Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Some Christmas Finds and a Few More Thoughts

December 11, 2019 at 11:13 am by Claudia

I had an errand or two to run yesterday and I also had to pick Rick up from the bus station, as Doug has been out of town and won’t return until today. On the way to the bus station, I stopped at a local antique shop. Actually, it’s a barn and there are multiple dealers there, including my friend Sydney of Fox Run Antiques. Same place where I found the egg cup cubby. Happily, I ran into Sydney and had a nice chat with her.

I hadn’t been there for a while and I’ve been on a search for some more vintage Christmas. I found two more putz houses:

The green house was made by the Dolly Toy Company, which I referenced the other day.

They were modestly priced at $4 and $5 each, which – for fairly well-preserved vintage – is a good deal.

Then I found another bluebird ornament!

You might remember that I have another bluebird ornament, slightly different in design. It has a “thumbprint” indentation. This one does not. Both of them have the same style of bluebird. It was only $3. I had a brief fantasy of slowly collecting bluebird ornaments and having a whole tree of them, with a bluebird tree-topper. Wouldn’t that be fun? But, since it’s taken me several years just to find two of them, that seems unlikely. If you ever see one, let me know!

With tax, $13 for all three. You can’t beat it.

We had some snow overnight, but it’s just a coating and I can see some of it melting already. Because it was rain transitioning to snow, it was a wet snow and it’s currently coating all the tree branches. Very pretty.

This is my favorite kind of snow because it’s pretty, there isn’t much of it, and the driveway doesn’t need to be shoveled because it stayed wet. If we had this kind of thing all winter long, I’d be fine.

We finished Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  the night before last and now we’re watching it over again, which is what we did with the two previous seasons. Excellent. Brilliant. A heads up on upcoming series: Schitt’s Creek  returns to PopTV and the CBC in early January and Grace and Frankie  returns to Netflix in late January.

Thank you for your kind comments yesterday. I knew you would understand my sadness. Frankly, if you didn’t understand, you would most likely have left this blog long ago because I’ve never hidden the way I feel about these things. I try not to be judgmental – it’s a constant struggle because I’m only human – but those who think of animals as expendable and as beings we shouldn’t concern ourselves with are not going to be my pals. Likewise those who berate me and tell me I shouldn’t waste my worry on animals and, instead, worry about humans – as if caring about one automatically rules out caring about the other. That’s a false dichotomy.

Having ‘dominion’ over animals means caring about and for them. It doesn’t give us free rein to slaughter them or abuse them or hurt them. And I don’t believe we are ‘superior’ to them – far from it.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

Filed Under: antiques, Christmas, deer, putz houses, snow, vintage 27 Comments

Antiquing Finds

December 7, 2019 at 11:13 am by Claudia

I drove to a local antique shop yesterday; a little treat for myself after a tough week. I chose this shop because my friend Sydney, of Fox Run Antiques, had posted on IG a few weeks back that she had some putz sheep in her booth there. Sydney has booths at three shops I frequent, and her booth at another shop is where I found the egg cup cubby cabinet. Sometime I will walk around the cottage and note the items I’ve found in her booths. There are several.

By the way, I took photos of a few of my favorite items in the shop, which is called Clinton Shops, and they’re on my Instagram Stories for another three hours or so.

When I first found her booth, I didn’t see the putz sheep, and I was ready to kick myself as I thought I’d waited too long. But then I found them in a small glass cabinet. I stood there for the longest time, looking at each one, examining every detail, contemplating which one I’d eventually choose. I walked away. I came back. I walked away again. Then I made my choice. It was this guy:

He’s so fluffy! And he has his original bell.

He has a sweet face. Often, vintage putz sheep, which are quite fragile, have some imperfections or damage. There is missing paint on one of the eyes. The ends of the ears have broken off.

That just makes them more precious to me.

Sometimes the coat is matted after years of use, but this one isn’t.

As I said on Instagram, the problem is that I want to rescue them all. I was surprised by how many were still there. They need a home! I can’t afford to rescue all of them, but maybe a couple more? This is the way I am, as you know. That’s why I have two rescued dolls sitting on top of the cabinet in the office. I couldn’t bear the fact that they didn’t have a home.

Even if I rescue more of the sheep, I’ll feel bad for the ones I leave behind. I guess I’m a little crazy that way.

Here he is on the shelf. You’ll note that the sheep on the left is newer – you can tell by the look of the wool used for his coat. I’ll take a picture of the entire shelf later today. Right now, all the sheep are lined up, but my dream is to have a whole flock of them, filling up the entire shelf.

I got a few other treasures, all of them $10 or less.

Another putz house. I love the front steps! This one has a back stamp on the bottom:

Manufactured by the Dolly Toy Company, Tippecanoe City, Ohio. That company started out as the Dolly Folding Kite Company in 1923. Then it became Dolly Kite and Toy, and eventually Dolly Toy Company in 1951. They started making these houses and indeed, whole holiday villages, in 1952.

I long ago sold my collection of Fiesta. I retained several pieces at the time, pieces that I couldn’t bear to give up. Lately, I’ve been missing my Fiesta and earlier this year, I acquired a compote from one of my readers – the exact same design and color I used to have back in Cambridge. Yesterday, I spotted the vintage salt and pepper shakers in yellow – only $10 – so I grabbed them.

I’m only interested in the original colors – the original line – not the more recent lines. I’m a purist about Fiesta. Of course, I can only buy smaller pieces. I only have so much room here. That gives me an idea: I’ll share pictures of the pieces I didn’t sell back in the nineties. A future post!

I’ve just started collecting butter pats in the past few years. I have maybe 11 or 12 of them, but this is the first transferware butter pat that I’ve found. I love brown transferware and this is a lovely design. It was only $3! Butter pats are a great thing to collect if you live in a small space and have limited room. (I think I spy a potato chip crumb on the pat!)

A lovely couple of hours at the shop. I’m so glad I took the time to visit. An antique shop and/or a book shop are my favorite places to grab some quiet ‘me’ time.

I also put up the outdoor lights yesterday. I love them.

I’m taking it easy today, as I’m really exhausted. I think I’ll hang out here and start to decorate the dollhouses.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: antiques, butterpats, Christmas, collecting, Fiesta, putz sheep 28 Comments

Paris Lithograph

November 26, 2019 at 10:58 am by Claudia

There it is. I took these photos late yesterday afternoon, and the lithograph was lit by the setting sun.

We’re very pleased with the final result.

Detail on the frame, which is black with a raised leaf design that is touched by bronze.

It hangs here. We can see it from everywhere in the living room and also from the den.

It’s amazing what a difference it makes in the room.

I just might sit on the living room sofa and gaze upon it all day long.

We looked more closely at the green coffee can in the photo. It says:

Composition des Moines
Moka des Moines
Clichy-La-Garenne

Clichy-La-Garenne is a commune on the Seine in the northwestern suburbs of Paris. Its church was built in the 17th century, as directed by St. Vincent de Paul. He had been curé (priest) of Clichy.

Yesterday started out sunny but turned cloudy. Today? Sunny all day. I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Sunday’s forecast is for 3-5 inches of snow, with an additional 2 inches on Monday (of course, Don has an audition that day.)

No to snow. I’m not ready for it.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: antiques, Paris 20 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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