Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Chatty on Wednesday

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10-7 mini rainbow

•  Early yesterday evening I was outside with Scout. I looked up and saw this.

The sun was to the right (out of picture range) and was it the moon glowing under that cloud? I’m not sure, but that little rainbow-like slash of light appeared. Since my eyes are very sensitive to light, I thought maybe I was seeing something that wasn’t there.

But the camera saw it, too.

A lovely little moment in time.

•  We bit the bullet yesterday and ordered heating oil. Gas prices are pretty low at the moment, so we thought this would be a good time to do it and sure enough, our oil guy told us that now was the time because prices were soon going up. High or low, heating oil is expensive.

The heavy gold quilt is covering the bed once again. I’m wearing my flannel pajamas.

I’m pretty sure it’s Autumn.

10-7 zinnia with web

Meanwhile, the zinnias just keep on blooming.

10-7 orange zinnia

•  Design Sponge, one of my favorite sites, did a Guide to Ulster County, NY yesterday. That’s where we live. You might find it interesting. Grace Bonney, the founder of Design Sponge, recently moved up here – she’s not all that far from us – and has fallen in love with this beautiful area, just as we have.

We’ve got it all here. And this time of the year? Simply glorious.

•  Housekeeping: If you’ve noticed the Cookie pop-up at the bottom of the blog, let me explain why it’s there. The European Union has a law that requires websites to indicate if cookies are being used on their site. Cookies, in case you’re not familiar with that term, are:

‘small pieces of data sent by a website and stored in the user’s web browser while the user is browsing that website…Cookies were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember information (such as items in a shopping cart) or to record the user’s browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, logging in, or recording which pages were visited by the user as far back as months or years ago.” Wikipedia.

Every website uses cookies. Ads use cookies. The EU thinks anyone viewing a website should be alerted to that fact. And Google is now enforcing that law. So, any of us who have potential visitors from the EU have to have a ‘cookie warning.’

Blogger blogs already have one. The rest of us have to take care of it ourselves, hence the plug-in I added yesterday (on both my blogs.)

Oy. It’s a bit of a pain in the tush, since anyone who goes on the web for even a minute encounters cookies. You can set your web browser to not allow cookies, if it’s of any great concern to you.

But we do what we have to do, right? I’ve tried to make it as unobtrusive as possible. So, there you go.

I spent a chunk of time yesterday diddling around with all of this and it’s time I’ll never get back. Sigh.

•  Book review of X  by Sue Grafton on Just Let Me Finish This Page today. Click here.

•  Whoops! Forgot to add that The Poisoner’s Handbook (starring Don Sparks) is now showing on Netflix! We saw it listed last night and Genevieve, one of my readers, also wrote me to let me know about it.

Happy Wednesday.

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Manhattan Bound

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10-4 mg buds

There’re still coming, my morning glories, so you can imagine my relief when I found out our current weather situation is going to change. Warmer temps are on the way, huzzah!

The heat came on today, all by its lonesome. Then Don turned it on again because it was so damp and cold. Then I made him turn it off.

But boy, has it been chilly! We dodged a bullet with the hurricane. We got a lot of rain, but not a deluge. Very thankful.

And very thankful that I have a few days work this week on a new musical that takes place in Nashville. They want a little dialect consistency and yours truly is going to help with that. I wrote that post the other day about trust and turning it over to a higher power, and two days later I got an email about the job. In fact, I’m headed into the city today (I’m writing this post on Saturday evening) to watch a bit of the show, which has already been in rehearsal for two weeks. I’m leaving early in the morning, once again, so there won’t be any time to write a post.

Happy Sunday.

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Baseboards and Zinnias

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9-27 zinnia bud

The zinnias are putting on an early autumn show. They just keep blooming. Along with the morning glories, they provide lots of beautiful flowery color even as the leaves turn yellow and the morning temperatures turn very cool.

9-27 red zinnia

They make me smile.

Yesterday, I once again seized on a window of Don-free time to do some work on the Top Secret Project.

Don: You know the drill.

Baseboards in hand, it was time for me to try a mitered corner.

I didn’t use mitered corners in Hummingbird Cottage, though now, after having done it, I wish I had.

9-27 mitre box

I used this aluminum miter box that comes with a blade and handle. I’d ordered it a few months back from HBS/miniatures.com

I admit to getting confused about which angle goes where in a mitered corner, so I googled the whole thing and found this wonderful tutorial, ‘Mitering 101’ from Miniature Designs. It made the whole process easy as pie. Thank you!

By the way, I made a cover for that sharp blade.

9-27 blade cover

I used a cardboard express mail envelope.

9-27 baseboard

Baseboard.

9-27 mitred corner

Mitered corner.

9-27 mitred corner with dog

Baseboard with table and dog.

It looks so nice!

When I put furniture in this room, I realize that it’s quite a big space. That’s why, I’m sure, some of the miniaturists working on the Creatin’ Contest are creating rooms within the space. I thought about doing that; for example, adding a bathroom. But I think I’m going to keep it open and studio-like. If mini Don has to go to the bathroom, he can hike up to the house.

I do have lots of ideas for the space, including a counter-high refrigerator and a counter top with a coffeemaker, a lounging area with the Eames chair, a coffee table and a sofa, a stereo and lots of record albums, an area with recording equipment, speakers, a computer screen, stools, musical instruments, maybe an electronic keyboard and/or an upright piano and a floor microphone. There would be a rug or two on the floor for acoustic purposes. There will be framed posters and artwork.

And a retro fireplace like the ones you see in older A-frame and mid-century modern homes. I’ve found a tutorial for it and that is my next project.

I’ll try to make a floor plan in the next few days, so you can see what I have in mind – though I’m not really sure what will go where.

So far…I’ve got the Eames chair and the baseball cards and record album Barbara sent to me.

Oh, what fun it will be!

I’ve just finished Pop Goes the Weasel  by M. J. Arlidge (who wrote Eeny Meeny, a book I reviewed previously) and there is a review on Just Let Me Finish This Page today.

Now I’ve started A Song of Shadows, John Connolly’s newest Charlie Parker mystery, which is being published on Tuesday. He’s a wonderful writer and I’ve now read every book in the series, except for this one.

I’ve read nine books this month. My new early morning reading regimen is paying off!

Happy Sunday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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