Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Day Four Hundred

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• As we’ve reached Day Four Hundred, I’m currently pondering whether today will be the last post with the number of days in the title. I haven’t come to a conclusion yet, but I’m leaning toward phasing it out. As I weed in the garden bed today and do the laundry, I’ll be thinking about it.

Current puzzle: Main Street, from 1939.

• The new John Derian puzzle that I ordered last week from Amazon has been delayed. This is made all the more annoying since Oblong Books had it on their shelf and, knowing that I already had it on the way, I didn’t buy it. Amazon is saying delivery will be sometime between May lst and the 15th. No can do. Looks like I might be headed back to Oblong sooner than I thought.

• It rained much of the day yesterday, so everything around here is soggy. The perfect time to pull some weeds in the big garden bed. That’s what I’m going to do this morning.

• Something else to ponder: My sister and I were chatting the other day during FaceTime about messages from our parents. As you know, I had several visits from my mother, both when she was in the nursing home and on the day she died. I’ve never sensed a message or appearance from my father. Or my grandmother. But I did have one, long ago, from my grandfather.

And from my brother – more than one. Both Meredith and I have had dreams in which we were dancing with our brother. Vivid, powerful dreams. I remember feeling pure joy during and after that dream. He will be gone 30 years this year. It doesn’t seem possible. I love the fact that we’ve both danced with David in our dreams.

• Don is currently at our local farm stand/nursery. I was all set to go along and buy some plants but I saw it might go down to 33 this week (that’s awfully close to freezing) so I decided not to go. If I went, I would be tempted to buy plants and I don’t want to worry about them and have to bring them inside this week. So I’ll wait a week and, in the meantime, catch up on all the things that need to be done outside.

That’s it, my friends.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Day Three Hundred Ninety-One

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Running a bit late this morning as we were sitting on the sofa in the living room and I noticed a bird flying back and forth. I thought he was going to the birdbath but then I realized that he was building a nest in this:

Do you remember Don placing this way up high in a niche in the maple? It’s meant to be used for a nest. It was there all last year with no activity, but this year? I think we have potential tenants. I say ‘potential’ because nothing is happening at the moment. Were they scared off by our excited voices inside the house? I took this with my big girl camera but before that I had only my phone and if you look closely at this blurry photo below, you can see the bird either coming in or out of the opening.

I hope they stay!

Still no activity. I can see the little trailer right outside the den window as I write this. I can’t tell exactly what kind of bird it was – there was no time to capture it digitally. Maybe a wren?

Anyway, we got very excited by the prospect of some neighbors. Fingers crossed!

As to numbering the posts, I’m still not sure. We’ll hit our two-week mark on April 14th. But, you’re right, the pandemic continues. On one hand, after 13 years of writing a post every day, I always find it rather a pain to come up with any post title, so the numbering has been a nice break from all of that. On the other hand, I don’t want it to continue for months. I’ll simply wait and see how I feel. Thanks so much for weighing in!

We ended up pruning the burning bush yesterday, which was time consuming and tiring, as it’s quite tall. I started raking out some of the big garden bed and taking loads of debris to the pile by the shed. Today, I’m going to go a little easier and simply pot the pansies. The weather has been glorious – highs of 70 degrees and abundant sunshine.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

Day Sixty

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Monty looks bewildered by the jungle currently surrounding him.

Just spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out why I couldn’t load this photo. The message I kept getting apparently involves an issue with permissions. Don’t bother trying to understand it, I don’t either. Anyway, as I tried and tried to use an application that would let me check that, I had just about decided to give up. I closed the application, then decided I would try once more to upload the photo and it worked. Sometimes, it’s just better to wait and see if the issue corrects itself.

It’s sunny here today, but the temps will only be in the fifties. By Thursday, we’ll be in the seventies, which is where we should be at this time of year. This spring has now become the strangest spring I’ve ever witnessed. Two more days of this low-thirties-at-night nonsense.

I finished Love in a Cold Climate  this morning. I loved it. It takes me a while to get into Mitford’s novels, but once I’m in, I’m hooked. Now for the next volume in the trilogy – Don’t Tell Alfred. Then I think I’ll move on to Robertson Davies.

Some outside chores are on the docket for the day, but first, I’ll move all the plants back out on the porch. They’ll come in again tonight and tomorrow night, then…back to normal.

That’s really all I have to share today. (I slept better last night, by the way.) Work on the puzzle is slow but the challenge is right up my alley, so onward!

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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