Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Reverse Robin Hood

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Let’s get this out of the way first. Words cannot describe how heartsick I am at what our country has become and what the Republicans in the Senate did to us last night. I’ve known this for a while, but last night it really hit me in my gut: they simply don’t care about us. If they did, this monstrosity of a tax bill would never have been conceived. The sad truth is that the only thing they care about is money; money from donors, taking care of lobbyists, and slowly chipping away at what they call entitlements, but I call my rights. In order to pass this abomination, they have enabled a man who is – well you know what he is – so that they could do their best to take away health care from Americans who desperately need it, reward their donors, and play reverse Robin Hood, taking money from the poor and middle class and putting it into the pockets of the very rich.

It’s immoral.

I don’t recognize my country any longer. Canada has never looked as good to me as it does now.

End of rant.

Okay. I’m also under the weather, which doesn’t help. I got really stuffy and congested last night and this morning I’m really stuffed up and achy. Yuck.

I made the tarts, but I’m not quite happy with the filling, so I’ll use the rest of the dough today and try another version of the filling. If any of you Canadians want to share your favorite Butter Tarts recipe, please do!

I put our little Christmas tree on this table last year, pre-houseplants. What am I going to do this year, I wonder? I never decorate for the holidays, as you know, until about the second week of December, but if I’m up to it, I think I’ll hang the lights on the porch today, so that they’re shining brightly when Don comes home. Don’t you think that would be nice?

Let’s look closer at the peperomia:

A lovely little spike has emerged. More, please.

I’m going to lay low today – I really have no choice – and listen to podcasts, read the paper, try one more batch of tarts and take a nap.

Happy Saturday.

Cue Maurice Chevalier

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I posted this photo on Instagram yesterday because the sun flooding into the kitchen was amazing.

I hear that we’re not supposed to post the same photos on Instagram that we post on our blogs. And then I roll my eyes because who made up that rule and how did he/she become an “expert?” I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, Gigi, and one of my favorite songs in that movie, sung by Maurice Chevalier: I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore.

And I am. By ‘young’ I mean my chronological age and also my blogging age. I’m coming up on 10 years as a blogger and I’ve reached that happy place where I simply don’t care what should and shouldn’t be done. I don’t care about followers and numbers and my brand, because I don’t have a brand and don’t want one. I will leave all of that to the younger and more energetic, bless them.

I’ve really been thinking about this a lot lately, both in terms of blogging and my professional work as a coach. And I’ve had talks about it with my best friend, Laural, and my husband. We’ve all reached that point in our professional lives where we’ve accomplished a great deal and are proud of our work. We no longer feel competitive. We don’t need to grab another rung on the ladder. We’re not retired, we’re all still working, so this isn’t about that. But we are  accepting of who and what we are and, boy, is that a peaceful and wonderful feeling.

It took a while to get here but it was worth the wait.

Look! My parents’ sansevieria is going to flower again! There’s another budding stalk on the other side of the plant. Hello Mom and Dad. I know you’re here.

And I have a succulent baby. This one will take a while, but I’m cultivating patience.

The kitchen table has morphed from being a mail catch-all (still is) to a conservatory for some of my plants. I posted this on IG so that Don would see it and therefore have some warning before he arrives home on Sunday. Yes, Sunday. He thought he had shows on Sunday and was coming home on Monday until he learned differently yesterday.

His second recording session went well and he felt better about his voice. There will be some overdubbing done on all the vocals this week, but other than that, the cast album has been recorded. Everyone is now packing up their trunks (which will be picked up on Friday) and sending boxes home.

I, on the other hand, am dealing with the mundane: recycling and taking things to the dump. And running to the grocery store.

Happy Wednesday.

Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

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A little late getting this post up as I SLEPT IN!! I am a happy camper. The time zone changes I’ve been dealing with – while only an hour difference – have seriously screwed up my sleep. Now, thank goodness, I’ll be in the same time zone for the foreseeable future.

The UPS truck arrived in my driveway yesterday morning. The driver was bring my new iPhone to me! Did I absolutely need a new phone? No. But I’ve been looking at the larger sized phones and coveting them. While we were in Chicago, my nephew (Mere’s eldest) showed me his iPhone 7+ and I seriously began thinking about a new one. I also knew that I was eligible for an upgrade on November 23rd. Mere and I (and Don, for that matter) said we wanted a larger screen with larger fonts and bigger pictures. Yours truly used to say that I didn’t want or need a bigger phone. Oh yes, I was quite vocal about it. The photo below shows my ever-evolving thinking on that subject:

On the left, the iPhone 4. Middle: iPhone 6. Right: the newest phone, the iPhone 7+. I never buy the current iPhone; I always upgrade to a slightly older model to save money.

I love it, of course. Now I can’t imagine how I got by with a smaller one. Isn’t that always the case?

Oh, before I forget: Don got through the day yesterday. His voice was much better. My wonderful sister called to check on him in the morning and when we talked about steroids, she said he absolutely should take them, that they would really help, so I called him and passed that message along. He got 3 pills, two to take yesterday and one for this morning and then he’ll be done. He thinks they really helped. (They’re still recording and will do another stint in the recording studio today.) Thank you for all your positive thoughts and prayers! He sounds a lot better.

I put this maranta in my grocery cart on Sunday. I like to rescue plants from stores like Lowes and my local grocery store. This one needs humidity and it’s always dry in here during the winter, so she accompanies me into the bathroom when I take a shower.

My sansevieria is going to flower again this year! There’s another flower stalk on the side facing the window. Hey, Mom and Dad, your baby is thriving!

Still hanging in there despite freezing temperatures. Oh, pansies, I’m going to plant more of you in the spring.

The living room yesterday afternoon. The light that comes when the trees are bare is so bright. I love it.

I’ve been having some trouble with AOL lately. Judging by the complaints I’ve seen elsewhere, I’m not the only one. Anyway, I subscribe to the email version of this blog via three different email addresses: gmail, AOL, and Yahoo. I get the gmail and Yahoo posts like clockwork. But delivery to the AOL address has been all over the place; sometimes it comes on time, sometimes it comes 10 hours later and sometimes it doesn’t arrive at all (like yesterday). Hopefully, AOL will get its act together, because it’s my main email address and I don’t want to have to deal with changing to another one. So, if you subscribe via AOL and haven’t been receiving posts lately, that’s why.

If you don’t like political commentary, stop here. I’m currently careening back and forth between happiness at being home and despair about the country. Last night, despair won. When the people running the country defend a pedophile in order to keep power, we are in desperate trouble. When that sorry excuse for a man calls a sitting Senator “Pocahontas” (meant as a racial slur) in the middle of a ceremony honoring Native American heroes while standing in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson (of Trail of Tears infamy) – there are no words. Well, there are words, but I can’t print them here. But don’t let that distract you from the battle over the tax bill and net neutrality. Make your calls. We’re in a battle between the 1% and the rest of us. And I’m pretty sure none of my readers are in the 1%.

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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