Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Blooms and Miniatures

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In just a few days, everything has taken off around here. All of the crabapples are blooming or about to bloom. There are wee little leaves appearing on the maples. My neighbor’s flowering trees are in full bloom. It’s so healing.

Last year, we cleaned up the area in the front lawn where the weeping willow used to be. There was a sapling coming out of the ground – maybe around 5 feet tall – and we debated whether we should leave it or remove it. About 4 days ago, it suddenly had flowers – it’s a crabapple! It looks so lovely in the middle of the front lawn. I’m glad we let it be. At the time, I suspected it could be a crabapple because it had very smooth bark, but I wasn’t sure at all.

After haunting my local nursery, I was finally able to get some impatiens yesterday, as well as one of the hanging plants I always buy. So I spent the afternoon potting the flowers. As I was walking through the nursery, a woman saw me looking around and said “They said there is more coming tomorrow.” I guess I’ll be back there today or tomorrow. I still have to get some calibrachoa, lobelia, geraniums for the barrels, and some coleus for the pots in the secret garden.

I have to say it felt so good to see the porch starting to take shape.

My allergies are out of control, of course. Pollen, pollen, everywhere.

We’re going to have to mow the lawn in the next couple of days. Hurrah! I love  to mow the lawn.

I was online yesterday and I saw an announcement from my favorite online shop – miniatures.com – that they were closing. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I have been ordering from them ever since I started working on dollhouses – which was around 2010. They have everything, especially building materials. I also got the kit for Don’s miniature music studio from them. They are a family-owned business of 50 years and they’ve decided to retire. They’re based in Georgia.

Well, the shock has reverberated around the American mini world. I’m not kidding when I say I was stunned. The news caused me to really think about the Beacon Hill, which I had been considering selling. I just haven’t been able to get motivated to do anything with it. Renovating a dollhouse can be expensive, though I certainly could aim for doing it on a budget (like I have any choice!) That shop is the place I go to get things like baseboards, moldings, strip wood, and wallpaper glue. Knowing that there is a deadline for orders – June 9th is the last day you can order and everything is on sale right now – I decided to place a modest order, including Victorian style baseboards. I’m sure I’ll place another one before they close. The closing notice put me  on notice.

So I guess I’m hanging on to the Beacon Hill. As I said to Don, since it seems I’m being forcibly retired, what else am I going to do with my time?

I will miss miniatures.com so much. They were always so helpful and kind. It’s a gigantic loss for miniaturists.

Okay.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday,

Flowers, Egg Cups, and a Puzzle

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It’s lilac time. And crabapple time, but we’ll talk about that in the next post.

And the leaves are popping out on the maple trees. The forsythia is in full, golden bloom.

A couple of rogue daffodil plants have popped up next to the grape hyacinth. I’ve been tracking them for a couple of years. This year, for the first time, there are buds that are just about ready to open. I think they’ll be the same kind of daffodil that blooms in the big garden bed.

I sorted out the shed yesterday, rearranging and fixing thing. I gave it a good sweeping, as well. I’ve also been clearing out more of the garden beds, which I’ll continue to do today. But only a bit at a time, because even when I really budget my time, my back still ends up aching.

More egg cups. The double egg cups are Harlequin, from Homer Laughlin. I found a couple of them and Margaret, a reader of the blog. sent me the others.

In front of them, new egg cups that my dear Judy sent to me. What came first the chicken or the egg? They’re adorable.

Glass egg cups: Jadeite and Milk Glass.

And miniature egg cups in Dove Cottage.

Reader Kathy sent me a puzzle which I just completed. It’s a copy of a print done by someone I’ve followed for a long time – Angela Harding. She carves linocuts and is also a printmaker. Her love of nature is apparent in everything she does. (She lives in England.)

Here it is with everything finished but the sky. (I forgot to take a picture of the completely finished puzzle.)

This one was challenging! Thank you so much, Kathy.

And timely. Don just saw a bunny rabbit!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

An Easter Visitor

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I do have a few more egg cups to show you, but I had a lovely little encounter yesterday that I want to share with you.

I was upstairs sometime during the middle of the afternoon and happened to look out our bedroom window. There was a large bird over by the shed, pecking away, searching for food. It was not a bird that I ever see around here. I went downstairs and looked more closely. I grabbed my long range lens and went outside, took lots of photos. The bird did not seem at all disturbed by my presence and when I walked even closer, it was unfazed. At this point, Don was watching from the kitchen door and the bird was changing direction and headed my way. I said ‘Come’ and it kept walking toward me.

I was standing by the funky patio and it walked in my direction, sort of like a pet bird or chicken would. It explored the patio, then headed toward the porch. (I was a wee bit worried that its wings might be injured.) It stopped at the edge of the porch, hopped up onto the porch and I followed. We walked around the porch, with me talking quietly. He/she was actually listening. When he got closer to the glider, he stopped, looked up at the seat cushion, flew up (wings not injured!) stood there a minute, then flew up to the railing, long enough for me to take a picture, and then flew off.

Of course, it was a pigeon, the kind of pigeon I see in the city all of the time, but never see here. Actually, it’s a Rock Dove. It wasn’t until I uploaded this photo that I noticed the red band around his leg. Another photo showed an orange and blue band around the other leg with the number 9 and “New.” Most likely New York.

A little blurry, but you can see the other band and the number 9.

I looked up information about banding. An owner might band a homing pigeon, or a racing pigeon. Ornithologists sometimes band birds to track their patterns.

But this little one was so gentle, so sweet, that I think it has an owner – it’s not at all afraid of human beings, whereas a city pigeon would have flown away as soon as I got close to it.

Right before it took off.

I worried that it might be lost, so I posted something on our town’s Facebook page, and one woman said the same bird had visited her yard yesterday and that it was very sweet and not afraid of them at all.

It looks as if the Rock Dove was having some adventures yesterday! It didn’t seem panicked. More like a tourist.

It was so lovely. We were really communicating. To have an encounter with a sweet bird, an unhurried encounter, well, that is a blessing and I have carried that feeling into today. Don and I feel very lucky that this beauty decided to visit our property.

I needed that.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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