Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Buds

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The second morning glory is about to bloom.

If you look in the background, you can see some tiny blooms developing. In fact, they’re everywhere among both sections of morning glories.

Is this ‘blooming two months later than normal’ thing going to become a regular occurrence? Normally, we would most likely have had a frost by now and they would be gone. But, a quick scan of the weather forecast for the next two weeks shows no frosts. So…I think we’re going to get to see some pretty morning glories before I have to leave for the city. A lovely little autumn surprise. They, along with the still blooming zinnias, keep me going when all my pretty summer flowers are gone. I also spy a bud on the moonflowers, so….please, please, please…maybe I’ll get to see one or two?

I’m going to have to research this. Is it because of climate change? A very rainy and wet summer? Both? Neither? When I get some spare time, which is at a premium these days, I’ll see what I can find out.

I didn’t hear him this morning, but the Carolina wren has been hanging out around the porch for the last several days. A lovely gift, as I’ve really come to love those perky little birds.

Coaching Ben again today. Don’s car is in the shop. We have to clean the gutters today as it’s going to rain tomorrow. Waiting for our taxes to be filed at the end of the day – dreading what we might owe. It’s a nervous day for me, so I will try to be in the now, something my husband always reminds me of, thank goodness.

I’m reading The Lantern Men  by Elly Griffiths. Then the newest, which is still in hardcover. I’ll be caught up at that point. I have books stacked up, ready to travel with me to NYC. I’m also going to order a jigsaw puzzle to take with me. As I get more and more information from the production company in my emails, I can see where we will be shooting on any given day, when we have meetings, that kind of thing. It becomes more real.

You do know that I won’t be able to share details on the days on the set? That’s not for public consumption. It’s not any different than my previous decisions to not share theater rehearsal information. I’ll share what I can, but the blog will more likely be about sights I see along the way, places I visit on my days off, that kind of thing.

Okay. Lots to do today and I have to get going. Fingers crossed for more morning glories. Fingers crossed for Don’s car and for relatively little money due to the IRS.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Self-Care Saturday

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I love these misty fall mornings. Every day speaks of transition. As is fitting for this last weekend of summer, we’ll reach the low eighties today and that, my friends, looks like the last hurrah. The next ten days will bring temperatures in the seventies and sixties.

If you look in the upper left of the photo, you’ll see the bean pods hanging from the catalpa tree, otherwise known as the bean tree.

We are both very tired today. We’ve had lots going on and we’re ready for a day of rest. We’ve named today Self-care Saturday. Believe me, we need it.

I plan on finishing this post, paying a bill online, washing some towels, dressing Sophie in a new outfit, reading (I already did some reading early this morning), and, darn it, finishing that painting.

For the second or third summer in a row, my heavenly blue morning glories have yet to bloom. I was deleting a lot of photos the other day and I noticed that they used to start blooming in August. Now, I’m lucky if I get one bloom by the end of September. I can’t figure this one out. There are lots of leaves, lots of vines, but no buds. Last year, I saw one bloom before we had a frost that ended it all.

My plan is to enrich the soil next year and add in lots of compost. Any other advice? I don’t want to stop planting them, so I’m determined to figure this out.

Thanks for your lovely comments about Don’s venture. It means a great deal to us.

Edited to add: Just found out my nephew Jeff’s youngest daughter is in the hospital. She’s been there for several days with high fevers, a cyst in her abdomen and bowel problems. Jeff and his wife Raina are out of their minds with worry. Please pray for Greta. (Jeff is my brother’s child.)

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Goldenrod

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A lot of the goldenrod has already bloomed but this particular patch in the former corral has newly opened and it’s gorgeous. When the golden sun of autumn hits it, there’s nothing lovelier.

Our maple leaves are turning earlier than usual and quite a few are on the ground. I wonder if it has anything to do with all the rain we’ve had? I suspect it might.

Today is gorgeous. The mornings have been cooler, which I like. There’s something very cozy about a cool morning. We’re going to take a walk later today and then I have to work on our deductions since we always file an extension on our taxes and it’s time to get that info to our accountant. Not my favorite thing to do, but as the Brits say, “Needs must!”

Something arrived in the mail yesterday for Miss Sophie:

Boots! Handmade by Crafty Cora who has an Etsy shop. I can’t believe she can make these. The detail is amazing. Everything is so tiny that I hesitated to tie the laces; frankly, I’m not quite sure how to do it. For now, she’ll be one of those kids who never tie their laces.

We share something in common, Sophie and I. I have a little/mole beauty mark right above my mouth – just like she does – in exactly the same place. I found an old wide toothed comb to comb out her hair and that’s been added to the shoebox that contains her clothes. Eventually, I’d like to get something nicer than a shoebox, but thank goodness I didn’t recycle the box my new Birkenstocks came in!

At least she’s meeting my eyes now. I think she’s starting to feel more at home here.

She may get her own Instagram account. Not everyone is into the doll thing.

Thank goodness for Don’s tolerance of my somewhat whimsical passions. He gets it, at least as much as a grown man can get his wife suddenly playing with dolls at the age of 68. He oohs and aahs over things like the new boots, and my demonstration of how her eyes work, and gets a kick out of watching me dress her in new outfits. He has grown used to Sophie sitting on top of the music cabinet in the den, and never blinks an eye when it looks like she’s watching us as we eat our dinner. Bless his heart.

Interestingly, I don’t like dolls in dollhouses, partly because they never look as real and accurate as the furniture and decoration does. Plus, for me, life in any dollhouse is in my imagination and that’s where it stays.

I have my dolls that I’ve rescued and, now, I have this thing for Blythes. But I draw the line at dolls in the dollhouses. Go figure. It makes sense to me, but it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.

We’re not at all surprised it’s been twenty years since 9/11 since it happened a couple of months after we moved out to the Northeast and that was twenty years ago. We lived right by the Hudson River in Westchester County and, sadly, those planes flew right over us.

We’ll always remember.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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