Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Bricks, Roses & A Dwarf

June 13, 2017 at 7:43 am by Claudia

This is what was happening yesterday. And will be happening again today. The chimney is finally being re-bricked. It’s much more involved than I thought.

The local company we use is family owned, two brothers who are as honest as the day is long. I really like them. A great deal of work was done yesterday and today, about 75 bricks have to be put into place and then they’re done. Good thing, because we might have a thunderstorm later in the day.

Needless to say it was noisy and my car was hemmed in by their two big trucks, so I was stuck in the house, but really, I have nothing to complain about. They had to work outside in 93° heat and humidity. I was inside with the a/c going. Grateful this is finally being done.

No more blue tarp covering the chimney!

I managed to snag some bricks from the old chimney and they’re now stacked next to the porch. I can use them for garden borders.

Speaking of the garden:

Lordy, these roses are beautiful. (Homage to James Comey.)

I had another lucky, lucky eBay experience recently. I received an alert in my email telling me there was a Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cup up for auction. I clicked on the link and, once again, there was the ‘Buy Now’ option at a great price. I couldn’t believe my luck!

Yesterday, all the way from Quebec, this guy arrived in my mailbox:

Hey there, Grumpy. Welcome.

And here is that mark:

This one brings my dwarf count to four. That means I yet to find Sneezy, Sleepy and Happy. And the elusive Snow White.

As it is, I had to put Grumpy on another shelf because there’s only room for three of them per shelf (the one hanging in the den.) I may have to rethink where they live. Maybe they deserve their very own shelf?

I love these guys and they’re hard to find, which makes them very collectible.

High temps again today with a break coming tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: collecting, cottage, egg cups, flowers, garden, roses 26 Comments

Working Outside

April 21, 2017 at 10:00 am by Claudia

Soon. They’re getting bigger and plumper.

I ended up hacking away at the brambles yesterday. There is no way I can take them all on, or even 1/16 of them. And, though they’re a pain, when they bloom they’re gorgeous – because they’re actually wild roses. But they have a tenacious quality that requires trimming them before they take over everything.

I started over by the now dead shag hickory where the crabapple I discovered two years ago is about to bloom. Thinking in practical blogger terms, I knew I couldn’t get close to it to take a picture unless I pruned a lot of the brambles. So I did.

Then I moseyed over to the other crabapple that I discovered a couple of days ago and decided to hack through that to clear a path to the tree. There was already the beginning of one, it just needed my pruners, as those pesky branches were trying to reach across the opening and block my access.

Two hours later, I was exhausted and there’s still a pile of cut branches that I need to move.

Another day. As today is rainy, so I have the perfect excuse to ignore them.

I tried to take a picture but it’s hard to see the tree among all the other trees.

It’s clear there was a rock boundary along the area where the path begins. You can’t see it here, but it’s there. So I’m going to try to keep pruning this area so it doesn’t get more out of control than it already is. I remember when we first moved in our neighbor told us that the previous owner tried to keep the brambles under control to no avail.

I hear you, former owner.

I took my second shower of the day after this adventure and treated myself to homemade “cloud biscuits” for dinner.

Any day now, the leaves on the maples will be providing beautiful shade. I can’t wait until there are green canopies everywhere.

Barnaby – side view. Equally adorable.

Several people have suggested making the bunny egg cozies and selling them on Etsy. Here’s why I’m not doing that: first, it’s a pattern that was created by another blogger, which she sells on Ravelry. Though I purchased it, of course, I don’t feel right about selling a creation that I am able to knit only because of her wonderful idea. The scarves that I sold were from a pattern that was all over the internet, sort of in the general domain, with no one credited specifically with the design. So I felt that was okay.

And, the last time I made a slew of scarves to sell on Etsy, I had a holiday deadline and I made so many of them that my right wrist suffered. It’s much better now, but I have to be careful how long I hand quilt or knit or crochet. Too much of any one of them is not good.

So…no selling on Etsy. But thank you for the compliment of wanting one! I really appreciate that.

If you ever get any bounce back emails saying your comment wasn’t accepted (I don’t know if you get them, but I do, both when I leave a comment on another blog or when I receive emails about your comments on this blog) ignore them. The comment always goes through. It has to do with AOL, in my case, not always ‘accepting’ those notifications. I called my host about it yesterday and they said if that happens, they just ping the comment again and it goes through. In fact, in every case where I receive an email saying something wasn’t ‘accepted,’ I get another email at the same time saying it was. I’ve noticed this phenomenon for some time when I leave comments on Blogger blogs. Same thing. It says my comment wasn’t accepted, even though I can see it right there on the blog post!

Hope that made sense.

Happy Friday.

 

Filed Under: cottage, flowers, trees 22 Comments

Impressions, Pie, Bunnies of the Knitted Variety & Sleeplessness

April 14, 2017 at 7:59 am by Claudia

I can’t be the only person who is having trouble sleeping, right? Amidst the joys of spring, we have the threat of nuclear winter, with two unstable leaders rattling their sabres. I woke up at 4 am today and got up to use the bathroom. That did it. I couldn’t turn my thoughts off and I finally gave up and got up around 4:45.

Insanity. With billions of lives in the balance. The FBI is coming for you and your henchmen no matter what you do, so why don’t you spare us this ongoing fear and resign? That will give you time to prep for prison. Orange is the new black and all that sort of thing.

Okay. Enough of that and on to happier things.

Some shots of the house because Spring brings out my nester instincts and I look at the house with fresh eyes. All done with the iPhone because I was lazy at that moment. We’ll call the photos “Impressions.”

 

Those of you who follow along on Instagram already know this story, but for those of you who don’t, here it is. Yesterday morning, Fed Ex pulled up in our driveway. Since I wasn’t expecting anything, I was surprised. The Fed Ex guy was carrying a largish box and handed it to me. It was from the Julian Pie Company in Julian, CA. Oh my goodness. Julian apple pies are the best apple pies I have ever tasted and I knew immediately who was behind this surprise.

Sure enough, the message inside said “Sweets for the Sweet, love Don.” That stinker stopped by Julian on his way home from the desert last Monday and arranged to have a pie shipped to me. We used to treat ourselves to a Julian Pie quite often when we lived in San Diego.

Isn’t he the best?

I managed to wait until late afternoon until I cut a slice and then I happily indulged in the taste sensation of a Julian apple pie.

Best crust ever.

Sigh of happiness.

And, though I haven’t knitted in years, I started in on this little project:

We’ll see if it looks remotely presentable once I have finished. If you don’t see a picture, well, you’ll know.

Pie for breakfast.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: cottage, Don, Donald Trump 70 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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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

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