miniatures — Page 37

Ready to Go

January 2, 2020 at 10:04 am by Claudia

Well, here we are in 2020, me in my flannel pajamas and my husband’s socks.

It’s a new year and we’re ready to go!

New Year’s Eve was quiet, as is our wont, and we had a lovely dinner and watched more of Unbelievable. We were in bed well before midnight, but I was awake for a while and heard the beginning of fireworks at midnight.

Today, some errands and, sadly, the Christmas tree has to be taken down. It’s very, very dry, so it’s time. And thankfully, I’m in the mood to take it down – I wasn’t before today. We’ve really loved this little tree, it’s been a beautiful beacon of wonder and light for over a month and we are so grateful for it. We’ll take it outside and place it in the woods for all the birds and animals.

And then I’ll vacuum for hours.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and Day.

By the way, I added to my Dollhouses/Minis section on the navigation bar. I realized that I only had Hummingbird Cottage and Don’s Studio up there, so I added some info about the Modern Dollhouse, Dove Cottage, and the two vintage dollhouses, which I’ll add to as I work on them. I decided to name the white vintage dollhouse in the den The Cabin, because I think of it as a slightly rustic retreat. I don’t have a name for the newest vintage dollhouse as yet – that will come in time – or the Modern Dollhouse – again, in time. Anyway, Barbara, one of the readers of this blog, asked me to post pictures of all the dollhouses and you can find them there.

Can you tell I’m in dollhouse mode?

Happy Thursday.

Dove Cottage & The New Year

December 31, 2019 at 10:05 am by Claudia

It rained (and even sleeted) all day yesterday, so I went upstairs to the office and worked on the dollhouse. I’d had an idea that painting the roof – even a preliminary coat – would help to define the stone exterior and that by doing so, I might like it more.

I have lots of photos of English stone cottages and they seem to have roofs that are dark in color – they may be some kind of slate for all I know. I hoped that I had some sort of dark color on hand, gray or black, that I could use without spending any money. Thankfully, I did.

I spent about 4 hours painting the shingles and I have to say, it’s the best thing to quell anxiety. I was in my happy place. This photo shows you a solid dark gray, but there are traces of the brown of the shingles showing through, which is what I wanted. I may age them more, but for now, here it is.

Painting it accomplished just what I wanted. The contrast shows off the stonework and I’m happy with the look.

We’re watching Unbelievable on Netflix. I sought it out because Barack Obama put it on his personal best of 2019 list. It’s based on a true story involving a serial rapist. I can’t say enough about the quality of the production. There are 8 episodes and we’re halfway through. Excellent.

What do we have planned today? I’m cleaning a bit, working on Dove Cottage. Don will no doubt practice his guitar. And Don is making the dinner we were going to have on Christmas but were too tired and full to make. I think we’ll appreciate it more tonight; it’s a calmer day all around. We’ll watch more of Unbelievable and then, I can guarantee it, we’ll go to bed early.

Happy New Year, my friends. I hope the coming year brings peace and joy and an end to the ongoing attack on human rights and civility and a new beginning on the path to healing and tolerance and good.

Happy Tuesday.

Stone Work

December 30, 2019 at 10:47 am by Claudia

The tree is still up. Do Christmas trees have a more intense scent as they begin to dry out? Because for the past few days, the scent has been much stronger. Anyway, we came downstairs this morning, turned on the tree lights and decided we would wait until New Year’s Day to take the tree down. We can’t quite say goodbye yet. I’ll miss seeing the tree from my chair in the den.

But we’ve had it up since December 1st, so January 1st seems like a good long run.

I spent about three hours up in the office working on the rescued dollhouse, Dove Cottage. The ‘stonework’ is slow going. Here is its current status:

I’ll try for a clearer picture today but it’s awfully dark out there as we’re into our second day of rain. I’m heartened by the fact that I was able to cut the stones to fit the curve of the doorway. I’m still not sure whether I like the whole thing, but I think when I paint the shingles, which might be sooner rather than later, and put the shutters up, the look of all that stone will be softened.

Dollhouses on the brain. That seems to be all I’m thinking about lately. That, and the high cost of living, which we have vowed to do something about this coming year. Budget. Budget. Budget. We’ve had a good couple of years, but it’s time to cut way back. We lost a lot of money this year with the changes to the tax laws. As you know, actors and performers and freelancers were royally screwed. We paid far more than either of us has ever paid in all our years of earning a living. Until the law is changed, that will be our reality and it’s a grim one. Cross your fingers for us; we both need to work more in 2020. And we’re ready, willing, and able!

I just might paint that roof today.

Happy Monday.

Ready to Go

Dove Cottage & The New Year

Stone Work

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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