Claudia — Page 804

Henry?

April 9, 2018 at 9:44 am by Claudia

I moseyed across the street the other day to take a picture of the creek that is just behind my neighbor’s property. We have two rivers within a few hundred feet of the cottage – one is a large river that flows north (it really does!) and this creek is an offshoot of it.

If you traveled down the creek for a few hundred more feet, you would find the property owned by the guy who is trying to put in a glamping resort. You see how close it is to us. That whole thing is still being reviewed, and while I remain hopeful, I fear business – as it always seems to do here – will win out.

Seen under my car, then darting here and there before he/she ran off. As I said on Instagram, he seemed a bit spry for Henry, but I was watching through the living room window and I couldn’t get a good enough look to see if it was indeed our friend. When he took off, he ran to the shed, scooted along the outside wall – all things that Henry does – but then proceeded to walk past the opening to his den.

So the jury is still out. Nevertheless, I was so happy to see a critter here. This isn’t the easiest time for him as this dang cold has kept grass and weeds from growing, and that’s what he dines on. Groundhogs are vegetarians.

He does look a little gray around his muzzle. So maybe it is Henry. Every year he’s still with us is a blessing.

Don is headed home today and I’ll pick him up early this afternoon. Yay! It’s been two weeks since we’ve seen each other in the flesh.

Happy Monday.

The Dilemma

April 8, 2018 at 10:05 am by Claudia

Dear readers, it is sometimes hard to come up with yet another photograph for a blog post. I mean, how many photos of the interior of my house can I inundate you with until you begin to scream?

And the outside? Well, it isn’t all that attractive at the moment. We’re in that pocket between winter and spring. The daffodils are coming up. I see some growth here and there, but taking a photo of it would require a kneeling position on the cold grass and/or gravel and that ain’t gonna happen today.

It’s too early to clean out the garden beds as there as been mild frost the past two nights, so the leaf mulch must stay in place for a while longer. So no pretty pictures from the garden.

And really, do you want to see pictures of all the debris from the wind and falling limbs and that sort of thing that I raked up yesterday afternoon? I thought not. Actually, raking wore me out. I realize that I have to get back into gardening shape after a fairly sedentary winter. But it was so lovely to be outside on a cold, but sunny, day.

And certainly you don’t want to see pictures of me vacuuming every corner of the house, which is what I did after raking? No, of course you don’t.

This is the dilemma of the every-day-of-the-year blogger. Sometimes, life isn’t all that interesting. Or photogenic.

But I do have one little photo for you, snapped this morning in a moment of desperation.

This is where my tiny Wallace Nutting ended up. I couldn’t find the perfect place to hang it, at least not until I get a few more smallish Nuttings for the wall in the office. Then I’ll be able to insert it into a larger display. But I quite like it here on the shelf in the den, in front of the Nancy Drews. It works.

That copy of Anne of Green Gables was my mother’s. I was lamenting the loss of some of my mother’s childhood books that were also a part of our childhood one day on the blog. They had lived on a shelf in our bedroom. Our estranged sister somehow ended up with a lot of them. When Meredith read the post, she remembered that she had some of Mom’s books, so she secretly sent them off in the mail and completely surprised me. I opened the package to find Anne, along with Mom’s copy of Daddy Long Legs, and one of my dad’s books. I’ll freely say that I cried. It was like a reunion with dearly loved friends.

I have the best sister.

Happy Sunday.

Three Little Boys in a Row

April 7, 2018 at 9:52 am by Claudia

As predicted, posting about my egg cup collection inspired me to search eBay and Etsy. It is true that the figural egg cup pickings are slimmer these days. I started collecting in 2002 and, thankfully, I seemed to have discovered egg cups at just the right time. I rarely see duplicates of many of my egg cups, though I do see one or two of them now and then.

Etsy seems to have a bit more in terms of figural options, but I found this one – one I’ve wanted for a while – on eBay.

My egg cup reference book says this is “Oriental boy with dog kissing his cheek.” It says it was made in Occupied Japan, but the stamp on the bottom of mine just says Japan. So this might be a later edition. Occupied Japan denotes that time period just after the war, from 1947-1952. If this was made after that, it’s still a good 60 years old – almost as old as me!

I love these little Japanese designed figures, often little boys, who either sit or stand and are adorable.

This guy belongs with two other egg cups in my collection:

You can see the similarity – both boys on the left are sitting, the new guy is standing, albeit with short little legs. I love the rosy cheeks on all three of them and the addition of the dog on this newest treasure. Do we think that’s a clown suit on this little one? Or is he a mini Pierrot?

Aren’t these guys the cutest?

I have my eye on two other egg cups – a pair, but they’re rare (not figural) and I don’t know whether I’ll snag them. I’m trying to hold off bidding any more until the last minute. We’ll see how that goes.

Today looks rather gloomy, though we may see some sun. My back is much better, so I might try to do a small amount of clean-up outside, mostly debris from falling branches. But I’ll take it slow.

Happy Saturday.

Henry?

The Dilemma

Three Little Boys in a Row

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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