On The Road — Page 89

The Chicken Wire Fence Garden

September 6, 2013 at 9:06 am by Claudia

zinniagarden

This little garden gives me enormous pleasure. I call it by various names; the garden next to the dog corral, the narrow garden, the zinnia garden, the chicken wire fence garden. It’s just a little strip of soil that I carved out last year in order to grow some flowers from seed. This year the whole thing is rather late blooming. I think that’s why I like it so much. When the rest of the gardens have declined and I’m thinking summer is over, along comes this little show-off.

morninggloryscout

The dog corral is made of chicken wire. It’s about as basic as you can get. Planting these flowers along the fence line adds a casual, farm-like feel to the property. This year I added some morning glory seeds and there are buds all over the place, soon to be blooming. But not until I’m back in Hartford, I fear.

Don has instructions to get out his iPhone and take lots of pictures.

I also have a sunflower that will bloom soon. I planted a lot of sunflower seeds and only one came up.

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greencritter

Hello, little guy.

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Next year I want to add more of these narrow beds next to the fence line. I dream of morning glories blooming all along the chicken wire fence. It would certainly add a lot of charm to Scoutie’s dog corral, wouldn’t it?

I like old-fashioned plants. Old-fashioned in the best way, of course. Lilac bushes, rose bushes, zinnias, morning glories, hollyhocks. I like gardens that look like they sprang up and went a wee bit crazy much more than carefully manicured spaces. I admire those gardens and love looking at them, but they’re not me. I’m a cottage gal. And that means, for me, a bit of joyous abandon.

Scout and I spent the day together yesterday as Don had to go into the city for a little voice-over work for the American Experience/PBS program. By the way, we think it’s going to air sometime in November. I’ll keep you posted, of course. Anyway, it was a gorgeous day and my little girl and I had a lovely time. She doesn’t eat right when I’m gone and I’m just now getting her back on track. But it’s sort of pointless as I am returning to Hartford today and it will all go out the window. She was so happy yesterday when Don returned and all three of us were together. It breaks my heart to have to leave her again. It’s too much for her, all this coming and going.

It’s too much for me.

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Goodbye little cottage and sweet family. It’s back to work for me.

Three more weeks to go.

Happy Friday.

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A Not-So-Blank Canvas

August 31, 2013 at 8:43 am by Claudia

It’s a holiday weekend, but not for me. I work today and tomorrow. Monday is just another day off, since it’s always our day off. So I will continue to merrily tap away on the keyboard of my laptop and write posts to share with you.

I suppose if one wanted to call it that, I have a logo. Or to use Big Bloggers’ Speak: a Brand. I’m talking about that little lamb with the party hat that you see in my header and on my watermark. It’s also on my blog/etsy business card. I certainly didn’t create it with a plan in mind. I just took a picture some 4 years ago of a little lamb and the party hat I created for her.

But she stuck. She wormed her way into my heart. She landed in a couple versions of the header I used on the Blogger version of this blog. When I made the move to WordPress, I decided to go with clean and simple and there she is, right there among the letters that spell out Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

Well, all this recent talk about that little partying lamb got me thinking. Look what arrived yesterday:

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I ordered a wrapped canvas version of my photo.

My stars! I’m in love.

It’s 16 x 20 inches. There was a special offer from this particular company and I got it on sale. At deep discount.

I like whimsy. This, to me, is exceedingly whimsical. I might hang it in my studio at home. Or in the den where I blog. I’m not sure. I just know I thought it would be really cool to have a canvas version of My Little Lamb with the Party Hat. I’ve never had a canvas version of one of my photos. This might well become addictive.

I decided to hang it on an already established hook here in the apartment. I’m sure the landlord here wouldn’t appreciate me adding a largish hole to the wall. Little pinholes, fine. Big ones? A no no.

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She’s hanging above my desk, where I can see her as I blog and surf the web and type up notes for the actors. She is making me smile on this early Saturday morning and that’s no small thing. I’m still groggy with sleep and I’m in the midst of my morning coffee ration. As Don knows, getting any sort of reaction out of me when I first get up is tricky at best.

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Love, love, love this canvas. I ordered it from this company. It was created and shipped within a couple of days of placing my order. It took about 3 days to arrive here in Hartford.

Here she is this morning:

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There are different options available as to the actual wrap, but I chose to have the photo on top of the canvas and to have the sides wrapped in aqua.

Is this temporary apartment in danger of becoming too warm and cute and cheery?

Nope. I need all the warm and cute and cheery I can get.

Happy Saturday.

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Hand Quilting, Scout and Moving On Stage

August 30, 2013 at 9:08 am by Claudia

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I have to admit, I haven’t been getting as much hand quilting done as I would like to. In fact, I’ve only had one stab at it this week. I’ve been getting home around 7:30 and, after making some dinner and tending to blog comments and emails, I have been too pooped to tackle it. My eyes get tired from following along in the script, writing tons of notes for the actors, and sitting at the computer screen.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

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I’m going to hand quilt random, interlocking, different-sized circles all over the quilt top. A simple design and that’s fine by me. I like to do something curvy when a quilt is very linear in design. The circles will also spill into the white borders on each of the blocks. I started in the center and will work my way outward. Today I will have some pockets of free time and I’m looking forward to a bit of meditative stitching. Looks like rain today.

Sob. I finished watching the last episode of House of Cards last night. It’s so, so good! Now I have to find something else to watch and, thankfully, several of you have made suggestions! I’ll have to go back and read them all. We had our last rehearsal in the rehearsal room and both run-throughs went very well. Today, La Dispute moves onstage with what is called a spacing rehearsal. The director and actors spend time adjusting to the set and the demands of the set. I’ll drop by to check on their voices in the space and offer advice as to the vocal adjustments that have to be made.

I thought I’d share a photo of Scout when she was here in the park a couple of weeks ago. Look closely and witness the hyper, slightly crazed expression on her face. She didn’t want to stay still and she definitely didn’t want me to hold her in place. She wants to get going! She makes me laugh, that little sprite. At the age of 14½, she is still up for adventure. Gosh, I miss her so much.

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Maybe Don and Scout can come for a visit next week? Fingers crossed.

Happy Friday.

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The Chicken Wire Fence Garden

A Not-So-Blank Canvas

Hand Quilting, Scout and Moving On Stage

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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