Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Day One Hundred Seven

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This puzzle is kicking my butt at the moment.

It will get better.

It rained most of the day yesterday and we are so grateful! More rain is on the docket for this afternoon; thunderstorms most likely. As I write this, Don is preparing to do some work outside, hoping to get some time in before the rain comes. Right now, it’s sunny and a bit humid.

We watched the documentary on James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro  last night. It’s available on Netflix. It’s so powerful. It also tells me that American hasn’t progressed much since the time he speaks of most often, the sixties and seventies. And that is heartbreaking. I recommend it highly. It has sparked a lot of conversation around here and will continue to do so.

I’m completely into Where the Crawdad Sings  now. I just need to give it some time. I’ll share more of my thoughts when I’ve finished it – I’m about half-way through.

Since I am now a one video veteran of IGTV, I did one this morning on Hummingbird Cottage. I’ve found that using my iPhone to take a video allows for more detail. (It also shows me everything I would do differently in the future!) Anyway, it’s a bit longer than yesterday’s video, but I hope you like it. Everyone loves the dollhouse posts, so I thought it would be fun to do one now, several years after I completed the house. You can find it on Instagram. If you don’t do IG, go to my sidebar and scroll down to the Instagram widget. You can click on the latest post (the video tour) there.

I’m going to work on the the English Cottage today. I need to get back to work on those darned stones.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Day One Hundred One

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I know this looks much like a photo I posted last week, but it’s slightly different in that the hydrangea blossoms are getting whiter.

We need some rain and every day we get a ‘chance of a stray thunderstorm’ in the weather forecast – but nothing really happens. We had some thunder over the weekend with about 30 seconds of rain. It’s been over a week since we mowed and the grass has barely grown. And the temperatures through the first week in July are going to be in the high eighties and low nineties.

I guess we’ve gone right to “Summer: the August version.”

I’m going to water the seedlings and pots right after I post this. We have a grocery pickup later on this afternoon.

It’s a bit harder for us to enjoy lockdown when it’s too hot to work outside. We’re doing our best. I know that Don will eventually head out there and I’ll have to drag him back inside at some point. The humidity and pollen aren’t good for my allergies, so I am more inclined to stay inside.

I was sitting in my chair yesterday writing this blog and I heard the sound of something falling in the dollhouse. This happens every so often when the tacky wax that attaches things to walls loses its stickiness. It happened recently with the Beatles canvas that hangs above the sofa in Don’s studio. (I’ve yet to fix it.) Anyway, late in the day I remembered that something had fallen and I turned the dollhouse around to see what it was.

Nothing.

I looked at everything. It was all in place.

I looked again. Nothing.

Do you think there’s a ghost in Caroline’s old victorian house?

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Day Seventy-Three

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“Day Seventy-Three” also means seventy-three days without a speck of makeup. Normally, I only wear makeup these days when I’m going out to see friends or work and sometimes when I go out shopping. Since I’m not doing any of these things nowadays and when I shop, I have a mask on – no makeup required.

I took this just after the rain ended on Saturday. It’s so green out there!

Much more work has been done on the puzzle:

As you can see, I’m in the final stretch. This part is the most difficult because it consists of blobs of paint indicating the stones/cobblestones/tiles. Don said to me yesterday “You’ll get it.” And I will. I have another one ready to start after I finish the Van Gogh.

You might remember me saying I went to the post office the other day. I went there to pick up two packages that were waiting for me. They had been sitting there for a while but I’m sure you understand that our very small post office is not conducive to crowd control. Anyway, I waited until yesterday to open them.

The white boxes are furniture kits from the now-defunct House of Miniatures. I have several of these and I can always use more. Plus, there are a few that I’ve not seen before. These are a generous gift from a reader of the blog, Anne. Thank you so, so much, Anne! They will be put to good use.

On the bottom are five 1000-piece puzzles, courtesy of reader Terri. Having already put these together, she asked if I would like her to pass them on to me! YES! Several of them are book covers – for Pulitzer Prize winners, children’s books, C.S. Lewis, etc. That makes me happy! And the other is a New Yorker cover about books. I now have six puzzles at the ready. Thank you so much, Terri. As I wrote her this morning, she’s helping maintain my sanity!

As always, I am humbled by the generosity of my readers. Thank you for being there for me. It means more than I can say.

Today we celebrate Memorial Day; which, to my mind, should be a somewhat solemn occasion. After all, we’re honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country – which serves as a stark contrast to the pictures I’ve seen of people partying on barges and at the beach with no social distance whatsoever. Sacrifice? They don’t seem to understand the meaning of that word. Coupled with the contrast of yesterday’s front page of The New York Times, listing many of the names of those who have lost their lives in the pandemic, while That Man golfed and once again, expressed no regret or sadness or one iota of compassion, it is a sad day indeed.

I hope you find some peace and beauty today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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