Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for miniatures

Little and Big Things

August 30, 2018 at 10:40 am by Claudia

The humidity continues but it is supposed to break sometime today or tonight.

Please?

Since I stayed indoors yesterday, I got a lot done around the house. Remember, I’m always more efficient when Don isn’t here and he was in the city yesterday. Also – my part of the deductions is finished, Don’s in the middle of putting his part together and we will be done on time. Ta dah!

My friend Barbara, a reader of this blog, recently contacted me and asked if I wanted her Arthur dollhouse kit, as she had never used it. If you remember, I need replacement parts for my rescued dollhouse, which is an Arthur. Yes, I said! So she sent them off to me and the other day I went to the post office and there was a big package from Barbara.

All of the Arthur components. Yay!

Being Barbara, she also added a few little gifts.

A beautiful painting that looked kind of familiar. As I turned it over I saw this:

Wallace Nutting! Perfect.

On a side note, if you look to the right, you’ll get an idea of the globs of glue I need to remove from this dollhouse.

A sweet stool with pretty flowers on the seat.

And two charming plates.

Thank you so much, Barbara! For everything!

Yesterday, I started to address the glaringly empty mantel/shelf that is over my desk. It used to hold many of my figural egg cups.

Here’s what I came up with:

The beginning of shelf full of sheep. There are four putz sheep and one little sheep, most likely from a nativity scene. (Putz sheep were also used in nativity scenes.) The one in the middle is the official Lamb With a Party Hat that I bought in California many years ago. I made a hat for her and she became the logo for this blog.

I look forward to collecting more sheep and adding them to the shelf.

Our Big News

Here’s what’s on the docket for October. We celebrate 20 years of marriage on October 12th. Considering we didn’t meet until we were in our forties, 20 years is quite a big deal for us. This year has been both incredible and heartbreaking and we want to finish it off on a positive note.

So…we’re going to London and Paris with a stop in Edinburgh and we’re in the midst of planning it right now. We’re going to make our flight reservations tomorrow. We figure we’ll be gone about 2½ weeks, maybe a bit longer. We’re so excited!!!

We have been discussing this for a long time, trying to pin down where exactly we want to go. Last week we suddenly changed the itinerary to Paris and Venice, which would also be wonderful. But we ended up changing it back to London and Paris. If we can afford another trip in the future, we’d love to do Venice, Budapest, Prague, etc. This morning we firmed up a lot of details, now we just have to sit down tomorrow and figure out travel times, how many days in each city, and book the flights.

It’s a big, big deal for us as we don’t have a lot of discretionary income and this may end up being a one-time-only sort of trip. If so, we figured London and Paris were the places we simply had  to visit. A romantic anniversary in Paris sounds pretty darned wonderful.

Since this is coming out of my inheritance, I thank my mom and dad for this opportunity for Don and I to travel to Europe together.

We’d love to hear where you’ve stayed, what you suggest we see, any tips on reasonable hotels, etc. I haven’t been to London since 2001 and that trip was with my students and it was planned for us. The one thing that Don and I want to do is explore the cities and walk a lot. Yes, we want to see certain well known tourist attractions, but our main focus will be on discovering little side streets and cafes and the architecture and beauty of each city. And we’ll see a couple of plays while we’re in London, as well.

Cannot wait!

Happy Thursday.

 

 

 

Filed Under: anniversary, dollhouse, miniatures, On The Road 70 Comments

Is it Thursday Already?

January 11, 2018 at 10:30 am by Claudia

Is it Thursday already? The weeks seem to fly by.

Some random photos of the house, taken yesterday afternoon:

My rather cluttered office with the box containing a new modem still unopened after 3 months.

Vintage plant stand (found at my neighbor’s barn sale) in the office. Those two plants – the pothos and the spider plant – were once tiny little grocery store plants that I bought to put in my apartment in Hartford. They have grown so much since then and they’re hassle-free. This little corner houses extra pots and potting soil, waterers and saucers.

Don’s mini studio. That fireplace remains one of my favorite creations – I’m still chuffed when I look at it.

And a look at the piano, a piece that is so filled with family memories that it will always be priceless.

Though it desperately needs a tuning. I can’t even stand to play it, it’s so out of tune.

Coming soon.

Don had a jam session with some local musicians last night and he got to play his dream electric guitar. It’s on his “I’m saving up for it” list. I want him to get it because it’s in my favorite colors, turquoise and white. There’s a picture of it on his Instagram account, which you can find here. His IG account name is: @donsroadtrip.

Tonight? Either Mudbound  or Lady Bird.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: Don, houseplants, miniatures, office, piano 24 Comments

Batteries and Movies and Minis

December 16, 2017 at 8:55 am by Claudia

I’ve been sticking close to home while the remnants of this ‘whatever-it-is’ are still hanging around. I’m finally feeling stronger and have more energy, so I was looking forward to getting out and running some errands yesterday. Don left the house first, then about 10 minutes later, I went out the door, only to find that the battery on my car had died. It was unbelievably cold out and I tried and tried, but I finally went back inside and texted Don and then called our emergency road service. About an hour after that, a guy arrived who jumped started the battery and then I spent the next hour at Mavis Discount Tire (about two miles from our house) where they replaced the battery.

Curses! Since my dad gave us this car, I had no idea how old the battery was, so my instinct was to just get a new one and then the guys at the shop confirmed it was bad, so now it’s a done deal.

A day spent on car problems is never a fulfilling day.

More pictures of Caroline’s abode. There are some pine boughs on the cabinet by the door.

Another view of the den.

Caroline drinks her coffee in bed.

Caroline’s new shoes, some macarons from Ladurée, and some Jane Austen.

One of the very first pieces that I purchased for the dollhouse. The wood was dark and shiny, like a lot of dollhouse furniture out there and the cushions were white satin. I painted and aged it, and then I reupholstered the cushions.

For those of you who are newer readers, this was a rescue dollhouse. I bought it for $30 and it was in pretty bad shape. It had been assembled incorrectly and there was water damage on the bottom floors. I rehabbed the whole structure inside and out and then proceeded to decorate it. It took about six years. I didn’t rush it and it was a sharp learning curve, but I really enjoyed the whole process. And so many of the pieces came from friends and blog readers. It’s a true labor of love.

Anyway, if you’re new and you’re curious, there’s a dollhouse category on the navigation bar just under the title of this blog. You can click that and read the whole story. I’ve also built and decorated a house for Don (his mini studio) which I gave him on his 65th birthday. And I’m starting, but just barely, a modern structure.

We watched one of my favorite movies ever last night – The Shop Around the Corner, starring Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan and a host of great character actors. I can’t begin to estimate how many times I’ve seen it, but let’s just say I know every inch of it. Then we got caught up in the next movie, Holiday Affair, starring a young Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey. The real star, to Don and me, was the young boy who played her son. He was incredible – such a natural screen presence!

We couldn’t get over how honest and charming his work was. So, after the movie, I googled his name – Gordon Gebert – and found out that he had gone to become an architect and has taught architecture at City College in New York for years. He’s married to a professor at Vassar, and lives just across the river from us in Poughkeepsie! Go figure! It’s so nice to read about a child actor who grew into a well adjusted adult. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should watch it someday just to see his performance.

Okay. Have to go and run those darned errands!

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures, movies 36 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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