Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

  • About MHC
    • Disclosure
  • Dollhouses/Minis
    • Hummingbird Cottage
    • The Studio (Formerly TSP)
    • Dove Cottage
    • The Lake House
    • The Folk Art Dollhouse
    • The Modern Dollhouse
    • The Beacon Hill Dollhouse
    • Dollhouse Source List, Information and Tutorials
  • On the Road
  • Collecting
    • Roseville Pottery
    • McCoy Pottery
    • Egg Cups
    • Bakelite
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Day Three Hundred Sixty

March 8, 2021 at 10:26 am by Claudia

Five more days until I mark a year of lockdown. Perhaps we started it here a few days earlier, but I can’t remember. I think that the moment we officially hunkered down coincided with my decision to change the titles on my posts. Does it seem unreal that it’s been a year? Not one bit. It seems every bit as long as a year.

Today starts a warming trend here in the Hudson Valley. Baby steps today, but by tomorrow it will be in the mid-fifties and on one day this week – actually two – we will be in the mid-sixties! It won’t stay that way, of course, temperatures will drop down to the forties next week, but even that is welcome!

I’m going to cut my hair today. I cannot stand it any longer! Since it’s baby fine, it looks straggly when it gets too long and believe me, it’s too long. Don has promised to assist with evening out the initial cut. Fingers crossed!

I put the little wooden house from Helga on top of the desk. It probably won’t stay there, but maybe it will!

Thanks for all your thoughts on bathroom/no bathroom in the English Cottage. A reminder that though this is a period house, it has an eclectic mix of more modern and period pieces of furniture and it will be occupied by someone living in 2021. I don’t do period houses inhabited in times of yore. Many miniaturists do, but I don’t. So, any house of mine is living and breathing in the present day, just as Hummingbird Cottage, a Victorian house, is. So…no outhouses. In eliminating the bathroom, we will just imagine it just out of range of our eyes. I may put a little whimsical sign up, pointing to the loo, or I may just ignore it. Also, this is a very small house and all wall space is taken so I won’t be putting in false doors on the walls – besides, the bathroom would be somewhere just beyond the open back of the house, not in the side walls that are already established as exterior walls made of stone.

This is the kind of thinking and rethinking that goes into any dollhouse construction or renovation. The Beacon Hill, with 8 or 9 rooms, will definitely have a bathroom, as does Hummingbird Cottage. But I’m learning that bathrooms are expendable, if necessary, in my particular imaginary world.

In the meantime, the room won’t be a library. I’ve already purposely added a large shelf system in the living room and it’s filled with books. I do see a stack of books by the chair, however. A nice place to retreat and read in private, if necessary. I do think it will be more of a studio, an artist’s studio. I see an easel and art supplies. The rest of it will evolve as I work on it.

It’s sure more exciting than a bathroom!

Yesterday, Don mentioned that he’d like to work on a small house that functions as a guitar shop. Whoa! Needless to say, I was immediately on board. It would be his baby. Why not two floors, I suggested, and he can live above the shop? Yes. He’s already thought up a story for the owner who is gradually acquiring inventory for his shop. His 70th birthday is coming up, so a kit for the shop might be in order, don’t you think?

Okay. I have to pay a couple of bills, cut my hair, clean, etc.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures 23 Comments

Day Three Hundred Fifty-Nine

March 7, 2021 at 10:13 am by Claudia

Ever since we were vaccinated on Tuesday, I’ve had a few thoughts running through my head. After we got the shot, I found myself wanting to get back home where it feels safe. I’ve had that thought throughout the pandemic. As you know, I’m a homebody, a nester, and my home – whether it was a one-room apartment, my childhood bedroom, or our house – has always grounded me and given me peace.

Don and I talked about this during our second cup of coffee. Just what do we want to hang on to after restrictions are lifted? After 5 years of stress with the previous administration? What have we realized we absolutely must have going forward?

I feel very protective about our ‘world’ here at the cottage. About what we have held close to our hearts over the past year. Though the cottage has always been our haven, it has become more so – a safe place where we can find peace, where we make the choice about how we want to live, how we react to the world, how much of the world we want to shut out, and about the atmosphere we want to maintain and nurture. I’m 68 years old. Don will be 70 in June. How do we want to live our lives going forward?

I read these four words this morning: “an oasis of calm.”

That’s it. That’s exactly what I want. That’s what we want. I no longer want the extreme ups and downs that I regularly lived with when I was younger. I can control what I let into my head and heart. I can keep the news at arms length. I can decide how to react. I need and want peace.

This cottage often overflows with creativity. Songs, music, recording, dollhouses, books, puzzles…and often, QUIET. I need all of that. And I’m going to fiercely protect that. As is Don. The world will enter in, of course. But how much of the world enters in is entirely up to us.

__________________________

I did do some work on the dollhouse yesterday.

I hung the light over the island.

I started laying the floor in the bathroom, finally covering up the remnants of the dreadful carpet that was in this room when I found the house at the dump.

I finished the floor and stuck this gorgeous chair in the room for a pretty picture.

I don’t like doing bathrooms in a small house. It’s a waste of space – at least, to my eyes – especially in a house with four rooms, or three, now that I’ve made the first floor an open space. Boring: a toilet, a bathtub, and a sink. Inserting the chair in this scene made me wonder: do I really have to have a bathroom? Wouldn’t I much rather have this room be a den or retreat with an easel set up near the window? I’m just riffing at the moment, but what do you think? I already defied norms by eliminating the stairs. Maybe we could just agree that the bathroom is just off the kitchen? Out of sight, but there?

Thoughts?

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: dollhouse, life 51 Comments

Day Three Hundred Fifty-Eight

March 6, 2021 at 10:32 am by Claudia

It’s cold here! Two more days of this stuff and then the warming begins. At least two days of near 60 degrees are predicted and I’m very happy about that.

I straightened up the studio; though if you walked in the door, you might think I hadn’t done anything of the sort. But I assure you, I have. While I was up there, I added the putz sheep from Helga to the herd already living on the mantel/shelf. It’s hard to get a good photo (I’m going to try again later today with my big girl camera) but this is better than nothing.

I have 20 putz sheep now. The two at the far right are adorable, but they’re not putz sheep. I took photos of exactly where Helga’s sheep are in this mix, so I don’t forget. I’m tempted to find some way to mark them – hidden, of course – because unlike so many things I collect, I can’t remember where and when I found most of these sheep. I remember the details of a few, especially The Lamb with the Party Hat, the symbol of this blog. I found her in Orange, California, when I was back in San Diego to coach the Summer Shakespeare Festival about 11 years ago. And the large sheep with the hat and the pack was a gift from Lori, the owner of Vignettes in Ocean Beach.

I’d love to have scads more. Fingers crossed. The one time during this pandemic that I actually went into a store other than the grocery store was in December when my friend Sydney dropped off two sheep (she has been the source of many members of my herd) and left it at the front desk of one of my favorite antique shops. I was in and out of there in a flash! I suppose I’d only do that sort of thing for sheep and dollhouses – at least, for the time being.

Finished puzzle dismantled. New one started:

It will eventually look like this:

I’ve started A Chelsea Concerto, a nonfiction book about living in Chelsea, London during the Blitz. It was recommended by one of my favorite book bloggers, Miranda Mills. I’m really enjoying it. The series we’re watching, A French Village, is all about life in a French village that is occupied by the Nazis. I seem to be immersed in WWII these days.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: books, jigsaw puzzles, putz sheep, reading 14 Comments

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 486
  • 487
  • 488
  • 489
  • 490
  • …
  • 1861
  • Next Page »
  • Email
  • Instagram

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.

Thanks for stopping by.

Searching?

The Dogs

The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives

All Content © 2008 - 2026 Mockingbird Hill Cottage · Log in