Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for blog design.

Decluttering Blog-Style & Other Tidbits

July 2, 2014 at 7:38 am by Claudia

You might have noticed that I’ve changed to a new layout here on the blog. This idea came to me yesterday and, like a dog with a bone, I spent all day on it. All day. I took a break to take a shower, water the plants and to feed Scout, of course, but the rest of the day? Lost in cyber world. Don was lost in music composing world, so it worked out well. No one felt neglected.

I’m on WordPress and I use the Genesis operating system, which uses what are called ‘child themes’ that individualize websites and blogs. So, changing the blog involved working with a new theme while my current theme was still running. I thought I had it all done but when I hit the button late in the day to change over, it looked like a mess. Back to the drawing board. I still need to tweak it a bit, but I really like the new post font and the amount of white space there is on the blog. The old theme was feeling a bit crowded and cluttery. Having ads can do that. And though I’d still love to cut down on ad clutter, I need them. So, adding some ‘air’ to this space helps a bit.

It’s a change and if you loved the other theme, it may take some getting used to. I loved the other theme, too. But a girl has to try something new every once in a while.

Here’s the one snag. I cannot get Leave a Comment to show below the post. I’ve got a support request in and hopefully will have it figured out soon. But in the meantime, you have to scroll back up to the top of the post to click on ‘Comments’, okay? Scroll back up, click, and you’ll be taken to the comment page. Update: Fixed it!

Where did this peony come from?

I strolled down to the mailbox yesterday and glanced at the peony bushes, which had long since stopped blooming. Wait a minute….what is this? A pale pink peony. Neither of the bushes has flowers in this color. I’m amazed. I wonder if it will open?

It was a nice surprise for this girl who hated leaving her cottage when the peonies had just opened.

This is what I got Don for his birthday:

don's-sign

I found it at the Country Living Fair. I saw it on my first day there, didn’t buy it, and kept thinking about it after I got home. So, the first thing I did on Saturday was find the vendor who was selling the sign and grab one.

Don loves signs. He loves the Beatles with a devotion that has never wavered over the years. What could be better than a sign with these lyrics that remind us to avoid fussing and fighting and sweating the small stuff?

Now we have to figure out where to hang it. We’ve used just about every bit of wall space in this little cottage.

tuesday-garden

The shade side of the big garden bed is full of crown vetch and ground covers and catmint and grasses and soon-to-be-blooming white coneflowers. Every bit of soil that was bare had been taken over by humongous weeds in my absence, so I had to do a lot of weeding on Monday. Everywhere.

How is the weather where you are? Boy, is it hot and humid here! It was that way when I left Chautauqua, too.

Not a fan of humidity. It makes my hair curl and my brain turn to mush.

Not a very attractive picture, is it?

The winner of a copy of Supreme Justice is Donna. Congratulations! I’m sending you an email, Donna.

Happy….wait…let me check the calendar….Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blog, blog design., Don, flowers, garden 40 Comments

A Not-So-Blank Canvas

August 31, 2013 at 8:43 am by Claudia

It’s a holiday weekend, but not for me. I work today and tomorrow. Monday is just another day off, since it’s always our day off. So I will continue to merrily tap away on the keyboard of my laptop and write posts to share with you.

I suppose if one wanted to call it that, I have a logo. Or to use Big Bloggers’ Speak: a Brand. I’m talking about that little lamb with the party hat that you see in my header and on my watermark. It’s also on my blog/etsy business card. I certainly didn’t create it with a plan in mind. I just took a picture some 4 years ago of a little lamb and the party hat I created for her.

But she stuck. She wormed her way into my heart. She landed in a couple versions of the header I used on the Blogger version of this blog. When I made the move to WordPress, I decided to go with clean and simple and there she is, right there among the letters that spell out Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

Well, all this recent talk about that little partying lamb got me thinking. Look what arrived yesterday:

canvas1

I ordered a wrapped canvas version of my photo.

My stars! I’m in love.

It’s 16 x 20 inches. There was a special offer from this particular company and I got it on sale. At deep discount.

I like whimsy. This, to me, is exceedingly whimsical. I might hang it in my studio at home. Or in the den where I blog. I’m not sure. I just know I thought it would be really cool to have a canvas version of My Little Lamb with the Party Hat. I’ve never had a canvas version of one of my photos. This might well become addictive.

I decided to hang it on an already established hook here in the apartment. I’m sure the landlord here wouldn’t appreciate me adding a largish hole to the wall. Little pinholes, fine. Big ones? A no no.

canvas2

She’s hanging above my desk, where I can see her as I blog and surf the web and type up notes for the actors. She is making me smile on this early Saturday morning and that’s no small thing. I’m still groggy with sleep and I’m in the midst of my morning coffee ration. As Don knows, getting any sort of reaction out of me when I first get up is tricky at best.

canvas3

Love, love, love this canvas. I ordered it from this company. It was created and shipped within a couple of days of placing my order. It took about 3 days to arrive here in Hartford.

Here she is this morning:

canvas4

There are different options available as to the actual wrap, but I chose to have the photo on top of the canvas and to have the sides wrapped in aqua.

Is this temporary apartment in danger of becoming too warm and cute and cheery?

Nope. I need all the warm and cute and cheery I can get.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Tagged With: Easy Canvas PrintsFiled Under: blog, blog design., decorating, Mockingbird Hill Cottage, On The Road, sheep 45 Comments

A Blogging Anniversary

August 25, 2013 at 8:53 am by Claudia

leafinbirdbath

I saw this little leaf in my birdbath when I was home last week. Autumn is around the corner.

I’m not ready for it yet.

I’m celebrating a little anniversary of sorts. It was one year ago today that I stationed myself at my computer, completed the necessary final steps and made the transfer from Blogger to WordPress. I was nervous. I had already designed my new site and had been ready to move about 6 days earlier, but that was the week that Riley died. Grief and tears took over for several days. Finally, needing something to focus on other than my grief, I decided to go for it. I had studied and researched and meticulously followed each and every step in the book, How to Move from Blogger to WordPress, so I felt pretty confident it would all work out.

It did. Everything went smoothly.

Here’s what I love about self-hosted WordPress:

♥    I own my content, including every photo that I have posted since the move
♥    The possibilities for design and content are endless; you can create a custom look and design due to WP’s flexibility
♥    In that same vein, there are plugins available for just about anything you can think of that give you many more options for design and content
♥    Support, via my host (24 hours a day with a real person on the other end of the phone line,) WordPress, and StudioPress (the designer of my themes), is excellent and ever-present
♥    Security. I was hacked four times on Blogger. No one could help me. The Blogger Forum was useless. Whether you feel the need or not, there are free security plugins available. There are also paid security options with companies that specialize in WordPress.
♥    If you’re interested in that sort of thing, there is much better SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
♥    In my humble opinion, a much more user-friendly way in which to write a post and add photos. I really love it. A lot.

I’m so glad I made the move; I haven’t regretted it for one instant. I didn’t use a designer. I designed this site all by myself. I’m proud of it. I learned a lot about coding, though I’m far from an expert. I like to learn new things. It keeps my mind sharp.

I know that it isn’t for everyone. Most everyone I know, however, has benefitted from the move to WP. I sure have. I never felt or experienced a loss of readers; quite the contrary, my readership grew. Since my blog is about my life, the content didn’t change, the focus of my blog and my writing didn’t change, and neither did the community that I am humbly a part of and which consists of bloggers from all sorts of blogging platforms. Variety is the spice of life!

There’s a blogging platform out there to fit everyone’s taste and/or needs. WordPress has turned out to be the perfect fit for me.

On another topic, I have a book giveaway going on this week. Scroll down if you haven’t read the post and want to enter. I really liked Mystery Girl. But I want to mention that in its world of off-beat characters and in the mystery that the protagonist is trying to solve, there are descriptions of bad porn movies – they figure prominently in the plot. Some of the language is rather graphic. I just wanted to give you a heads up, in case you’ve entered the giveaway and might find that objectionable. If you do, let me know and I won’t include you in the pool of entrants.

Just thought I should include that information!

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

 

 

Filed Under: blog design., blogging, blogging tips, WordPress 38 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.

Thanks for stopping by.

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The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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