Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Serendipitous

October 4, 2012 at 9:12 am by Claudia

Do you love a good story?

I have one for you.

A month or so ago, I was at our local grocery store, or rather, in the parking lot walking toward the store. A woman called out to me and asked me if she could share something with me. I said sure. Turns out I remind her of her mother; we both have longish graying hair, we look somewhat alike and we drive the exact same model and year of car (and my car, you remember, is 11 years old.) She had often seen me driving around town and would be certain she was seeing her mother but would then realize that, no, it was that other woman. This had happened many times. So she was glad to finally meet the other woman and introduce herself. We had a lovely conversation in the parking lot and I met her son, who was with her.

I like meeting people and I loved that story. I came home and shared it with Don.

Like many of you, I often start reading a blog which leads me to another blog which leads me to another blog and that’s the way I often find a lovely, new blog that I bookmark. I’ve found several lately. Yesterday, my friend Heidi left me a note on my personal facebook page with a link to a blog she thought I would like. I recognized the name of the blog because it was one of those recently bookmarked blogs. So I wrote Heidi back and told her I knew of the blog. She said the author was local. Really? I said. For some reason I thought the author was from someplace else, probably because she talked about visiting the Luckett’s store in Virginia. It turns out that Heidi meant local as in someone who lives in our very small town.

Well, I thought, how interesting! I will trot right on over to that blog and leave a comment introducing myself. Hi, I said, Heidi told me you’re a local blogger. So am I. It’s nice to meet you. And I left a link to my blog.

I almost immediately got a return comment. It said (I’m paraphrasing)...Um, Claudia? I’ve just gone over to your blog and seen your picture….do you remember a strange woman who approached you in the parking lot and told you how much you resemble her mother? That was me. It is a very small world. And I recognize your house. I could throw a rock and hit it, we live so close. We are neighbors!

I admit to a gasp or two. I looked at her photo which shows a short hair cut. When I met her, it was longer. It may still be. But yes, I could see that it was my friend from the parking lot.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Then I got obsessed with figuring out where she lived. If she lived that close to me, where exactly was it? She has a photo of her barn on a recent post. I studied it.

Bingo. I suddenly had an idea where she lived, which, if I was right, was around the corner from me. You understand I’m not talking about a suburban street here, but down the road and around the corner. When I told Don about it, his response was ‘Let’s hop in the car and look!’ So I looked at the barn photo once more, memorized it, and we drove off in the dusk of the evening.

I was right.

Her land backs up to our property. She lives in one of my favorite houses around here, one I’ve always admired.

She’s been blogging for six months and writes about home, garden, vintage – the sort of things I write about.

She has great style. The name of her blog is Breida with a B. Stop by and visit. She wrote about this same thing today.

It’s funny how you can meet someone, have a conversation, but have absolutely no idea that person is a blogger. Like you.

I’ve met bloggers who live far away from me. But to find one that lives around the corner from me? In my little town? What are the odds?

Serendipity.

————————————————

By the way, for those of you who want to see a photo of me with my new haircut, just look at my photo on the sidebar. That’s what it looks like. My hair grows very quickly and I had let it go throughout the time I was nursing Riley. I had 4 inches taken off and it now looks normal again.

On another note, I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming to the point where I finally established a Facebook Page for Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I have stayed away from this in the past because I felt I had enough to handle already and that adding yet another something I had to keep up-to-date was simply too much for this particular blogger. But I’m trying to grow my blog and some of you, along with many of those in the know, have suggested this. So, I did it. I don’t have a widget yet, but you can get there by clicking on the f under Contact on my sidebar. Or click here.

Would you do me a favor and click Like? The more of you who ‘like’ my page, the better!

Oh, I’ve been busy. Crocheting, sleuthing, meeting, creating, gasping.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: blog, blogging 65 Comments

Wednesday: a Potpourri

October 3, 2012 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Tons of rain yesterday.

You don’t want to see the massive amount of wet leaves in my yard.

I don’t want to see them.

Nova replaced my cord. Look: the foot pedal actually reaches the floor! Thanks, Nova! Mabel thanks you, too. I’d love to start sewing something but I’m too busy doing this:

My wrist is a wee bit sore. I just ordered some more yarn. More scarves coming.

This is the vintage fabric I found the day we bought Mabel. I love these vintagey flowery fabrics. There’s about 3 yards of it and the fabric has a substantial weight.  Hmmm. What should I make?

Part of the mantel in the studio. I love these framed mottos. The graphics are fabulous. I found the one on the left and the one on the right was given to me by friend, Lori, owner of Vignettes in San Diego. The chair was meant for my dollhouse but the scale is off – it’s too big. Darn. The dog is part of a salt and pepper shaker set. Alas, I only have one. Do I need to say anything about the McCoy?

I moved my little piano up to the studio and I rather like it here. I’ve even caught Lambchop playing a tune or two. She’s quite good.

Thank you so much for sharing your own particular autumn with us. I loved reading everyone’s comments yesterday. And I really love threaded comments! Being able to respond to your comment on the comment page and sometimes get a dialogue going makes me happy. I’ve installed a plugin that lets you, the commenter, know if I’ve responded so I hope you’re enjoying that. If you ask a question, I’ll do my best to answer it right there.

A note or two on commenting: Many of you subscribe to MHC and sometimes you comment by responding on the actual post that has been emailed to you. That’s fine, though I don’t always receive those comments. If you can, I’d really love it if you could come here to leave your comment so that everyone can read it. And you can’t be entered in a giveaway by responding that way. You have to click on the post, come to the blog, and leave your comment here.

But here’s my main point:

When I see a new post from a favorite blogger in a reader, I always click over to the actual blog post. Yes, I know it’s an extra click. Here’s part of the reason I do that. If that blogger has ads on her blog – ads she is hoping to earn some income from –  she needs me to visit her blog. She’ll get nothing from me reading every post in my reader. Since I’ve started running ads, I have realized how vitally important this is, not only for me, but for other bloggers. And I want to support my fellow bloggers.

I have ads on this blog that provide a small income for me that I really need in these precarious times. So, if you feel inclined, occasionally stop by my blog and other blogs and visit the actual post. I’m not talking about clicking on the ads. I would never tell you to do that. Just stop by for a visit. That’s all you have to do. It takes but a moment but it can make a big difference in that blogger’s quality of life.

I thank you and I am grateful for each and every one of you.

Happy Wednesday,

Filed Under: blogging, BlogHer, crochet, life, sewing, singer featherweight 70 Comments

Thoughts on Autumn & a Question

October 2, 2012 at 7:57 am by Claudia

A photo of the house taken last week:

A photo of the house taken yesterday:

The leaves are changing color rather quickly. And, thanks to some rain and wind, there are a lot more of them on the ground.

That means raking. Lots of it.

I love fall, but it’s messy. We have to clean out the gutters frequently so they don’t get clogged. We have to rake and rake and rake again. Part of the deal with having a lot of deciduous trees to enjoy, and we do, is that the leaves will eventually fall to the ground. The maples are always among the first, along with the black walnut. Then the ash trees, what’s left of them; we’ve lost a lot to disease. The oaks and elms are up in the woods and I’ve noticed their leaves starting to change color. The catalpa will be last. The minute we have a hard frost? Boom. All the leaves will fall. The ground will be littered with those beautiful giant heart-shaped leaves.

I’m spending as much time as I can on the porch because it will soon be too cold and wintry to enjoy our little haven.

Hang in there, impatiens.

What’s it look like in your neck of the woods? Are the leaves changing color? Have they already fallen? Do you live in a part of the country where the changes are subtler? Tell me about your own particular autumn.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: autumn 44 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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