Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Garden Cleanup, Egg Cups & A Gift

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Now that the endless wind has died down, I’m going to work outside today and tomorrow. Rain is coming on Friday and throughout the weekend, so I have to grab some time while I can.

Meanwhile, in the yet uncovered big garden bed:

The hyacinths are blooming.

I’m tackling that bed today. Wish me luck.

Egg cups for today: Four double egg cups in the Harlequin pattern by Homer Laughlin. (Apparently, I forgot to remove the price tag on one of them!)

I received a lovely package in the mail from Kate, a reader of this blog. Kate asked me if she could send me two egg cups that she had in her home. Of course, I said yes. When the package arrived there were additional surprises!

First of all, two lovely lustreware egg cups.

Then two beautiful knives – my grandparents had a set of flatware like this.

And 4 cups/saucers made by Arabia in Finland. Are they demitasse? They’re on the small side. And this photo isn’t capturing the color, which leans a bit more toward green/yellow. They’re lovely – such simple and beautiful design. (I’ll try to capture the color in a future photo.)

Thank you so much, Kate! I’ve already made room in the kitchen china cabinet for the cups and saucers! The egg cups are in the cubby cabinet. And the knives have joined my stash of bakelite.

I’m blessed.

The winner of a copy of The Eighth Sister  is Marilyn! Marilyn, I’ve already sent you an email. Just send me your mailing address and I’ll forward it on to the publisher.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

Monday: Taxes, Garden & Egg Cups

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Reading your comments about taxes was very interesting. I read them out loud to Don. The whole thing is shameful. Don earned about the same amount of money in 2017 as he did in 2018. In 2017, we got a refund from the IRS of a few thousand dollars. This year, with the same income, we’re paying at least $5000. Since we live most of the time on a fixed income, I can see a future with our savings being quickly depleted.

Anyway, today I’ll print out a voucher form, write out a check, and mail it to the IRS. And throughout it all, I’ll be sending a symbolic middle finger to the GOP.

I did some work in the garden yesterday clearing out the garden beds closest to the kitchen; the memorial garden and the bed where I plant my morning glories and zinnias. I did a bit of work elsewhere, but the constant raking, loading onto a tarp, bending down, carrying a heavy tarpful of leaves and debris to our pile, and then back again to do the same thing tired me out. I’m not in full spring/summer gardening and mowing shape yet. This part of the property cleanup is tedious and I can’t wait to finish it. But, even through the tedium, I so enjoyed being outside again and seeing little green plants emerge after the removal of the leaves. So far, I can see hostas, daylilies, coneflowers, catmint emerging from their winter slumber. Oh, joy!

Yesterday’s egg cups:

Egg cups with shoes and socks. The one on the left is from a company in England, part of their Walking Ware line. The one on the right has no mark. And, by the looks of them, the shoes need a little dusting!

Today:

An Assortment of Animals.

On the left a rooster pulling a cart – made by California Pottery. The sticker is still on the cup!

A bunny rabbit who reminds me so much of Scout that I’ve named her Scout. I mean, those pink ears! Just like Scoutie’s.

A souvenir egg cup from Chambéry, France. I had to get it because, if you look closely, you’ll see two groundhogs.

And an adorable pig holding up an egg cup.

Happy Monday.

Big and Small

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Can I just take a moment to say how the Tax Bill has screwed us? I knew it was going to, but I didn’t know how many thousands of dollars we would owe. For actors, this bill has been a nightmare. You can no longer deduct agent commissions. You can no longer deduct union dues. You can no longer deduct expenses on the road. The list goes on and on. Don paid 10% agent fees on his salary from Escape to Margaritaville. That’s a lot of money – thousands of dollars. We’ve lost that deduction. We’ve also lost the deduction for expenses while he was living in New York.

So – we owe a lot of money. And our tax preparer – who specializes in the entertainment industry – told us that everyone  is getting the shaft this year. She has had to break the bad news to virtually all of her clients. Because none of us are millionaires. I know that this change has impacted everyone, regardless of profession. It’s not just us, so I’m not trying to imply that we’re ‘special.’

We file an extension, but our accountant advised us to pay a chunk of it via voucher now, so we don’t get saddled with penalties and interest. We’re going to do that. It’s had a major impact on our finances – we’re still reeling from the news. Oh my goodness, I feel for everyone who is dealing with this.

I’ll refrain from saying what I think about this atrocity and its impact on the vast majority of Americans because I don’t want to swear on the blog. So I’ll leave you to imagine what my colorful language might be.

New York State, thank goodness, didn’t go along with the tax changes. Neither did California. So, filing in those states – and we have to file in both of them – won’t have a negative impact.

Okay. Enough of that nonsense. The rest of the day will be positive, even if positive means raking as many leaves out of the garden beds as I can before it rains later today. I have to get moving on my gardens!

I worked on the dollhouse yesterday – I finished patching and de-gluing and I’m painting a base coat of white in the rooms until I figure out exactly what I want to do with them.

Yesterday’s theme: Big and small. The duck egg cup on the left is one of the largest that I own – it was given to me by a reader of this blog. It’s from a Holland Mold. Holland Molds were made by a company based in Trenton, NJ. They created molds for pottery that would eventually be painted and glazed by individual crafters. This one was painted and signed by someone with the initials LH in 1958. LH did a pretty good job!

The little one on the right is the smallest figural egg cup in my collection. Love that little bunny and egg.

Okay. I have to don some old clothes and start raking. Tedious. But necessary!

Happy Sunday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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