Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Potpourri on Saturday

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Just because:

You haven’t seen Monty in a long time. He patiently sits on the blue bench, watching, observing, and dare I say, protecting us. We’ve had Monty since shortly after we moved east. We found him in a little shop near the Hudson River.

I love that face.

Can you spot the bluebird in this picture? He’s there.

The mail came yesterday and with it, not one, but two pink hats! One for me and one for Don.

Not especially enamored of large pictures of myself on the blog. But I wanted to share this with you, indeed, I promised  to share it with you. Meredith is the best! I have to say, this is the most comfortable winter hat I’ve ever worn! And that’s saying something.

In fact, I put it on yesterday afternoon (to take this picture) and didn’t take it off until almost bedtime. I love it. I have it on again as I write this because it’s very, very cold out there and the house is freezing! It’s taking forever to warm up. We’re in the middle of a cold snap.

I would have worn pink lipstick, but I don’t have any. Mom would be happy. Happy that I’m wearing the hat with all that it represents, and happy that I’m in pink, as she called me her Pink Bunny when I was a little girl. Pink for you, Mom. Miss you.

The view out our window yesterday evening.

I’m absolutely reveling in the joy of reading A Gentleman in Moscow. Such beautiful, evocative prose! Between this and All the Light We Cannot See, the reading gods have blessed me of late.

We watched The Birds  last night on TCM. I simply love Alfred Hitchcock movies. We both agreed that this was a movie that could have been a tacky mess if the special effects/birds hadn’t looked real. But it isn’t. It’s amazingly powerful, even after seeing it many times.

I’m going to try to get through this weekend in a peaceful manner. That means I’m avoiding, as well as I can, unsettling news. Two day without undue stress isn’t too much to ask is it?

See if you can give yourself that gift as well.

Happy Saturday.

Mountains, Books and a Surprise

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The view outside my office window this morning:

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The one positive in losing all the leaves on the trees – a better view of the mountains. These, by the way, are the Gunks I referred to in a previous post. The Shawangunk Ridge. It’s a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains and it extends to the Catskill Mountains.

Rock climbers love the Ridge. They come from far and wide to climb here.

The UPS driver dropped off a package yesterday morning. As I wasn’t expecting anything via UPS, I was intrigued.

It was from my sister.

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She made this beautiful shawl for me! Isn’t it lovely? Meredith and I are both partial to gray. (As my hair turns more and more silvery, gray seems to suit me.)

I often wear a shawl around the house in the mornings and I planned on taking one that I made years ago with me to Hartford. But this one is much, much prettier! So I will be taking this beauty instead.

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My sister is very talented. I love her dearly.

I’m going to start in on my research today. This morning I realized that I leave for Hartford in a little over two weeks. There’s much to be done before that date, including buying Don’s Christmas presents!

Tomorrow is the tour of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary. We’ve become members of the Sanctuary because we want to support what this incredible facility does. We are joining in honor of Pliers and Ashley, our elderly horse friends, who were saved and rescued by the Sanctuary. I’ll have lots to share with you this weekend.

The rain has finally stopped. It was rather torrential for two straight days, which will certainly help our water table. I’m grateful today for a peek at the sun and for clouds swirling and moving as this front moves out.

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I’m waiting for another Nancy Drew, soon to arrive in the mail. It will be nestled in the space between Anne of the Island  and The Secret at Shadow Ranch, as it’s #3 in the series. I had to do some shelf rearranging yesterday, moving some books to other shelves in order to accommodate my little collection. That reminds me: I need to keep a lookout for more Hardy Boys for Don – maybe a little stocking stuffer or two.

Happy Thursday.

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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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