Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for antiques

Day Four Hundred Sixteen

May 3, 2021 at 10:06 am by Claudia

I planted this lilac bush several years ago and it’s been growing steadily. I find it’s impossible to get a good photo of it, but I will say we have more blooms this year than ever before. I took the advice written in a comment here a few years back; cut off the dead blooms sometime in June and the bush will bloom profusely the next year. It’s actually taller than it looks here, but I was shooting uphill.

And so starts my daily visit to the bush, stopping to inhale that incredible scent.

Oh my heavens.

I took a trip to the nursery yesterday – foolish me. It’s the weekend and I knew better. We live in an area where city dwellers have weekend homes. So…the weekend brings an influx of people and on a gorgeous day like yesterday, a place like the nursery is flooded with people, ready to beautify their properties. Nevertheless, I was there, so I bought a few things; some topsoil, some more geraniums, some more lobelia to fill another pot. My hanging plants are not in yet, darn it! Now I’m afraid they didn’t order them, but truth be told, I think that this delay is normal – they aren’t in stock until the first or second week of May.

I wasn’t going to drop by the antique barn, but the traffic was so heavy, that it was easier to turn in that direction and I was able to get a parking space, so I stopped in. The antique barn is in a complex with other shops and it was crowded there, too. As was the barn. I walked through both floors and was intrigued by some items, but not enough to buy them. I stopped in my friend Sidney’s space, which is always lovely (that’s where I found the egg cup cubby.) She has such a great eye. There’s a photo of her space in my IG Stories. Sidney has recently moved to New Hampshire and spends most of her time there, so she is only going to have a booth in one space, which is another antique shop that I frequent. Though I’ll miss her at the antique barn, I’m glad she will remain at the other shop, where she has more square footage.

When I got back, I potted the flowers – again, in the wind – and cleaned up the porch. I swear, every day becomes windy lately, and pollen is everywhere.

Today, our big event will be stopping by the post office, the little hardware shop in town, and grocery shopping. And getting gas. (Don’t be jealous.)

I’ve started The Cutting Place, a mystery by Jane Casey, an excellent author. She writes police procedurals.

Don and Dan are working on an album – their new name is All the Way to Redding, which celebrates their long distance collaboration. Dan lives in Redding, CT. Anyway, I’m quite enamored of one of their newest endeavors, a piece called Starry Eyed in Nova Scotia. If you’re interested, here is the link. Words and music by Don; Vocals, ukelele, guitar – Don; bass and lap steel – Dan; produced, arranged and mixed by Dan. And the cover art is by our friend Jeff McCarthy. Jeff is a well known actor and he’s also a wonderful artist. When Don told him what he envisioned for the album cover, Jeff created a wonderful painting. Side note: Don knows Jeff because they were in a production of The Front Page  together. I worked with Jeff several years before at the Huntington Theater in a production of Arms and the Man. Theater is a small world.

Okay. Have to get going.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: antiques, Don, flowers, garden 28 Comments

Wind, Antiques, And An Egg Cup

February 28, 2020 at 10:05 am by Claudia

The wind continues today, somewhat less intense, but strong enough that the wind chimes are constantly ringing. All of this accompanies a cold front that came through yesterday and the temperatures have fallen back down to the low thirties. In a day or two, they’ll rise again. And so goes our weather pattern for February and March.

Yesterday, though – or should I say, because – I was sleep deprived, I got in the car and ran some errands. (I find that when I’m exhausted, I need to assign myself some tasks, whether it’s cleaning the bathroom or running errands. Helps me get through the day.) Along the way, I stopped at a local antique emporium that I frequent, only because I had seen a post for a vintage house that I was curious about. I had no plans on buying it – no. more. room! – but I wanted to see if it actually was  a dollhouse.

I could only get to one side for a clear picture and thankfully, it happens to be the best side. I love that railing. Anyway, it’s a model house, not a dollhouse. There is no way to access the inside. You can open the doors and see the dimly lit interior, but neither the sides or the roof are removable. It’s not 1:12 scale; I’m not exactly sure what scale it is. It’s sort of charming and would be a folk art display piece. There’s damage to the roof as you can see. And – get this – the price was $450.00. I guess the dealer is pricing it as Folk Art with capital letters. When you consider that my most recent house, which is just as wonderful, can  be accessed, only cost $130.00, well….

But it’s cool, that’s for sure. Since you can’t access the interior, was it a display piece showing what the exterior of a future home would look like? Or was it simply constructed by an artisan as a miniature house – a model of a house? Hmmm.

I also saw this cabinet, which, if I lived in a larger house, I would love to have:

The storage! The colors! The shelves! It’s so wonderful.

I did pick up this little jadeite gem:

I’ve seen these jadeite egg cups around for years and could have purchased one at any time, but I was collecting figural egg cups, so I didn’t. Now that figurals are less available, I’ve been branching out, but only occasionally. When I saw this beauty, I bought it. It has a new home in the egg cup cubby.

I came home, tried to sleep, but couldn’t. We were both so tired that we watched old Dick Van Dyke episodes in the evening. No need for too much concentration, just favorite episodes.

By the way, we watched Joker  the other night and we disliked it – a lot. From what I’ve gathered, people seem to either love it or hate it with not a lot of anything in between. A friend of ours loved it so much, he watched it twice. I, on the other hand, felt like I needed to take a shower afterwards. It was self-indulgent, both on an acting and a directorial level. Though it tends to drive me crazy when people say that acting must be easy – it isn’t – I will say that this sort of overt and unsubtle portrayal of insanity isn’t difficult for an actor to execute. Subtlety and nuance requires much more skill. It wasn’t written well, either, which didn’t help. Joaquin Phoenix is a good actor, don’t get me wrong. I’m just speaking to this particular performance.

Thanks so much for your book mentions yesterday. I love seeing all of you comment not only on the post itself, but on each other’s posts as well. I can’t help smiling when I see that.

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: antiques, dollhouse, movies 10 Comments

Serendipitous Finds

February 24, 2020 at 10:21 am by Claudia

What? 58 degrees today and sunny? Oh my.

We had a lovely day yesterday. We drove to Phoenicia, which is a tiny little town up in the Catskills. We took a rather hilly route and consequently learned that the CR-V doesn’t do so well anymore on that kind of terrain. Next time, either a different route or my car. But it was a lovely drive. The scenery is still winter-stark, but then again, I got to see houses that would normally be hidden by leafed out trees. Phoenicia is funky, known for its strong arts community, fly fishing, and tubing down the river.

Our first stop was at the Phoenicia Diner, which is very well known around here. This was our first time and it was packed. The food is delicious. More on all of that tomorrow.

It felt like we really got away to a completely different place. It turned out to be one of what we call our ‘road trip’ adventures, where wonderful and unexpected things happen just by our being open to the experience.

When we drove into Phoenicia proper after we ate at the Diner, one of our stops was an antique shop. To be frank, there wasn’t much there that interested us, but there was one thing. A stainless steel kitchen island that most likely came out of a restaurant. It’s definitely restaurant quality. I noticed it immediately and called Don over. He, being the cook, fell in love with it. The depth was fairly narrow and it seemed as if it would fit nicely in our kitchen. The price was great. So we measured and measured again, mostly to see if it would fit in the CR-V. It did.

Here it is:

Don loves it. The height is perfect for my very tall husband. There’s lots of prep space. We have very little counter space here. This gives us so much more! We can easily move the Fiesta compote off the top in order to use the entire length of the island. Also: much easier to clean than the first island, which periodically had to be repainted and it was a pain in the tush.

It’s also what I call “airier.” We can see through it to the cupboards. It’s not a heavy piece of furniture like the previous island, which was in reality a sideboard. And it isn’t too small to be a functional island, which our sweet French Bistro table was. It also echoes the chrome on Stella. We have to get used to it as we’ve both bumped into it this morning but we’re really happy with it. An unexpected find on our trip yesterday.

The other unexpected finds were those two vintage picnic basket tins. These were found in a shop that, again, had absolutely nothing that we found interesting but did have four of these tins stacked in the display window. I assumed they were for display purposes only, but they were for sale. We got a really good price for the two we bought and were already envisioning them on the shelf below the counter. They’ll provide much needed storage. I knew immediately that the island would need softening. Those sleek lines would need some vintage additions to fit in with our pottery and plant filled kitchen. I think we’ve managed to do that with the tins, the antique crate – which we already had – and the bright yellow compote on the top.

We were not expecting to buy anything but brunch, but we couldn’t pass these up. Serendipity!

The other side of the kitchen this morning:

Still haven’t painted the wall. Heaven knows when I will.

Yes, our kitchen is funky.

I’ll share some photos from our little journey tomorrow.

Oh, almost forgot! When Don went out to the car yesterday, he saw one of our groundhogs! Groundhogs hibernate for the winter, so this was a surprise, and it’s certainly the earliest we have ever seen one. Did he just come out to check on the weather? I don’t think it was Henry. It was the guy who lives next door and runs back and forth between our houses, because as soon as he saw Don he took off for our neighbor’s shed.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: antiques, dollhouse, kitchen, kitchen island, vintage 60 Comments

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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.

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