Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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You Guessed It: More Rambling

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:: The dogs are not happy with me. The weather has been so rainy that they haven’t had their walk in a few days. Today is much nicer. However, when we take the dogs for a walk, we have to load them in the car first. That involves helping Riley into the car by lifting his rear end up and into the car. No can do with my much-better-but-still-fragile back. Don is out right now but we’re hoping we can talk him into walking the dogs when he gets home. Update: they’ve been whisked away by their Dad and will be happily walking down a country road in a few minutes.

:: I did get out today. I was going a bit stir crazy here at MHC. I bought some more inexpensive (cheap) yarn for my crochet project.

It’s supposed to be a scrap ripple stitch afghan. However, since I donated all my extra yarn to the Salvation Army last winter as the result of a frenzied closet purge, I was sadly lacking in any yarn. And I’m on a strict budget – to put it mildly. So I trotted off to Michael’s and Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of different colors that go with the red in our den. Crochet is a yarn eater – much more than knitting – and since we will end up tossing the afghan around the den on a regular basis, I’m fine with inexpensive yarn.

:: I brought our vintage ice cream maker in from the porch. A friend of ours gave it to us when we were living in San Diego. Now it has a new home on top of my kitchen hutch.

I love the rustiness and the chippy aqua paint. Don gave it a thumbs up saying that we needed some ‘rough edges’ in the kitchen. (He’s got style, that guy.)

:: A lovely blogging friend, Sharon of My Life at Pansy Cottage and Garden, sent me the sweetest gift.

Isn’t this pillow adorable? I was so touched by Sharon’s present. Sharon, we have it sitting on our red-checked chair in the living room. I’ll take a photo of it and post it soon. Sharon has a wonderful shop full of pillows and aprons that she has designed. Thank you, my friend.

:: Mom’s home. She’s exhausted but happy. The kittens are punishing her, of course, by ignoring her. We’re hoping that this will work out and that Assisted Living can be avoided if at all possible. I will keep you posted.

:: My annual photo of the house bathed in the autumn light:

Have a wonderful evening. I will be watching game #2 of the World Series. Don’s sister was lucky enough to be in the stands last night. I bet she had a great time!

I’m Stuck Here, So I’m Rambling

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A different view this morning. (Note painting by door that gets crooked every time we go in and out. Annoying.) Normally I’m ensconced in my chair in the den. However, that chair is not good for my back in its current condition. So the laptop, camera and heating pad have moved to a new location in the living room. I’m sorry to say that my aching back is still aching. Thanks for all your advice. In case you’re thinking that I clean the siding on my house on a regular basis, let me assure you, I don’t. The side of the house where I was merrily cleaning away gets that green, mildewy stuff occasionally, especially after lots of rain. I ignored it for a long time (2 years) and that is why I was wielding a brush the other day. And the cleaning didn’t injure me…not looking where I was going was the culprit.

Okay, since I’m stuck here, I submit some rambling thoughts for your reading pleasure:

::  If my beloved Red Sox couldn’t do it, the two teams I wanted to see in the World Series are in. Love the Rangers and the Giants. Mostly, I love that two scrappy teams beat the big guys. They play with such heart! Can’t wait for the series to begin on Wednesday. I might be watching it from the floor, but I’ll be there.

:: In the “Drives Me Crazy” category: the misuse everywhere of the word literal or  literally.  I hear it all the time: “I literally died laughing.” “We were literally sweating bullets.” No…you weren’t. Otherwise, we would be mourning your death or watching bullets pop out of your body.

I hate it when a word gets twisted into a casual, less-than form of what it was (i.e., ‘awesome’ – that’s another post entirely.) The latest example? A commercial for Dodge Minivans that has the tag line (I paraphrase): “…this minivan literally gave birth to all other minivans.” Really? That would have been a sight to see.  And this misuse was okayed by an ad agency. Someone actually signed off on the copy. Yes, I know that language changes, but it shouldn’t be cheapened for a lazy writer’s ad copy. Each of the sentences I referred to would be just as effective without the insertion of ‘literally.’

:: The kids have new clothes:

Scout obviously didn’t want this picture taken. Note slightly pissed off facial expression.

The ever-elusive Riley. Any photo of him requires some sort of sneak attack.
:: When I said there were no orange pumpkins here at MHC, I was sadly mistaken. What was I thinking? 

After the dogs reminded me about the dollhouse porch, I was shamed into taking a photo of the pretty display of lovely pumpkins – orange pumpkins.

:: I forgot how much I like crocheting. I’ve started a throw for the den and now that I’ve memorized the pattern, it flows and an almost-meditative feeling comes over me.

:: My Mom is scheduled to go home this Thursday. We don’t know how that is going to work out, as she is not really any better. There will be someone to help out a few hours a day. My Dad desperately wants it to work, but he’s 87 and this is enormously stressful for both of them. I’ll write more when I  know more.

:: Last but certainly not least, I had to share this photo with you. It’s my husband as young boy playing the steel guitar in his godfather’s Polynesian band.

He was 11. I can’t even begin to tell you how cute I think this is: the Hawaiian shirt, his sweet face, the look of concentration, the retro starburst clock. Oh, and his haircut. I just want to squeeze him.

Have a lovely day, my friends.

ReStore, Roses & Raking

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Despite our best intentions, yesterday was just too windy to rake leaves. Cold and windy. All day long. So we went on an exploratory mission to this place:

I’d been wanting to check out the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in a neighboring town.  It was much bigger than I expected – full of furniture, building supplies, old shutters, sinks, doors…you name it. We loved poking around in all the piles of old stuff. Don got some old metal pieces for a project he is planning. I got some vintage architectural pieces to use in some sort of yet-to-be-decided-upon project. We plan on going back weekly. You never know what might suddenly appear.

I had husband take a rather wind-blown picture of me in order to show the new flower pin on my jean jacket.

I love it. It makes me smile. Thanks, Debi! (Don’t like frown line between brows. Was I always frowning in my youth?)

Both of my rose bushes are flowering one more time. I cut some blooms yesterday and like the way they look next to the white pumpkins.

This is what some of us are up to this morning:

While others cannot use wind as an excuse any longer to avoid raking leaves. It’s sunny, beautiful and calm. Do you think I could train these dogs to hold a rake?

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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