Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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A Stroll with Scout (and me)

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Would you like to take a walk with Scout and me? It won’t be taxing. Just a quick trip around the property. It’s a lovely day and the sun is shining. (At least on Thursday when I took these photos! Friday’s forecast is rain.)

The hydrangeas, zinnias, pokeweed and sedum are really hanging in there. That second photo is of my cosmos. I planted all sorts of cosmos seeds and only one came up and it’s just now blooming! Such a nice autumn surprise! (Note to zinnias, sunflowers, bean vines and cosmos: I promise to plant you earlier next year.)

As Scout is well over 13 now, we find these walks around the yard are the best thing for her – not too taxing but full of scents and sights and a sense of adventure. We try to do this with her every day. We’re lucky that we have almost 2 acres here for her to explore. We stay out of our woods, though. Too many ticks for both humans and dogs.

I had 4 inches chopped off of my too-long hair yesterday. Feels so much better.

It’s my dad’s 89th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Dad!

Don’t forget that I have two giveaways going on. One is for a copy of The Unfinished Garden from my book review earlier this week and the other for velvet pumpkins from LoveFeast Table. The book giveaway ends tonight. The other giveaway ends on Saturday evening. Just scroll down and you’ll see the posts.

I’ll be back later at 8:00 EST with A Favorite Thing. Please join me!

Happy Friday.

A Favorite Thing Saturday #4

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Welcome to A Favorite Thing, number four! Every week we share one of our favorite things with each other. Since almost everything I have in this cottage is a favorite thing, I think I am in no danger of running out of ideas.

Let’s look back at some highlights from last week.

First up:

Dayle’s sewing machine, passed down from grandmother to mother and now to Dayle. It’s a beauty and since I got my very own Featherweight this week, I had to feature another gorgeous Singer machine.

These amazing bird house planters, from Tracy MB’s trip to the Ellis Bird Farm.

And Laura’s sewing mementos from her grandmother; the mammy pin cushion and the darning egg. What treasures.

This is my entry for this week.

This little vintage spice shelf hangs on the wall in my sewing/creative/studio space. I found it in a local antique shop. It still has the original label on the back. It holds a few treasures; my little lamb with the party hat that you can also see in my header, a vintage scottie toothpick holder, a little pink shaker and a box of doll clothespins. It’s the perfect little shelf for small treasures. I love the sort of Art Deco design at the top.

Now, it’s your turn. Share a favorite thing of yours!

You can link up anytime from this evening through Sunday. Make sure you enter the URL of your post. If you’re unsure how to do that, just click on your post title after you’ve published it and copy the information in your browser address window. Come back here, paste the URL into your link entry and there you go! If you have any problems, drop me an email and I’ll help you out. Please link back to this blog on your post. That way, those that read your post and are interested in reading more can do so.

One of my concerns about link parties is that the very reason for them has somewhat gone by the wayside. They’ve become so big and there are so many of them that many bloggers don’t take the time to visit any of the other participants. Link parties are a way to meet new bloggers and share with each other and the only way to do that is to visit each other. So, please, take some time to visit everyone over the next few days. No rush. Stop by, introduce yourself, and leave a comment. It’s the neighborly thing to do.

 


Sort of a Chatty Post

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Is it time to take down that coffee filter wreath? I’m thinking it is.

I want a real stair runner for those stairs – something from, say, Dash & Albert. When Riley and Scout were still sleeping upstairs with us and Riley began to be a bit unsure about his footing, we hastily tacked down those mini carpets for the treads. I tried to make them colorful yet funky by alternating a red one with a blue one.

I’m sick of them.

And every year, I look at the walls in this house, which were given only one coat of paint when this house was flipped, and get the urge to paint all of it. There are lots of dings and cracks and paint marks from furniture being moved up the stairs. I just never show them to you. When fall comes around and I see the amount of moths and bugs coming into the house lessen (we live in the country), I think now’s the time.

Then I get overwhelmed. Because I will be the painter. And there are a lot of walls. And the kitchen cupboards need to be painted. Even the kitchen island needs to be touched up.

I hate painting walls.

Maybe if I just start in one little area and do a little bit each day?

Still overwhelmed.

The view out our car window as we drove into town the other day – the day we found my Featherweight. Don’t we have  pretty mountains?

So many of you are flannel pajamas lovers. That makes me smile. And yes, flannel nighties count as well. Someone mentioned flannel sheets, but the funny thing is though I love my flannel pajamas, wear them in the morning and in the evening and other times of the day, I don’t wear them to bed. I tend to run hot. And it’s not due to menopause, which is, thankfully, over. Flannel sheets make me hot. Flannel pajamas while sleeping would send me up the wall. Don, on the other hand, runs cold and always has piles of covers over him.

By the way, I’m trying to reply to any questions that you’ve asked in your comments – right there under your comment. Since I have threaded comments now, it’s so much easier to do that. So, if you ask a question, check back. Maybe we can eventually get a dialogue going and I will respond to more than just questions. I see that on other blogs and I like the back-and-forth. I’ve not found a plug-in that I like that will allow subscribing to comments, so for the time being, if you are so inclined, check back.

Speaking of plug-ins, Brenda and I found one that will show the latest blog posts on our blogrolls (like Blogger has.) I like it so much more because I often read your blogs that way. It shows the post title and the amount of time that has elapsed since the blog was updated. The only problem? All Typepad blogs show that update as ’42 years ago.’ I’m not kidding. I don’t know why. It makes me laugh. So if you have a Typepad blog and you’re on my blogroll, my apologies.

Our elusive male cardinal made an appearance and I ran for my camera. I would have been able to get an even better picture had Miss Scout not decided to start barking at that moment. I love our cardinals.

Okay. That’s all for now. Stay tuned. I will post A Favorite Thing tonight at 8:00 pm EST.

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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