Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Hollyhocks and Baby Robins

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Only a few more hollyhock buds to open before we say goodbye for this season. Since hollyhocks are biannual, this one should come back next year.

I’m almost done with my painting – a few more tweaks, then deciding on the background color. It will be done today. I had a nice session at the easel yesterday afternoon.

Today is a gorgeous day! It’s a sunny, coolish morning with flowers blooming everywhere. Don is going to go out and mow the corral area while I’m using his laptop to write my post. I may do some weed whacking or not. We’ll see! Certainly some weed pulling  is in order.

Update on mama robin: We’ve been pretty sure she’s been feeding babies for a few days now. Yesterday afternoon, I happened to be in the bathroom and took a peek at the nest. Perfect timing, as I saw her feeding and I saw open mouths/beaks. It all happened quickly, so I didn’t have time to count them, but there are a least two babies in that nest.

She works so hard. I have not seen or heard papa at all, so she’s doing all of this on her own. In order to test this theory (and I’ve done this a couple of times) I walked outside under the tree where the nest is. Within seconds I heard warning cheeps, but only from one bird who was up in the trees watching my every move. I slowly made my way back to the house and the robin moved from branch to branch making sure I was gone. I turned the corner, but I took a peek in that direction. Still on alert. After quietly going back in the kitchen and walking directly to the window, I saw the bird on another branch, still  on alert. Eventually, it flew to the nest and that’s how I know it was mama. Just to make sure, I tracked her movements as she flew to the ground to get worms for the babies. It’s always mama. I don’t know where papa is, whether something happened to him, whether he’s watching but wants nothing to do with feeding. But imagine how exhausting is for mama to do EVERYTHING. And she is.

I alternate between watching everything and then worrying about everything and then thinking I shouldn’t watch because I worry about everything. It’s always this way with me.

But I’m glad to have the opportunity to watch these little miracles up close.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

Birds, Oils, & Memories

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A view from the kitchen window. If they haven’t hatched yet, I expect babies to emerge pretty darned soon. Thankfully, the rain has stopped. I’m happy not only for us and our water-logged property and for those who live in the Hudson Valley who have experienced flooding, but also for mama robin. She could use a break.

Finally, a day without a flash flood, flood, severe thunderstorm, or heat advisory warning – at several points we had all of those warnings at the same time.

Working on the next painting. I considered this basket vase a while back but concluded that the handle was a bit too complicated for me. I’m still tweaking everything, of course, and have lots of detail to add.

This morning, while making our second cup of coffee, I saw this card tacked to our bulletin board:

I saved it because it holds such happy memories.

Four years ago, after a somewhat late start, we started on our trip home from California  –  in our CR-V – where Don had been performing Escape to Margaritaville  in La Jolla. That first leg on our journey was magical. We headed north through Orange County, then Los Angeles County, saw Stella for the first time, stopped in Santa Monica and swam in the ocean in the very late afternoon, and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway. We had no idea where we would stop for the night, but we knew we were very, very hungry.

As we drove through Malibu, our search for a good place to stop and have some dinner grew more and more frustrating. We finally found a little place called Gravina, an Italian restaurant. We had no idea whether it would be good or bad, but we were desperate. It turned out to be one of the best meals we’ve ever had. It was late, there weren’t that many people there, it was intimate and lovely and way more expensive than we’d planned. But we went for it and, oh my goodness, it’s such a strong memory for us. I’m thinking of all of these things as we prepare to say goodbye to the CR-V – hopefully, at some point this week. I’ll write a separate post about that car, a car that took us eastward on a new journey in our life.

I’ll miss her. When I stop and write even a little about her, I start to cry. I’m going to take some pictures of her today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Number Seven – White Rose

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Number 7 in the Pottery Portraits series: Roseville White Rose.

I’m fairly pleased with it. When I finish a painting, Don always says “This is my new favorite!”

He’s adorable.

The rain continues, though most of the thunderstorms in the area spared us yesterday and for that I’m grateful. We might get one today, but so far, it’s drizzling off and on and it’s very gray out there. This will continue for this week and then it looks like next week might bring us several days with no rain…fingers crossed.

I admit it – I suffer from lack of sun and there has been very little sun for several days now. I’m more tired. My mood is not bad, but it’s definitely a bit dark. I obviously could never live where it’s cloudy and rainy most of the time. Anyway, this is no big deal in the larger picture of life, but I do have to force myself to stay upbeat. Plus, the constant rain plays havoc with my allergies, so I feel foggy.

Ironically, the garden is blooming like crazy so I’ve made a vow to get out there today and observe the flowers. I don’t want to miss them because of the weather. Bee balm, phlox, day lilies, balloon plants, hydrangeas, coneflowers everywhere, roses…it’s quite beautiful.

And mama robin patiently sits on her little eggs. I watch her a lot – every time I go into the kitchen (and sometimes from the bathroom as well) I check on her. So does Don. Yesterday, despite the fence that is now up, some of the chickens from next door got on our property – I think there were three of them on this side of the fence. I assume they entered from the place where the fence stops, but I’m really not sure as I didn’t see them come over. I just heard them and immediately knew they were too close. I let my neighbor know and in the meantime I went out there in my pajamas to try and herd them over to their property. Two of them flew over the fence, but one didn’t know what to do. In the meantime, the rooster was crowing, trying to get the chicken back on his side of the fence. He was clearly distressed. Eventually, my neighbors managed to herd her back. A few hours later, I noticed the fence had been extended. Hopefully, the chickens, who don’t like to get too close to the street, will no longer stray.

Anyway, I had to walk back and forth under the tree where mama is nesting and she didn’t like it. Just a chirp or two, but she let me know my presence was not wanted. We try to avoid that area as much as possible so she doesn’t have to worry, but sometimes it’s unavoidable, as it was later in the day when I had to go outside to clear lint off the dryer vent. You know, of course, that the minute there are live babies in that nest, those gentle warnings will be much sterner and some dive bombing will occur.

2021 – The Summer of the Bird Nests.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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