Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Presents and Prayers

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I promised you some photos of the snow globe that Don gave me:

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Isn’t it beautiful?

One more present to share with you – my dear friend Linda sent a package, which happened to arrive on my birthday.

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Two beautiful pieces of mini pottery for my collection! I’ve dubbed her the Mini Pottery Whisperer. She has an amazing track record in terms of finding these treasures. I almost never find one around here, but Linda? That’s another story! Thank you so much, Linda! I love them.

And a surprise – I suppose you could call it a present – in the middle of the over-40-year-old plant I brought home from my parents’ home in Florida. You remember the Mother-in-law’s tongue? This is what I discovered yesterday:

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Do these plants flower? It sure looks like it. Hey, Mom and Dad, your plant seems to like it here!

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And now for something quite serious. I would like to ask your prayers for my nephew, Little Z.

Yesterday morning, while Mere was at work, my brother-in-law went in Z’s bedroom to get him up and found him in the middle of a massive seizure. J (my BIL) did everything right, clearing his passageway, pounding him on the back to make sure he wasn’t choking, giving him CPR. He called 911 and ran outside with Z to meet the ambulance.

They were transported to the local hospital. Meredith met them there. Z was still having seizures. They did an MRI, a cat scan, took x-rays and then contacted the neurosurgery department at All Children’s Hospital. When transport became available they transferred him there. (This is the hospital he went to last year when I was down there visiting, if you remember.)

He was on oxygen for a while, but that has been removed. He was given meds, which left him out of it for much of the day, and was admitted to the hospital. Meredith spent the night with him and neither of them got much sleep. The doctors want to keep an eye on him, see how he adjusts to the seizure meds, and at the moment, he’s hooked up to an EEG. He hasn’t had another seizure since he was transferred to the second hospital.

Little Z has cerebral palsy. He had a seizure when he was born, so there has always been the possibility that he could have another, but, as far as we know, this is the first one he’s had. And it was massive.

My brother-in-law was a hero yesterday. Thank God he was there.

We stayed by the phone all day, waiting for details, praying for our beloved Little Z. He’s been through so much, this little one who almost didn’t make it into this life.

Meredith’s middle son arrived home from college yesterday evening – he went right to the hospital. Her oldest will arrive home today. The whole family will be there with Z. And my BIL’s sisters are there, as well.

I asked Mere if I should write about this and her response was: “We need all the prayers we can get.”

So, I’m asking you to please pray for Meredith’s son and hold him in your hearts. I’ll update you tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday.

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Petite Gifts

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A few weeks back, Denise (a longtime reader of the blog) wrote me and asked me for my mailing address, as she had something she wanted to send me. I’m always taken by surprise when that happens, and of course, grateful that anyone would want to send me anything.

Denise alerted me that she had sent the package last week, so Don stopped off at the post office and brought it home. She wrote a lovely note in which she said she had been the full-time caregiver for her mother, who passed away two months ago. She was now ‘paring down and simplifying the home we shared.’ How hard that must be, grieving and sorting through things, everything evoking a memory.

She said that she had known that she wanted to send this gift to me.

I opened the box and gasped when I saw the contents:

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Petite Princess furniture! I’ve written about it on the blog many times. It was made by Ideal and was sold from 1964 to 1968. I was a big fan when I was a girl and asked for it for my birthday and Christmas, but Mom was having none of it. (See? I wanted something ‘dollhouse’ even then.)

I found a couple of pieces several years ago that I used in the dollhouse; two dressers and a lamp.

These pieces were Denise’s when she was a girl.

As I told Denise, each time I unwrapped something, I gasped. Don was here at the time and I kept gasping and he said, “Wait until everything is opened and then  show me.” (I think my gasps were interrupting his concentration.)

Above, the dressing table, seat, and three tables. Wouldn’t every little girl want a dressing table like that one?

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Gasp! The piano! What can I say? It’s gorgeous! (Denise told me the piano is her favorite piece.)

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Gasp! A lovely curved sofa and another dresser.

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Gasp! Another coffee table and phone and some lamps (the bird lamp is the same as the one I have in the dollhouse), another table, statues, a lamp and some paintings. And there are more accessories, too –  statuary, vases, dishes with fruit, tiny glasses – amazing petite beauties.

That Denise would think of me as she, still in mourning, sorts through things in her home moves me beyond words. This is a treasure trove and I am so honored that she would pass it on to me.

Thank you, Denise. I will take good care of it, I promise.

It’s Friday. Yesterday, I thought it was Saturday for half the day and then I thought it was Friday for the other half. Now it actually is  Friday. Soon I will have to start working on the text for Comedy of Errors, which starts rehearsals in mid-December. Yes, what seemed so far off is now fast approaching.

Don has told me he will be out and about most of the day. I know what he’s up to, he’s going birthday present shopping!

Happy Friday.

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In the Mail

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Red and I have problems. I love  red, but photographing it is always problematical. Whether it’s a red rose or a red sofa (as you will soon see) I can never quite get the tint/shade right.

I got a package in the mail yesterday – all the way from Australia. Gabrielle, who made the sofa for Don’s mini studio, made another one in red. For me, not Don. It’s a deeper red, but heck if I can get it to register, no matter how much I tweak it on Lightroom.

So just know that the sofa has less of an orange tint and more of a deep cherry tint.

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Not quite right. But enough of that. Isn’t it beautiful?

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Here it is in the loft. It might be a bit too long for this house, but I’m currently saving up for another house, so it may move around. Trying to photograph the loft yesterday was equally frustrating. Maybe I’ve lost my mini photography mojo? It needs some pillows, so I just might have to trot over to Brae’s Etsy shop.

Also in the mail on Friday: some wallpaper for the newest project, the half-scale Fairfield.

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These are William Morris prints in half-scale, along with a tile I might be using (lower right hand corner.) ItsyBitsyMini, where I get all my mini wallpaper, has most of their designs available in half-scale and quarter-scale as well as 1:12 scale. And their customer service is great. These arrived with a slight crease/wrinkle, which limits what I can do with them. ItsyBitsyMini promptly responded and is sending new sheets next week. Thank you!

And to top off my ‘packages in the mail,’ a big, heavy box arrived yesterday. I wasn’t expecting anything other than the sofa so I was, to put it mildly, quite curious! It was from my friend Donna and her daughter Amanda – Amanda designed the Bedrooms coloring book, remember?

Inside was a thank you card and a gift for hosting the giveaway. It was my pleasure to host it, since I’ve known Donna for such a long time. And Amanda sent me my own copy of the coloring book, so I was quite happy.

Here is what I unwrapped:

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A vintage set of Shakespeare, illustrated and in three volumes, and edited by well-known Shakespearean scholar, A. L. Rowse. Oh, my heavens!

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It’s beautifully illustrated and includes photographs from various productions. I never see this set in any shop or used bookstore. But Donna and Amanda have serious junking/thrifting skills (Donna has an Etsy shop) and somehow she found this.

Thank you, dear Donna and Amanda. I’m thrilled to have this in my library and will treasure it always.

Two brief-ish book reviews on Just Let Me Finish This Page today. Stop by!

Happy Sunday.

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