand or appreciate the pitfalls of depression must have been crippling to so many. It is hard to imagine the daily tasks that had to be done just to keep warm and clean.
Glad you can take it easy today to recup from the exercise of yesterday. It does take a while to gain one’s strength back. I hope you both are feeling better!! This next weather system looks to be a bit of a bully. Hope it blows right past Mockingbird Hill Cottage!!
I cannot imagine how hard life was for them. The mind boggles. I feel like I’m going out of my mind and I have a laptop and Wi-Fi and movies to watch on television! Bless them. I wonder if there were unexplained suicides because of depression and the isolation of long winters?
I would imagine you would be worn out, after having shoveled yesterday in your weakened states. We just got 5 inches of snow on Sunday…and 5 more promised for tomorrow. Then ice and snow over the weekend. We are running out of places to put it all!
Does your vegan restaurant in town have delivery…or carry-out? Might be an option for you….or groceries delivered? Can’t have you running out of food now, can we. Take care of each other! ;)
Vegan restaurant does not deliver and if we drove the 10 miles to get carry-out, we might as well just go to the grocery store! Don is at the store now.
I’d be missing San Diego in this weather too! But I’m glad to hear that you are on the mend and hope the shoveling adventure doesn’t set either one of you back a bit. After I became ill a few years ago I hired my neighbor to blow the drive out and he still does. I’m so grateful — it’s worth the bill at the end of the season! So I really admire your doing it when sick but I guess filling the oil tank is a grand incentive.
Take care.
We don’t mind shoveling or snow blowing normally – well, we’re not thrilled about it, but we feel good when we do it. It’s just rare that we’re both sick at the same time.
Oh dear. Such fortitude, and I hope it doesn’t set you back in what I trust will be a rapidly progressing recovery!
The recovery from this bug is not a quick one – I’ve heard that from a lot of people. It’s slow going. I’m tired from yesterday, but I’m taking it easy today.
You are getting better. Your oil is arriving on time. It is still a miserable period to get through. I am sorry to hear that this illness is dragging on.
I will be so glad when I’ve recovered my strength, Mary.
I don’t blame you for missing San Diego, especially at this time of year. It would actually be weird if you didn’t miss SD now. Unlike most people, I’ve never had a really ravenous desire to visit California [I have a very irrational but nonetheless very real suspicion that if I did, The Big One would hit – LOL] but I truly would love to see San Diego, and the Monterey-Carmel-Big Sur area up north. Both of these spots have always drawn me – they both look magical. I’d especially like to visit that hotel in SD that’s out on an island – the DelCoronado I think it’s called. Looks so appealing every time I see some feature about it. Makes me think of those grand old resorts of the Gilded Age [I think there are some terrific ghost stories about the place too]. Hope you continue to feel better & regain some strength. Peace. 🕶⛵️🐚
I’ve been to Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur and San Francisco. Gorgeous.
And I’ve been to the Hotel Del many, many times. It’s made of wood, which makes it quite rare. Some Like it Hot was filmed there.
I can’t imagine shoveling snow when I’m in misery from a really bad cold, even on the recuperating side of it. You and Don really are “do what’s must be done” people… Echo all the commenters before me who mentioned delivery services. Will save you energy to have to go out to forage for food!
I’m slowly making my way through the freezer. It would be nice to have space to put in the core of my ice cream maker in time for warmer weather! And, somehow, the volunteer tomato made it through the hail, rain and colder nighttime temps and the tomatoes are slowly turning red. They aren’t super sweet but I’ll put them whole into soup and it will be fine.
I suspect we would have been good ‘settlers’ but what to I know?
Don is at the grocery store now. Delivery is too much of a hassle, since we tend to buy things from a couple of different stores. So glad your tomatoes are doing well!
I have been so spoiled by having my groceries delivered this winter, that I’m already beginning to miss it in advance, for when we head North to the lake. Have you looked into Instacart in your area? They don’t currently deliver to the lake, but maybe they will in your (slightly) less remote area. I used a delivery service in SF many years ago, when I was doing so much cooking for the magazine. What a blessing it was! And we had delivery in Albany, too, but didn’t use it much. Now, I’m back to loving it—while I have it, at least.
Never heard of Instacart – doubtful it’s available here. Don really likes to go grocery shopping and, since it’s rare that we’re both sick at the same time, we won’t be signing up for a delivery service.
Oh I just LOVE your kitchen!!! The color of your tea kettle is my absolute favorite color
Thank you so much, Joanne!
My sister lives in San Diego and had to teach her teenager how to scrap frost off the windshield last week! So much rain that the golf course behind her house is flooding (and the streets).
I just love a room that has the sun pouring into it! Your kitchen is perfection!
We are so lucky here – we have a lot of windows. That’s part of the reason we bought the cottage, Betsy.
I saw your IG photo of Limoges. I googled the Hudson name and I think it’s Hudson Crockery Co.
Could be Linda – though the “C”is quite different from the one in Co. I see that there are pieces out there that were made for Hudson Crockery Company but I’m still unsure, mostly because the lettering isn’t clear. Thanks so much for this information!
Now that I’ve enlarged the mark on another piece of pottery online – I think you’re right! Thank you, Linda!
While running a few errands this morning it started to rain and now the temperature has dropped. It’s cold. Not as cold as where you are, but cold for GA!
We have more ice coming on Wednesday night. I am so friggin’ sick of this godawful month!
Just had to vent.
I love that kitchen. Love the aqua accents. Love the wood floor. Love the cabinets and LIGHT. Its official, I now have the crud too. Day 2. Im usually true to the saying, 3 days coming ,3 days here, 3 days going. Ice storm coming….You are not alone!
I’m sorry to hear you’ve come down with the crud. Hopefully, it’s a different crud than mine. This one stays around a lot longer than 9 days!
Ice coming here tomorrow night.
I know you have a gravel driveway but maybe you should consider having it tarred
That way you could have a snow plowing service
We have a gravel driveway but our snow plowing service is able to do something that it doesn’t tear up the driveway
I now have back issues and no longer can do it
Also it is too much for my husband
Just a suggestion
No. We’re not interested in that. If you have asphalt, especially here, you have to treat it every year. Too expensive. And WAY too expensive to have it done. We have a snowblower. We choose not to snowblow the drive because we want to conserve our Item 4. We snow blow the parking area. But we’re sick right now. And every time we’ve had someone plow the drive, we’ve regretted it. Our driveway is uphill. Any plow would tear that up.
Cottage looks beautiful! As much as I love the snow I couldn’t live in the north again. Hoping that every day you both are better.
Thank you, Kay!