Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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In Bloom

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Up close and personal with a gorgeous catalpa blossom. Like peonies, these blossoms aren’t around for long. Maybe a week or less. The other day, Don said that the scent is right up there with lilacs and peonies. And it is.

I’m going to try and get out there before it rains and take a photo of the tree in bloom. Wish me luck!

The clematis has been blooming like crazy – I’m sure it’s due to all the rain we’ve had.

The spirea is in full bloom, the Annabelle hydrangea flowers are getting bigger, and you can see some of the milkweed just to the right of the hydrangea.

I took these photos in the afternoon, when the sun was a bit too bright. I’d just finished mowing and I’d mowed a lot. Then Don came home and mowed the rest, which was also a lot. So, between the two of us, we did the entire property in one day! But we knew rain was coming and, if the forecasts proves true, we’re going to see rain for much of this week, so it was now or never.

We were tuckered out and fell asleep while watching a movie.

Don is at the farmer’s market today, so cross your fingers that it doesn’t rain too much. He really likes taking pictures there and will be disappointed if it’s a wash-out.

Happy Sunday.

 

Yarrow, Unwritten Rules & Scout

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For the second year in a row, yarrow has self-seeded in the corral and I’m happy with that. There are, I don’t know, maybe 20 different plants? Yarrow is wonderful. It’s sturdy and the blossoms last for a long time. This all began years ago when I planted yarrow in the big garden bed. It didn’t last long there for some reason. A few years later, I noticed a plant here and there on the property. And now, there is this wonderful cluster of blooms just beyond the entrance to the corral.

I think there are some unwritten rules about flowers – at least on my property. The first is that the moment peonies start to bloom, rain will fall. And it won’t be a soft rain, it will be the kind of rain that pummels the blooms to the ground. The second is this: as soon as the Catalpa trees are covered in blooms, a strong, all-day-long wind will come that sends hundreds of blossoms to the ground. Which is what happened yesterday.

Can I just say how sick I am of wind? It seems like every time we get a day of rain, a day of heavy winds will follow. Like friggin’ clockwork. We are so over them. Yesterday, both Don and I were left feeling edgy and unsettled by the winds, which were relentless.

Thank goodness, today is calm. Because we have to mow and that was impossible yesterday.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen this, but I know some of you aren’t on IG. A longtime reader of the blog, Grace, messaged me the other day to ask if she could post a drawing of Scout. Grace is a wonderful artist and the drawing was inspired by a picture I took of Scout galloping down the little hill outside the corral. She loved to do that and at the end of the gallop she would jump up and over the threshold of the kitchen door – just like a show horse. I can’t tell you how much we loved seeing her do that, especially as she got older and had trouble walking. Somehow, in that moment, she was young again.

I was so moved by the drawing. Grace perfectly captures an older, yet still feisty, Scout.

Isn’t it beautiful? Grace is on Instagram as @alightinglightly and I encourage you to look at her other creations. She is an animal lover like so many of us and her drawings are exquisite.

(That darned watermark! I hope it doesn’t look like I was the artist! It just happens automatically with my photo editing software.)

Thank you, dear Grace. Don and I just love this. That’s our girl!

Happy Saturday.

Some Thoughts on Friday

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The catalpa tree is in bloom, which has nothing to do with this photograph, except for the fact that is so gloriously beautiful yet hard to capture in a photo. It’s huge, for one thing, and what the human eye sees as tons of white flowers doesn’t quite come across digitally. I keep trying, but this morning’s attempt was a failure.

Our huge spirea is full of pink flowers. It’s so lovely.

We have about 30 milkweed plants in the front of the house. They used to self-seed in the back forty, but I guess they decided to move front and center. Many are in the front garden bed near the spirea and the rose bushes (which I threaten to yank every year.) And the rest are on the far edge of the big garden bed near the driveway. I do my best to protect them, even mowing around the plants that are growing in the lawn. As long as I’ve been observing the milkweed plants, I’ve only seen the caterpillar that becomes the Monarch butterfly once. I’ve been looking and I see eggs on the underside of the leaves, so I’m crossing my fingers that we eventually get to the butterfly stage.

I’m very lucky they grow wild here. If they didn’t, I would plant some. I love Monarchs and we need to protect them.

Don’s playing his guitar while I write this. It’s stopped raining, thank goodness, and it’s a rather cloudy day with a strong breeze. Maybe we’ll mow a little today. It’s time to begin the three-day mowing process yet again. Don’t worry. We really like mowing!

Confession: I know what’s going on in the world. But I can no longer watch the news or MSNBC. I am rarely on Twitter. An activist by nature, I find I can’t completely engage any longer. Or at least for a while. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t step up if needed, for I despise the actions being taken by this administration. But my health and my sanity, as well as my inner peace, must be of paramount importance. I can no longer live in a state of rage, which is where I was living for much of the past two and a half years. It isn’t healthy. Even though I used to find it maddening when others would disengage, I understand it now. Don’t get me wrong, I will fight for what is right – but on my terms. Don says something that has a ring of truth in it: It’s time for the young people to take over this battle. I think he’s right. I feel like I’ve been battling for 50 years, starting with the War in Vietnam and the fight for Civil Rights. I need some peace now. I want a simple life.

Just my thoughts today on that particular subject. They’re subject to change.

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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