I’ll keep this brief, as it’s a holiday today. For us, it’s day number 3 of rain. No storms, just steady rain. It’s good for us, I know, but it’s also rather depressing.

So, we’ve been hanging around here, working on little projects. In other words, being creative and trying to keep our sanity.

I can hear a mourning dove as I write this. You know that’s my favorite bird call; that plaintive call in a minor key.

Another photo from the dollhouse:

There it is, in an empty room, waiting to be played.

My wallpaper issues continued over the weekend as the Etsy shop owner hadn’t responded with an update. But I did hear from her this morning. The post office said they had picked up the order but it has not updated since last Monday, when the tracking indicated they were awaiting the item. So she’s issuing a refund (which she didn’t have to do) and sending the order 2 day priority mail tomorrow.

She really has the best inventory of designs and with this positive resolution, I most likely will order from her again.

This was my project yesterday – the arms on my chair in the den (aka the blogging chair) were getting very worn. The fabric was tearing in places – it’s just a rather inexpensive chair from the former Pier 1, but I like it and I don’t want the expense of a replacement chair. I was using some doilies but they weren’t doing the trick. Looking through my stash of things from my grandma, I found a tea towel that she had embroidered. Might as well use it, right?

Only one cover has the embroidery, but the towel itself is a peachy color and it goes well with the colors in the chair. A seamstress, I am not. But I hauled out the Featherweight and tried to adjust the tension, which had been a problem the last time I used it. Eventually, I had to rewind the bobbin and, interestingly, that seems to have taken care of the tension problem.

In my crazily crammed creative space, I knew exactly where the Featherweight was, but had no idea where the foot pedal was. So I had to open up the closet and remove item after item until I finally found it tucked away on a shelf. I’d say there ‘has to be a better way’ but given the size of our cottage – there isn’t.

Anyway, I’m kind of proud of these covers. I remember my mom and grandmother ordering special armrest covers to go along with their chairs. They knew what they were doing.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

It’s a rainy Saturday morning and it will be a rainy weekend. So, we have coolish in the 50s temperatures. I’m going to hunker down inside and do…something. I have no idea what that will be as I’m still waiting on the wallpaper and the seller has not updated me. I’m trying to stay positive but I did read several reviews about “why did it take so long to get to me??” and “doesn’t return messages.” We’re at the end of a 5 week stretch between Social Security payments, so I don’t have the extra funds to order something else.

I want to continue my work on the dollhouse, but more importantly, I need  to work on the dollhouse. It’s my escape from the continual assault on our democracy. Don and I talked about it last night. We have to be very protective of our emotional and mental health because we are not young anymore. We are in our mid-seventies and time is precious and life is precious and I CANNOT GIVE HIM THE POWER TO RUIN MY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH. Nor will I give him the power to ruin my husband’s mental and physical health.

So I’ll sit down in the office and take shadowy pictures of the dollhouse, like these:

I do love the play of light and shadow inside the house.

This is the desk I made for Dove Cottage but eventually removed because it made the bedroom too crowded. It will finally have a home in the downstairs hall.

I hung the painting. I love it.

The clematis is in bloom. Happy, happy.

Don has a gig this afternoon at a sane time. He sings from 1-4 and he gets paid for it. So much of this kind of work is just tips. So actually getting paid is a refreshing change. And he gets home in time for dinner. Win-win.

I’ll be vacuuming, patching a couple of throw pillows that are not looking too good at the moment, and who knows what else. Keeping busy.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.