After two days of hard work outside, averaging 3 – 4 hours of shoveling and chopping ice, we are sore! Truly exhausting. But it had to be done. And we have to re-salt every morning as the slush and snow freeze again overnight. Next week it’s supposed to rain, so this snow might be short-lived.
Tomorrow, I go into the city to do one more day of work on the show on which I’ve been consulting. Today, I have to sit down and figure out how to hook up our new printer. Our old one stopped scanning clearly and was a pain in the tush. (I’m the tech person in this household.)
Our good friend, Richard Easton, died on Monday. He was born in Canada and trained in England. He worked with everyone over the years, including John Gielgud. He was in Kenneth Branagh’s movie version of Henry V. I met him when I moved to San Diego. He and Jack O’Brien, who was the Artistic Director of The Old Globe at the time, had known each other for years. Richard moved to San Diego to be a part of the Globe as an Associate Artist, actor, and teacher. He was an extraordinary actor. As well as coaching him in countless productions during my 8 years there, he also served as an actor/mentor to our students, so he was my colleague. The remembrances that are springing up on Facebook from our former students are heartwarming and filled with love. He was rigorous in his approach to a role and in his approach to acting. And every one of our students benefitted from that rigor. What a role model he was!
As a coach, I’ve never seen someone so willing to take my notes, indeed, he asked for them after every run-through. He wanted correction, guidance, whatever I could offer. Truth be told, he was so good – especially with Shakespeare – that I hardly ever needed to note him. Dialects? Yes. Shakespeare? No.
I loved working with him, knowing him, socializing with him. What an honor it was. And a joy.
Eventually, he moved back to NYC, where he promptly won a Tony Award for his performance as A.E. Housman in The Invention of Love, directed by Jack O’Brien. When Don and I moved East, he called me and asked me to coach him on a period sound for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin on PBS. I was just starting to freelance and was feeling adrift after working full-time as a professor. But he, bless him, was a generous and loyal friend and reached out to me for help. I treasure that last experience of working one-on-one with him.
His health declined in recent years. I hadn’t seen him in quite a long time. But he was cared for and watched over by two actor friends who were committed to his well-being.
He will be sorely missed. In the past few years, we have lost our friends, Kathy McGrath, Jonathan McMurtry, and now Richard. All brilliant actors. All Associate Artists at the Old Globe who lived in San Diego for several years in order to work with Jack. It’s the end of an era.
Rest in Peace, my friend.
Happy Wednesday.
lovely tribute to your friend. condolences to you and don and to richard’s family and other friends.
hope you both are rested and feeling less sore every day. shoveling is hard work!
safe, quick travels to and from nyc. i am guessing you take a book with you to read in transit – ? that’s something i could do as a kid (read comics/books when on car trips with my family), but not as an adult without getting nauseous or worse. anyway …
happy wednesday!
kathy in iowa
I always have a book with me! Thanks, Kathy.
Condolence for the loss of a friend, a void that can’t be filled.
Thank you, Leslie.
I;m sorry about the loss of your friend. What a lovely tribute. I’m so glad I don;t have to worry about snow and ice. If Atlanta gets a rare snowfall I will probably just stay inside and enjoy it through the window. xo Laura
I’m already over winter, Laura! Thanks!
Sorry to hear that another dear friend has passed away. I thought Richard sounded vaguely familiar so I looked for him. I remember him being in a hugely successful and popular BBC drama called The Brothers which ran for several years in the 1970s. Richard was one of the brothers, it was a family business drama, the kind that people would discuss the next day!
Yes, that was before I met him. He also worked with the RSC, The Stratford Festival, and Kenneth Branagh’s company. He was the best.
Thanks, Dee Dee.
Getting older is sad on so many levels, but losing people more often is one of the worst. Sorry to hear about your loss of a friend.
Your pretty tree has inspired me to get mine up and decorated earlier than usual, too. It’s also a good plan, because it takes me so much longer now! Been working on it for a couple of days. How slow can I get? (I should probably start taking it down soon, or else it will be up until Valentine’s Day!) Oy.
Safe travels into the city, too. I love it at Christmas time.
I do, too, though I won’t really see that. I exit Port Authority walk two blocks, and go down into a basement rehearsal studio.
Thanks, Shanna!
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend Richard, Claudia. People can make such an impact on our lives, can’t they? I’m familiar with his work and he sounds like a wonderful man in person as well.
Your tree ornaments are gorgeous! They just pop. Now, I’m thinking heating pads might be in store for the two of you!
He was one of the best.
Thanks, Jeanie.
Deepest sympathy on the loss of your friend. I always shudder to think of who we’ll lose in December; it always seems too many.
Thank you for the close-up photos of your absolutely-wonderful tree ornaments. I hope seeing your beautiful tree each day fills you with peace of the holiday, Claudia. It sure does me, by just looking at your pictures. I hope you post more. I wish I could get to my vintage ornaments but it won’t be this year as we’re still a-lot packed up and working on the house but, as someone mentioned in yesterday’s post/comments, what a gift to have some tree ornaments passed down by parents and grandparents. I treasure them; they date from the 1940s thru the 1970s. My parents would bring the big box of ‘Christmas stuff’ down each year and reverently put the first ornaments they ever bought together (late 40s) on the tree. They’re a little worse for wear now, but I don’t care! (These are glass; probably Shiny-Brites; all kinds of shapes including bells. I’d only just recently read…somehow never knew this, or forgot…that Shiny Brite had a background with Corning glass in the U.S.)
I’m on my way out the door to get our own tree; perfect time, after rain, no sun on them yet in the tree lot since being delivered in a closed-in truck from the Pacific Northwest (I wonder if those are refrigerated trucks?!); nice and fresh. We cleared a space in the living room and did have to go buy a tree stand and more lights. I want to go to the tree lot at night because they serve free cocoa, they play carols, it’s feeling frosty-cool out there with rain just an hour ago and I love to see the tree lot lit up after dark. It’s so colorful and inviting. (This is so much fun after only having artificial trees for, gosh, 20 years at least. We should leave the tree out overnight to dry, but I don’t want one of the feral cats to peepee on it. Thankfully, we still have this rancid living room carpet we’re to take out; my only concern will be that we not knock into the tree stand’s water receptacle which could damage the wood floor underneath the carpet. We had a dog one year who would rub up against the Christmas tree; he loved the feathery branches on his face. He knocked down the tree one year, bless him; he was the sweetest boy; I was just glad he didn’t get hurt. After that, we tied the top of the tree to the ceiling! [And, yes, quite a few ornaments got broken; wince.])
Couldn’t get away from the sea today; the cloudscapes over the ocean were stupendous, beyond explanation, so majestic, whitest-white on bits of clear-blue sky, but also the massive gray thunderclouds. The gulls were sort of hunched into themselves, buffeted by the wind off the waves. I of course was in ‘my heaven’; beach-brain keeps me sane.
I’m a Southern Californian who is so grateful for the rain we’ve been getting. Exactly two years ago tonight, having had no rain since ‘forever’, and the hills and canyons and trees ‘dry as a bone’, we experienced the start of The Thomas Fire in our area and the contrast is rather wrenching, looking at the hills and still seeing empty lots although the burned-out homes have of course long-since been cleared out. But a lot of people are still trying to re-group their lives, and I’ll never forget the choking, eerie black smoke that cloaked the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara for so many weeks throughout December of 2017 (as if to feel we’d never again see the sun). I pray to never have a repeat of it. And it’s so otherwise calm tonight; whereas, that night when the fire started, we had hurricane-force wind, and it was really cold.
But to the current and your weather; again, brrrrr. I told my husband about all your snow shoveling and it gave him a shiver, too!
I hope you’re enjoying your tree, Vicki. I’m really tired. This has been a hard week on many levels and I have to go into the city today to work.
Thanks!
Claudia, I can’t imagine how tired you must be with all that shoveling. It’s so understandable. You are strong but you’re no longer age 20 and, again, my husband said it is hard, hard, HARD work to shovel snow. I hope after your time in the city today that you can get in a few good days of rest. Your activity level, for the both of you, is simply amazing to me. I wish you guys had a high school kid nearby that you could put to work; some young guy with a lot of vigor and brawn who could use a few extra bucks with a side job. I was just talking to my neighbor who moved to a lake house in September and they got 4-ft of snow over Thanksgiving there and they’re really having to learn what to do about snow; like, every time they come and go, back to visit here every few weeks for now, stuff they have to do with the lake house…about the pipes and water heater. His car was buried in snow and the one lone neighbor gave him a few tips; such as, next time, leave the vehicle out near the road because the plow will come thru and then you’re that closer to ‘freedom’. And of course their adult kids all tried to gather there for Thanksgiving but nobody knew how to put on chains for the vehicle tires so they are ALL getting a fast education on how to live in snow. We’re beach dwellers; not snow dwellers. It’s all new; whole new world for them, but they’re having a ball.
We got a good tree; nice shape; Douglas fir. Am loving the smell SO much! It’s from Oregon and it was cold up there and on the way south they did NOT have to use a refrigerated truck (as they’ve had to do in past, warmer years for the journey to SoCalif). The tree was so fresh that it didn’t even drop needles in the backseat of our car; it wasn’t even wrapped. I actually know whose farm it comes from (as it turns out; small town stuff here, where everybody-knows-everybody) and as soon as they cut down a tree, they replace it with a seedling, and they’ve been doing this for well over 30 years. He had one 16-ft tree that was magnificent. (We have a few mansions in the area although we’re a poor town; as the tree guy said, somebody’ll buy it. They always do. In some years, he’s sold out several days before Christmas.) They weren’t supposed to open til today, but they opened last night and sold over 200 trees in 4 hrs. I saw a perfect little tree that would have made a good tabletop tree and it was only 20 bucks. We wound up spending $15 less than we’d anticipated. Was a good night!
I’m really glad you mentioned getting a ‘live’ tree. I hope you don’t feel I’m weirdly copycatting you although I sorta am! You have influence on me! You and Don seem to know what to do when you need to do it, so I was glad to take your lead on a ‘real’ tree. I’m so pleased. I’ve had a crappy few weeks (we all go thru those cycles with problems of ‘life’) and the tree has perked me up. We put the artificial tree on the front porch (out of the rain) so, until my husband can get a break in the weather to put up exterior lights, we’re decorated (as is…already!…a third of the neighborhood).
Last time I’m going in stores (I think I told that to myself before!); today is IT for sure. I absolutely CANNOT take the crowds wherever I go. What’s up with all that? Worse than I can remember! People are spending money like crazy and it feels like ‘the whole world’ is off work and school, even in the middle of the week! I went into a sandwich shop about 3pm which is usually the best time to go when it’s not busy…and they were lined up all the way to the door, no lie. I took one look and walked right out; no patience for that kind of line, not for a sandwich! I thought I picked an ‘off’ day for the Hallmark store yesterday and we were knocking elbows in there, on a Wednesday after lunch; really? So, I dunno; ‘they’ say that everybody is shopping online now, yet I’m not seeing it, in no less than three cities over the past three or four weeks. I’ve heard this umpteen times now but apparently we’re all seeking to do things that make us feel happy, even earlier than usual…and Christmas displays and music in the stores feels good. But I’m staying home from here on!
Claudia, I made a find yesterday, though. Vintage repro bottlebrush tree studded with Shiny Brite replicas, including bells. I’ve got a ton of repro trees like that but with never this type of decoration; it feels so authentic; stands about 8 inches tall (I usually go smaller; I did find some tiny repro trees which have dots of sequins which are fun; had never seen any like that before either). I have no business buying anything in terms of Christmas decor but I’m weak when it comes to the repro putz houses and trees…and little deer. I’m not lucky enough to have your vintage finds, so I make do with good-quality repro when I can find it. I’m looking forward to decorating the big tree and interior of the house this weekend; I think it’ll be calming; we’re supposed to get more rain, Friday night to Sunday night (good time to tuck in…and stay out of the brick & mortars!). But we’re not even remotely so cold/freezing as you are in NY; you and Don must have thick skin after being out for hours in those temps! You two are the WonderKids. (And I don’t mean sports!)
Enjoy your real tree and your bottlebrush tree, Vicki!
Sorry for your loss of your friend. He sounds like a very talented actor. Take care while traveling to the city.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
I am so sorry on the loss of your friend. It is so difficult to lose people. I loss three friends in three months earlier this year. So, difficult. Terrible time. So I guess we all know what it feels like to have a loss, and it is not easy. Peace be with you during this time.
But dialects. I have been thinking about them and I knew you were the one to ask. Is there a certain people that do better at dialects than other people? Let’s say, are Americans better at learning dialects than Germans, or Swedes? Or as a whole, British are better at learning dialects than anyone else? Or is it personal. Some are much better than others. Is it a better ear, or their mouths work better? I feel like a crazy lady asking this, but it’s how my mind works at times. I hope I explained it well.
It has nothing to do with nationality. It has everything to do with training, skill, and a good ear.
Thanks so much, Tana!
I am so sorry to hear of the death of your friend Richard. His role in an excellent BBC TV series- The Brothers- was one of the few programmes that we watched as an entire family: compulsive viewing and TV at its best, and a show I remember clearly after almost fifty years.
Take care
Siobhan
Interestingly, he never mentioned that series to me – maybe because we wouldn’t have seen it here. Thank you, Siobhan! It seems to have had a LOT of fans in England!
I’m so sorry. As we age, more and more of our friends and colleagues are lost to us. It leaves lots of holes in our hearts and souls. Branaugh’s Henry V is one of my all time favorite movies. How wonderful a legacy your friend left, not just in that film, but in his body of work and his friendships. We will have many friends to think of when we sing Auld Lang Syne this year (excuse my spelling).
He was a true gentleman. And enormously talented. Thanks, Nora.