Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Harper’s Easter Greeting and More Egg Cups

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Harper wishes you a Happy Easter.

She wasn’t happy. I heard the words “Oh, go suck an egg.”

So there you have it.

I did some work outside yesterday and it amazes me how quickly I get tired out at this age. My first attempt at clearing a small garden bed, potting the pansies, pruning some bushes, and I end up coming in the house with a very sore back, crying and frustrated that I can’t do what I used to do. Thank God for comforting Don, who rubs my back and understands.

I know. The solution is to not take on as much as I used to and/or find a way to do it in smaller doses. And I’m trying, really.

Today, it’s supposed to reach 85 degrees. It’s one of those freakish spring days when the temperature soars and everyone is uncomfortable. It will be about 20 degrees cooler tomorrow. I’m going to run by the nursery this morning to see if there are more plants available. Maybe with the holiday weekend and people coming north for the weekend they’ve set out more stock. Doesn’t hurt to try!

Two morning glory egg cups from the flea market in Paris and two egg cups from Abbey Road in London.

Humpty Dumpty (from England) and two very kitschy egg cups that have salt and pepper eggs.

A bunny carrying an orange egg cup, a scottie dog egg cup, two bunnies holding up an egg cup (another of my favorites) and. a bunny with a pipe leaning against his egg cup cottage.

The first egg cup was made in California, two chicks on a teeter totter (I may have shown this one before in this series) and a beautiful goose pulling an egg cup.

I have a few more to show you and I’ll do that on Monday. I may not get to all of them, but I’ll do the best I can.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday and Happy Easter.

 

 

Goodbye Cold Nights and Egg Cups

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Happy Last Day of Below Freezing Temperatures at my House!

When I woke up it was 30. It’s warming up quickly. Our high today will be 71. Tomorrow? A freakish 83. Then back down to the 60s and 70s.

I went to our local nursery yesterday. I was ready to load up on plants for the porch, as well as potting soil, some garden gloves, and some seeds. Well. I got the potting soil, gloves, and seeds. But the only plants available were pansies. I forget that they can’t bring in too much stock until it gets warmer. All the perennials that they usually have on tables outside were stashed in one of the greenhouses. So I’ll have to wait until next week. I may check in tomorrow, as all the weekenders will be up here for the holiday and they’ll want plants. Even though Easter is late this year, it’s been a cold, cold spring here.

I moved a lot of pots from the shed to the porch yesterday. I’ll pot the pansies later this morning. And I’ll finally be able to start clearing the beds. Huzzah!

Okay. Let’s gaze upon a few more egg cups.

The interior of that Spode cup I showed you the other day.

Pardon my foot.

On the right, two lustreware egg cups.

On the left, two treasured vintage cups marked “Germany.” I love anything with bluebirds. Beautifully decorated.

The two blue egg cups aren’t marked. The one on the right is very heavy, so I know it’s stoneware. It’s quite old.

The second from the left is plastic. I got it at the flea market in Paris. I liked the Art Deco-like appearance.

The cup next to is also from the Paris flea market. It is earthen ware – Terre de Fer – from France. It’s a diabolo egg cup – both ends are open, almost like a napkin ring. I don’t know if you remember, but I once posted a photo of a woman in France’s egg cup collection. She had a lot of this kind of design and I was determined to collect them. But almost all of the available diabolo cups are sold by people living in France and the shipping is so prohibitive that I haven’t been able to do it.

The double egg cup on the left is from France. I’m pretty sure I purchased it when I was back in San Diego coaching the Summer Shakespeare Festival. I found it during a visit to  my favorite antique shop, Vignettes.

The other egg cup I found in a local shop. It’s not marked. I’ve never seen another cup like it. It has become one of my favorites.

There will be a few more photos tomorrow, but in the meantime, here is Pippa with the egg cups.

Happy Friday.

Stay safe.

Windy Weather and More Egg Cups

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We had another wind event yesterday. Cue: my scream. Even Don has had it with this stuff. It’s significantly colder today, but it looks like the warmup will begin at the end of the week. Please? Spring has been officially here for quite a while, but except for my daffodils and the forsythia blooming in the woods, you wouldn’t know it.

• The cup on the left is vinrage Spode and it’s simply beautiful. You can see part of the interior cup artwork – a beetle. I love cups that have not only an exterior design, but an inner one as well. This pattern is Chelsea Bird.

• The silver egg cup that Don and I found in a shop in Paris. I didn’t want him to spend the money, but he insisted. It’s absolutely exquisite. The design is art nouveau. And it’s quite petite. It’s my most valuable egg cup and I’m absolutely sure it currently needs polishing. It tarnishes so quickly.

• A lustreware egg cup – duck/chick carrying the cup on its back.

• A pig preparing to dine on an egg. I love this cup. It was made for Tiffany and is Staffordshire china.

• A little girl in a bunny costume holding on to a cup covered in polkadots. That face kills me! She’s so sweet.

• My first egg cup, given to me by my godparents. It was made for Fanny Farmer. Somehow, I managed to hang on to it for decades. I distinctly remember being back home for a visit when I was in grad school. It was in my grandmother’s trunk and I scooped it up and took it back to Philadelphia. Years and years later, not long after we moved to New York, I saw an article in Martha Stewart Living about egg cups and this particular egg cup was in one of the photos. What? You can collect egg cups??? I started researching egg cups and you know the result.

• This little bunny rabbit is so adorable and she always reminds me of Scout. The white and pink ears, the mischievous expression on her face – let’s face it, it’s Scout in egg cup form.

• A bunny and an egg cup “window” house. (I may have shown you this earlier.)

• A pig with an egg cup on his back.

I’ve not been sleeping well, though I think I caught up on some much needed sleep last night. Oh, for some peace of mind!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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