Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Visit to the Old Homesteads

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I read through my email this morning and noticed that a photo of my sideboard turned kitchen island was featured at Houzz today. It is in a feature entitled “What to do with a Sideboard.” I was very surprised and pleased!

I’ve reached ‘S’ on the Where Bloggers Create list. Amazing studios out there in bloggerland!

Today I took a little trip in the car – a nostalgic trip – to take some photos of the apartment I lived in when I first moved here and the house Don and I lived in for 6 years.

It was good and bad.

The apartment building looks the same as ever –


This two story apartment building had 7 or 8 apartments and mine was the one you see on the ground floor.


See those steps? Don kissed me for the first time on those steps after an opening night party. Ah, memories…

Now for the house. We rented a Craftsman house in a charming neighborhood for 6 years. I planted a garden, mowed the lawn, pruned the bushes – it looked lovely. Since then it has been rented to a succession of people, including students. My garden is gone.


The grass is dead, the maple trees (rare for San Diego) have a lot of dead branches on top, the siding is dirty and hasn’t been cleaned in years.

An ugly security door has replaced the charming wooden screen door that was there before. Behind that ugliness is a gorgeous, dark wood, extra-wide door. Now it is totally hidden from view – in a neighborhood that is quite safe. Do you see all the plants that look brown in the front of the photo? Those are alliums. They surround the front and the sides of the house. In the spring they have the most beautiful pink blooms. People used to stop and ask me about them.

I guess this is what happens to a home that is neglected. My old next-door neighbors, on the other hand, have planted a beautiful xeriscape garden in their front yard, built a small natural stone fence – it is gorgeous.

Well you know the old truth, “You can’t go home again.”

On a brighter note: Happy Birthday to my husband!! I miss you, honey. I’ll be home in a week and a half and we will celebrate.

Sweet Tooth & Ralphie

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Meet my enemy, waiting for me around every corner, tempting me:


The King Size Drumstick available at my neighborhood 7-11. He tempted me today as I sat here on my sofa like a slug…I could hear his voice calling to me. He used a clever ruse. He knew I had absolutely no exercise today and whispered in my ear that the several-city-blocks-long walk to 7 -11 would be good for me. Then he said that while I was there I could get money from the ATM so that I could get more quarters from the bank tomorrow for my laundry. Oh, and I could get an A & W Root Beer.

I gave in. There are now 2 of these in my freezer. These may be the reason I have not lost weight here in San Diego even though I am walking most every day. But they’re so good.

Now I want you to meet my new neighbor, Ralphie:


Look at that face. Look at those eyes. My next door neighbor here at the apartments is my husband’s friend of many, many years Adrian. He is part of the acting company this summer. Adrian lives in Los Angeles and is wonderful with dogs. He has been part of a program where dogs that really need training and rehabilitation live with foster parents for a while so that they can eventually be eligible for adoption.


Ralphie is ten years old and for most of his life he was ignored, isolated and had no social skills at all. He didn’t know what it felt like to be loved. Adrian took him in and rehabilitated him but when he proved to be a little difficult the agency wanted to put him down. My friend would have none of it. He knows it takes time to try to erase ten years of neglect. So he adopted him.

I must tell you he is the sweetest boy. He laps up any and all attention. It is as if he is making up for the past ten years. When I’m in my apartment with the door open and the screen door closed, he comes and stands there…staring. He wants to play. Today he had a tour of my apartment. I’m crazy about him.

I tell you it makes my blood boil when I hear what is done to innocent animals. I don’t understand doing that to an animal who only wants to love and be loved. Ralphie’s story reminds me of my Riley’s story. Although Riley was much younger when we adopted him, he suffered the same neglect and has issues because of it. I call him our boy with special needs. Riley, like Ralphie, just wants to be loved. And we do love him.

Thank goodness Ralphie found his loving home.

Shells, Rocks and Some Thoughts

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From my trip to the beach last week: 2 more heart-shaped rocks and a lot of shells. I especially love these two. The shell at the bottom of the photo is embedded in another shell and that is another little shell to its left. The sea glass in the top right hand corner has something in it. I wonder what that is? It looks a bit like chicken wire!

:: I’ve been visiting all the wonderful studio spaces showcased in Where Bloggers Create. There are over 450 of them this year! At first, I randomly visited some – then I started from the top alphabetically. I’m now on F. I have a feeling this will take a while! I am so impressed with the creative uses of space. And creativity knows no boundaries, I’ve found; artists grab whatever space they can from a tiny closet to a big room to the outdoors.

:: My favorite movie was on TCM last night in honor of Father’s Day: To Kill a Mockingbird, with perhaps the best fictional Dad ever. It was nicely scheduled between my afternoon rehearsal and the evening performance. Thank you TCM! I think I know every inch of that movie by now. Do you remember the gorgeous soundtrack? When I saw Gregory Peck do his one-man show (a gift from my husband) a montage of his film roles was used as the introduction before Mr. Peck came out on stage. They saved To Kill a Mockingbird for the end of the sequence and when I heard the theme music, I started crying and couldn’t stop. We all rose to our feet as Gregory Peck came onstage and I was bawling like a baby. I’m sure the people on either side of me thought I was a bit nuts. I can’t help it, I’m sentimental that way.

:: I have to share something that happened from the Where Bloggers Create event. As part of my post, I showed a photo of some framed items on my wall. One of them was 4 photos of my brother and I visiting Santa at a local store named Muirhead’s when we were little. Celeste of Celestina Marie Designs left a comment saying she recognized those photos – she had some, too and she immediately identified them as from Muirhead’s. Some emails followed. She grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, as I did. She told me what elementary, junior high and high school she went to. I went to the exact same schools. Turns out she grew up a few blocks away from me and she was only 2 years behind me in school! We played on the same playgrounds, spent hours in the same bookmobile…what are the odds? She lives in Texas now and I live in New York – and we connected through this blogging world. That was truly amazing!

Have a great day.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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