Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

A Little Surprise

July 26, 2014 at 8:56 am by Claudia

This is the little uphill path that opens into the dog corral:

saturday - path to corral

There’s Dame Scout, of course, walking around her domain.

saturday - a bit closer

But if you look in the foreground, you’ll see one of my favorite things – this lone coneflower. It first appeared last year. I was delighted to see that it had reseeded right along the edge of the chicken wire fence.

Just one flower.

And it came back this year, bringing a big old smile to my face.

saturday - little coneflower

Isn’t it the sweetest little surprise?

As far as the Chicken Wire Fence Garden, it’s slowly coming along. Some of the zinnias are starting to bloom. Some of them are still small, having been planted later in the season. The morning glories are starting to climb and attach themselves to the chicken wire. I sometimes think it should be further along at this point, but then I remember that it didn’t really take off until mid-August last year.

saturday - chicken wire fence garden

saturday - zinnia 2

This zinnia just opened. Gorgeous.

But the most gorgeous of all is this girl:

saturday - my girl

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: flowers, garden, Scout 36 Comments

When A Movie is So Bad that it’s Good

July 25, 2014 at 7:50 am by Claudia

It’s actually coolish this morning.

I turned off the air conditioner. I may have to turn it back on again later, but it’s so nice to have quiet and birdsong, instead of the constant whir of the A/C.

I ran some errands yesterday. I know, big deal. But it was the first day I felt good enough to venture out for longer than a few minutes here and there. (More about the trip on Just Let Me Finish This Page.) The trip tired me out but I revived enough to do some weed whacking later on in the afternoon, while Don did a little mowing. Baby steps.

friday - lantana&birdbath

There was nothing worth watching on television last night, so we watched TCM On Demand. Don’s choice? A movie called Tentacles, made in the seventies and so dreadfully bad that it was good. You know what I mean. Sometimes there is a movie that is so bad that it makes for the perfect viewing experience. (As long as you’re not spending any money.) Clearly trying to build on the success of Jaws, the plot revolved around a giant octopus who was attacking and killing people in a coastal beach town. The producers were Italian and parts of the film were obviously dubbed. I don’t know how they got them, but the cast included Shelley Winters, John Huston, and Henry Fonda. Henry had sort of a cameo role, most of his scenes took place on a terrace and were, I’m sure, filmed in one day. He was part of a subplot that involved the work his company was doing on an underwater tunnel and the frequent use of high frequencies of sound that presumably created this monster octopus. Shelley played John Huston’s sister. Huston was a reporter and Shelley, a bit long in the tooth at this point in her career, as was Huston, was the mother of a little boy of about 10 or 12. What?? The whole thing was cheaply done, with bad special effects and closeups of a regular old octopus that were supposed to be terrifying. The plot got more absurd as the film went on, eventually involving some Shamu-type killer whales from a place not unlike Sea World that had been trained by the guy (played by Bo Hopkins) who was hunting the octopus (and who, by the way, had lost his wife, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and friend to the killer octopus, simply because they went out on a boat and used their radio to contact the Coast Guard – those sound frequencies again.) Bless them, those killer whales took on the octopus and killed him in a long scene that was so cheesy and blurry that I was unsure what I was seeing.

All this with a cheap sounding musical score created on a synthesizer.

I can’t make these things up.

friday - spirea

It’s Friday. We have no plans for the weekend but Don does have a gig on Sunday. I have to catch up on my reading. I have books to read and review and I didn’t much feel like reading when I was sick.

Happy Friday.

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Filed Under: movies, music 25 Comments

Life at the Cottage: Birds, Bees, Critters & Flowers

July 24, 2014 at 8:06 am by Claudia

The neighborhood pool was open for business yesterday. It was so dang hot and humid! I managed to catch this particular fellow in the midst of a refreshing dip.

wednesday neighborhood pool 2

wednesday neighborhood pool 5

He was in and out of the water several times. I was a wee bit envious.

rudbeckia

The rudbeckia have opened.

liatris2

The liatris are filling out. I love these flowers which are tall and spiky and exotic looking.

liatris

Amazing.

I’ll try to get some shots of the garden in the next few days – we’re approaching that time when the tall David’s Phlox will be in bloom, along with all the coneflowers and the rudbeckia. It looks awfully pretty. It’s what I call the July Peak.

I just caught a glimpse of one of our bunnies through the den window. I wonder if it’s one of this summer’s babies? The other day I saw our groundhog chomping on some grass. Groundhogs are shy, timid, gentle creatures, and vegetarians to boot. They run and hide under the shed when they’re scared, which is quite often!

Oh, and I saw a hummingbird yesterday! I walked out onto the porch and there, staring at me, was a hummingbird  who was hovering over the coneflowers. Turns out the coneflowers weren’t what she was looking for, but she hovered and darted and looked absolutely beautiful.

Did I have my camera? No.

dramatic coneflower

This might be one of my favorite photos ever. I was using the macro setting, trying to capture that tiny little bee who is on the edge of the cone. I love the highlights and shadows and the texture of the cone.

Sometimes you get lucky.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: bees, birds, flowers, garden 34 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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