Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Day Three Hundred Five

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Not much to report, my friends.

I worked a bit of the puzzle yesterday, though it’s slow going as the edge pieces are all a solid off-white with no real distinguishing marks. But I don’t mind slow. I sit down at the table and add a few more pieces, and for a while I’ve escaped the madness.

I find that both Don and I nod off rather easily. I nodded off in my chair during the day and later, we both fell asleep while watching Rachel Maddow. I think it is a normal reaction to everything that is going on. We need rest. We need a brief respite. Even after the brief naps, I still slept my full 7 hours last night.

Some of the books I ordered arrived.

I supposed that only one of these would be classified as ‘comfort reading.’ That would be Winter Solstice  by Rosamunde Pilcher. I read a lot of Pilcher a few decades ago, so I can’t remember whether I read this one. I don’t think I did. Either way, she wrote beautifully and I know I’ll enjoy it. Jane Casey writes great police procedural mysteries – I have read all of the books in her Maeve Kerrigan series save two. One of them is Cruel Acts, which you see here. And then there is part three of Stephen Fry’s memoirs, More Fool Me.

I have two more arriving today; two classic ‘village life’ novels by Miss Read and D. E. Stevenson.

I don’t know about you, but I need to escape – at least for a few hours a day.

Still waiting on my dollhouse wallpaper which is taking a meandering path to my mailbox. So I can’t do anything on that project.

We decided to order our groceries this week, as COVID is spiking in New York state. We just placed that order this morning and we’ll pick it up tomorrow morning.

That’s it. Routine, everyday things like cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, reading, chatting with Don – the stuff that keeps me sane. Oh hey, I found a recipe for sugar-free cocoa/hot chocolate, which uses Monk’s Fruit sweetener, pure cocoa, and milk. I ordered the sweetener from Amazon and bought the cocoa (a mix of regular cocoa and dutch process dark cocoa) from our local supermarket. I treat myself to it once a week and it’s really good! Don likes it, too. I had some yesterday around 4 pm and it was perfect.

All part of my Must Have Comfort initiative.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Six

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When we were purchasing our tree, I went inside to see if they had any paperwhites. Sure enough, at the end of an aisle in one of the greenhouses, there were some pots available. I bought two – one is in the kitchen and one in the den. I missed having them last year and I’m embarrassed to say I never thought to check for them at our nursery! Amazing how much they’ve grown in the two days they’ve been here.

No tree decorating yet. We went out to the shed to grab the bins of ornaments and we ended up doing some organizing there, keeping items away from the parts of the roof that leak the most. It’s not perfect, the roof needs to be replaced, but we have so much more room than we did! I’ve started to dump the soil out of the pots on the porch and now I can stash them on some shelves we have in the shed. I will no longer have to crawl over things to reach them when I’m ready to use them again in the spring. We did cover some things with tarps, just to ensure they are safe from water. Anyway, that took a long time. Then we had to move the egg cup cubby to get to the storage area under the stairs, which is always a bit precarious. I found the Christmas stuff, which I’ll going to store in another bin in the shed instead of under the stairs, so that I can stash the porch cushions there instead and Don can store some of his bulky guitar cases, as well. (The office now looks much better, with the guitars fully on display.)

In a small house, everything has to have a place, and if you change one thing, the dominos start to fall and you have to adjust everything else. That’s what happened yesterday. Crawling on a wood floor is never fun, nor is contorting my body so I can see into that small space. We were tuckered out after all of that, hence the decision to decorate today.

The bins are inside, ready to be opened when we decorate this afternoon. We have a few errands to run this morning. And of course, it’s going to rain. A friend of Don who used to be in construction recommended a roofer, so we called him this morning and he’s going to stop by sometime next week and look at the porch roof to see where the problem might be.

And that’s all we can do for now.

I just finished John Connolly’s newest book, The Dirty South, this morning. I’ll start in on Moonflower Murders  next. Connolly is always, always excellent – the book was one of my birthday presents from Don.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Nine

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I had to make a quick run to the grocery store and post office yesterday. As I came to the intersection and stopped at the red light, I saw a big truck coming from the other direction with an American flag flying near the side rear view mirrors. Inevitably, that kind of vehicle – and it’s almost always a truck – belongs to a Trumper. I’m used to seeing them. As I turned and drove to the parking lot, I noticed the truck was ahead of me and as the driver, who was a woman, parked, sure enough, I saw tons of bumper stickers extolling how great the Orange Man is.

Sigh.

I kept an eye on her as I walked toward the entrance – she was ahead of me. Would she wear a mask? Yes, thank goodness. You never know. It is  a mandate here in NY and has been so for several months, but I’ve seen more than a few people not wearing masks.

Ran in, got what I needed, ran out, stopped at the Post Office, picked up a package and bought some stamps. That’s all I want to do in the outside world for the present. Today is dark and rainy. It’s been raining off and on all morning and we might have more thunderstorms. Two days ago, we had really stormy weather and it’s now been confirmed that a tornado touched down about ten miles south of us in the town where we go to pick up groceries. It’s also home to the antique shop  where I found the vintage dollhouse. A little too close for comfort. Thankfully, no one was injured, but there was damage to buildings.

In the mail was a package from reader Nora. Nora has recently started to collect miniatures and is as enthralled with that world as I am. I’m going to share what was in the box, but forgive me ahead of time because I took the photos this morning and the light is terrible!

This is a leather chair made by Arlette Shelton, who also made the sofa I’m using in the English dollhouse. I knew that Nora had purchased it but was stunned to see it inside the box! Nora explained that she was going to go with 1:24 scale, rather than 1:12, and she wanted me to have it. It’s simply gorgeous. Arlette’s work is impeccably done.

Isn’t it beautiful? I have no idea where I’m going to use it, but rest assured, I will. I never cease to be amazed by Arlette’s work. This chair is solid and heavy and simply splendid.

Also in the box:

 

A mini canvas of The Lantern Bearers  by Maxfield Parrish. Although Nora didn’t know it, this is my favorite Parrish. I still hope to find an original print someday (they’re very rare.) I’m thrilled!

Also in the box, 5 tiny little dogs standing on barrels, playing instruments. They’re very whimsical and sweet, but impossible to capture on this dark morning. More photos coming – in fact, I’ll take another round of photos of everything in the box – hopefully, tomorrow.

Thank you so, so much, Nora! I will treasure these beautiful miniatures.

We’re hanging out at home today. Don is deeply into Hamnet. I’m about to finish A Private Cathedral  by James Lee Burke. New books will be started. It’s a quiet – so far – and rainy day and we’re very happy with that.

Congratulations to my best friend Laural and her husband who became grandparents for the first time yesterday. Their daughter Jennifer gave birth to a baby girl, Ellie. (Jen is my goddaughter.) Welcome to the world, Ellie!

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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