collecting

December 4, 2015 at 8:59 am by Claudia

The latest: a sprained ankle.

Crap.

It went out from under me when I was standing on the front steps, causing me to tumble to the floor of the porch. Scraped knee, sore hand and the aforementioned ankle.

Fortunately, I can walk on it – carefully – and I’ve been keeping it elevated and wrapped in an ace bandage. I also iced it.

Don has been a prince.

I’m going nuts, however. I don’t do ‘resting’ very well.

And we won’t be able to take that trip to IKEA until next week.

I’ve been reading, spending too much time online, watching the news and wondering what we’ve come to, sickened and appalled by yet another tragedy. I have no answers but the obvious ones, which are never passed, never implemented. I won’t go on because in my current state of mind I don’t trust myself to be measured and careful with my words. I trust you can read between the lines on this one.

7-31 roseville

I’ve been scrolling through the listings on eBay, which is something I like to do occasionally. First up was McCoy Pottery. There were surprisingly few items in the thousands listed that I was interested in, perhaps because I have so much of it and I’m pretty particular when contemplating adding anything new to the collection. Then on to Roseville. Since my little Roseville collection only consists of about 10 -12 pieces, I saw lots and lots of pieces that tempted me. Do you ‘watch’ items like I do? Instead of bookmarking the item like I used to, I click on ‘watch’ and that way I can keep tabs on the piece and see what amounts are being bid.

I clicked on ‘watch’ a lot yesterday afternoon. And then I found myself looking through my Roseville reference books to familiarize myself with some patterns that were new to me.

So far in my Roseville journey, my favorite pattern is Bushberry. It was made in brown, green and blue. And this is my favorite piece in my collection:

3-12 roseville

A cornucopia in Bushberry blue. Isn’t this beautiful? I find I’m drawn to the Roseville pieces that have a textured background as this one does. This is about 9 inches tall and it’s in beautiful shape. I also have a small bowl in the brown, which lives in the kitchen hutch.

I’m going to concentrate on expanding the Roseville collection bit by bit. It’s more affordable nowadays than it was when I first started to notice it in antique shops. I remember when I lived in San Diego – where I bought that first piece, which happened to be the small brown Bushberry bowl – I had the chance to speak to a dealer about Roseville prices. It was clear that prices were off the charts at the time and buying anything except that small bowl was an impossibility for me. Since then, prices have come down and, since I’m also willing to buy pieces with minor imperfections, I’ve been able to acquire more Roseville. I found some at auction for an incredibly low price. A reader of this blog generously sent me a few pieces. I’ve purchased a few in shops and online. And so it goes. Slowly but surely.

I’m a collector. I can’t help it. It’s one of the great pleasures of my life. Hunting, searching, researching, finding a hidden treasure, always keeping a list of what I already have in the back of my mind, getting a great deal, saving my pennies for a special piece – what fun it is!

My name is Claudia and I’m a collector. And I love it.

Well, friends, it’s time for a bit more coffee (brought to me by my husband) and perhaps another look at eBay. (I’d show you a picture of my ankle, but I’ll spare you. It ain’t pretty.)

Happy Friday.

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Just Two More

May 1, 2015 at 8:36 am by Claudia

In the interest of being honest here, I feel like most of my subject matter for the last month has been my stuff: first, my egg cup collection, and then the McCoy collection. Then there are all the gifts I’ve been receiving lately, which have been delightful surprises, of course. I talk about them because I think it’s important to highlight both the giver and the gift in this space; to say thank you, both privately and online.

But I feel uncomfortable. Am I showing off too much? Do you read these posts and think, “Geez, this girl gets a lot of presents. Enough, already!”? (I think I’m breaking a rule or two by using an exclamation point, quotation mark, and a question mark in a row.)

If you had known me for a long time, you’d know I’m pretty self-effacing, an interesting quality in one who was an actress for a big chunk of her life. But actually, I know a lot of actors who are self-effacing – including my husband. I don’t like to show off or be in the spotlight.

So you can see why I worry just a tad about this sort of thing.

But if you came to my cottage, I’d share these things with you. And since I want this blog to be like a visit to the cottage, well…

That being said, will you excuse me if I share two things with you today? Pretty please?

I succumbed to another piece of McCoy. This one is a real gem. I’ve been wanting it for a long time.

5-1 newest mccoy

Isn’t it lovely? It’s about 6 inches high. Gosh darn it – I love the leaf and berry motif that is on a lot of McCoy Pottery.

5-1 newest mccoy rear

From the rear.

I’ve always thought of this vase as the companion piece to one I already had:

5-1 two together

They make sense together. Both have the leaves and berries, both are about the same height. They’re petite vases. As I was taking photos yesterday, I ended up setting them on this desk. I think I’ll keep them there.

Then, my sister (that scamp) sent me another package this week. She is a talented knitter, crocheter and weaver, among other things. See what she made for me!

5-1 runner

A beautiful table runner. I have it folded in half in this photo because I’m still sick and I wasn’t up to tackling the stacks of mail, etc. that are currently on our kitchen table.

5-1 runner 2

Her work is so lovely, don’t you think? Thank you, dear sister, who always has several projects going, most of which you give away because you are that kind of person.

My greatest delight nowadays? Hearing my little nephew’s voice on the phone. That Little Z! I’m simply crazy about him, as is Don.

Okay.

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I’ve been talking about this on Just Let Me Finish This Page, but for those of you who don’t know about it, tomorrow is Independent Bookstore Day. Many, many bookstores around the country are planning events. Our Independent Bookstores are essential and must be supported in this age of chain stores and online monoliths. So go out tomorrow, stop by your local independent bookstore, buy a book, and thank them for all they do. Thank them for persevering. Thank them for the caring and personal relationship they have with their customers. Thank them for sharing their love of books and reading.

Do it.

Happy Friday.

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The (Not So Little) Garden That Could

April 28, 2015 at 9:26 am by Claudia

Spring is here, yes. But we’ve had unseasonably cold temperatures for more than a week, so it doesn’t seem like the end of April. It seems more like early March. I’m afraid that once the temperatures get back to normal, we’ll have about a week or two of spring and then it will be summer.

But there is growth in the garden. It’s just happening slowly.

4-28 garden 1

The chartreuse ground cover is slowly making its way through the soil. The perennials are inching their way out of the ground: sedum, day lilies, catmint, poppies, phlox. The hyacinth leaves are showing, but no flowers as of yet, and normally they’d have bloomed by now. The tulip that has been here since we moved in, and probably for many, many years before, has not come out of the ground at all. For the first time. Did this extreme winter finally do it in?

4-28 catmint

My dependable catmint is filling out and it’s everywhere in the gardens. The hydrangeas have tiny leaves. The rose bushes? I can’t tell yet. Nothing is happening and I’m sure I’ll discover damaged canes, but I’ll have to wait on that until some sort of growth appears.

The peony shoots are coming out of the ground, though I’ve yet to clean up their beds. The lilacs are budding, just waiting to bloom.

4-28 lilac 1

4-28 lilac 2

Impressionistic views

In the meantime, I’ll do some weeding today in preparation for laying down some mulch in the garden beds. Last year, money was tight (it still is) and I didn’t buy mulch. Never again. Weeds were out of control. Mulch is a must buy this year.

Yesterday, I got an email informing me of a security vulnerability that had just been discovered in this newest version of WordPress and it had to do with the WP comment system. So I had to shut down comments until WP issued a patch for the problem. That meant that for about 5 hours, no one could leave a comment.

To say I missed reading and responding to comments is an understatement. One of the true joys of having this blog is the daily dialogue we share with each other and yesterday….I couldn’t partake. I couldn’t talk. If you spoke to my mom or my first grade teacher who was constantly sending home notices that I talked too much, you’d know that would be a problem for me. When the patch was finally issued, I turned everything back on.

Remember:

solitary

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again!

From yesterday. This piece that I said I had decided wasn’t McCoy?

4-27 vase

Danged if I didn’t see it on eBay in another color with the McCoy mark. It is McCoy. I was right in the first place!

4-28 mccoy basketweave vase 1

Oh, hello!

The newest member of the Mockingbird Hill Cottage McCoy Team has arrived for training. I’ve said this before; in that case, it was the egg cups – I blame you. You encourage me to do these series and then I research and study and look at photos of McCoy and then I browse through the offerings on eBay and in the shops and then, before you know it, I’m staring at new-to-me pieces of McCoy.

I’ve purchased three since the series began.

This one I’ve had my eye on for a long time. It’s from the 1940s and is in McCoy’s familiar basketweave design. I so love the way the glaze settles into the grooves on the piece, creating light and dark contrast.

4-28 mccoy basketweave vase 2

From the side. It’s 8 inches tall.

I’ve become obsessed by McCoy pottery once again, but as my husband said yesterday, “There are worse obsessions.”

The winner of a copy of Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes is Monica. I’ve sent you an email, Monica.

New post on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Tuesday.

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Collecting

Just Two More

The (Not So Little) Garden That Could

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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