Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Day Three Hundred Ninety-Seven

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Sunday Afternoon in Central Park – Bob Knox

This one was rather difficult, but I loved working on it.

Another lovely day today, which I intend to fully appreciate as it’s going to rain quite heavily tomorrow and Friday. Then it looks like we’ll have dry weather for about 6 days, allowing us to get outside and do some work.

I’m close to finishing The Shell Seekers. I’m quite enjoying it, of course, though I sometimes get impatient with going back in time, even though I understand perfectly why it’s being done. It’s my problem, not a problem with Pilcher’s writing. And entirely dependent on my mood, I might add.

I have a few book titles written down to take with me to Oblong Books today. But I’m going to really strive to stroll around and discover. Because isn’t that what we’ve been missing? The opportunity to thumb through books, look at covers, read a description, be surprised? I will have to repeatedly remind myself that I’ll be back again – this isn’t a one-shot deal.

Don told me we’re going on a date, and that’s what it feels like. We’re fully vaccinated, we’ll be wearing double masks, of course, and are going to take a drive that does not involve a doctor’s appointment or grocery shopping. What a concept!

Once all this rain leaves, it will be time to dress up the porch. I did treat myself to a little time on the glider yesterday. It was wonderful.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Day Three Hundred Seventy-Four

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Current puzzle. I know I said it was dark and moody and it is. The left hand side is where the lamplight casts its glow in this apartment. The other half is very dark, which is why I’ve worked on the more colorful sections first. They’re just easier to complete.

Gosh, I love a good jigsaw puzzle!

Sunny and warm (relatively) again today. We were going to take a drive but Don has a commitment at 3:30 and, quite frankly, we’re feeling lazy. We’re excited that we can finally say that our second shot is next week. On Monday, Don gets his shot from his eye specialist and on Wednesday, we both get our second dose of the vaccine. By the way, someone (sorry, I can’t remember who it was) mentioned that we should make sure that getting another shot around the same time as our vaccine shot is okay. Don called his eye doctor who quickly said this kind of shot has no impact on the vaccine and the vaccine has no impact on it. So, we’re fine.

We had a great FaceTime chat with Little Z and my sister yesterday. Z is into zombies at the moment, so we learned a great deal about them. Z illustrated the sounds that come from baby zombies and adult zombies and we also learned they like to chase chickens. I mentioned to him that my neighbor has chickens and we imagined what it would be like to try to chase the zombies away from the chickens. He also got to ride an elevator in the parking garage next to his doctor – as you know, Z is obsessed with elevators and COVID has kept him from exploring different elevators every weekend. He’s missed that.

I just finished The Sentence is Death  by Anthony Horowitz – he’s so darned clever! Now I have to choose my next book. I certainly have a lot of them to choose from in my TBR pile. I’m leaning toward a mystery by John Banville – a new-to-me writer. His mysteries take place in Ireland. I think I first heard about this book, Snow, through The Mysterious Bookshop’s newsletter.

Oh, I can’t wait until the day I can visit the city again, if only to visit The Mysterious Bookshop and Tiny Doll House – two shops that are on opposite ends of Manhattan – one in Tribeca, the other on the Upper East Side.

I’m off to do a little work on the puzzle.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day One Hundred Forty-Four

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This is all I’ve got for you today, though I do like the light shining on the desk from the window. When I’m not ready to start in on whatever it is I have to do next, I play around with furniture and take pictures. It helps me to sort out what I might do with each room. I printed out some wallpaper pictures from Itsy Bitsy Minis and taped them on the living room walls. I’m trying to get an idea if it will work well there before I place an order.

Well. It takes me a long time to wake up in the morning and when I got up this morning I was hit by a coffeed-up Don stating that he woke up too early with the thought that he had to get some bottled water. We’re due to be hit by the tropical storm later today (we’re already getting a lot  of rain) and if the power goes out, we have no water as we have a well and a pump that is powered by electricity. He’d already made a list. I pleaded my I-need-a-cup-of-coffee-first case. After I finished, we made a list for the store as Don wanted to get there close to the 7 am opening. We’ve already disinfected the stuff he bought, washed the vegetables, and there are several gallons of water in the trunk of my car.

We’ve both taken showers, as we always do after shopping and disinfecting. And now I’m sitting here with my second cup of coffee writing this post. Too much activity too soon for this girl!

We’re due for lots of rain and high winds later this afternoon and into this evening. You know how I feel about winds. Right now, it looks like we have a slight lull, but by this afternoon, we’ll be dealing with WEATHER. I’m a bit nervous, but there’s nothing we can do but be prepared and we are as prepared as we can be without a generator.

If for some reason I don’t post tomorrow, it will be because we don’t have electricity. You never know with these storms, it could be worse than predicted, it could be much less than predicted. But this area is definitely going to feel its impact. Wish us well (I know you do.)

I’m reading Melmoth  by Sarah Perry. Just started it, but I loved The Essex Serpent  and I love her writing style. Yesterday’s mail brought Hamnet  (all the way from England; I like the British cover better and it’s available in paperback there) by Maggie O’Farrell, and I can’t wait to read it. And soon I should receive the new Michael Connelly from The Mysterious Bookshop. By the way, you are the greatest! Several of you ordered books from the bookshop and while I didn’t ask you to order something from them, you did anyway. Thank you, thank you! You’ve made a difference. A lot of small orders add up to a good day for The Mysterious Bookshop.

And heavens, don’t we all want and need a good day?

Alright, my friends. I’m off. Send some prayers our way. I always worry about our very old trees.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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