Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Antiquing & Lazing

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Since yesterday was rainy, but only slightly rainy, I suggested we visit my now favorite antique shop because I was pretty sure Don would love it. He did. He found something he liked, and I found something we all know I like.

Two more antique English pots.

I’ve always been drawn to vintage stone pots but somehow I never came across any. I’m so thrilled to have four now. These will be planted and added to the cinder block border behind the kitchen. Aren’t they gorgeous? They’re cast stone, which means they’re impervious to cold weather and won’t crack. Often, newer pots are cast cement, which is not impervious to the weather.

Not sure how old these are – I forgot to ask! But I’m going to find out.

We talked with Rebekah, the owner, and one of her customers for a long time. I kept staring at Rebekah’s glasses, because they looked an awful lot like mine. Turns out they’re the same Warby Parker frames I own! And she has two pairs, just as I do. One for reading. One for distance.

Great minds…

Then we stopped for lunch and returned to the cottage, where we lazed around the rest of the day.

And now – sigh – Don returns to NYC. The good news is that he really feels like he had a relaxing break. I’m so happy about that. He needed one.

After I drop him off at the bus station, I’m headed to Rick and Doug’s to walk Sam. Wonder what size stick he’ll pick up this time?

Bridal Veil Spirea as viewed from the porch.

I added this geranium to the memorial garden the other day.

The weekend after this coming weekend will be spent in NYC as my sister is coming to town! She’s flying in on June 1st and leaving on the 3rd and we’re going to see Escape to Margaritaville Saturday night. She’ll be staying with us at the apartment. I can’t wait!

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

The Dilemma

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Dear readers, it is sometimes hard to come up with yet another photograph for a blog post. I mean, how many photos of the interior of my house can I inundate you with until you begin to scream?

And the outside? Well, it isn’t all that attractive at the moment. We’re in that pocket between winter and spring. The daffodils are coming up. I see some growth here and there, but taking a photo of it would require a kneeling position on the cold grass and/or gravel and that ain’t gonna happen today.

It’s too early to clean out the garden beds as there as been mild frost the past two nights, so the leaf mulch must stay in place for a while longer. So no pretty pictures from the garden.

And really, do you want to see pictures of all the debris from the wind and falling limbs and that sort of thing that I raked up yesterday afternoon? I thought not. Actually, raking wore me out. I realize that I have to get back into gardening shape after a fairly sedentary winter. But it was so lovely to be outside on a cold, but sunny, day.

And certainly you don’t want to see pictures of me vacuuming every corner of the house, which is what I did after raking? No, of course you don’t.

This is the dilemma of the every-day-of-the-year blogger. Sometimes, life isn’t all that interesting. Or photogenic.

But I do have one little photo for you, snapped this morning in a moment of desperation.

This is where my tiny Wallace Nutting ended up. I couldn’t find the perfect place to hang it, at least not until I get a few more smallish Nuttings for the wall in the office. Then I’ll be able to insert it into a larger display. But I quite like it here on the shelf in the den, in front of the Nancy Drews. It works.

That copy of Anne of Green Gables  was my mother’s. I was lamenting the loss of some of my mother’s childhood books that were also a part of our childhood one day on the blog. They had lived on a shelf in our bedroom. Our estranged sister somehow ended up with a lot of them. When Meredith read the post, she remembered that she had some of Mom’s books, so she secretly sent them off in the mail and completely surprised me. I opened the package to find Anne, along with Mom’s copy of Daddy Long Legs, and one of my dad’s books. I’ll freely say that I cried. It was like a reunion with dearly loved friends.

I have the best sister.

Happy Sunday.

 

Egg Cups and Rabbits

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I heard the peepers last night. If you’re not from this area, peepers are tiny frogs that sing (called chorus frogs) in the early spring. Our neighbors have a smallish pond near the road, where a bullfrog resides, and as I walked upstairs last night to go to bed, I could hear them through the window. Oh, so lovely! And a true harbinger of spring. If you’re interested, I recorded them and the results are on my Instagram post from last night. Hearing them call to each other is magical. There’s also a little bullfrog in there, as well.

Eggcups, final edition. Let me say that I’m sure I’ve left some out, in fact, I know I have. But most of them have been displayed on the blog this week.

Some of these eggcups live in the china cabinet in the kitchen – the rest live in the cabinet in the den.

Starting from the left, a transferware, flow blue egg cup that I found in a shop – no markings, so I have no idea how old it is. The one in the middle (don’t you love the smile on that duck’s face?) was given to me by a Teresa, a reader of this blog. This was made out of what was called a Holland mold and hand painted by someone with the initials LH in 1958. He or she did a great job. This is one of my largest egg cups. On the right, a Delft egg cup, marked with the number 28. A gift from my mom.

A goose egg cup (one of my favorites) that I found in an antique shop. It’s marked: Sarreguemines, France, with the letter A. It has a lot of crazing, so I’m venturing that it’s fairly old. The next egg cup is one I found in San Diego at the shop, Vignettes. I love the colors. The wooden egg cup is one of a set of four sent to me by Barb, a reader of this blog. The darling chick egg cup was also sent to me by a reader – Judy.

Okay, in looking back through my blog to identify the names of the readers who so generously sent me egg cups, I see a few I’ve left out. Just have to find where I’ve ‘placed’ them. So I’ll be showing a few more tomorrow!

I posted about this next item on IG because my sister doesn’t do Instagram, but I had to hold off on the blog until the package arrived at her door, which it did – yesterday. Two years ago – yes, two – my sister handed me her Maggie Rabbit pattern/kit and asked me to make it for her because she didn’t have the time. I brought it back home with me.

And it sat.

I was eventually consumed with guilt and needed a project – I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything lately, I blame my need to read about Trump and his crimes – so I pulled it out. I have to say it was incredibly satisfying to make and I felt a calm come over me that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. (Since November 9, 2016, as a matter of fact.)

Here she is, Meredith’s Maggie Rabbit:

I found myself talking to her when I was making her. I was the kid who talked to my stuffed animals and my dolls and I still do.

I even brought my Maggie down from the bedroom to keep her company.

Mere’s Maggie is on the left, mine is on the right. I did a better job with Mere’s; having one already under my belt helped. This is a kit from Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, and it came with the pattern, felt, fabric, embroidery floss and yarn. She still makes the pattern, but no longer includes the supplies. While I was posting it on IG, a former student of mine named Michael, who, along with his husband, is a new father to a lovely little baby girl named Everly, said “I want one for my girl.” And he does. He also said that ‘”Aunt Claudia has to deliver it in person.” He lives in Los Angeles.

So I’m hanging onto the pattern and I will order the necessary supplies.

The best thing was that I knew Meredith would be completely surprised because she had most likely forgotten about the kit. She had. She was, I’m happy to say, thrilled to receive her Maggie. Just in time for Easter.

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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