Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Hydrating

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I’ve already watered – around 6:30 am – and I’m sweating. Yesterday, our heat index was 103°. Today, it will reach 105°. It’s unbearable out there. And in here, because when you have several days of this stuff, it builds up in the house. Our big window a/c unit could barely keep up with it yesterday. Same with the bedroom unit. And both are usually more than up to the task.

By early yesterday afternoon, I had painted and Don had worked up in the studio and we were resting with the a/c on. It was as if we were both drugged. We could barely keep our eyes open.

I had a strong memory flash this morning as I was filling up the watering can. When I lived in Philadelphia in grad school, I shared an apartment one year with my friend Carolyn. We didn’t have and couldn’t afford a window a/c unit. During the summers, I would do temp work in Philadelphia. Carolyn would go home to California. Philadelphia is not unlike Washington DC when it comes to crushing humidity. I would get up in the morning to get ready for work and after 5 minutes, I was already sweating. Work, of course, offered a bit of a refuge as it was air conditioned, but lord, by the time I reached home at the end of the day, I was drenched. I would take a shower and then, using the three fans that I owned, I’d sit on the bed in my underwear with one fan on my right, another on my left, and one facing me – all of them turned on full blast. And that was my station for the rest of the evening.

That’s what this feels like. It should break on Thursday, but in the meantime, my brain is mush.

This painting I’m currently working on is taking a bit of time – partly because I can only work for a short time every day, but mostly because it’s difficult. At the end of a session, I’m greatly encouraged; then after a break I look at it more critically and realize there are several elements I didn’t get right. And so it goes. It’s all a learning experience and I have much to learn!

Other than the above, there’s nothing new. We’re hanging in there. The birthday celebration has come and gone. The apple pie has been eaten. Prodigious amounts of water are being consumed.

I know it’s very hot in many places. If you are in one of them, hang in there. Stay hydrated.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

 

Flowers And A Guitar

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The coneflowers are emerging – most of them still green, but here and there, the petals are turning purple. Since they self-seed, I have more and more every year. This year, especially, I see the increase. Since – to me – they are one of those quintessential cottage garden flowers, I’m fine with that.’

And my new clematis, which I planted in the bed under the living room window has produced a lovely flower.

Well, I never got around to painting yesterday because the technician from our security company never showed up. We had a window from 12 – 4 so I decided not to paint because I didn’t want to be disrupted by his arrival. But, in the end, he was delayed and after waiting until 4:30, we called to ask them about the delay, so I could have painted, darn it! Obviously, the technician had run over in his appointments, but then they wanted us to have yet another window from 5 – 8 and Don said no. So it will be next Friday instead. This, by the way, is for some sort of upgrade they  want to do (in the middle of a pandemic no less) not for anything we requested. So I get a bit peeved when our time is wasted.

Anyway. I’m going to paint today.

I did a lot of weeding yesterday, lots of laundry, made some phone calls that I’d been putting off, paid some bills – so I accomplished a lot. Painting today will be my reward.

One of Don’s birthday presents was a very modestly priced bass guitar. (He asked for one.)

I have to say I think it’s so cool that a 70 year old guy got a bass guitar for his birthday. Don just gets cooler every year.

We are now at 8 guitars, two ukuleles, a mandolin, two desks, two additional work surfaces, a dollhouse, a dollhouse kit, two file cabinets, a china cabinet, a big old chair from the 40s, a plant stand, an old bench, a cart full of paints, and a French cabinet – all in the office/studio. It’s somewhat artfully arranged, but let’s face it, it’s packed.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

A Great Day

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Birthday candles.

Don really had a great day – he had calls from friends and family, a friend stopped by with a box of goodies from his vegetable garden, Rick and Doug stopped by for a few minutes with a birthday card, lots of birthday greetings on Facebook and on IG and this blog. He decided that he wanted a birthday pie, so he made one in the afternoon. I made sugar-free chocolate chip cookies the night before – a test run. (We call them Scookies, as they have a consistency that is more like a scone…Don loves them.) We had dinner, then it was time for presents and a round of Happy Birthday with candles to blow out.

We also had a great chat with the other birthday boy, Little Z, who turned 10 years old. Don got a birthday kiss via FaceTime, as did Z.

All in all, a lovely day celebrating a great guy.

We’re tired today. All the energy that goes into celebrating all day long – it’s wonderful – but I’m wiped out the next day! And we have our first visit/service call in over a year on the docket this afternoon. Our alarm service is upgrading something or other and they have to come to the house to do it. We put it off for a long time, waiting until we were fully vaccinated.

The other day, I went to Target for the first time since before the pandemic. Another first since being vaccinated. I still wear a mask when I’m in a store. Many people were also wearing masks, but there were also many without masks. No confrontations, no people asking why you’re still wearing a mask. That seems to be a non-issue around here – at least, so far.

I haven’t painted in a few days and I hope to get back to it today. I also have a lot of weeding to do – all that rain resulted in an overgrown garden.

Here’s a question for you. Yesterday, I noticed this car in front of the house and the driver was clearly taking pictures. I got up and went on the porch to give him the ‘evil eye.’ He kept on taking them, from across the street and from the next door neighbor’s driveway. Don, hearing what was going on, came out and joined me. The driver eventually pulled in our driveway to let us know he was a real estate appraiser taking pictures for a local bank. I said they didn’t have permission to do that. He said if we had an issue, we should contact the bank. Don countered with a ‘No, you tell them we have an issue.’ It’s not illegal, of course, and the guy was perfectly nice, but what the heck? We have nothing to do with that bank. We have no accounts there. Our mortgage is not with them. Why would they be taking the pictures of our house? The only thing we could come up with is that the real estate frenzy that is everywhere right now, including here, with lots of people moving upstate and paying big bucks for houses, is resulting in offers to sell your house if you want to put it on the market. Maybe it has something to do with that? We bought our house too long ago for it to be a ‘comp.’  The guy wasn’t taking pictures of any other houses on our street (at least, not that I know of) just ours. Or maybe they want to get our business through an offer to refinance?

Any ideas?

Somewhat disconcerting, though Don (from a family that works in real estate) seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal.

Hmmm.

Thank you for all the birthday greetings for Don! He’s going to read them later today.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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