Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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In Remembrance: Working on the Memorial Garden

June 10, 2016 at 9:16 am by Claudia

Thank you so much for your happy-for-us comments yesterday! They brought a huge smile to our faces. Today, I will endeavor to get a refund from my healthcare provider of eight days. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to. Fingers crossed!

Yesterday, we worked in the Memorial Garden. I added topsoil and then realized I hadn’t bought enough whereupon I ran to the store and bought some more, as well as some compost. Lots of shoveling and turning. Don came home early from a meeting because he said he wanted to be a part of the planting process. Good thing! I needed his help digging some holes.

This will be an ongoing project. We don’t have a lot of spare cash at the moment, but even more importantly, we want to take our time choosing plants. We want to find plants that we associate with the dogs, whether it is because of the name of the plant, or a quality of the plant. For example, we chose this little plant yesterday because of its name.

6-10 scentimentalballoonflower

Sentimental Balloon Flower.

‘Sentimental’ works, don’t you think?

Dear reader Martha, who sent me a rose bush two summers ago in memory of my mother, also sent me a gift certificate to White Flower Farm so that I could choose a rose in memory of my dad. I chose a new floribunda, ‘At Last.’ I chose it because it’s hardy and disease resistant and the flowers are a pretty salmon color. But now that I think of it, ‘At Last’ is a perfect name. Dad so wanted to be with my mother again, and I imagine that he was saying those very words when he was reunited with her.

The roses arrived on Wednesday and we planted them yesterday.

6-10 rosefordad

6-10 rosefordad2

It was extraordinarily windy yesterday, but I didn’t want to wait another day to get them in the ground. Insert much cursing from yours truly as the relentless wind knocked some small branches off trees and made it necessary to stake the roses until they had a chance to acclimate.

I felt like King Lear raging at the winds! Don started laughing at me as I shouted curses at the wind (quite creatively, if I say so myself!) All that voice training pays off, you know, I have a powerful voice!

I even rolled my little wheelbarrow up onto the garden bed to block some of the wind coming from the northwest. Yikes. We happen to live on a very windy stretch of road, for whatever reason, and so when it’s windy out there, it’s like we’re in a wind tunnel.

Exhausting! But I checked on the plants this morning and they all seem to be doing well.

Isn’t that a beautiful rose? Thank you, Martha. Much love and appreciation are being sent your way. The rose bush that is in memory of my mom is called “Remembrance.”

I like that. “Remembrance” and “At Last.”

I also planted some Forget-Me-Not seeds sent to me by Martha and by Sheila. I’m presently soaking some Moonflower and Morning Glory seeds to add to the garden as well. Martha also sent me some Rosemary seeds, which shall go in the ground today. Rosemary is for remembrance.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: Dad, flowers, garden, mom 34 Comments

Potpourri on Wednesday

June 8, 2016 at 9:30 am by Claudia

Lots to cover today!

First, thank you so much for the great discussion on yesterday’s post. It was fascinating and informative. Of course, there was the usual “You’ve lost a loyal reader” email. I respond to that sort of thing with my sincere best wishes and an acknowledgement that the reader is free to move on.

It does make me wonder, however, how anyone who has read this blog for any length of time – a daily  blog of 8+ years and one in which I think I have been transparent enough for you all to have a pretty strong picture of who I am –  could think I would ever  tolerate those ideas or that sort of speech? There is nothing anywhere in this blog that supports that kind of thinking; in fact, I have been pretty vocal about my feelings over the years. If you’re a “loyal reader,” surely this isn’t a shock?

Inclusion, not exclusion. Love, not hate. Tolerance, not intolerance. Civility, not incivility. Those issues have been covered repeatedly on this blog. And they will continue to be.

And I’ve never hidden the fact that I am a feminist and a proud one. So is my husband. We wouldn’t be together if he wasn’t. I don’t blame women for their husbands’ indiscretions and the reverse is also true. Just as I don’t blame the rape victim for the rapist’s actions. I don’t denigrate women or define them by their physical attributes. I want to see women rise to the top. We are more than fully capable. We can and will make this world a better place.

Okay. Let’s move on!

Yesterday, I continued working in what will be the memorial garden. Don had an audition in the city. Lots of digging, lots of rocks to uncover, but it felt so good to be out there working on this project. It was sunny and warm and, yes, I am happiest when I am outside working. I really love it.

6-8 yarrow1

I love self-seeders, like this yarrow that has planted itself smack-dab in front of the Chicken Wire Fence Garden. Welcome!

6-8 yarrow2

Feathery and delicate. There’s some coming up in the big garden bed, as well.

6-8 musicstand

I happened upon a listing on eBay for this music stand. It was a souvenir made for a NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts) National Houseparty that took place in Cleveland in 2011. It’s signed and dated by artist Tom Walden. It’s made out of walnut and is simply lovely.

No one bid on it but me, and I got it for $7.99! Isn’t it beautiful?

I thought it would be perfect for the Top Secret Project.

6-8 musicstandintsp

Also included was a piece of music, though I have yet to put it on the stand. I like the idea of a mix of vintage and new in this studio and the music stand looks vintage, doesn’t it?

16 days and counting.

Today marks four months since we had to say goodbye to our beloved girl. Only four months, yet it seems like a lifetime. The other day a package arrived in our post office box from Shanna, a reader of this blog. I knew she was sending what she called a ‘small token’ of appreciation, but when I opened the package, I was stunned.

Shanna is an artist and she has been experimenting with machine embroidery. This is what she created:

6-8 scoutmachineembroidery

She has perfectly captured our girl. This is simply amazing, Shanna. It’s so beautiful! I’m going to frame it and it will live in a place of honor in our home.

She also sent along the preliminary sketch she made.

6-8 scoutsketch

Don wants to frame the sketch and I think we’ll hang it by his favorite chair, so he can feel she is right by his side.

Shanna, I wrote to you yesterday and I hope you’ve had a chance to read our heartfelt words. I can’t tell you how much this means to us, especially on this day. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

You’ve captured the look in Scout’s eyes, the way she held her head, the joy in every fiber of her being. Bless you. We are so, so grateful for your generous and compassionate gift.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on Monday’s book review if you want the chance to win a copy. I pick a winner tonight.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: flowers, garden. grass, gifts, miniatures, Scout, Top Secret Project, what I believe 44 Comments

Tuesday Thoughts

June 7, 2016 at 10:01 am by Claudia

• An insane amount of mowing took place yesterday, along with digging out a garden bed for the memorial garden, which led to yanking more weeds here and there, which led to two really tired gardeners at the end of the day.

And then I had a sleepless night. Well, not entirely sleepless, I did go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, but I’m running on empty and two cups of Peets French Roast this morning.

6-7 redroses

• This morning finds me pondering how there can be a candidate for the highest office in the land who embodies everything I was taught not  to do, everything my parents (and my church) said was morally wrong. Gordon and Shirley Hill raised me with a strong sense of what is right and wrong; you must respect others, bullying is wrong, there will be no name-calling, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, making fun of anyone is wrong, lying is wrong, judging someone as less-than because they have a disability is wrong, racism and prejudice are wrong, misogyny is wrong, xenophobia is wrong. I cannot help but think of my father right now. We talked politics a lot in his last years and he was appalled by what was going on. Oh, Dad, if only you knew just how much worse it’s become.

That we have a candidate who continuously and flagrantly says and does what, to me, is simply immoral and cruel and dangerous, yet somehow gets away with it, is a frightening commentary on our society. As Don said: Everything I grew up believing was right and kind and good and loving has been turned upside down and what I believe is morally wrong is being applauded.

For heaven’s sake, making fun of someone with a disability would have knocked him out of the race in any other year. He would been called out for that and his Presidential aspirations would have been dead in the water. Why was his obvious mocking of a reporter with a disability okay? Why do so many excuse that behavior? My nephew is disabled. Is his case different because he’s four years old and cute?

And what about the rest of it? The insulting tweets, the disparaging comments on women, the marginalization of anyone who is different, who believes differently?

Shame on everyone who turns a blind eye to that behavior. Shame, shame.

Though I respect different points of view, I’ll admit to having a very hard time with those who look away and excuse his comments with “He’s telling it like it is.” Really?  That’s not the way it is in my world, nor the world of those I know and love, nor will it ever  be that way in my world. So while I will continue to do my best to be respectful in the face of everything I despise and abhor – because my parents taught me that was the right way to behave – I will not like it. I will not tolerate it. I will not support it.

And in case you’re about to say you don’t want to read political commentary on my blog, it really isn’t political commentary. It’s a moral imperative. If I muzzled my very real fear of what we are becoming, I wouldn’t be honest with you, and most importantly, with myself. To not speak out is wrong. Gordon and Shirley didn’t raise me that way.

6-7 peonybud

• Since they’ll be gone very quickly,  let’s look at some peony and catalpa buds.

6-7 catalpa buds

6-7 peony and buds

Between the peonies, the wild roses and the catalpa flowers, we are in Heady Scent territory right now and we love it.

6-7 hollyhock

• Check out the hollyhock! It’s already huge. I wonder how tall it will eventually get? The brown stem to the right is where last year’s flowers ended. It’s already taller than that and we haven’t even seen the beginning of the flowers. This self-seeder is a blessing.

6-7 fairfieldbox

• I dug this out of the closet the other day. My next project. It’s 1:24, or half scale, so it will take up less room in our tiny cottage. I’m doing my research by reading all about other Fairfield builds, all the while thinking that I’ve never done anything like this before.

But I’m excited and eager to start in on a new project as soon as I’ve handed over the TSP to Don. June 24th, my friends. A big birthday for my husband and a big birthday for my nephew, Little Z. Yes, they share the same birthday! Isn’t that lovely?

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: Don, flowers, garden, Top Secret Project, what I believe 108 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

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