Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for garden

Scout, Cups & Morning Glories

October 1, 2013 at 9:46 am by Claudia

tuesmorningglory

Amazingly, the morning glories are still blooming here at the cottage, with new buds everywhere. If it stays relatively warm, I should be able to see these beauties for a bit longer. The zinnias are also still blooming, as are the cosmos and geraniums. Thank goodness! Otherwise, I would be forced to confront my severely injured garden bed and the now lopsided sugar maple tree. Seeing these flowers sure goes a long way toward lifting my spirits. Don and I sat on the funky patio yesterday, with the sun on our faces and flowers blooming everywhere. Much needed.

tuesfence

Splashes of color and riotous growth along the Chicken Wire Fence Garden = there’s still a bit of summer left. Of course, everywhere I look there are leaves on the ground so it makes for an interesting contrast between the onset of autumn and the end of summer.

Scout is hanging in there. The doctor gave her some Acepromazine (a sedative) yesterday and she apparently cannot metabolize it very quickly, so she remained out of it most of the day. I wish he hadn’t done that. The same thing used to happen with Riley. It wasn’t until around 5:00 or so that she started to shake it off. She’s sore and antsy and is constantly asking for water. I can only give her a bit at a time. She seems to have an appetite but she’s also a bit nauseous, due to the drugs in her system, so we’re taking things slowly. I really felt strongly that one of us should be downstairs with her during the night, so Don took the first shift and I took the second. She was constantly getting up and down during most of my shift, which kept me from sleeping. We finally moved to the den, where I set up her bed by the sofa and after another hour or so, we both got some sleep. Not enough, but it will do.

There’s still a bit of bleeding, but much less than there was. I’m keeping an eye on it. Her butt was shaved, of course, and I see she’s getting a bit of a rash, poor thing. Anyway. She’s here, she came through the surgery, she’s a fighter and she’s getting mildly demanding. That’s a very good thing.

Update: we’re going to take her in for an anti-nausea injection and some fluids. She threw up this morning. All of this was very, very hard on her.

I can’t tell you how much your prayers and support have meant to Scout, Don and me. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Remember the oversized tea/coffee cups I bought at Anthropologie?

Here is what I did with them:

tuescupboard

I originally saw this glass drying rack, along with some snazzy cups from Anthropologie, on a post at The Inspired Room. That post is what got me thinking about those cups again. And then I thought about the rack, which was only $14.99 at World Market. Of course, mine doesn’t look quite as pretty because I don’t have white counters and subway tile backsplash, but it will do.

Tuescoffeemaker

Coffee stations seem to be all the rage right now, but I’ve never felt the need for one. I always place my coffeemaker under the cupboard that holds our glasses and mugs. It’s also usually right next to the refrigerator where the half and half lives. Just makes sense. Since we don’t use flavored coffees or k-cups or any of that sort of thing and counter space is at a minimum here at the cottage, why the heck do we need a coffee station? Believe me, it took some rearranging just to give this drying rack a home, but I wanted to have those pretty cups on display. This is usually a darkish corner of the kitchen and those beautiful cups add the perfect punch of color. I think I’m going to keep my eye out for a vintage tole tray to put under the rack and the coffee maker.

Oh, forgot to tell you. The car repair was relatively minor and we passed the inspection in the nick of time. Yesterday was the deadline for our inspection! Now we have to deal with the chimney and the trees.

Love to you all on this Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: cottage, flower, garden, Scout 85 Comments

What’s Rattling Around in my Head on a Wednesday Morning

September 11, 2013 at 9:04 am by Claudia

wed2

I’ve been without air conditioning in this apartment since Friday. Most likely it was before Friday, but that’s when I got back here and that’s when I discovered it wasn’t working. Of course, it wasn’t until after 5:00 that I made that discovery and suddenly we were at the weekend, when nothing gets fixed. Monday? No one came by. Tuesday? A guy from Maintenance came by, played with the fuses, flipped a few switches and announced that it was the compressor. He would tell the front office, they would call a technician who would order the part and lord knows when this will get fixed.

Since it’s going to be 90 degrees and humid today and tomorrow, you can see why I’m a bit concerned. Company management has given me 2 fans and I’m currently sleeping with one of them aimed directly at my sleeping self. My allergies and sinuses are going a little haywire with this weather pattern and I’m sort of cranky. Actually, not ‘sort of’ – I am cranky.

wed1

I had breakfast with Erika, my former student, yesterday morning. We had so much to catch up on that we ran out of time and we’re remedying that by meeting for breakfast again tomorrow morning. And trust me, we still won’t have covered everything by the end of that meal. I just adore her and yes, she’s someone I taught and nurtured, but she’s now a friend first and foremost.

Speaking of former students who are now friends, thanks to all who alerted me of Jim Parsons’ appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? I’m currently in the phase of coaching that centers on afternoon rehearsals and nighttime performances, so I couldn’t see it. But I will. That rascal, who I just chatted with via email, didn’t mention the program at all. But his plate is rather full at the moment with new episodes of Big Bang Theory being filmed and the upcoming Emmy Awards.

My priority last night when I got home was to catch the end of the final episode this season of So You Think You Can Dance, the only reality-type program I watch. And the end of the Red Sox game. Crap. So You Think You Can Dance is over for the season. Only one more episode of Newsroom. And only three more episodes of Breaking Bad. Those are the only shows I really care about in the vast and arid land that is cable television; the only shows I make time to see. Yes, I love Big Bang and Modern Family, but I can catch up with them any old time.

wed3

Let’s talk shopping cart etiquette. We all learned to drive, right? And when we’re on the highway, there is, at the very least, a lane for slower moving traffic and a passing lane. We wouldn’t think of stopping our car in the middle of a road or highway. If we had to stop for some reason, we would pull over to the side of the road. Simple. And we certainly wouldn’t double park. We might get a ticket or cause an accident.

So why do shoppers routinely stop their carts smack-dab in the middle of an aisle? Or pull up along side an already ‘parked’ cart, making it virtually impossible to get by? And what about those shoppers who meander down the aisle, oblivious to everyone around them? The ones you have to say “Excuse me” to in order to get by. What about the carts of other shoppers that you have to physically move to the side of the aisle in order to get by?

This seems to be a simple concept. Drive your cart like you do your car. Be aware of other drivers, cede the right of way, pull over to the side of the road/aisle when you need to park. Don’t drive slowly in the fast lane.

This makes me nuts. It makes me especially nuts when I’m in the store on a quick visit to pick up a few things and I have to run the gauntlet of carts parked every-which-way and the inevitable cart pile-ups that result in a traffic jam.

Don’t get me started on umbrella etiquette. That’s another post, for another day.

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Just had to include Scoutie because I miss her. Love those pink ears. Just two and a half more weeks, sweetie, and I’ll be home.

Don’t forget my book review of The Returned which I posted yesterday. I loved this book and I’m giving away one copy. Leave a comment on that post if you are interested.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: flowers, garden, media, On The Road 52 Comments

What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

September 9, 2013 at 7:54 am by Claudia

morninggloryupdate

The latest morning glory update from Don’s iPhone. It changes daily as those pretty blooms only last one day. Seems wrong, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t they last weeks at a time? I’m thinking there might not be any left when I get back home.

This faint thread of melody (from Bye Bye Birdie) keeps going through my mind:

What’s the story, morning glory?
What’s the word, hummingbird?

Which resolves to:

Have you heard about Hugo and Kim?

It’s from the opening number, The Telephone Hour, where lots of teens are on the phone with each other passing on the news that Hugo and Kim going steady. Ah, a more innocent time. I directed a high school production of Bye, Bye Birdie many years ago, pre-moving away from my hometown and going to grad school. I’m still in contact with several of those kids, who are, ahem, in their forties now.

What? How could that happen? They were 16 and 17 years old when I met them and they are still that age in my mind.

Speaking of productions, Don tells me his American Experience won’t be aired until January – something about starting off the new season with this episode. He learned this when he was doing some voice-over work in the recording studio the other day. Oliver Platt, who was also in the studio, is doing the narration. Just keeping you up-to-date!

The weather has been pretty spectacular around here lately and on Friday, when Don drove me back to Hartford, the sky was a gorgeous shade of blue with lovely wispy clouds. Here we are on a local road we often use:

drivetohartford

I made Don stop the car so I could take a picture of the yellow barn and the vine-covered silo.

yellowbarn

silo

yellowoutbuilding

How often do you see a yellow barn? I wonder how old this farm is? I’d love to explore the innards of that barn.

We stopped at Trader Joe’s along the way, of course, and Scoutie worked her charm on a fellow shopper:

scoutcharming

Everyone loves that girl. By the way, in the “Don’t assume things about a person of a certain age” category, that lovely lady and her husband were driving that red Jeep. Unexpected and, I must say, delightful.

This is shaping up to be an all-iPhone photo post. Today is my day off and I have to run some errands this morning. Hopefully the air conditioning in my apartment, which is not working at the moment, will be fixed today. Please. And I think I’m going to meet my former student for coffee, which makes me very happy. We have a lot of catching up to do.

It’s still summer, by the way. I repeat: it’s still summer.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: Don, flowers, garden, On The Road 32 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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