Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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And On It Goes

August 6, 2022 at 8:02 am by Claudia

The limelight hydrangeas are in bloom. A small bush, planted maybe 7 or 8 years ago, is HUGE! Every year it gets fuller and fuller.

But my little hydrangea that I planted in the chicken wire fence garden had only one bloom this year. That has never happened.  I do believe it gets too much sun, especially this year, but the blooms weren’t appearing even before the heat wave. I’m scratching my head on that one. I may need to move it.

This heat wave is never-ending. On and on it goes, through Monday or Tuesday. It’s too miserable to be outside except in the early morning. We did get a bit of rain yesterday. A bit. We had a gentle rain shower early in the afternoon. It probably lasted 10 minutes. Then in the late afternoon, we had another shower of 10 -15 minutes. But in each case, there was lots of thunder off in the distance and neighboring communities had big storms. Nothing here.

If only this could happen in the winter instead; everyone else gets big snowfalls, and for some strange reason, we get nothing. That  I would be happy about.

But some rain is better than none and I’m grateful for it, if only for the fact that I don’t have to hand water this morning.

I’m going to do some prep work this morning on one of the shows I’m coaching. At some point this weekend, I am going to put the puzzle back in the box and free the kitchen table for tax deduction work.

Exciting weekend, right?

We’re going stir crazy, but only because the heat and humidity is so bad and has been for over a week and a half.

Sigh.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: flowers, garden 10 Comments

Over It

August 5, 2022 at 8:40 am by Claudia

Paris puzzle finished. Finishing off the trees was tedious. But I love this puzzle and, though I can barely imagine begin able to visit Paris again, this sure makes me want to.

I have had it with the heat. Yesterday, the heat index was 105°. Once again, I spent a long time watering everything in the morning, then I stayed inside for the rest of the day. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon – a 90% chance. I watched the radar and was so happy to see that we were going to get some rain. The wind kicked up, so much so, that Don went outside and took down the umbrella and I put the hanging plants on the floor of the porch. Storms were supposed to arrive by 7 pm.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Dumbfounded, I looked at the radar and there wasn’t a storm in sight.

This has happened EVERY TIME a major storm has been predicted. We are desperate for rain. The grass is brown, the plants are suffering. The humidity is high and my allergies are out of control.

Okay. Thanks for letting me vent. This has been a depressing summer and it looks like it’s going to continue.

Pippa and and the girls are sick of it, too.

Short of going naked, this is the coolest outfit we’ve got and Pip won out. They’d like to run in the sprinkler, but we don’t have one. Maybe we should walk over to the river?

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: Blythe dolls, jigsaw puzzles 21 Comments

Endless Heat

August 4, 2022 at 9:08 am by Claudia

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments yesterday!

It’s really just a little blip of an appearance on the screen. A re-emergence from retirement for a brief moment to be of service. But it was fun and unexpected. And most importantly, it was very moving to be in that room, sharing the scene with Jim and Ben, especially. Add in Bill Irwin and Sally Field and there’s the icing on the cake. By the way, Sally and Bill are incredibly kind and nice and funny. On their last day on the set, Bill stopped and told me how happy he was that we got to work together in that scene.

Anyway, on to the realities of this day: a heat advisory, an air quality advisory, and temperatures that will be well over 100 degrees when you add in the humidity. I’ve already been out to hand water all the plants, but of course, there’s only so much I can do. I’ll water again later in the day or early in the evening. We will be in this insane stretch of weather through the weekend.

This has been an awful summer – abnormally high temperatures that would be okay for a day or two, but, instead, stay here for two weeks at a time. Then a slight break, and they’re back again. My plants are suffering, the lawn is brown. It’s just dreadful.

Adding to that are my allergies which are particularly bad in this kind of weather.

Okay. Enough complaining. I have a lot of work to do. But brain fog is not helping me accomplish anything at the moment. All I want to do is sleep. I can see why siestas are so popular!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

Filed Under: flowers, garden 8 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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