Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You are here: Home / Archives for garden

A Glimpse of Spring

at by

Sophie seeing sunlight for the first time in months. She looks rather stunned.

Well, I ventured outside for a bit yesterday to start cleaning up some of the garden – mostly pruning. But I was shocked by how quickly I got tired. My arms felt very weak, as well. That’s why I know I’m not completely over this crud. In some ways, I’m much better, but I clearly cannot rush the recovery process. I saw a post from a friend of ours in California who said that she and her family have had ‘upper respiratory crud’ for weeks.

We are both so sick of this.

But I did get a wee bit of work done. I guess, after I’m finished with the show, I’ll just do a bit every day – not too much, but enough to start to make a dent in the garden clean up. While I was out there, I had the chance to really look around me and I was shocked at how far along new growth is! I’ve missed a lot of it due to work and illness. There are leaves on the hydrangeas, the clematis has grown and filled out without my knowing it, the rose bush is leafed out – and that’s just what I could see from the porch. A sight for sore eyes.

Today, per orders from my husband, I’m taking it easy. I have a two hour drive to NJ on Tuesday and a return trip the next day. I want to make sure I feel fit enough for that journey.

Big news: Yesterday afternoon, around 3 or 4, Don’s cell phone rang. It was Adrian. Oh, what a blessing it was to hear his voice! It’s very weak but he talked about post transplant – or what he can remember of that time. At one point, his brother heard him quoting from Shakespeare. I’m not sure when this occurred in the aftermath of the surgery. He just shared bits of things with us and he didn’t talk long because he was very tired. But we told him we love him and that we are praying for him all the time.

It’s funny; as I heard Don’s phone ring, I had the strongest feeling it was Adrian. Then I heard Don gently say, “Adrian?”

What a blessing that call was.

We’re due for rain, heavy rain, tomorrow. And much colder temperatures.

Just saw two wild turkeys by the kitchen door. Beautiful.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

 

Feels Like Winter

at by

Right before the snow fell a few days ago, I noticed two surprise phlox blooms in the big garden bed. I guess the unseasonably warm weather we recently experienced is the reason. It was such a delightful surprise!

All of the trees, save the firs, are bare. The heavily wooded part of the property – the Woods – seems wide open. This always shocks me, though I should be used to it by now. Our neighbors to our right just had lots of wood delivered for their wood stove. Winter is almost here.

It was so windy and cold yesterday that I was barely able to take this picture. In order to take a photo of the girls, I prop them up with long wooden skewers. But the wind was coming from the south, resulting in lots of wobbling, not to mention yours truly freezing! So I went back inside for a coat for Holly.

At least one of us was warm!

I suppose I’ll start in on some porch plant clean up today. Usually I do it all in one day but that ends up being really tiring, so maybe a bit of work over a few days will be a better use of my time. I’m going to buy some new Christmas lights for the porch in the next few days. That will help enormously when it seems so bare out there.

Nothing else is new. Cozy days, mostly indoors; nesting.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Burning Bush

at by

Our burning bush has turned a beautiful red. I said to Don yesterday: it’s as if Mother Nature gives us one last vivid splash of color to remember as everything else is becoming muted.

More rain today. Sigh. Though, the rain is also a little muted, usually in the form of gentle showers rather than downpours. Today we get our septic tank pumped out. Exciting, right? I’ve left all that to Don.

I finished Victim 2117  this morning. What a great read! Truly one of those “I can’t put it down” reads. Excellent writing as always from Jussi Adler-Olsen. I’m going to start John Connolly’s newest, The Furies, later today after I have a good go at the current jigsaw puzzle.

I did quite a bit of cleaning yesterday which was very satisfying. There’s much more to go. I’m not a deep cleaner. I keep things dusted, vacuumed, and try to eliminate clutter, but deep cleaning? That’s where I slack off. I can always think of other things I’d rather do. My sister, on the other hand, is an excellent deep cleaner. She puts me to shame. But now, I am on a bit of a deep cleaning tear and I realize that I need to do it section by section. So each day, I’m going to try to figure out a small area I want to tackle and have at it.

My friend Natalia, who customizes as VegaDolls, posted these sweatshirts about two weeks ago. They are made by a friend of hers and Natalia mentioned she was going to start including them with newly purchased dolls. I wrote her and said I wanted one and would happily pay for it, but she insisted on sending it to me gratis. Olivia won the chance to model it, as she was the first VegaDoll I purchased.

This is Natalia’s logo. Her beautiful young daughter, Vega, is in a wheelchair.

I adore Natalia. She has a big heart and is so kind.

I’ve met some pretty wonderful people through this hobby.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

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