Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Clean-up, Rearranging & an Anniversary

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I walked outside today and noticed this heart – made by the relentless rain hitting the gravel next to the porch. A perfect heart – isn’t that amazing? It made me smile on this day after the hurricane.

We moved into this house 6 years ago today. Part of what sold us on the house were the 4 large trees in the front of the property: a shag hickory, a weeping willow, a sugar maple and a catalpa. We deeply love these trees. To hear cracking and groaning as limbs were ripped from them on Sunday was heartbreaking. Each of the trees lost one or more branches; in some cases, large limbs. The sugar maple suffered the most. It is the tree that sits the closest to the house. You see it in every photo of the garden or the porch. We are very sad. Don was so upset last night that he had to write a song about it.

Clean up has started. We are grateful for a friend who came over with his chain saw today. That was an enormous help. There is still much to do. There has been terrible flooding in our area, with damage to crops and homes.

We are very lucky that the house was not hit by a tree. Everything seems even more precious to me. Early in the day, before all the devastation happened, we decided to rearrange the furniture in the living room. Long story short: we moved everything around in several formations but ended up putting it back in almost the same position. It really doesn’t work any other way. These little changes have made things just a bit cheerier today. We ended up moving some tables into new positions:

The dollhouse sat on this coffee table – it’s now on a smaller table and the coffee table is in front of the sofa in the den. It almost moved into the living room, but we couldn’t imagine the living room without the round oak coffee table.

We decided to take away the white table that was next to the piano, moved the piano over 6 inches, and now the yellow chair fits perfectly in the space.

On another note – the bowl on the left was in a photo a couple of posts ago. Some of you mentioned how much you liked it. It’s not McCoy. It’s a pattern called Orange Tree by Homer Laughlin. I found these at an auction a few years ago and I love them. This pattern was made in the 1930’s – 1940’s. Here’s the mark on the bottom of the bowl if you’re interested in searching for some of your very own Orange Tree bowls:

Happy Anniversary MHC.

Go hug your trees today.

Battening Down the Hatches

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Another foggy morning here in the Hudson Valley. This one seems a little ominous as we prepare for Hurricane Irene. So far, it looks like it will be traveling right over the NYC area and that includes the Hudson Valley. Yikes.  I dropped Don off at work this morning and got some canned goods and water. I needed a replacement 8 volt battery for our flashlight but there are no flashlights or batteries anywhere. I’m not kidding. Lowe’s, Home Depot, the dreaded Wal-Mart, Target, drug stores, supermarkets…..nothing. I managed to scrounge up a mag light at Home Depot, though it irritated me that I had to buy a whole new flashlight. I finally found D batteries at a gas station/convenience store near MHC. Now I’m exhausted. I haven’t even taken a shower yet.

We are admittedly nervous about this powerful hurricane. And that weeping willow in the above photo is always one of my biggest worries when we have high winds and lots of rain. Keep us in your thoughts as we head into Sunday. And if you’re in the storm’s track, please take precautions and be careful. I am holding all of you in my thoughts.

Riley continues to improve. The antibiotics seem to be helping his infection. He’s hungry and he’s back to scrounging around the kitchen floor looking for crumbs. That’s a good sign.

I’m running out of room for jumping jacks! I’ve resorted to ‘layered’ hanging. The wood looks like it is curved for some reason, most likely because of the strange angle from which I was shooting. I don’t have time to re-shoot it, so this will have to do.

Stay safe, everyone.

A ‘New’ Cake Topper

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Prescription for myself: a little trip to the antique store. Could I find something for only a few dollars that I really liked? And when I say ‘only a few dollars’ I mean just that. Well – I did. I found this cake topper from the 1950’s.

It’s a little over the top, with daisies all around the base and also on the top, fancy arches framing the bride and groom, a yellowing bell hanging over the happy couple. When I first brought it home, I noticed that there was a lace skirt on the bride. It was also wrapped around the groom.

It may be hard to see but the skirt was around the waist of the bride and the groom. That didn’t seem right. I tried to pull it over the groom’s head but that didn’t work. I ended up cutting it off. Unfortunately I took the little tulle veil off too. That will be glued back on the bride’s head.

I think she looks better without the lace. Her dress is quite elegant.

My apologies to the Bride. Your veil is soon to be back on your head.

This is a tall cake topper, much taller than the others I have. Some creative shelf rearranging was required.

I really like it. And I almost put it back on the shelf at the shop; in fact, I did put it back. Fortunately, I came to my senses.

I think it might be time to name each bride and groom.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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