Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You are here: Home / Archives for flowers

Sunday Thoughts

at by

We had a huge thunderstorm early this morning, while we were still sleeping. Rolling thunder, rain slamming against the windows, maybe a little hail?  I can’t be sure because I was still in a sleep state. The sump pump has been going on and off for a few hours now.

There’s something neat about a middle-of-the-night thunderstorm.

Don had a gig last night so I decided to watch Allen vs. Farrow – an excellent documentary about the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow custody fight in the nineties. It’s a four-part series and I ended up watching all of it. For the record, the moment the news broke that Allen was sleeping with Mia’s daughter, Soon-Yi, I stopped watching his films. And I loved his work. That was long ago and I haven’t watched a new film of his since. This documentary is primarily concerned with accusations of sexual abuse with his adopted daughter, Dylan, but the situation with Soon-Yi is also covered.

He’s a despicable human being.

And Dylan is an incredibly brave woman who eventually spoke out about what happened to her.

I can’t stop thinking about it today.

It’s on HBO/HBO Max, if you’re interested.

More rain today, more thunderstorms. I was telling Don that I don’t think we’ve ever had so many thunderstorms during the summer. Rain, yes, but constant thunderstorms? No. Yet another extreme in this summer of extremes.

I have some chores to do today that I don’t like doing, but I’m forcing myself to do them. I guess that’s called ‘being an adult.’

And I continue to think about social media and my presence there. I’m definitely spending less time visiting Instagram and Twitter and Threads. I check in, but try not to stay there too long. I love Instagram, don’t get me wrong, but it’s entirely possible to spend hours scrolling through the feeds and I’m so aware of TIME at the age of 70. Do I want to spend that much time looking at something virtual? I don’t think so. We’re actually turning our phones off for portions of the day. I have a blog, a FB account (mainly for birthdays of my friends and former students,) 3 IG accounts – my main account, my Blythe account (because not everyone that follows my main account is interested in dolls and some of them would think I’d lost my marbles) and my book account, which was started when I had the book review blog. I scroll Twitter and Threads mainly as an up-to-the-minute news source. And I have this blog. That’s a lot.

Lately, the sheer amount of news and pictures and self-promotions and selfies and ‘influencers’ and dolls and everything else has begun to wear on me. So I’m taking more time to talk to my husband, to read, to walk in the garden, to meditate, etc. Quality of life going forward is important, so important.

So that’s where I am at the moment.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

 

 

 

A Little Pause

at by

Friends, I need to take a break today. Too much social media, too many images, too much stress, too much.

I started the day off meditating and will probably do so again before the day is done.

More tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Garden Clean-Up

at by

I’m happy to say that the phlox that were chomped on by the deer have come back. Some of the plants will take a bit longer to bloom because of that. This particular plant somehow managed to escape the ravenous deer. I count on the color of the phlox as we get into mid to late summer. I planted them the first full summer we were here and they never fail. They also self-seed and plants that self-seed are my favorite things in a garden.

I did way too much work outside yesterday. It was rather coolish in the morning, but the humidity was there and by the time I was throwing in the towel, it was overwhelming. Nevertheless, I cut back the catmint, which was quite overgrown, cleared around the stepping stones in the big garden bed, pulled weeds, cut back some wild roses, and started to take a whack at pruning the burning bush. That bush is so darned big now that it’s taking up a lot of the that garden bed. It’s spectacular in the fall when it turns red, but the rest of the time, it shades too much of the garden.

There is also another bush that has taken over – a wild honeysuckle. We have them all over the property, but this particular one that is between the burning bush and a pricker-type bush has to go. It’s taken over yet another spot for flowers in that bed and I’m tired of it. So I’m going to cut it back at the end of the summer and dig it out. Wish me luck!

I like a wild-ish look to my gardens, but not that wild.

Anyway, it felt good to get a good start on cleaning up that bed.

Oh, and the burning bush is scheduled for a big old pruning very soon – what I’m doing now is relatively minor. I did manage to see the now abandoned robins nest that was tucked inside that bush. It’s a perfect place for a nest as it’s completely hidden from predators. Smart birdies!

Next up, the boxwoods in front of the house, which are looking sort of sloppy.

It hasn’t been an easy summer for garden maintenance, what with the endless rain, the smoke from the fires, and the humidity. I am definitely playing an extreme game of catch-up.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

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