Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Pink Saturday

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Hello everyone and thank you, as always, to Beverly for this wonderful celebration of pink! Please visit her blog and stop in to say hello to everyone participating.

I have a china cabinet I bought back when I first lived in San Diego. I was single then and in a tiny apartment, so I wanted something on a smaller scale in which I could display my Fiesta – that is what I collected in those days. I found this in Ocean Beach and fell in love with it. Fast forward to our move out East. I no longer had the Fiesta and we decided to put our Christmas village in the cabinet and there it stayed for much too long. (I cropped this from an old photo of the den.)

I was sick of the village, but my husband liked it. A lot. I figured if it made him happy, so be it. However, the combination of the browns of the village and the wood inside the cabinet made for a depressingly dark tableau. Imagine my surprise when I came home from my recent stint in San Diego and a casual conversation led to my husband agreeing that we should pack up the village! Yes!

I didn’t want to paint the cabinet because it has a beautiful inlaid wood pattern on it and is made of at least 3 different woods.

But I could paint the inside, couldn’t I? So I did – Pink Breeze by Valspar. Look what a difference some paint made.

Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Now for some McCoy…


Ooooh! Pretty, don’t you think? I love it.

Some pink McCoy! Sorry for the glare, I had to use the light inside the cabinet.

Now the corner is much brighter and lighter. We both love it and I love seeing some of my McCoy in the den.

Ah, some flowers. These are my purple coneflowers, but they are more of a pinkish purple. They look so pretty in the garden.

Have a great weekend!

Heirloom Party

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Welcome to everyone participating in the Heirloom Party and to all my readers! If you want to see who is participating, please go to Marie’s Blog, with the great name of Emmacallsmemama and have fun.

For the purposes of this party, I decided to define ‘heirloom’ as something passed down from a family member. I have other things that could be called heirlooms, but today I will concentrate on those things that have a little story.

This is my Mom’s Shirley Temple doll. Yes, her hair needs a bit of work and its on my To Do list. My Mom (who turns 82 today!) got her when she was a little girl. And…my Mom’s name is Shirley. Mom told me she was disappointed that her Shirley Temple doll wasn’t the one made by Ideal, but was a Canadian design. My Grandmother was Canadian, and my Mom was born in Canada, so I guess Grandma went for her native country’s version. I bought a new dress for her a few years back. I love her.


Those of you who read my blog regularly might remember a post I did about this tea chest. This has been in my Mom’s family for many years – I know it goes back to my great-grandmother, at the very least. Tea was a valuable commodity, so it was stored in a chest that was locked. By the time I knew this piece, it was on a shelf at my Grandma’s. It holds letters, the death notices of her two sisters, Maggie and Rhoda, who died in the 1918 flu epidemic, a lock of her youngest sister Rhoda’s hair, a copy of my Great-Grandfather’s estate. Precious, private things. I keep it just the way she kept it.

This was my Grandmother’s baby shoe. I only have one.

These two books are kept in protective bags. The one on the left, “Alices Adventures in Wonderland” was given by my Grandma to her sister Rhoda on Christmas in 1912. Grandma kept it after Rhoda died at the age of 15. Now I have it. The other, “Little Greycoat” was given to my Grandmother in 1904 as a prize for memorizing the second largest amount of Scripture verses in her class. The inscription is too faint to show you, but the handwriting is absolutely beautiful.

This was my great-grandmother’s syrup pitcher. I’ve always loved it. The lid is made of pewter.

My piano. First it was Grandma’s, then it moved to our home so we could all take piano lessons, then my Aunt held onto it for me until I settled down, then I had it shipped to San Diego (where I lived at the time) and then it eventually moved to Mockingbird Hill Cottage. When I was growing up, our piano tuner used to ask if he could buy it, because it has such a beautiful sound. Many of my loved ones have played this piano – I will never part with it.


Finally, my Dad’s toys. This Model T was his toy as a very young boy and Dad will be 86 this September. I don’t have many of his things, so this is doubly precious to me. He made the train car himself as a youngster. I keep these two together on a shelf on my sideboard.

Thanks for stopping by! I have to add this: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! I love you!

Oooh! Look What Came in the Mail!

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A package arrived today from the talented Linda Crispell. I couldn’t wait to open it up! I won Linda’s giveaway in honor of her 300th post and 1st year of blogging a few weeks ago and, in the course of our emails, Linda asked me what colors I liked and what style I gravitated to in decorating because she wanted to pick things for me that suited me.

So I opened up the box – and there were lots of wonderful things inside.


This lovely note was enclosed.
This was the reverse side of the note. Isn’t it pretty?

Here are some of the wonderful treasures that Linda sent. Let’s look at them up close.

A beautiful pink depression glass plate.

A Bride and Groom wedding cake topper. Linda has a collection of them. And now I’m considering starting one.
A beautiful flower.

Some vintage hem facing in red.

One of Linda’s fabulous pieces of art.

A miniature bench…for my dollhouse? Oh yes.
A pack of vintage green bingo cards with an old photo tucked inside the twine.

A little ballerina inside a tiny jar.

I gasped when I saw this – one of Linda’s Art Boxes! Isn’t it amazing? I love all the detail – it reminds me of the ocean – and the colors are perfect.

Look! There is a beach on the top, along with the initials of Mockingbird Hill Cottage!

This is the back of the art box. I am in love with it and my husband is as well. I love everything Linda chose – I told her I loved pastels and the colors of McCoy Pottery, and that there were splashes of red in our house. Everything she chose was perfect.

I urge you to visit Linda’s blog – she and her husband and two children are collectors with an incredible eye for design and their house is wonderful!
Thank you Linda for such a generous giveaway. The time and care you took with each item means so much to me.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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