Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Friday

May 8, 2026 at 8:50 am by Claudia

Just thought you might like to see Nina.

As I’ve said before, I don’t really plan on buying more Blythes, except for a Dragonfly Blythe. Nina is a Dragonfly and so is Pru. Ola, the wonderful woman who was the customizer behind Dragonfly Blythe suddenly stopped customizing a few years ago. Her many fans were shocked. Consequently, they are now rare. My dream girl would be a redhead. But I’ve had some disappointing experiences in my search. There was a redhead that I dreamed of having and after many long chats, the woman who owned her promised her to me if she should ever want to sell. Long story short, the promise fell through and she sold her to someone else. Two beautiful redheads came up for ‘adoption’ but their owners wouldn’t ship to the US because of tariffs and customs fees. (Thanks, Agent Orange.) I have a couple of friends who are on the lookout for me. But it’s frustrating. Anyway, I’m grateful for the Dragonfly girls that I already own. And doesn’t Nina look beautiful?

I mowed the back forty yesterday and promptly had a huge allergy attack afterwards. Darn it. I’m still feeling under the weather today, so Don is going to mow the front lawn. We have rain coming in this afternoon, as well as tomorrow, so we’re trying to get ahead of it.

No groundhog sightings yet. No bunny sightings either. But it’s early spring here, so I expect we’ll see them sometime this month. I’m on a wee pause with the dollhouse as I ponder what room to renovate next. So far, the bedroom is winning out.

I’ll check in again tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: life 8 Comments

Breakage

May 6, 2026 at 8:51 am by Claudia

Well. Yesterday was a strange day. It was abnormally warm  – in the eighties – and in the afternoon it got windy. It was noticeably windy but not anything I would have been overly worried about. At one point, I was sitting in the den and I heard what I thought was stuff moving around on the porch. So I went outside to make sure the plants were secure and there was a huge limb on the ground. It was from the big maple tree next to the house, a tree we love and a tree that has already lost several large limbs over the twenty years we’ve lived here.

I was shocked. The winds hadn’t been all that intense. I called Don and we carried it to the pile on the side of the property. It was a significant loss. Shortly after that, another  limb went down from a maple near the secret garden.

All of this was very upsetting and I’m in mourning today. I love our trees. I love all trees. The whole thing was so unexpected. The only thing I can come up with is that the winds (coming from the SSW) were in the ‘perfect’ position to cause damage, if only for a specific pocket of time – almost like that time we had that microburst.

It’s about 20 degrees cooler today and it’s going to rain.

What else?

My hair has been driving me crazy. It’s baby fine and I have been dealing with breakage. Consequently, it is many different lengths and unless I blow dry it, it looks terrible! I had been talking to Don about cutting my hair again (he loves to do that) and I decided the only thing to do was to cut it so that it matched the shorter breakage area around my face.

Five inches gone! This is the shortest my hair has been in years. It already looks healthier. Don thinks I look younger. I’m not so sure about that, but I like it. And it will be cooler for the summer.

No work on the dollhouse yesterday. I took a break to ponder what room I’ll tackle next.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: life 22 Comments

Floored

April 29, 2026 at 8:19 am by Claudia

Allergies, allergies, allergies.

That’s all I’ll say about that.

The wood floor in the Beacon Hill living room  is kicking my  butt.

It’s almost done. I worked on it yesterday morning and later in the afternoon; in between, I had a final coaching session with Kate. I am pretty painstaking about this process, but boy, it seemed to take FOREVER.  I got stain and glue all over my hands. At one point, I got glue in my hair. And, because I was snacking on some apple pie, I got some apple pie filling in my hair as well.

Someone send help!

I have to finish this today so I can move on to the baseboards. That involves mitre cuts and I have to look up how to do those again, because I haven’t done it since Dove Cottage.

This morning, I ran upstairs to take the photo of the floor and I grabbed some shots of what looks like an abandoned house:

Do you see that second opening on the left? There’s the doorway and then there’s this closet like area. How the heck am I going to to get my hands back there and create anything? I won’t be able to see what I’m doing!

I also want to show you a piece I won on eBay. I don’t know how old it is, but it’s lovely.

Isn’t it pretty?

I’m not sure where it will end up. It looks perfect in the living room, but I don’t want that room to be too matchy-matchy. Maybe the bedroom? Or in what will be the den/library? We’ll have to see.

I have to mow the front lawn today and my allergies are objecting. But the grass is very long and it’s going to rain tonight, which will just make it all worse. So, it must be done.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

Filed Under: life 16 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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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

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