Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

  • About MHC
    • Disclosure
  • Dollhouses/Minis
    • Hummingbird Cottage
    • The Studio (Formerly TSP)
    • Dove Cottage
    • The Lake House
    • The Folk Art Dollhouse
    • The Modern Dollhouse
    • Dollhouse Source List, Information and Tutorials
  • On the Road
  • Collecting
    • Roseville Pottery
    • McCoy Pottery
    • Egg Cups
    • Bakelite
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Archives for books

Vintage Bookshelf and a Rose

June 7, 2018 at 9:04 am by Claudia

We’ve had a couple of gray days in a row with coolish temperatures. Good for mowing, which I did a lot of yesterday, not so good for the spirits. I’m trying to do some work outside every day. Garden work, mowing, pruning plants and cutting branches – all of which I’ve done since I got home on Sunday night – allows me some respite from the sadness of the show closing.

Meanwhile, audiences love the show, stand and cheer and sing during the curtain call, as they do every performance, every day of the week. Go figure.

Okay. Have to move on or I’ll cry again.

The bookshelf in progress. (Ask me how much I dislike this carpeting.)

The lighting isn’t great at the moment and I’ll try more photos on a sunnier day, but I thought I owed you an update.

The Nancy Drews are on the top shelf. I need two more to complete my collection and it looks like they’ll fit perfectly.

A vintage Schoenhut child’s piano and an English candy tin decorated with adorable little children, along with copies of Heidi  and Anne of the Island  are on the second shelf.

The bottom shelf includes my mom’s editions of Anne of Green Gables  and Daddy Long Legs, my dad’s copy of Dave Darrin on Mediterranean Service, Don’s Hardy Boys (there are more around here somewhere) and my vintage copies of Girl of the Limberlost  (two different editions) and another copy of Daddy Long Legs. And a vintage school pencil sharpener.

Underneath is a firkin that was my grandmother’s.

This little shelf was worth every penny. It’s one-of-a-kind, lovingly handmade for Martha Jane.

The first rose appeared in the Memorial Garden yesterday.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: books, flowers, roses, vintage 60 Comments

The Dilemma

April 8, 2018 at 10:05 am by Claudia

Dear readers, it is sometimes hard to come up with yet another photograph for a blog post. I mean, how many photos of the interior of my house can I inundate you with until you begin to scream?

And the outside? Well, it isn’t all that attractive at the moment. We’re in that pocket between winter and spring. The daffodils are coming up. I see some growth here and there, but taking a photo of it would require a kneeling position on the cold grass and/or gravel and that ain’t gonna happen today.

It’s too early to clean out the garden beds as there as been mild frost the past two nights, so the leaf mulch must stay in place for a while longer. So no pretty pictures from the garden.

And really, do you want to see pictures of all the debris from the wind and falling limbs and that sort of thing that I raked up yesterday afternoon? I thought not. Actually, raking wore me out. I realize that I have to get back into gardening shape after a fairly sedentary winter. But it was so lovely to be outside on a cold, but sunny, day.

And certainly you don’t want to see pictures of me vacuuming every corner of the house, which is what I did after raking? No, of course you don’t.

This is the dilemma of the every-day-of-the-year blogger. Sometimes, life isn’t all that interesting. Or photogenic.

But I do have one little photo for you, snapped this morning in a moment of desperation.

This is where my tiny Wallace Nutting ended up. I couldn’t find the perfect place to hang it, at least not until I get a few more smallish Nuttings for the wall in the office. Then I’ll be able to insert it into a larger display. But I quite like it here on the shelf in the den, in front of the Nancy Drews. It works.

That copy of Anne of Green Gables  was my mother’s. I was lamenting the loss of some of my mother’s childhood books that were also a part of our childhood one day on the blog. They had lived on a shelf in our bedroom. Our estranged sister somehow ended up with a lot of them. When Meredith read the post, she remembered that she had some of Mom’s books, so she secretly sent them off in the mail and completely surprised me. I opened the package to find Anne, along with Mom’s copy of Daddy Long Legs, and one of my dad’s books. I’ll freely say that I cried. It was like a reunion with dearly loved friends.

I have the best sister.

Happy Sunday.

 

Filed Under: blogging, books, Meredith, photography, Wallace Nutting 58 Comments

Waiting for Spring

April 6, 2018 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Because I opted out of recycling last week on what was a lovely day, I have to do it today, on what is a decidedly un-lovely day. It’s going to be rainy and snowy and all of that stuff. It went down to the twenties last night.

Sometimes it seems as if spring will never come.

If you were here and looked at the landscape, you’d think so, too.

Although, little things like these lilac buds assure me it will come.

I finished my book and am starting on another by the late Wilfred Sheed, The House that George Built, which is all about George Gershwin and fellow songwriters of the Great American Songbook. That’s my favorite era in popular music and when I saw it in a used bookstore (originally published in 2007) I grabbed it, as I faintly remembered glowing reviews when it was published. I’ve just started, but I’m enjoying it so far. Sheed is a charming writer.

This, by the way, is where I overwinter my geranium. We’re short on space here and it seems to do well in this little space between the sofa and the window. Don stuck that wooden frog in there a couple of years ago. At the time, the plant had a lot of leaves and flowers, so I didn’t get the clearest view of it and I thought it was real. I was sure  it was real!

Okay. I have to go. It’s begun snowing. Yep. It won’t stick, really, but nonetheless…

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: books, flowers 42 Comments

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • …
  • 206
  • Next Page »
  • Email
  • Instagram

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.

Searching?

The Dogs

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

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives

All Content © 2008 - 2025 Mockingbird Hill Cottage · Log in