Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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A is for Apple

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Our area of the Hudson Valley is known for apples. Every autumn, masses of people drive here on the weekend to pick apples, drink cider, and buy apple pies. The lure of the apple, along with the spectacular fall colors, equals a tourist bonanza.

Today, while we were driving to take the dogs to the Vet’s, we saw that one of our local orchards is already setting out their boxes for apple picking. I drove back later to get some photos for you.

Looks like it won’t be long until they are ready for picking! This is the view as I drive home:
Oh yeah, it’s beautiful here.

The End of Autumn

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Oh, I know – Winter isn’t officially here until December. Nevertheless, it looks more and more like winter around here. There are still some leaves on the ground, but as I sat in our den this morning talking with my husband, I noticed that every tree that I could see was leafless. There is a certain beauty in their silhouettes against the gray sky. I have been very slow this year in putting things away that were on the porch all spring and summer. Every day I say, “Today I will pack up the cushions, take down the last of the plants, stack everything up and put it in the shed.” But I don’t. I’m not sure why, but I think it has to do with my reluctance to acknowledge the end of the porch season. Truly, it would only take me about half an hour to clean up. I could have done it today. I didn’t. I am usually very impatient with any lingering mess, in the house or out of the house. So I am enjoying watching myself from afar and learning to be patient with myself.

My little gazing globe, for example, pictured above, is usually packed away in the shed by now. But if I had packed it away, how would I have taken this photo with my new camera? You see, there’s a reason for my slow pace.

My wandering camera and I encountered these beautiful rose hips on the edge of our woods. They are on the wild rose bushes that surround our property and grow so freely everywhere. They look so lovely against the bare branches of the surrounding trees and bushes.

On another note, I feel increasingly high-tech. You’ll remember that I got a laptop in September, then I got my new camera for my birthday, and today we got new cell phones so that we can text message when necessary. What’s next??? I do remember a time when I went to a pay phone, put a dime in (or quarter) and made a call, when I went to the library to look up information that I routinely google now, and took photos with any number of low-tech cameras. It seems so distant now. It wasn’t that many years ago that I was on the faculty at Boston University and none of us had a computer in our offices. Very few of us (I certainly didn’t) had one at home. Those that did were considered wealthy and very high-tech. It is amazing how far we’ve come and how affordable these items have become. I’m grateful for all my toys but have to guard against being overly dependent on them. They are wonderful, but are no substitute for conversation, reading a book, knitting, quilting or any number of things.

That’s all for now. More later.

Autumn in New York

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Isn’t there a song with that title? I think there is – if there isn’t, there should be. The last two weeks have been spectacular here with brilliant colors everywhere. My sister left today after visiting for a few days and I miss her already. We went to Woodstock for the day on Friday and had a great time. The sun was warm and golden as we walked through the streets and visited all the shops. Since my sister lives in Florida, she needs to get her dose of fall weather. We were raised in Michigan and grew up with fall = football games, back to school, and crisp leaves on the ground. I really missed this time of year when I was living in Southern California. It is our favorite season. It was so great to spend time with her, talking, knitting, sitting on the front porch, playing with the dogs (they love her) and going to our favorite event – The New York Sheep and Wool Festival!!! This annual event is held in Rhinebeck, NY, which just happens to be across the Hudson River from our little cottage. It attracts thousands of fiber artists from all over and is often just called “Rhinebeck” by knitters. I first discovered this mecca of yarn 3 years ago when I saw an article in the paper talking about it. I talked my husband into going with me and when we arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday my jaw dropped open when I saw how huge it was! We covered as much of the area as we could in the time we had and I immediately went home and called my sister and said “You have to come next year!” And she did! We thought she wouldn’t be able to come this year, but her plans changed and she came. The Dutchess County Fairground is filled with yarns, sheep, llamas, alpacas, looms, knitting needles, knitting supplies, rug hookers, hand-dyed yarns, you name it – its there. It is simply fantastic. I didn’t buy any yarn this year because I already have too much on hand that I haven’t used, but I did get a few treasures which I will share with you in another post. My sister got some great yarn and lots of treasures.

I have to say that I have never seen the Festival as crowded as it was this year! There was a several mile long back-up of cars traveling the road to the Fairground, and a long delay trying to leave at the end of the day. There were so many people that it became an athletic event trying to edge one’s way into and out of booths. But knitters are friendly, happy people and we struck up conversations with several people that we met. We emerged from the Festival after 5 hours of shopping, petting animals and eating to drive home and watch the Rays and the Red Sox play Game 6 of the ALCS. You see the problem, don’t you? The Rays are from Tampa (and my sister lives in a suburb of Tampa) and we are die-hard Red Sox fans. I have to hand it to my sister – she sat there cheering her Rays on, relatively quietly – while Don and I screamed for the Sox. The Sox won and we are ready for game 7 – tonight. May the best team win!
Today we had wireless installed so I can be online when Don is online. Now I can use the laptop at home – even on the porch. It will make life much simpler here at the cottage. The cottage is moving firmly into the 21st century, don’t you think?

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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