I was told this week by an intuitive friend and well-respected acting coach that I have a no-nonsense, direct personality, EXCEPT in areas of the heart. He went on to add that when relationships are involved my no-nonsense approach to life gets cloudy. I have been pondering this ever since, and I think he is right. My romantic relationships seem to derail my normal common sense. Continue reading
Category Archives: Musings
Filling up my senses…
It looks like a Christmas picture postcard outside my window. Just the perfect amount of snow to make it beautiful, but not treacherous to drive. I am still in the Berkshires, having survived my first Thanksgiving without being surrounded by family. I went to an “orphan’s Thanksgiving” at my director’s house. He and his wife open their home every year to people like me that are away from their loved ones. It was glorious. I cooked with girlfriends and we took our favorite dishes and joined with about 20 people to feast and watch movies. It was just what I needed; relaxing, homey, a dog, a fireplace, and friends falling asleep on the couch. We were all exhausted after the long hours of working at the Fall Festival (see “Shakespeare on their tongues…” ), so to have permission to kick back and do nothing was pretty grand. Continue reading
Shakespeare on their tongues…
I am awash in a dream. I have spent this weekend with a gaggle of high school kids hooting, hissing, yelling, pounding fists in the air, leaping up, cheering and shouting at the top of their lungs. Sounds like I am at a basketball game, right? No, this is all happening here at Shakespeare & Company during the Fall Festival. Ten high schools from the area have descended and each perform one of 37 Shakespearian plays that they have been creating with directors in a residency program that started 9 weeks ago. Continue reading
Back to Benedict Pond
I got up at 6am on Sunday to get to my pond. After such a tremendous response from being Freshly Pressed on the WordPress homepage, I was motivated to get back to my bliss and continue my love affair with the natural wonders at Benedict Pond. I was very rewarded by my early rising. I stopped at Stockbridge Coffee on my way and as it shows in the picture, I was delighted to have something warm to join me in the very chilly morning air. Continue reading
On Benedict Pond
If Thoreau could have a pond, so can I.
I have been going out to the Bear State Forest about 25 minutes from Lenox and it has become my refuge. It is beautiful, solitary, and I’m watching the seasonal changes happen before my eyes. I have only had time to go once a week on my one day off, so it is my church, my sanity, my communion with nature and myself. I need it and crave it. Continue reading
Cinderella’s beauty passed through the alembic of Emerson
I feel beautiful. I know from my acting training that “beautiful” is not a feeling, so I guess I should say that I imagine myself to be beautiful. This comes upon me when I spend time being out in nature. There are days I feel stared at everywhere I go. This sounds vain, but stay with me a minute and I will explain. Usually I feel this sensation when I am full of exhilaration from being outdoors, and I wonder does nature feed my beauty and is it like that Cinderella song “Do I love you because you’re beautiful or are you beautiful because I love you?” Do I think I’m beautiful because people notice me, or do people notice me because I think I’m beautiful. What comes first the chicken or the egg? Continue reading
Out of the dark into the fall….
Right after I wrote my last blog post I was inundated with negative events. This was just after I received the go ahead to be a teacher trainee here at Shakespeare and Company and do what I could to get a festival going for taking Shakespeare into high schools in the Lenox area next spring. I met with people who didn’t want to have anything to do with helping me get the information I needed, people resentful of the idea of having more work to do, I upset the apple cart and unknowingly offended people, hurt people’s feelings and ended up in tears thinking I had made a HUGE mistake in taking all of this on. My identity that I joyously found in my travels across the United States was all of a sudden bombarded, and tested, with large personalities taking up my space, sharing my bathroom, and helping me to feel insignificant. Continue reading
Berkshire frosting on my life’s cake…
I’m hanging out in Lenox, MA waiting for an answer to a proposal I made yesterday to Shakespeare and Company’s Director of Education and Director of Training. They both said yes, but as is common they have people to answer to as well. The General Manager is where the buck stops and we will see if my offer is met with an eye roll. Continue reading
Wonders and woes of Woburn…
The Fells, near Woburn MA
I’ve been dreaming vividly, from waking up with an imagined black cat snuggling on my chest, to being 8 weeks pregnant. I looked up what these things mean on dreammoods.com and found…“To see a cat in your dream symbolizes an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power. To dream that you are pregnant symbolizes some aspect of your personal life that is growing and developing. Being pregnant in your dream may also represent the birth of a new idea, direction, project or goal” Continue reading
Pouting…
I sit here pouting. I sprained my ankle 7 weeks ago dancing a jig (“…an offshoot to Nathan”). I have since been hiking and walking and it has felt fully recovered so that I haven’t given it a second thought. I talked to my friend Willie last night (“Meet Willie”) about wanting to concentrate on losing some weight and he said to get up early and first thing go out and exercise. So I woke up this morning excited to see some sunshine and got up and out the door with my iPod to do a combo walk 2 minutes and then run 90 seconds routine. I was entranced by the colorful changing leaves, the fresh air, the New England architecture and I waved at the policeman directing traffic. I was invigorated by my first run and turned down a side path and wham bam, my ankle twisted and down I went in a glorious wipe-out on the pavement. Continue reading
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