Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for garden

Unexpected Delights

August 16, 2018 at 8:05 am by Claudia

After emerging into the sunshine following days and days of rain, I noticed this:

Tiny forget-me-nots and balloon flowers had self-seeded on the edge of the memorial garden bed.

What a delight!

This is why I have to be careful when I start to overzealously weed. You never know what you might be yanking out of the ground and believe me, I’ve had my share of “Oh no!” yanks.

Another view, a bit more ‘arty’:

One little plant and it produces a beautiful flower!

I was already aware that the balloon flower was spreading to the edges of a memorial stone that I placed in the garden in memory of our beloved dogs. So I looked a bit more closely and saw this:

A bud ready to open. Sometimes Mother Nature provides the perfect touch. I’ve had the ‘Sentimental’ Balloon Flower plant in the garden for a couple of years. That it would self-seed right here, right where I placed the stone…well, I couldn’t have done it better myself.

We watched one of Don’s favorite movies the night before last – The Taking of Pelham 123 – the original, not the bad remake with John Travolta. It’s such a great movie, so gritty, so evocative of the seventies. A cast of great character actors including Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Jerry Stiller, Hector Elizondo and Robert Shaw. Great soundtrack by David Shire. If you’ve never seen it, you should!

So last night, we watched one of my  favorites, Charade. Elegant, funny, scary – it’s the perfect sophisticated murder mystery starring two of my favorites; Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was directed by the great Stanley Donen. I’ve seen it at least 30 times – I’d venture even more than that. Also starring George Kennedy, James Coburn, Ned Glass and…Walter Matthau. With music by Henry Mancini, to my mind the best ever composer for the movies, it is a delight.

I realized this morning that both movies had a screenplay written by Peter Stone.

Today, we pick up the cabinet! I can’t wait to get it home. Then I have to think about lighting it because it can be darkish over by the bottom of the stairs. All in good time.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: flowers, garden, movies 39 Comments

A Done Deal

August 15, 2018 at 9:43 am by Claudia

Well, if you follow me on Instagram or if you received an reply to a comment you left on yesterday’s post, you know that I bought the cubby cabinet. I just knew I’d never see anything like it again. The dealer who has this in her booth is one of my favorites. She also has a booth at another antique center I frequent. She always has great stuff.

Here’s another photo of it that I took yesterday, right before they put a SOLD tag on the cabinet.

Some of you seemed to think this was a cabinet I could hang on the wall! Nope. It’s a piece of furniture that is 5 feet high and just over 40 inches wide. It’s only 8 inches deep. This will be on the floor. We’ve decided to put it where the little white desk (that has become nothing more than a catch-all) is at the bottom of our stairs. There is a little cupboard that is built into that wall. I open it maybe twice a year. When that happens, we can slide the cabinet out from the wall. And I’ll have the egg cups secured with museum wax.

It was either there or up in the office, but Don pushed for downstairs so that we’d see it every day. We don’t go into the office every day.

My neighbor is lending us her van tomorrow, so we’ll go pick it up in the late morning. We have to give the antique barn a heads up so that the dealer can remove everything from the cabinet, etc.

I’m thrilled. We’ll either put the desk in storage or put it out on the street and see if someone picks it up. It’s basically been a surface for us to pile stuff on that needs to go upstairs. It holds postage stamps and the little lamp and a photograph of Scoutie with glasses on. And a basket of paid bill receipts. All of that can go elsewhere. The chair will go in storage, as well. It will actually make our path to the bathroom much clearer.

Thanks for all your enthusiastic support!

Will I have to paint the cubbies a lighter color? Not sure yet. All will be revealed.

It really feels as if we’ve just emerged from a monsoon. I don’t know the total number of inches of rain that fell during the past five days, but it has to be quite high. Endless rain. Endless. I know there is flooding in New Jersey. I’m not surprised.

But it’s sunny today. I have to recycle and run some errands and, I’m sure, pull tons of weeds. But it’s also going to be humid today, so my weed pulling might be quickly curtailed.

I don’t want summer to end because it is my favorite time of year, but I will say this has been a very difficult summer weather-wise. Extremes. Nothing but extremes. More rain than I can remember. More high temps, starting early and continuing through the summer. And lots of humidity.

It would be nice to have several days without rain so that the ground can dry out. Please?

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: antiques, flowers, garden, rain, vintage 46 Comments

A Lazy Weekend

August 11, 2018 at 9:00 am by Claudia

I’m moving slowly this morning. A whirlwind of mowing occurred yesterday, more than I had anticipated. We have 5 days of rain and thunderstorms starting today (enough already!) so I knew I had to initiate countermeasures. In other words, mow a lot  of grass. When I saw how long the grass in the back forty had grown, I added that to the list. The only section of lawn that wasn’t mowed yesterday was what we call “the lilac side of the lawn.” It doesn’t grow as quickly and I figured I’d let it go for a few days.

But I am definitely dragging my tail this morning. Definitely. Tired. Brain fuzzy. Achy muscles.

I’ve never had a better patch of zinnias than this year’s. I’d put it down to the rain, and that helps, of course, but they were growing strong and tall when we were in that dry spell. I’m so happy about that because I love my zinnias.

A late summer blessing.

We watched Amelie  for three nights running. We’re crazy that way.

More around the house close-ups.

That green vase in the Ixia pattern might be my favorite piece of Roseville. It’s got everything; a soft green color, beautiful flowers, and art deco style handles. What’s not to love?

I have to go make our second cup of coffee. Don makes the first. I make the second.

Looks like it will be a lazy weekend and I’m fine with that.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: egg cups, flowers, garden, Roseville pottery 31 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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The Dogs

The Dogs

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

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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