Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Nesting

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Though I am definitely in nesting mode here at the cottage, the title of this post refers to two other forms of nesting. First up, I looked out the window of my studio the other day. To my left, I can see a few of the branches of the Sugar Maple.

Now that they’re bare, I saw this (taken with my zoom lens):

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A perfectly beautiful and well constructed bird nest  It’s always amazing to me how these nests stay up there in wind and rain. We’ve seen a few more nests on the property – way up in the trees – as well as on our trail walks. One or two are, I think, squirrel nests.

Thought I hate seeing the trees bare before the end of October, I do love seeing what was once hidden revealed. By the way, not all of our trees are bare. There are still leaves on all of the oaks, which spurred me on to take a walk through our woods the other day to count them. We have eight! A few of them are rather young in age, but there are also several stately and grand oaks.

The other ‘nesting’ reference? My Squint Box arrived in the mail the other day and the theme is Nesting.

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Starting from the lower left: a kitchen towel set, a rustic sign, dried lavender, a lunch bag snack with a sandwich, cookies, and fruit, ripened bananas with a recipe for banana bread, and a knitting basket.

Adorable and thoughtfully chosen by Darren. Thank you!

The best way to start the day today was a text from my sister with photos of my nephew, Little Z, in his Halloween costume. Oh my heavens, he is simply scrumptious! I could eat him up. I won’t give it away since I think Meredith will be posting about it tomorrow.

And a Happy 23rd Birthday to Meredith’s oldest son, who is away at school in Ohio! He’s a great guy, that one. I miss him!

Wait, I forgot: Happy Birthday, as well, to my brother-in-law Ron, Don’s little brother!

Today may bring some mowing. Maybe the last time? The grass is rather long, so I’m thinking we should tackle it.

Today marks the first day of what will be a daily reminder: VOTE.

Some of you are fortunate enough to have early voting in your states and I know you’ve already fulfilled your obligation and right as a citizen of this country. I have been eligible to vote in Presidential elections for over 45 years and I have never missed one. When I was away from home I voted using an absentee ballot. Your vote matters. The enemy of our collective power in the voting booth is talk of ‘rigged’ elections, or the belief that your state will automatically go blue or red, so why bother? Or using a false equivalency when comparing candidates. Do your research. Make a choice. Stand up for your rights.

This has been an unbelievably difficult and stressful campaign, I know. All the more reason to not  become complacent, to not give in to voter exhaustion.

Not voting is unthinkable to me. I’m not exaggerating when I say I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t vote. And I will.

 

Happy Monday!

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My Version of a Fall Home Tour & Some Treasures

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My fall home tour:

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These views are what I see when I look outside. And it will get even better in the next week or two. So I don’t feel the need to decorate inside.

I love seeing how others decorate for fall, don’t get me wrong, but our little cottage is small and surface space is limited, so putting together little bits of fall decor inside looks too busy and takes away from the spectacularness right outside our windows.

We are fortunate to live in the Northeast, so all this beauty is free. Oh we do pay a price: lots of raking!

Barbara sent us a box which arrived at out post office box the other day. There are some presents for Little Z that will go nicely with his dollhouse. I won’t share them here because I want to keep them secret for now.

Don got a present:

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Two more book in the Hardy Boys series. He was so excited! There’s also a guitar pin and a wonderful old postcard of a cowboy.

I got some socks with Van Gogh’s Starry Night as the pattern. I love them.

And these:

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Two more Petite Princess finds; the chair and the dresser. I love these dressers, as you know, and I will most assuredly use this one in another dollhouse. And this chair is fabulous! The gorgeous pitcher (just like a vintage Hall pitcher) was made by artisan Janice Crawley. Isn’t it beautiful?

Thank you, Barbara! You made our day!

And for slice of reality, this is the way my office looks right now:

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There’s stuff everywhere. It’s starting to drive me nuts. Barbara included some mini wallpaper, so what you see on the work table are lots of books and weights that I’ve placed on the wallpaper in order to flatten it.

I’m starting to sort through piles of things throughout the house, so what did I do? I moved some of them upstairs to the office. And I still haven’t sorted through them.

Ay, me!

But today is for more raking and gutter clearing. What fun.

All of you who live in the area of Florida threatened by the hurricane, please take care. Evacuate if you haven’t already. We’re sending prayers to all of you. xoxo

Happy Friday.

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Wooden Furniture for Little Z

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Since that horrible dream left me feeling rather melancholy yesterday, I took control and sought refuge in photography. I find that if I can get outside and take photos, I see the world differently. I see my own situation differently. I captured lots of lovely images yesterday which I will be sharing with you over the next several days, including a treasure trove of birds at the birdbath. Goodness, they were active!

Also contributing to my mood change was a package that arrived in the mail for Little Z’s dollhouse. As you know, I’ve been contemplating what furniture – and it needed to be sturdy wooden furniture – to buy. Z is five years old, smart as a whip, and as determined as can be. He also walks with canes because of his disability and is working on using both hands equally. I wanted the furniture to be effortless for him, nothing that can break.

One day, I searched on Etsy and found this shop: upperairs. It’s David DiBenedetto’s shop and he handcrafts this dollhouse furniture. It was reasonably priced and was just what I wanted. And I love to support small businesses.

I was thrilled when I opened the package.

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It’s as if it were designed by IKEA for this house.

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The living room. Sofa, chair, fireplace, table, grandfather clock and television. I laughed out loud when I saw what was playing on the television! That’s Z’s favorite. He loves, loves, loves Mickey.

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Kitchen: None of the doors open. Did you notice the faucet? It’s a cup hook. The table might be a bit too tall, I’ll have to think about that one.

Just like the kitchen in my dollhouse – the hardest room to photograph.

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Bathroom.

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Bedroom.

Don thinks I should leave the furniture unpainted because it goes so well with the house. I must confess, I’m not sure what to do. I am planning on making some cushions for the furniture and the bed.

Do I paint the furniture? Do I leave it as is until he decides what he wants? Do I put temporary wallpaper up that he could pull down if he wants to?

Meredith says that either way would be great, but she suspects I’d have more fun painting the furniture.

I’m going to think about it for a day or two and then I have to make a decision.

This furniture is so well made and it’s sturdy. Z can handle it, knock it around, move it in and out of the house without any worries about breakage. I want him to be able to do whatever he wants with the house.

Your thoughts?

I have one bird photo to share with you today – I saw this guy looking for food at the entrance to the big corral:

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What a beauty!

Happy Saturday.

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