Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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It Sure Feels Like Autumn

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I love those rare mornings when you can still see the moon in the sky at 10 am. That’s what we saw this morning. It may not be fall officially, but it sure is around here. The mornings are cool and crisp, leaves are constantly floating to the ground, trees are turning color, and the garden beds are full of leaves and cobwebs.

On this sunny day, it made for a lovely morning walk. It’s going to get warmer this weekend, with temperatures in the mid-eighties. The last hurrah?

I read a lot yesterday and I’m just about to finish The Woman in the Window. I must say, it’s well done, with lots of twists and turns in the plot. It has a Rear Window – type premise, which allows for all sorts of thrills.

Monarchs have started migrating south, but this guy won’t be migrating for a while. We saw him on one of the milkweed plants this morning, chomping away on a leaf. I’ve seen more monarch caterpillars this year than ever before.

I’m missing some of the birds that were here all summer long  – I think robins have already headed south – but I saw a goldfinch drinking from the birdbath yesterday, and a catbird calling from the porch railing. We also saw (and heard) Canada Geese this morning, flying in beautiful formation.

It’s a lovely day today.

Happy Wednesday.

Allowing More Time for Reading

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The mornings are definitely cooler nowadays. Our walks include wearing a hooded sweatshirt. It’s brisk out there!

On today’s walk, we kept hearing (and seeing) acorns drop to the ground, black walnuts falling from trees, bird skirmishes up in the branches, and squirrels running up and down the trunks.

Speaking of noticing things, when I mowed the back forty last week, I stood for a moment on the edge of our property that borders our neighbor’s property and looked at the trees that abut that huge grassy field I showed you the other day. I noticed – for the first time – that we have two catalpas there. I guess I had to be standing in just the right place to identify them, as it’s on a slight hill. That makes at least 6 catalpa trees on the property. Since they’re one of my favorite trees, this discovery made me happy.

It’s 9:53 am and I haven’t turned my phone on. This is part of my new attempt to not have it on, and therefore, tempting me, for most of the day. I want to read more and look at the phone (and my laptop) less. I read a post by a young woman who I follow on my other Instagram account, which is for books and reading. She may be only 29, but she is very wise. She also felt that her attention was too often being diverted to her phone and iPad/laptop. It all came to a head when the Wi-Fi in her apartment kept failing. She didn’t have it for about 3 weeks. During that time, she read far more than she had been and she liked it. Eventually, she made the decision to have no Wi-Fi.

Now, I can’t do that, because I write this blog and do other things that necessitate having Wi-Fi. But, I can severely limit my time online. I’ve written about this before and it can be a struggle for me. But both Don and I are of the same mind on this one. I’m going to work hard to turn my computer off after I write this post and check back in later in the day. Likewise, I’ll do my usual Instagram check-in and then turn the phone off. If there’s a phone call/message, I’ll know soon enough. And we still have a landline, so there’s that.

We’ll see how it goes.

I’m reading John Connolly’s latest, The Book of Bones, which is 694 pages long. Interestingly, I had just ordered 3 books from the library when I picked up this book to read. Those books are going to come in this week and I will still be immersed in this almost 700 page long book. A quality problem, but a problem, nonetheless. I couldn’t help it, the Connolly is what I was in the mood for.  I’m a bit less than a quarter of the way through it.

We’re off on our weekly visit to the grocery store.

Don had a good day at the Farmers Market. His photos are wonderful.

Happy Monday.

Flowers, Seasonal Changes & A Gift

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One of my hostas – one I planted under the kitchen window last year – is just now blooming. What a lovely late summer surprise! It’s very, very shady back there, so I suppose that might be a reason for the late bloom.

The butterfly bush is blooming. But the flowers are very small. It, I think, needs more sun than it’s getting in the side garden bed, which has become increasingly shady over the past couple of years. I may move it in the spring. I think it would do a lot better in the big garden bed.

The air, the light, the leaves – autumn changes are in the air. Just like that. I’m not quite ready for summer to be over, but I find myself welcoming the golden light and the cooler mornings. Funny how that happens – our bodies and minds start to anticipate and adjust to the change in season and we find ourselves welcoming it.

I see leaves on our roof and on the ground. I hear some birds, but not nearly as many as earlier in the summer. That always makes me sad, as I miss their songs. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a robin lately. I still hear the mourning doves and the catbirds and the wrens and sparrows and the Canada geese.

For example, right at this moment in the morning, 10 am, there is not a sound in the air.

School starts next week. The University just started classes this week. Change is in the air.

We just finished watching Trapped (an Icelandic mystery series) last week. Now we’re on to Dark, which comes out of Germany. Both are excellent. Trapped  is on Amazon Prime, Dark  is on Netflix. But I have to tell you, the finest series we’ve ever seen is Babylon Berlin  on Netflix. It is beyond anything else, on every level. We’ve watched both seasons twice and are looking forward to the third season which should come around after the first of the year. Oh, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  is coming back the first week of December. Can’t wait!

Reader Kathy did it again. I went to the Post Office to send off our monthly bill payments and checked the PO Box. Much to my surprise, a package was waiting for me.

To Kill a Mockingbird  in Latin! Oh my goodness! I had no idea there was such a thing! Needless to say, I screamed a little bit. So did Don when he saw it. Well, maybe not a scream from Don, but a definite “Wow!”

Thank you, dear Kathy. It will now join my other TKAMs on the shelf in the den. What a beautiful addition to my collection!

Happy Thursday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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