books — Page 113

Small Things

March 13, 2019 at 10:45 am by Claudia

My little row of butter pats. I think I have about 14 or 15 now, most of them ironstone. Most of them, in fact, are from the same dealer where I found the egg cup cubby. I love small things.

Another Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cup came up for auction. Unfortunately, it was Doc. Doc frequently comes up for auction, much more than any other egg cup in that collection. I’ll keep hoping for Sleepy.

This morning there was such lovely bird song! Tiny little birds were in the tree outside the den window. I tried to identify them but I’m not sure; sparrows? chickadees? I couldn’t get a good look at them. Several of them were in the tree and they kept flitting from branch to branch. Now that I look at my bird book, I’m thinking they were sparrows. Hearing their song was such a nice way to start the day.

The sun is shining and the snow is melting. That’s all I need today.

I ordered this book, originally published in Great Britain. It just came out this week here in the States. I reviewed one of Garfield’s other books, Just My Type, several years ago. In Miniature is all about our fascination with small things. Guilty as charged. Of course, I had to get it.

Today I have to sort through our many W2s – you have no idea – and send them off to our accountant in Los Angeles, so that we can file an extension. Since we have to wait for all of the W2s to arrive here, we almost never file our taxes by April 15th. And often, though not this year, one of us is away working. Then I’m going to clean the pew with some Murphy’s Oil Soap. And read, of course. I’m currently reading a book I’m going to review on Monday – all about birds! Stay tuned.

Happy Wednesday.

Weather, Reading & Fabric

March 8, 2019 at 9:59 am by Claudia

We’re supposed to get 3 – 5 inches of snow on Saturday night, with sleet and eventual rain.

I mean, come on!

We are sick of snow here. We are excited today simply because the temperatures are finally going to hit the mid-thirties. We have a warm-up coming next week but in the meantime, I guess we have to get zapped one more time.

Sigh. I am so over winter. Truly.

And the thing is, I know that everyone else who lives in a wintry climate feels the same way. I’m not special. We’re all sick of it. We’re waiting impatiently for signs of spring.

Anyway, enough moaning. It is what it is and there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.

Today: I’m finally going to drop those 5 bags of books off at the library. I’ve had them in my car for almost two months! I was initially delayed by a sign on the door that said they weren’t taking any more book donations until February 7th. Then I got sick, which delayed it four more weeks. Then I forgot about them. Today, I take care of that little chore.

I also contacted a local modern quilt guild and asked if they wanted my stash of fat quarters and they do! Hurrah! They take up too much space in the office and it’s time to let them go to someone who will use them. I’m going to meet one of the ladies this weekend at a local yoga place that is right by my house and hand them off. But first I’m going to go through them and pull any fabric that I think I could use in my miniature world – that means tiny prints that aren’t out of scale.

Next up. I’ve read nothing but raves about The Salt Path, a true story about a couple who lose everything, at the same time dealing with the husband’s terminal illness. They decide to walk the 630 miles of the South West Coast Path in England – Somerset to Dorset.

And Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk has been on my radar for a long time. For some reason, when it came out in hardcover, I quickly scanned it in the bookstore and decided it would be too ‘light’ for me. This year, when I was out of reading material and was in NYC, I saw it was out in paperback. I reread the blurb and decided I should try it. I’m almost 100 pages in and I love it.

Just goes to show you, a sweeping judgment just might be wrong.

Something I keep learning over and over again.

Happy Friday.

Egg Cups and Books

March 1, 2019 at 11:15 am by Claudia

For a brief moment, I got excited when I saw an eBay listing for a Sneezy egg cup.

Then I realized that I had Sneezy and it was Sleepy I was searching for.

Darn it. Sleepy is very, very elusive. I’ve only seen Sleepy up for auction a couple of times. Each of those opportunities involved a seller who was auctioning off an entire set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cups.

And I don’t need the set. Just Sleepy.

Ah, well.

I’ll find him one day. This particular seller lived in Australia and was auctioning off both Sneezy and Happy, so if you’re interested, they’re up on eBay.

March is coming in like a lion. We’re supposed to get a lot of snow over the next two weeks, starting with 5 – 8 inches on Sunday night. March is almost always a snowy month around here, almost like Mother Nature is squeezing out as much snow as she can before April arrives.

And we’ve had our share of April snowfalls, as well.

At least we’ll be able to shovel this time around.

Another favorite egg cup:

The Artist Bunny Rabbit.

This was one of my earliest acquisitions. I still find it absolutely charming.

I saw my neighbor’s van this morning and remembered Don and I borrowing it to bring the egg cup cubby cabinet home. Thank goodness for generous neighbors! We have a lot of good finds around this cottage. I could reel off a list of them right now. But the egg cup cubby may be one of the best – at least for yours truly, though Don loves it, too.

It’s a slow and sleepy day here. I need to get motivated!

Let’s have a question for the day, one I love to ask. What are you reading at the moment?

I’m reading The Threat by Andrew McCabe.

Happy Friday.

Small Things

Weather, Reading & Fabric

Egg Cups and Books

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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