Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Mystery Solved

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My favorite natural food shop makes these Whoopie Pies. I especially love the chocolate filling but yesterday’s vegan choice was strawberry. Goodness, it was tasty! I always put them in the refrigerator before eating – somehow it makes them even better.

This particular shop is a bit of a trek, so I have to have an excuse to go there. Happily, I did.

As I said on IG, I prefer to think that because it’s vegan, it’s not fattening. Let me remain in my delusional state, okay?

If you didn’t see the update in yesterday’s comment section, here’s the latest. Reader Michele somehow found out the manufacturer and pattern for this plate. I don’t know how she did it, but I am so, so grateful! It was made by Enoch Wood & Sons and it’s part of their Belzoni series. Belzoni was an Egyptologist and traveler who had an exhibition in London in 1821. The series has various designs depicting “ancient architectural elements with an exotic locale” – this sort of thing was part of the Romantic movement.

It was made in the 1830s! Oh my gosh! What a treasure!

The quote is from an auction site. Here is the link to a black platter in the same pattern as this smaller plate. Once I read Michele’s comment, I started researching like a madwoman! I sure hope we come across more pieces.

Thank you again, Michele, for your stellar detective work!

I was focusing on this coneflower when a big fat bee obligingly landed there.

This may be my favorite of the day lilies on the property. The ruffly edges are too perfect.

Cloudy today and much cooler around these parts.

Did you know that it was sunny and beautiful for every one of the ten days it took to drive across the country? Amazing.

Happy Tuesday.

The Mystery of the Pieces of Transferware

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It’s raining today and it looks to be an all day long rain. I have some little projects to take care of here and this weather is a good excuse to take care of them.

There’s something about the shape of a coneflower that just makes me happy. I think of them as one of the best flowers for a country garden.

A slightly ruffled edge on this day lily. Old-fashioned and romantic.

The endless summer hydrangea in the memorial garden.

If you follow along with me on Instagram, you’re aware of this story, but for those of you who don’t, let me share it with you.

We live in a house that was built in 1891 and from evidence around the property, it was a farmhouse. Many years ago, it was routine to bury trash on the property as there was no other way to dispose of it. Over the almost-twelve years we’ve lived here, I’ve encountered all sorts of things, among them a tea cup handle, part of a Homer Laughlin Harlequin plate, bones, paper wrapping, hose nozzles, a handle for a plastic toy phone, etc. After some time – because of erosion or rain or whatever – things rise to the surface.

A day or so after I got home, I was walking in the corral – I must have just finished mowing – and I saw the edge of a piece of pottery protruding from the ground. I pulled it out and quickly discovered two other large pieces and a couple of very small ones.

This is what I found:

Red transferware. I oohed and aahed and shared my discovery with Don and placed them on the kitchen windowsill.

Yesterday, I tried to piece them together, not knowing if they were random pieces or belonged together.

They fit. I also have that smaller pieces that is missing from the bottom left. I’d say this is a salad plate/bread and butter plate, given the size. Isn’t it beautiful?

Well, I got online and spent hours looking at transferware patterns and, so far, I haven’t found this particular pattern.

Don and I were so intrigued that we went back to the same area and dug a bit. In addition to a chain and some old paper, we found one more small piece of the plate and a couple of pieces that turned out to fill what were shallow chips on the bottom of the plate. I haven’t found a piece that has a marking on it. And darn it, I know they’re there! But they could be anywhere in the corral. However, since these pieces were next to each other in the ground, I am led to believe more are nearby.

This must be what an archaeologist feels like. Sort of. There is a ‘dig’ going on in the corral.

I’ve sent a message to Nancy of Nancy’s Daily Dish – a blog/website that focuses on her extensive collection of transferware – maybe she might know the pattern.

Does it look familiar to any of you?

I love a mystery and I am so intrigued by this one. How old is it? What owner, long ago, used it? Is it in the trash because it broke one day? Are there more pieces out there and where are they???

Happy Monday.

 

Too Darn Hot, The Garden, Egg Cups & Nancy Drew

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When I came in the house yesterday after working outside because it was so darn hot, I checked the weather app on my phone.

86 degrees.

What the heck? It’s too darned early for that nonsense. Since the window air conditioners have yet to be installed, last night’s sleep was a wee bit erratic. It was so darned hot! Thankfully, today’s temperatures have dropped back to the norm for this time of year. It’s a little rainy this morning and the high will be 70.

That’s better.

The unseasonably warm temps moved some of the plants along. This is what I observed yesterday.

The forsythia is starting to bloom. I see yellow splashes of forsythia all over town, but ours blooms a bit later since it’s on a higher elevation in the woods.

Hello, lilac leaves! They opened overnight.

The hyacinths started to open. We are now in the early stages of spring in the garden.

I cleaned out the memorial garden bed, which was full of leaves, as is/was every bed on the property. Then I went around to the side of the house and raked out that bed. I found a tuberous root that had come out of the ground, most likely due to the ground seizing during the thaws and refreezes that happened in March. I think it might be a day lily. After googling for more info, I replanted it, but whether it takes or not is open to question.

I think I’m going to add some day lilies to the memorial garden. Yep. I going to do that very thing. Scout, in particular, joyously greeted each new day as if it was a miracle. A day lily seems appropriate.

Rounding up the remainder of the egg cups. Many of these are on shelves in the china cabinets or on the bookshelves. On the left, a gift from a reader. This one was hand painted. It is one of the largest egg cups I own. Next to that, an adorable egg cup from Linda. The tail is a salter. Next to that, a Delft egg cup from Holland. Then my newest egg cup, from France. The design includes two groundhogs! Then a blue transferware egg cup. An egg cup from Devon, England – a gift from Mary. An egg cup from France that I found in San Diego. And finally, a goose egg cup – also from France – that I found in an antique shop.

Ta da! We’re done. I seldom buy them nowadays because vintage figural egg cups are few and far between and the ones I really love, I already have. The Disney egg cups are still on my radar – my dream would be to own the entire set from 1937. But they are very, very pricey.

A big old welcome to this edition of Nancy Drew – Nancy’s Mysterious Letter.  My favorite illustrations by Russell H. Tandy are the first eight or nine, which were done in the thirties. This is one of them – number 8 in the series. I want those shoes. But not the fur coat. One hopes that the Nancy of 2017 would eschew fur.

One more is on the way, and then seven to go and I will have all the Russell H. Tandy cover illustrations.

Someone asked what I would collect when I had accumulated all the Nancy Drews. I am an inveterate collector, as you know. Don’t forget I still collect McCoy Pottery, Roseville Pottery, vintage books, little sheep and lambs (figurines and otherwise,) egg cups, bakelite, Maxfield Parrish and Wallace Nutting prints. Oh, and wedding cake toppers.

See? There’s plenty to search for.

Yesterday’s email version of the blog post went out in the evening for some reason, rather than earlier in the day. Since I use Google Feedburner (which is free, thank goodness) I have no real control over it. Every once in while, Feedburner has a glitch or two. I’ll keep an eye on it. And I’ll say what I always say, just come to the blog directly. 99.9% of the time, I will have written a post for that day.

Okay. Time to get my butt in gear.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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