Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

  • About MHC
    • Disclosure
  • Dollhouses/Minis
    • Hummingbird Cottage
    • The Studio (Formerly TSP)
    • Dove Cottage
    • The Lake House
    • The Folk Art Dollhouse
    • The Modern Dollhouse
    • Dollhouse Source List, Information and Tutorials
  • On the Road
  • Collecting
    • Roseville Pottery
    • McCoy Pottery
    • Egg Cups
    • Bakelite
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Archives for dollhouse

Little and Big Things

August 30, 2018 at 10:40 am by Claudia

The humidity continues but it is supposed to break sometime today or tonight.

Please?

Since I stayed indoors yesterday, I got a lot done around the house. Remember, I’m always more efficient when Don isn’t here and he was in the city yesterday. Also – my part of the deductions is finished, Don’s in the middle of putting his part together and we will be done on time. Ta dah!

My friend Barbara, a reader of this blog, recently contacted me and asked if I wanted her Arthur dollhouse kit, as she had never used it. If you remember, I need replacement parts for my rescued dollhouse, which is an Arthur. Yes, I said! So she sent them off to me and the other day I went to the post office and there was a big package from Barbara.

All of the Arthur components. Yay!

Being Barbara, she also added a few little gifts.

A beautiful painting that looked kind of familiar. As I turned it over I saw this:

Wallace Nutting! Perfect.

On a side note, if you look to the right, you’ll get an idea of the globs of glue I need to remove from this dollhouse.

A sweet stool with pretty flowers on the seat.

And two charming plates.

Thank you so much, Barbara! For everything!

Yesterday, I started to address the glaringly empty mantel/shelf that is over my desk. It used to hold many of my figural egg cups.

Here’s what I came up with:

The beginning of shelf full of sheep. There are four putz sheep and one little sheep, most likely from a nativity scene. (Putz sheep were also used in nativity scenes.) The one in the middle is the official Lamb With a Party Hat that I bought in California many years ago. I made a hat for her and she became the logo for this blog.

I look forward to collecting more sheep and adding them to the shelf.

Our Big News

Here’s what’s on the docket for October. We celebrate 20 years of marriage on October 12th. Considering we didn’t meet until we were in our forties, 20 years is quite a big deal for us. This year has been both incredible and heartbreaking and we want to finish it off on a positive note.

So…we’re going to London and Paris with a stop in Edinburgh and we’re in the midst of planning it right now. We’re going to make our flight reservations tomorrow. We figure we’ll be gone about 2½ weeks, maybe a bit longer. We’re so excited!!!

We have been discussing this for a long time, trying to pin down where exactly we want to go. Last week we suddenly changed the itinerary to Paris and Venice, which would also be wonderful. But we ended up changing it back to London and Paris. If we can afford another trip in the future, we’d love to do Venice, Budapest, Prague, etc. This morning we firmed up a lot of details, now we just have to sit down tomorrow and figure out travel times, how many days in each city, and book the flights.

It’s a big, big deal for us as we don’t have a lot of discretionary income and this may end up being a one-time-only sort of trip. If so, we figured London and Paris were the places we simply had  to visit. A romantic anniversary in Paris sounds pretty darned wonderful.

Since this is coming out of my inheritance, I thank my mom and dad for this opportunity for Don and I to travel to Europe together.

We’d love to hear where you’ve stayed, what you suggest we see, any tips on reasonable hotels, etc. I haven’t been to London since 2001 and that trip was with my students and it was planned for us. The one thing that Don and I want to do is explore the cities and walk a lot. Yes, we want to see certain well known tourist attractions, but our main focus will be on discovering little side streets and cafes and the architecture and beauty of each city. And we’ll see a couple of plays while we’re in London, as well.

Cannot wait!

Happy Thursday.

 

 

 

Filed Under: anniversary, dollhouse, miniatures, On The Road 70 Comments

Steam

July 24, 2018 at 9:07 am by Claudia

Boy, is it steamy here! It’s unbelievably humid. And it’s rainy. Yesterday, I spent some time with Rick at our local nursery and we felt as if we were in the Amazon Rain Forest! The windows are steamed up. My camera lens gets foggy as soon as I go outside. All day long.

Needless to say, we’re staying inside.

We’re getting a lot of rain. I got caught in a big downpour yesterday. It was the kind of downpour that only seems to happen in the summer; out of nowhere, suddenly you’re in the middle of a torrential downpour, where you dare not exit the car until it stops, or you have to duck under an awning, or run inside a store.

I snuck outside in the early evening to take some photos, all the while, wiping off my foggy lens. We have three zinnias in bloom now.

I started cleaning the inside of the dollhouse yesterday. The previous owner glued down the carpet and the kitchen floor. Let’s just say they used a lot of glue. Overly generous amounts of glue. Now I’m trying to figure out how to pry  that glue off the floors and the seams between the walls and the floors. Not sure yet how to do it without damaging the floors – I’ll have to do some research. Thank goodness for the internet!

I also cleaned up my desk. I hadn’t been spending much time in the office over the past few months so it needed some work and I tried to ‘arrange’ Don’s bags of show souvenirs and gifts from the producers that were everywhere. He has yet to sort it all out and I needed to forge a path to the window and the air conditioner.

I’m so enjoying my reread of A Gentleman in Moscow. It’s so beautifully written, so evocative of a certain time in history. The characters are wonderful; for me, they’re like old friends. You know that feeling when you crack open a beloved book to allow yourself the pleasure of reading it again and you read the first page and your shoulders drop and you sigh with happiness?

That’s what I’m feeling.

Before I forget:

My friend Melanie, a longtime reader of this blog, sent me this sticker and magnet.

I love them! The magnet is currently on the refrigerator, but I’m wondering if I might put it in my car…hmmm. Thanks so much, Melanie!

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: books, dollhouse, flowers, garden 47 Comments

Rain, Movies & Dollhouses

July 23, 2018 at 7:53 am by Claudia

The meadowsweet flowers are turning brown. Equally striking, I think. Especially when the sun is hitting them, as it was when I took this picture.

Feast or famine. After a long stretch without any rain, we’ve got 4 days of it on the docket and, as I write this, it’s teeming down. The hydrangeas have been pummeled.

But…I must not complain. We need it.

We had brunch at Rick and Doug’s yesterday and had a lovely time – as we always do. They’ve fenced in a big part of the yard for Sam and we got to see him run like the wind, chasing a ball. Sam is so happy with his new space! He was especially glad to see Don, who has been absent from our brunches for a while.

Don and I watched Chocolat  last night via Netflix. For some silly reason, we’d never seen it. What a wonderful and magical movie! Completely enchanting. Beautiful performances by all, especially Juliette Binoche and Judi Dench.

Don goes into the city today to work with Louis Mendes. I’m going to help Rick do some plant shopping.

I haven’t done anything with the rescued dollhouse yet, but I’ve been eyeing it when I’m upstairs in the office. I’ve been saving some exterior ideas that I’ve come across on the web. I just have to make a decision. Plus, I have to figure out how to replace those parts of the house that are missing. It’s the Arthur dollhouse by Greenleaf. Greenleaf no longer provides replacement parts (drat!) and if I buy an entire kit, even a used one on eBay, then I end up with a lot of excess parts that I don’t need and don’t have room to store. So, I’m currently stalled as I try to figure out what to do. When I do start in, I’ll share it with you. I’m going to use the rainy days ahead to do more research.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: dollhouse, flowers, friends, movies 28 Comments

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • …
  • 129
  • Next Page »
  • Email
  • Instagram

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.

Thanks for stopping by.

Searching?

The Dogs

The Dogs

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.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives

All Content © 2008 - 2025 Mockingbird Hill Cottage · Log in