Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Well, I just paid Bluehost the hefty fee for another year of hosting my blog. I could do without all the AI crap on their site. I was shocked when I saw it. I wrote and expressed my feelings on that, not that it will make a difference. I find it chlling how quickly so many companies are adopting it. I’d talk about it more, but I woke up way too early this morning, and I don’t have the energy to fully tackle that subject.

I will avoid AI like the plague.

I worked on the floor in the bedroom and it’s finished. I also screwed up a few things that I have to fix later today. The right side of the house, on floors 2 and 3, was put together incorrectly and I’m coming to terms with the reality of that. I have to work around it and sometimes that is next to impossible. But there’s no way I could have taken that side of the house apart and fixed it. Just as in life, we all have houses with imperfections, and we often don’t have the money or skills to fix them.

Same here.

Anyway, some of the day was frustrating and some of it flowed easily. But ii took another 4+ hours to stain the popsicle sticks and lay the rest of the floor.

I like it.

Taken early this morning. I’ll be getting some sort of wardrobe for the wall on the left, bedside tables, and a table for the area next to the chaise longue. And lamps and rugs and pictures and things, but that will be later.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Spring = lush, lush green. Everywhere.

We’re in the midst of some very hot temperatures, which will last at least a week. Lots of watering outside and on the porch and work on the dollhouse must take place in the morning hours. There is no air conditioning in the studio. That’s what I did yesterday and what I’m doing today.

I’m halfway through laying the floor in the bedroom. This is fiddly, painstaking work and what you see here took 4 hours to complete. I’m happy with it. Today, I will finish it. I will say it’s enormously satisfying to see it all come together!

Wild roses.

Buttercups. Love, love them.

You’ve read about my dear friends, Joe and Jan. We shared a house together for a few years, right before I moved to Philadelphia for graduate school. We lost Jan last year to cancer. Joe was there by her side throughout that battle, taking care of everything for her. Now, he is facing his own battle. He has a cancerous growth on his kidney, as well as a growth on his abdomen. The growth on his abdomen was removed during outpatient surgery a couple of days ago. He will have a partial robotic nephrectomy on the 18th to remove the carcinoma from his right kidney. It looks like it is early stage and that is a good thing. But this is very worrying. After all his constant support and care of our Jan, he’s facing this. Needless to say, I’m thinking of him all the time. Jan and Joe are/were like family to me.

And on that note, I’ll close.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.