Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Day Three Hundred Fifteen

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Good morning!

It’s currently sunny outside! Huzzah! We’re expecting snow squalls later in the day, so I don’t expect it to last, but I’m grateful that it is sunny now.

Okay. The gorgeous John Derian puzzle is finished:

This was taken late in the day yesterday. It’s my favorite, so far, of all the puzzles I’ve put together.

Enclosed in the box was a small print version of this puzzle. If I frame anything, I’ll frame that. I’ve never framed the puzzles I vowed to frame last year and now, months later, I realize I have no desire to. I now realize that idea is unrealistic – at least, for me. We already have a lot of art on our walls and there’s not room for large framed puzzles. So, it’s about enjoying the process, letting it sit on the kitchen table for a few days in all its glory, and then taking it apart.

On Inauguration day, two packages arrived in the mail. The long-lost package from Spain arrived! In it is the work of Sofia of Twelve Times More Teeny on Etsy.

Aren’t they beautiful? I have some of Sofia’s work in Hummingbird Cottage and I knew I wanted to order from her again. These will go in the hutch in the English Cottage aka Dove Cottage.

And speaking of Hummingbird Cottage, the grand dame of all my dollhouses, Caroline was thrilled to get a new table and chairs for the kitchen. You’ve seen the table, but here are the chairs.

In consultation with Caroline, a decision was made to order chairs with higher backs, a French Country look. I like these much better than the smaller chairs that were here previously. I have yet to style this table but I will. These are from an Etsy shop called Tiny Dwelling. Lovely work – and the owner of the shop has a lot of interesting items in stock.

And yesterday, the dollhouse wallpaper finally arrived! So I will be upstairs in the studio working on the dollhouse this afternoon.

Housekeeping note: I’ll be brief, because I’ve said this many times before. I had a comment from a Trumper yesterday. You can see it on yesterday’s post. Before I saw it (I had been working on the puzzle) other readers saw it and challenged that commenter. And a few of you replied to that comment later in the day. Anyway, I responded. You responded.

You know the rules. Anyone supporting that man and his administration is not welcome here. Period. I would not welcome that person in my home. And MHC is also my home. I’ve left the comment up, but I’ve blocked her. And I’ll continue to do that when necessary. Thankfully, it happens rarely.

I can do that because it’s my blog. A personal blog owned by me.

Also: someone left a comment a couple of weeks ago suggesting what I should and should not write about (this concerned politics.) She mentioned that I might be concerned about ‘offending my readers,’ which, in reality, meant her.

The obvious answer: No, it doesn’t concern me. I am a careful writer and work hard to be articulate and honest. but I’m not in this for numbers or lots of followers. This is my  blog. I pay for it. I maintain it. You get to read it for free. I’ve been writing it for almost 13 years. It has always been about my life and that includes my opinions. You can disagree with me, which this person did, and for the most part I will leave the comment up and respond to it, unless the commenter attacks me or says something so offensive that it has to be deleted.

I don’t tell other bloggers what to post. During the course of my many years of blogging, I learned very early on that imposing my opinions on other bloggers about their subject matter was not a good idea. (And I have strong opinions!) If I don’t like someone’s content, I can (and do) move on. But I don’t tell them what they should and shouldn’t post, whether on a blog or on Instagram. Neither should anyone presume to tell me what I should and shouldn’t write about here.

I don’t take kindly to it.

I see that all the time on IG. People peg accounts as purely about decorating or books or whatever and when that the account holder speaks out about an issue, they are offended and say “I don’t come to this account for (fill in the blank).”

Oh, you’re telling that person what they can and can’t post? That they have to be what you  want them to be? I think not.

Okay. I have to reiterate these things at times. But I promise not to do it too often. (I’m not sure I succeeded at being brief.)

Moving on.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Sepia

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More from my little jaunt the other day. Some hydrangeas are still relatively intact – but only a few. There’s such a sepia look to the gardens right now. Beautiful. I need to be more aware of that when I feel that everything is gray and gloomy.

It isn’t.

Thank you so much for your kind comments yesterday. They make all the effort over the years worthwhile. Bless you.

Yesterday was marvelously sunny but we’re back to darker skies today. We were supposed to get a smattering of wet snow overnight, but that didn’t happen. I haven’t checked the weather but I wouldn’t be surprised if we got some form of moisture today.

I’m almost done with Blue Moon  by Lee Child. Complete escapism: that’s what Lee Child books are. I’ve read nearly all of them. They’re really a modern take on the gunslinger that saves a town or a family from the bad guys. Jack Reacher is the equivalent of Shane. If you go into them knowing that, you’ll have a great read that truly takes you away for a while. It’s comforting knowing that the bad guys will be dealt with, the good guys will win, and then Jack Reacher – ever the wanderer – will move on.

Next up? Either Hi Five  by Joe Ide or Lock Every Door  by Riley Sager. Since Lock Every Door  is supposed to be very scary, the choice will definitely depend on my mood later today.

I’m looking forward to spring, but I’m trying to stay here, in this season. I’m doing surprisingly well with it and so is Don. That was one of our goals this winter – not to wish the time away. Of course, we may be helped by the lack of snow this year, but we had plenty of it in December and we’ve had lots of ice and freezing rain since the first of the year. In other words, lots of weather to contend with, but hopefully, with some grace.

Happy Tuesday.

Twelve

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The river that is just across the street from the cottage. I took this picture because Don had ventured out for a ‘short walk’ and when, an hour and a half later, he still hadn’t returned, I got a bit concerned. He was going to visit the river and then take a short walk. The river is a steep drop from our neighbor’s property, so I went there first to see if I could find him.

No dice.

Then I debated whether I should get in the car and look for him. While I was debating – and I was only concerned because he didn’t have his phone with him and he could have fallen – I walked around our property and took this picture:

Winter milkweed.

Finally, I grabbed the car keys and pulled out of the driveway. I ventured about 500 feet down the road and there he was, walking stick in hand, headed back to the house.

New rule: Take your cell phone with you.

He lost track of the time. I’ve taken to calling him Huckleberry Finn. Or should it be Tom Sawyer?

Speaking of the cottage, and picture taking, and Don, and adventures, today is the 12th anniversary of this blog. I hit publish on this date in 2008. Who knew I would still be going all these years later? I’ve been writing this blog for more years than I’ve worked at any job, whether it was that stint in an office in Detroit (7 years) or grad school (3 years), or another office job while I was applying for teaching positions (2 years) or various temp office jobs, or teaching at Boston University (5 years) or teaching at the University of San Diego/Old Globe MFA program/coaching at the Old Globe (8 years). I’ve been freelancing for the past 19 years, but that involves a long, long list of all sorts of  jobs.

I haven’t been writing daily for all 12 years, but I’ve been doing it for at least 7, maybe 8, years. I’m proud of this blog, which began as an experiment and still is in a way, though I’ve settled in rather nicely.

I won’t belabor this anniversary by writing too much as I’ve written about it in the past. But I do want to thank you for being there, for visiting this little corner of the Internet. If you weren’t there, I’d just be writing for myself and that’s nearly as much fun as chatting with you.

Sending all sorts of love on this February 17th.

Happy Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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