Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Flowers and Friends

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The first of the purple coneflowers has opened. I have so many coneflowers in the garden and I hope a few more open before I leave on Monday. They make me happy.

I made up two batches of deer repellent and sprayed everything in the big garden bed and the bed on the side of the house. They don’t seem to go for bee balm (yet) or catmint. This morning I woke up way too early – at 5 am – and started thinking about all sorts of troubling things including my marauding deer, so I got up and immediately checked out any activity in the gardens. So far, so good. Since it’s going to rain this weekend, I’ll reapply the repellent on Monday morning before I leave.

And that’s all I can do. Not easy for a girl who is a bit of a control freak.

I mowed the back forty yesterday and I think I’ll mow the front lawn today. Noble came by and we talked about a loose schedule for watering the plants. He brought along little Petey, their adorable dog, so I got to dote on him a bit.

Then I had dinner with my friends Rick and Doug. They saw the house yesterday and they love it, but have some reservations about the outside. Putting in a pool might be problematic and the house – being surrounded by trees that go up a sharp slope in the back of the house – might not get enough light, despite it having lots of windows at the back. While we were waiting 30 minutes or so for a table at a local restaurant very near to the house, we went back and walked around on the property. It’s really lovely, but I understand their reservations about it. They haven’t ruled it out, but they’re looking at another property today. I’d sure love to have them close by, but they’ll most likely be in this part of the Hudson Valley anyway and they need to find the right house for them. Maybe only six minutes away from the cottage was too good to be true!

I have to say how lovely it was to spend time with them. Rick and I have known each other for 30 years. I’ve moved a lot in my life and my closest friends live far away from me in Michigan and Chicago and California and Florida (my sister is also my friend.) I have lots of casual friends out here and lots of colleagues, but being able to spend time with a friend like Rick (and Doug, as well)  is a gift. I’ve missed that so much.

So we’ll see what happens.

I have to pick some more black raspberries today. Yummy.

Happy Thursday.

The Culprit

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I just mentioned to someone in the comments that I rarely have trouble with deer eating things in my garden.

I spoke too soon.

All the day lilies on the side of the house have been eaten. Several of the brown-eyed susans and some of the phlox have been chomped on.

I think he is the culprit:

This is the guy I shooed away from the side garden bed the other day – where all the day lilies are.

So frustrating! And I forgot to spray any deer repellent, so that part of it is my fault. The only thing saving me from being really depressed is the fact that I’m going away for about 3 weeks, and then I’m going away in August, as well, so I won’t see the garden as much as I normally would.

Speaking of critters, these three bunnies were out and about when I first got up this morning. Chippie was also in view, sunning himself on a rock.

Lots to do before I leave and now that I’m back from NYC, I am shifting into overdrive.

The roadside lilies have begun to bloom. They’re so beautiful.

And there are lots of flashes of red in the garden now that the bee balm is in bloom.

I’m off to start in on my To Do list.

Happy Wednesday.

Sweet Visitors

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Yesterday, I made lists, started gathering some things together, cleaned and generally waited for the UPS truck to bring 5 packages to my door. It’s the Christmas season, however, and UPS is busy. So my favorite driver didn’t arrive at my door until 8:30 pm. Yikes! They work long hours at this time of year.

Along the way, I walked into the kitchen and saw this right outside the kitchen door:

This little one was smack dab in front of the now dead zinnias. Very close to the house. This is why I leave all those plants where they were when the season changed. Birds and animals need them.

I took all of these photos from behind the window in the kitchen door.

He was chomping on some grass on the edge of the chicken wire fence garden and then he looked right at me. (I was inside, of course. If I’d opened the door I would have scared them away.)

There was another deer up in the woods and one near the shed. Four of them.

They are so beautiful.

Oh good. You can see my old vacuum next to the shed (hidden from the road, I assure you) that will soon be on its way to the dump. It bit the dust and I got a new one last week. Oh, and my broken fan. They look like some sort of strange sculpture, rising out of the snowy landscape.

Soon we’ll be putting old sofas and rusty automobiles out on the front lawn.

I was able to get a better photo of the sansevieria flowers. Aren’t they pretty? They sure smell good!

A quick photo of the cottage porch wrapped in Christmas lights. It was actually too dark by the time I took this, so I’ll work on getting another shot at dusk.

Today? Lots of running around, buying what I need to take with me (except for perishables) so that I can start crossing things off my list.

It’s crazy time. And I’m going to miss my husband and sweet cottage – I can already feel it.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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