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

Monday: Taxes, Garden & Egg Cups

April 15, 2019 at 10:47 am by Claudia

Reading your comments about taxes was very interesting. I read them out loud to Don. The whole thing is shameful. Don earned about the same amount of money in 2017 as he did in 2018. In 2017, we got a refund from the IRS of a few thousand dollars. This year, with the same income, we’re paying at least $5000. Since we live most of the time on a fixed income, I can see a future with our savings being quickly depleted.

Anyway, today I’ll print out a voucher form, write out a check, and mail it to the IRS. And throughout it all, I’ll be sending a symbolic middle finger to the GOP.

I did some work in the garden yesterday clearing out the garden beds closest to the kitchen; the memorial garden and the bed where I plant my morning glories and zinnias. I did a bit of work elsewhere, but the constant raking, loading onto a tarp, bending down, carrying a heavy tarpful of leaves and debris to our pile, and then back again to do the same thing tired me out. I’m not in full spring/summer gardening and mowing shape yet. This part of the property cleanup is tedious and I can’t wait to finish it. But, even through the tedium, I so enjoyed being outside again and seeing little green plants emerge after the removal of the leaves. So far, I can see hostas, daylilies, coneflowers, catmint emerging from their winter slumber. Oh, joy!

Yesterday’s egg cups:

Egg cups with shoes and socks. The one on the left is from a company in England, part of their Walking Ware line. The one on the right has no mark. And, by the looks of them, the shoes need a little dusting!

Today:

An Assortment of Animals.

On the left a rooster pulling a cart – made by California Pottery. The sticker is still on the cup!

A bunny rabbit who reminds me so much of Scout that I’ve named her Scout. I mean, those pink ears! Just like Scoutie’s.

A souvenir egg cup from Chambéry, France. I had to get it because, if you look closely, you’ll see two groundhogs.

And an adorable pig holding up an egg cup.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: egg cups, garden 34 Comments

Big and Small

April 14, 2019 at 10:29 am by Claudia

Can I just take a moment to say how the Tax Bill has screwed us? I knew it was going to, but I didn’t know how many thousands of dollars we would owe. For actors, this bill has been a nightmare. You can no longer deduct agent commissions. You can no longer deduct union dues. You can no longer deduct expenses on the road. The list goes on and on. Don paid 10% agent fees on his salary from Escape to Margaritaville. That’s a lot of money – thousands of dollars. We’ve lost that deduction. We’ve also lost the deduction for expenses while he was living in New York.

So – we owe a lot of money. And our tax preparer – who specializes in the entertainment industry – told us that everyone  is getting the shaft this year. She has had to break the bad news to virtually all of her clients. Because none of us are millionaires. I know that this change has impacted everyone, regardless of profession. It’s not just us, so I’m not trying to imply that we’re ‘special.’

We file an extension, but our accountant advised us to pay a chunk of it via voucher now, so we don’t get saddled with penalties and interest. We’re going to do that. It’s had a major impact on our finances – we’re still reeling from the news. Oh my goodness, I feel for everyone who is dealing with this.

I’ll refrain from saying what I think about this atrocity and its impact on the vast majority of Americans because I don’t want to swear on the blog. So I’ll leave you to imagine what my colorful language might be.

New York State, thank goodness, didn’t go along with the tax changes. Neither did California. So, filing in those states – and we have to file in both of them – won’t have a negative impact.

Okay. Enough of that nonsense. The rest of the day will be positive, even if positive means raking as many leaves out of the garden beds as I can before it rains later today. I have to get moving on my gardens!

I worked on the dollhouse yesterday – I finished patching and de-gluing and I’m painting a base coat of white in the rooms until I figure out exactly what I want to do with them.

Yesterday’s theme: Big and small. The duck egg cup on the left is one of the largest that I own – it was given to me by a reader of this blog. It’s from a Holland Mold. Holland Molds were made by a company based in Trenton, NJ. They created molds for pottery that would eventually be painted and glazed by individual crafters. This one was painted and signed by someone with the initials LH in 1958. LH did a pretty good job!

The little one on the right is the smallest figural egg cup in my collection. Love that little bunny and egg.

Okay. I have to don some old clothes and start raking. Tedious. But necessary!

Happy Sunday.

 

Filed Under: egg cups, life 52 Comments

Egg Cups, Photography & Plants

April 13, 2019 at 9:39 am by Claudia

The theme here is Getting Ready to Dine.

The pig on the left is sitting at a table, utensils at the ready – he’s just waiting for his egg. (Made for Tiffany.) The chick on the right – given to me by Linda, a blogging friend – is adorable and those tail feathers function as a salter. Pull out the tail and salt your egg.

It’s fun doing this yearly egg cup roundup. Now that I have the cubby, I open the doors, look at all the egg cups, and then I try to put together some sort of theme. The challenge is to remember to include the egg cups that I have displayed in other areas of the house.

Looking at them makes me happy.

I cleaned the bathroom yesterday, vacuumed the house, that sort of thing. Then I sat down and worked on the dollhouse for a bit. I’m using wood putty to fill in some openings. While I was there, I listened to a music app on my bluetooth speaker. Yesterday, my mood was “All Antonio Carlos Jobim.”

Do you remember when I had to put the Boston fern outside and the wind knocked it to the ground? A few days later, in yet another insane wind, it happened again. I ended up putting a heavy rock in the base, but those two falls damaged the fern. Lots of broken fronds. A couple of days ago, I was sweeping the porch and stopped to examine it more closely. It didn’t look good. So I brought it back inside. It’s now up in the office. I think putting it out in weather that was just too cold was a shock to the plant. The falls didn’t help. So I’m nurturing it up there until the weather is warm enough to safely put it outside again.  And it had been looking so beautiful right before I put it outside! All that work to keep it healthy only to have so many fronds broken during those godawful winds.

But it’s already improving.

You wouldn’t know it to look outside at the moment (it rained all night long) but it’s supposed to reach 74 degrees here today! It that holds true, Don may be able to get out and start taking polaroid portraits again. He’s really missed doing that. Our friend Jean Andre Antoine – another Crown Graphic Press Camera photographer – was profiled in the New York Times on Thursday. I follow JAA on Instagram, so I saw his link to the story early on Thursday. It’s a terrific profile of a lovely man. He’s one of many former students of Louis Mendes – although you’re never a former student of Louis. The mentoring is ongoing. In fact, Louis wants to come up here for a day in the next month or two and take some portraits with Don.

We have portraits by Jean Andre and they’re beautiful.

More dollhouse work on the docket today.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Don, Easter, egg cups, houseplants, photography 24 Comments

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 692
  • 693
  • 694
  • 695
  • 696
  • …
  • 1846
  • 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