Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for butterfly

Just One Big Sigh

July 5, 2018 at 8:41 am by Claudia

With last night’s performance, the fact that the show has closed will – has – hit the cast. Even though it closed on Sunday, they were on a train for DC the next morning and, for the next three days everything was about the performance. And the horrendous heat. Don said: “It’s all about the heat.” They are exhausted. Today, they’ll ride back to NYC and there will be no performance tonight. Or tomorrow night.

They are extraordinarily close.

I will drive into the city in our old CR-V on Saturday morning. I’ll help Don pack and clean the apartment, we’ll spend some time wandering around and on Sunday? We move Don back home.

With the humidity and high temperatures here, I’ve had to have the A/C on 24 hours a day. I haven’t been able to do anything outside, except water, water, water. It’s been brutal.

I’m over everything.

But this happened the other day. I spotted a monarch butterfly which landed on a black raspberry leaf. She stayed there a long time. It’s the first monarch I’ve seen and I’m convinced she had just emerged and was drying her wings. I was able to get very close to her, which is usually impossible.

The monarch stayed there for about ten minutes. Later, I spotted her flying around the big garden bed, even doing a little circling, playful dance with this Great Spangled Fritillary:

The advantage of having a lot of milkweed: you get to see the monarchs when they first emerge. Maybe I’ll actually see one as  it emerges someday.

I took the day Tuesday to clean out our bedroom closet. It’s a small closet, shared by both of us. It’s tucked into the eaves, so it’s deep but not wide. It had become a depressing black hole. Except for cleaning the bathroom (which I also did yesterday) it’s my least favorite thing to do around here. I now have three bags of clothing to donate to the Salvation Army, two bags of crap to go to the dump, and countless cardboard boxes to recycle. Now Mr. Hawaiian Shirt with the Snazzy Shoes will have some room for his new clothing.

We won’t talk about the fact that very little of the clothing I had in the closet fits me anymore. That’s too depressing.

Also, I wrote about this last week on IG, but if you missed it, I was standing by my car with my iPhone in hand (I’d been taking pictures) when, for some reason, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw a full grown black bear walking across the grass on the back forty. I gasped. Couldn’t believe my eyes. For the three seconds or so it took the bear to walk across the grass and then into our woods, I was frozen. Completely forgot I had a phone which could take a picture in my hand.

Whoa Nellie.  He or she was beautiful, by the way.

As Don said, “I won’t be taking out the trash at night anymore.”

Happy Thursday.

Tagged With: black bearFiled Under: black bear, butterfly, Don, Escape to Margaritaville, monarch butterfly 32 Comments

Monarchs & Flowers

October 11, 2017 at 8:06 am by Claudia

This Monarch has been hanging around off and on for the past week. There may be two of them; I thought I saw another one in the distance yesterday. I love Monarch butterflies and as I said on Instagram, I’m not sure if these Monarchs come from our milkweed or if they’re passing through on their way to warmer climes. I’m simply happy they’re here and that I have flowers still in bloom that they like. They’re not interested in morning glories, but they love the geraniums and the zinnias.

I feel a special spiritual connection to them.

In the meantime, the bees do  love the morning glories!

I wonder what that little bug is? Such distinctive markings! The bee just ignored the bug and climbed right in the center of the morning glory.

My unofficial count today (from inside the kitchen) of morning glories is 32 in the memorial garden. I have yet to count the blooms in the chicken wire fence garden.

The hollyhock is still going strong. What a winner this one is! Beautiful.

Today: recycling, and an overdue oil change. And some errands, of course – when aren’t there errands?

Don’s got sinus problems or a cold. He’s stuffed up and isn’t feeling tip-top, but he’s hanging in there. As he said, “Better this week than next!” – ’cause I’m headed to New Orleans next week! I have a lot to accomplish before I leave next Thursday. Chop! Chop!

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: butterfly, flowers, garden, monarch butterfly 26 Comments

Creature Love

October 6, 2017 at 9:24 am by Claudia

I’m feeling more energetic this morning and for that I’m grateful. It’s a beautiful autumn day and  the sun is shining and I just found out we don’t owe anything on our taxes and that we are getting a modest refund and my morning FaceTime with my husband was great and my Peet’s is making me happy and it’s all good.

How’s that for a run-on sentence?

Lately, I’ve seen Henry chomping down on the grass right by the Funky Patio, which is pretty close to the house. Brave for that timid boy!  I saw him yesterday and because the windows were closed, he couldn’t hear the click of my camera and run away as he usually does.

There he is, that sweet boy.

Then, to make it even more perfect (can you have degrees of perfect?) my lonesome dove landed on the birdbath.

And then, in the ultra degree of perfect, the monarch butterfly that I saw the day of my dental work (I took that as a good sign) appeared over in the chicken wire fence garden.

For a brief moment, all three creatures were within a few feet of each other. Then Henry heard something and ran back to his lair. But for that moment, my Creature Love boxes were all ticked.

Happy Claudia.

It’s such a lovely day today, that I might take a little drive northwards. We’ll see. Or I might go to our local antique barn. Hmmm. What to do?

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: animals, birds, butterfly, groundhogs, Henry, monarch butterfly 28 Comments

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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.

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