Thank you, little moth, for staying on the spirea for quite a long time. I enjoyed taking lots of pictures of you.

I also saw our friend, the Hummingbird Moth, flitting around the geraniums. And there’s been a steady stream of visitors to the birdbath. The temps have been quite warm and humid and they need some relief! Even the bees take a little drink from the birdbath. It’s the neighborhood pool.

I’d have loved to take some pictures of the frolicking birds with my telephoto lens, but alas, I don’t have one. Plans to buy one were scotched in favor of paying my dentist! There must be priorities, after all.

Starting my Christmas list right now.

It rained last night and we’re due for storms today. I’m anxiously awaiting a package from miniatures.com containing two hedges for the dollhouse roof. I thought it would be here yesterday, but no such luck! I’m terribly impatient when I’m waiting for a package – are you? If it isn’t here by the time I think it should be; well, it isn’t pretty.

I’m also anxiously awaiting my copies of American Miniaturist, so I can see Hummingbird Cottage’s spread in the August issue. Caroline is also experiencing some impatience. She wants to see her house in print!

I’m reminded of this print that we have on our bathroom wall:

It’s actually a card Don gave me long ago because it reminded him of Scout and Riley. It’s entitled “Waiting for Postie.” Very British.

That’s me at the moment – I’m waiting for postie.

Sneak peeks:

I have to say that I’m loving the ‘pea gravel’ more and more. Though it was a pain in the ass to execute, I think it looks great.

I’m already thinking about my next project, which will have to be on the smaller side. Mockingbird Hill Cottage is definitely on the smaller side, which means there’s only so much display space. Even thought I don’t want to admit it in the midst of all this summer splendidness, winter isn’t that far off, and winter is the perfect time to work on a new dollhouse.

Ideas, ideas – I’ve got a lot of them.

Happy Wednesday.

The roof garden. What would the surface look like?

I’ve long had the idea percolating in my brain of using some sort of crushed stone, rather like pea gravel. My first thought was to use aquarium gravel and I bought some, thinking I would put it in a bag and crush it into tiny pieces with a hammer.

It wouldn’t crush. Entirely uncrushable.

Then, on a dollhouse site, I came across Ballast  which came packaged in a little bag. I bookmarked the site and finally ordered some while I was in Chautauqua. But the mix of grey colors I preferred was out of stock, so I tried a medium gray. When it arrived the other day, I realized it wouldn’t work. It was all the same color. At the same time, I remembered that ballast was exactly what my dad used along the tracks of his model railroad. (FYI: He had an extensive model railroad at one time that extended throughout the basement. I guess the miniaturist apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.)

Bingo. I googled model trains and ballast. And there was the mix of gray I wanted – in a shaker, no less! I ordered it and it arrived a day later. I got it from Train Sets Only – great customer service, very fast shipping.

There’s more here than I’ll ever need. Unless we build a model railroad.

Yesterday, I cut some heavy duty paper to fit the open space on the roof and covered it with glue. Then I started shaking. The ballast, that is.

Oh man. What a pain it was. I started this project in the kitchen and, after inadvertently shaking a lot of it on the floor, I decided I’d better take it outside. When I was finally finished, I glued the ballast-covered paper to the roof of the dollhouse. Then I set it with hair spray. (I have to re-glue one area today as I see some of the paper didn’t stick.) I read a tutorial on all of this last year and I remember bookmarking it, but danged if I can find it! But I do remember the tutorial said it was better to glue the crushed rock onto a piece of paper, rather than directly onto the wood.

There it is.

You know, sometimes when I’m doing this sort of thing, I panic a little. Am I ruining what I’ve already created? What if I don’t like it?

I experienced that feeling several times last night. Is it going to be too busy up there on the roof? Is it going to draw attention away from the dollhouse itself?

Then I remind myself that I can remove everything if I don’t like it.

A sneak peek.

I don’t want all that furniture visible when looking at the front of the house, so I’m going to add some hedges along the wrought iron trim. They’ll be here in a couple of days.

Still a wee bit on the fence, but I think it’s going to work.

Some real flower photos for you:

The hydrangeas are huge this year. Big, fat, lush blossoms.

I’m about 2 weeks late on this, but the winner of a copy of Ruthless  is Linda! Congratulations!

Happy Friday.

My view as I sat on the glider yesterday morning, chatting with my husband. Oh boy, was it humid out there! The healthy, lush look of the impatiens and the scaevola are a testament to Don’s diligent attention to watering while I was away. I gave him a schedule and he kept to it. In fact, he asked me if he could continue watering the plants because he likes it.

Umm….an emphatic yes!

He also swept up debris and hosed down the bluestone floor of the porch late in the day yesterday.

What a guy.

The container plants on the patio are doing just fine. They need a little watering here and there, but basically, they thrive without much attention.

The yarrow that self-seeded in the main garden bed a couple of years ago, was so top heavy that it had drooped down to the ground. So I got another one of the trellises from Lowe’s and tucked the yarrow into the openings. Much better. Love the height and graphic look it gives to the garden.

And the trellis is inexpensive and a good investment. I’ll use it again and again.

Coneflowers are about to open. I have them everywhere in the garden beds; easy maintenance, self-seeding, long-lasting. Last year (I guess I was bored that day) I counted the number of coneflowers and the final count was over 200. I imagine there will be even more this year.

I’ve done a little tweaking on the dollhouse.

Don once mentioned that I didn’t have enough artwork hanging on the walls of the bedroom. He’s got an eye, that one. I filed that observation away and recently took steps to remedy the situation.

I bought this framed Van Gogh print, “Starry Night #2 – Rhone River.” Caroline and I both love Van Gogh and the gold frame nicely echoes the metallic frame on the mirror. You’ll also see the silver double frame I bought in Chautauqua in its new home on the dresser.

I moved the smaller painting that had been on that wall over to its new position between the windows.

And I added one more new print:

“Moulin Rouge” by Toulouse Lautrec.

The cushions have been added to the wicker chair.

And someone is exploring his new home. Meet Boo. That was the name I had already picked out and then one of you – was it Nancy? – suggested that very same name in the comment section.

Ironically, I believe that’s one of Scout’s dog hairs to the right. (She’s already staked her claim on the dollhouse.)

Don got up before me (a very rare occurrence) and Scout is out on the porch with him. I miss that little scamp. We’ll have to make up for it with some tunnel time later in the day.

Happy Thursday.