Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Straw, Worries & Square #4

March 4, 2010 at 10:41 am by Claudia

I woke up too early today and then found my brain suddenly full of worried thoughts – flitting back and forth from one worry to another. Of course, every worried thought is a projection, a ‘what if’…and before long they take over and you realize that you are certainly not living in the moment. I’ve always been a worrier. When I was a little girl I would lie awake at night worrying about school or what happens when I die or would I be picked last for a team in gym class. I’ve managed to let much of the chronic worrying go as I’ve grown older, but if I’m not careful…it can erupt again.

The sun has come out. That helps. And writing about it to my dear blogging friends helps. Thanks for being there.

On to Square #4:


I did this late last evening and it truly was free form. I hope it is recognizable as a lavender bird sitting on a branch. I was playing with satin stitch. These tiny squares are playing havoc with my eyes. I had to resort to a stronger pair of magnifiers – threading the needle is so much harder for me nowadays than in my youth. Now I have to figure out today’s square…

When our dogs go out the door to their ‘corral’ they go uphill on a little path. Currently, the path is plain old mud because we’ve had so much snow melt. Every time the dogs came in, their paws were covered in mud. Husband went out and bought some shredded straw yesterday and the path now has a layer of straw over the mud. Less mud = more vacuuming, as the little bits of straw are all over the kitchen. That’s all I can see – straw – everywhere. Off to vacuum.

Have a great day.

Filed Under: dogs, stitchalong 19 Comments

Keep Calm

July 8, 2009 at 9:31 am by Claudia

I arrived at the Cottage at close to midnight on Monday – a long day of flying on very little sleep. My body clock is geared for the West Coast and I am now on the East Coast. Trying to sleep normal hours will take a few days. I went outside yesterday to pull some weeds and the thunder and lightning began. Not only did it storm, but lightning hit our house. Let me tell you, that was more than a bit scary. Now we have no phones (I think the lightning went right through the phone lines) and for quite a while we thought our nice flat screen television had been damaged. Miraculously, it seemed to correct itself later in the evening.

So the day was spent trying to call the cable company about the phones on our cell phones, which don’t work all that well out here in the country. We have an ongoing saga about a cell tower in our little town. Do I feel rested? NO. But I am home with husband and dogs and that is wonderful.

And I was surprised by my lovely friends last night. They came over with pizza, fruit salad, cake and root beer floats to welcome me home. I couldn’t have had a nicer evening.

(The sign in the photo is from my friend Joy’s booth)

Filed Under: dogs, husband, life 15 Comments

Happy Friday!

March 13, 2009 at 2:16 pm by Claudia

This beautiful bloom comes from a tree in the courtyard at the University. Gorgeous, isn’t it? Some of you have asked for photos of where I work. I work at the University and at the Theater and both are quite lovely. However, there is much construction going on at the Theater at the moment, so it is not quite ready for a photo shoot. I will post some photos of the University soon.

Husband left last night, flew home on the red-eye and arrived this morning. As soon as he got home he called to say that the petsitter is amazing! She left the house impeccably neat, left several sheets of paper listing everything that happened each day, and took great, great care of the dogs. She is fantastic and we are so pleased. Truth be told, we almost always went away on separate trips for business or family reasons. One of us stayed behind to take care of the dogs. Since both of our dogs are rescues, I cannot bring myself to put them in a kennel or a cage. They wouldn’t understand. Our rule has always been that someone has to stay with them. When we were living here in San Diego, we found a wonderful group called Home Sitting Seniors. These were senior citizens who were mobile and would stay in your home, take in your mail and watch pets. But when we moved east, there was no such group. A chance conversation with a woman shopping at the store gave me the name of our petsitter. Thank goodness! I see some trips in our future.

I am sad that our mini-vacation is over, but I have lots of work to do before Tuesday and the resumption of classes. Today: laundry and a visit with an ex-student over coffee. Tomorrow: more work and a Pink Saturday post!

Filed Under: dogs, husband, San Diego 3 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.

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