Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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I Love Spring

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My one lone grape hyacinth surprises me each spring. It pops up between these rocks which line the garden bed by the porch. It’s tiny, so I often miss its entrance into the world until I happen to walk by and – there it is! Whether it self-seeded or was planted by a past owner of the cottage, I’m not sure. But I love it.

Don is home. His bus was about an hour late last night. Apparently, people were leaving the city in droves, so getting to the Lincoln Tunnel took forever. We’re having a slow morning. Looking out the kitchen door, we’re seen blue jays, robins, sparrows, a chipmunk, squirrels, and a bunny rabbit. Our morning Disney movie.

I broke my promise to myself yesterday and cleared out two more garden beds. So I was tuckered out at the end of the day. I’ll take a day off from all of that today because Don is home. My back will be thanking me!

The daffodils in full flower. Because these sit on the the edge of the woods, the flowers are always on one side only, facing the sun. Aren’t they pretty?

Hearing the birds singing joyfully as I write this makes me smile.

Happy Birthday to William Shakespeare. He’s brought a lot of work my way.

Happy Monday.

Scrubbing, Cleaning: Time for Spring

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Well, that was a resounding success, don’t you think? The conversation is still going on as I write this new post and I couldn’t be happier! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about where you are from, about your individual journeys. And I have loved seeing the dialogue that has taken over the comment page. I figured I would just sit back and enjoy.

Connection. We all need to connect.

Thank you, Judy, for the idea, and thank you all for taking part. Much love to all of you.

And now to the mundane.

I worked like the dickens yesterday, if I do say so myself!

I cleaned the porch railing and the individual spindles and everything. Since our outside hose connection is not working at the moment, this involved hauling buckets of water from the kitchen to the porch. Over and over. But it looks so much better!

This is a chore that is not on my favorites list, which is why I ignored it for a few years.

Then I started to clean up the porch – still in progress as I write this – sorting through the accumulation of crap that built up over the autumn and winter. I drove the now 17 year old CR-V to the storage facility, retrieved the adirondack chairs and a few other things. Then I cleaned the glider and the chairs. I stopped for the day around 4 pm, so I haven’t added the cushions to the furniture. That will happen today.

It just felt good to start making the porch into our extra room for the spring and summer and fall. No potted plants yet – too early – but that will come. Today it will be sunny and reach 60 degrees, so I’ll be out there again working on the porch and the garden beds.

It’s slowly getting there. Slowly.

Don informed me that he wants to come home for his day off. He’s homesick. So I won’t go in, obviously. I’m just as happy to have him here. And it will be sunny – no rain! I’ll go in next week as we have tickets to listen to one the guys in the cast perform at a club on Sunday evening. By the way, Don signed up for access to a community garden around the block from the apartment. It looks lovely. There are benches to sit on, flowers blooming, birds singing, plants thriving. I’ll be sure to take photos when I see it next weekend.

Happy Saturday.

 

Errands, Treasures & Maybe a Primal Scream

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Yesterday: I went to the dump, recycled boxes from the cable company, drove to the cable company and turned in three pieces of equipment, ran errands at Lowes and Target, came home, vacuumed, and then had dinner with Rick and Doug.

A rather efficient day for someone who has been feeling not-at-all-efficient lately.

Today: Frosty precipitation on the ground, freezing temps overnight and it’s April 19th. Every conversation I have with a fellow resident of the Hudson Valley revolves around “When the heck is Spring coming?” I don’t remember it taking this long. We might be three weeks behind rather than two weeks.

So frustrating!

Valiantly trying to open despite the freezing temperatures.

In my never-ending quest to find more pieces of that antique red transferware plate, I frequently walk through the part of the corral where I found them. No red transferware as of yet, but I did find this pottery shard yesterday:

It has moved to my little found treasure dish.

The seashells were obviously found elsewhere, but the green cup handle, the old hose nozzle, pieces of pottery, robin’s egg shell, pod and feather were found on the property. This is actually a lovely brown aesthetic transferware plate, but I’ve covered up most of the design!

Rick and Doug are in that wonderful first stage of home ownership where they have no idea what was planted where on the property and they’re discovering crocus and lots of daffodils and all kinds of early bulbs. Each new season brings new wonders.

Don has started an Escape to Margaritaville Ukulele Orchestra. Everyone who has signed up will procure a ukulele and Don’s teaching them chords and they’ll eventually play together – maybe even a flash mob kind of thing.

He’s so darned cute, that guy. They’re on Instagram: @e2mukuleleorchestra.

If you have a hankering to learn some chords, Don and fellow cast member Matt have provided some videos to help you.

And that’s all for today. Rainy, cold, blah, blah, blah. I am about ready to do a primal scream.

Happy Thursday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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