Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Peonies, Bees & Mini Adirondacks

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You asked. And I promised to post them.

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I wish you could smell them! Heavenly.

We have two peony bushes, but the other – which has beautiful pale pink flowers – hasn’t budded this year. Both of the bushes have been here for years, long before we moved in. But the young shag hickory came up right in the middle of the pale pink peony and for a while, that was okay. It still bloomed. But now that it’s bigger, things have changed. Last year we had just a few flowers. This year, none. Does the tree demand too much of the soil’s energy? I used to think it was because of the bush not getting enough sun, but it was getting plenty of sun when it would normally be developing buds. The bush grows and leafs out – just no buds.

I think I’m going to have to try to transplant the bulbs, but peonies do not like to be transplanted. However, I’d really like to save it – the flowers are so beautiful. Any advice?

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The catmint is in full flower and there are bees everywhere. Lots and lots of activity in the big garden bed.

Don. Stop. (Although he has orders not to read the blog and I made him unfollow me on Instagram until his birthday.)

Yesterday, I spent several hours painting the mini Adirondack chairs for the TSP. Today, I’ll add a clear coat to protect them.

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I love this shade of green called Fresh Foliage. It looks good against the red of the studio. It pops. Do I need to say again that I would like a life-sized pair of these chairs?

Who left the guitar on the floor?

Happy Thursday.

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A Treasure Trove: Mini Gifts and Peonies

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I’m about to launch into a little story about some gifts that arrived in my mailbox. But first, let’s just stop for a moment.

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Yes, it’s the first week of June and my peonies are ready to open. Like clockwork. This one will fully open later today.

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My favorite flower. You’ll get more photos this week, you can count on it.

My friend Susi lives in Amsterdam. She is the miniaturist who built the amazing record shop that deservedly won an award this year. I still go back and look at those photos; her work is simply extraordinary.

Building a record shop means stocking lots of records and Susi eventually wrote a tutorial about making mini albums. Fully prepared to tackle that task, I wrote to Susi to ask her about the kind of paper she used. She wrote back, giving me all the information I needed, but in addition, she offered to send me the leftover albums she didn’t use in her project. I offered to pay for them, but she would have none of it. I’ve not yet ‘met’ a miniaturist who isn’t generous, whether it is with information, advice, or minis.

They arrived in my post office box over the weekend. At the same time, my blogging friend Heidi sent me some album covers that she thought I might be able to use. (I love them, but they may be a bit too small for this project, so I’m keeping them for a future project, Heidi. Thank you!)

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Stacks of albums! Whoo hoo!

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Susi also sent some printables that I will be able to use in my projects. She uses a laser printer. Note to self: Your printer stinks, so maybe when you replace it, you should go with a laser printer.

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Also included were these two lovely gifts: a thimble with a cow on top and ‘wooden’ shoes in a beautiful delft pattern with a windmill in the center. I love them. Oh, Susi! Thank you so much! What a sweetheart you are!

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Look, it’s full!

I was so sick of pulling this shelf unit out from the wall only to have the records fall out the back, that I made a back out of mat board yesterday. Much better!

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The extras are over by the turntable.

I’m so excited! 23 days and counting until someone’s big birthday celebration.

Today would have been my parents’ 70th anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I trust you’re uncorking the bubbly and celebrating your incredible love story. We miss you every day.

Happy Wednesday.

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And Just Like That…

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And just like that, summer is here. Today the temp is going to reach 89° and the next two or three days will reach 90°. Plus, we’re headed into about a week or so of rain and thunderstorms, starting on Friday.

Not quite ready for summer.

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We went to our local nursery yesterday to buy our hanging plants for the porch. I also bought some  geraniums for the whiskey barrels and the lantanas, sweet potato vine, and dracaena for the galvanized tub that sits on the Funky Patio.

Having gardened here since 2005, the perennial gardens are now well established and I don’t have to spend money adding plants every year (this is why I love perennial gardening.) The modest amount of money I spend is on a couple flats of impatiens for the pots (that I recycle every year) on the porch, some plants for the galvanized tub and the whiskey barrels, and a couple of hanging plants (scaevola) for the porch. I overwintered the hanging geranium from last summer, so I saved money there. I don’t change out my hanging pots during the summer – I buy plants that I know will last through the season. The scaevola is gorgeous and it lasts until the first frost, as do the impatiens, which I often overwinter.

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Getting the scaevolas from the nursery always seems to mark the beginning of porch sitting for me. They look so beautiful hanging on the porch.

Don: Stop Here.

In TSP news, a guitar that I ordered arrived in the mailbox yesterday.

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It’s the one on the right. The guitar on the left was given to me by Barbara. I liked it so much that I was determined to order another version by the same Etsy seller, LA LittleArtist, who lives in The Netherlands.

They are beautifully made.

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These look so much more realistic than any I’ve seen available commercially. And if I’m shooting for realism in the TSP, then there must be at least 3 guitars hanging around. After all, Don has about 4 or 5 of them upstairs in our office.

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We just moved this chair up to the office. We had to do some chair maneuvering when we bought the vintage chair on Sunday. At some point, we’d like an easy chair in this space, but for now, this will do. It’s actually remarkably comfortable. (The painting is an oil done by my father.)

Happy Wednesday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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