Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Monday

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Weeding turned into a big job yesterday, as they had taken over big swaths of the garden beds, so that took up a great deal of my time. And then I weed whacked. So I didn’t get around to the de-greasing, which I’ll tackle today.

Look how tall our butterfly bush is!

And these coneflowers are so tall and top-heavy that I have to keep propping them up against the trellis. The gardens are still thriving but I can see subtle signs of autumn’s pending arrival. There are leaves on the porch and in the gardens – there was one in the birdbath yesterday that had turned orange. Yikes. I’m not ready for that yet. Summer is my favorite season now that I’ve been living and gardening here for almost 12 years. August 30th is the twelfth anniversary of our move to the cottage.

Our girl starts her journey today. The shipper is picking her up at Antique Stove Heaven. We’re very excited!

I’m debating whether to drive back tonight or tomorrow morning. I don’t technically have to be at rehearsal tomorrow, but I’ll certainly stop by for a while and watch as Darko stages the second part of the play. We have limited rehearsal time and I need to be there as much as possible. As I have to buy groceries, I’m thinking that driving back tonight is the better option. After all, I’ll be back home on Monday to (hopefully) see our girl in her new home.

We watched Holiday last night on TCM. I’d seen it before but Don hadn’t. Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Our new stove will be named Stella, by the way, in honor of her journey to us commencing on the same day as the eclipse. Stella means star and the sun is a star. And she will be the star of our home. We’re waiting for you, Stella!

All right, my friends, I have to go. I have much to do today. If you’re watching the Eclipse, have fun!

Happy Monday.

 

Forty-Eight Hours

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I’m home for 48 hours. I got home in time for one of Don’s great dinners (how I’ve missed his cooking!) and The Manchurian Candidate on TCM. I’ve seen it many times, but I’ve watched it twice since Trump took office and its chilling premise is not far off from our current political climate. What seemed only faintly possible at the time it was released is happening in its own way now. Frank Sinatra had to hold the release of the film at the time as the assassination of President Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, who had Russian connections, was so devastating that the subject matter of the film would have been too much.

It’s always been chilling. It’s even more so now.

Don found some treasures in our ongoing archaeological dig in the corral:

Another portion of a plate with gold edging and blue flowers, another piece of the plate, and a white marble. Pretty soon I’ll be hiding these in a tree just like Boo Radley did in To Kill a Mockingbird.

The hollyhock that I planted this year has new growth near the base of the plant with flower buds. By the way, everything needs to be weeded here. There’s been a lot of rain in the last week and I can tell! Some of it was so heavy that it beat down some of the phlox and coneflowers. And a nest fell out of a tree.

Morning glories – this morning.

And zinnias.

Lots to do here today. Work on the sticky floor, laundry, weeding and weed whacking.

Finished the Michael Connelly on rehearsal break yesterday – it’s excellent! I started Karin Slaughter’s newest but it’s a bit slow going at the present. I’ve learned to trust her writing, though, because she knows what she’s doing.

Happy Sunday.

 

Great Reads & The Cottage

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The weather was quite strange yesterday with threatening skies most of the day and, by the time I left rehearsal, very heavy, oppressive and humid air. It rained more than a few times back home but it didn’t rain here until after I went to bed. I know this because I was reading the latest Michael Connelly – The Late Show – in bed and was so engrossed that I read too late and couldn’t sleep for a while.

Anyway, sunny skies today.

I have an afternoon rehearsal to attend and then…I’m headed home for two days! I’m taking advantage of having both Sunday and Monday free, a rarity when I’m working out of town, and I’m headed home to the cottage.

We want to put down some pavers next to the shed, I have to work on that sticky floor, and I want to clean our current stove.

Mostly, I want to spend time with my husband.

By the way, The Late Show  is great. Connelly introduces a new character in this series – Renée Ballard, a Los Angeles cop – and I really like her. As always, Connelly is a master of this genre and he writes seamlessly. He can build tension like nobody’s business.

Louise Penny’s newest Inspector Gamache novel, Glass Houses, is being published on August 29th. That’s a Tuesday, so yours truly is hoping she has the morning free to get to the bookstore and purchase her copy. Yes, I know I can order it online, but with her books, I like my little ritual of walking in the bookstore, looking for it on display, picking one with a dust jacket that is pristine and holding it in my hand as I walk to the check-out counter.

Okay, my friends. I’m off to hit publish, drink my second cup of coffee and finish The Late Show.

Happy Saturday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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