Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You are here: Home / Archives for porch

Saturday Morning

at by

Pretty porch views from this very morning.

It’s a lovely day. Right now, it’s about 72 degrees which would be a perfect high for the day. But it’s going to be about 88 degrees, so there you go. Nevertheless, it wasn’t nearly as humid this morning as it was yesterday morning. As we sat on the porch for our second cup of coffee we were greeted with birds singing, sunlight, and a slight breeze.

Both of us were outside yesterday spraying water on the whiteflies. Don insisted on helping me, which was much appreciated. He also mowed the lilac side of the lawn. We did a lot outside and by the end of the day we were so tuckered out that we deliberately watched a movie that we knew was going to be laughably bad: The Brain that Wouldn’t Die   found on TCM On Demand.

Oh my heavens. It really was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I won’t even go into the plot, what little there was. It was so amateurish – and that’s not being fair to most amateur filmmakers who would do a much, much better job of it – that we were laughing out loud for most of the movie.

Also from this morning: a spotlight on the hydrangeas.

I finished When Will There Be Good News?  this morning. Kate Atkinson is such  a good writer! And now I’m starting on the next, Started Early, Took My Dog (perhaps my favorite book title ever.) I put a hold on two others through our inter-county library system; her first Jackson Brodie mystery, Case Histories, and her newest, Big Sky, which was just published.

Don’s off to take some portraits. I’m going to do a little gardening and weed whacking. But not too much, as my allergies continue to be a pain in the tush.

I hope all is well with you.

Happy Saturday.

 

Elevators and Little Z

at by

Yesterday was beautiful and I spent a fair amount of time on the porch until the breeze became a bit more intense and pollen flew everywhere. The rain is supposed to hold off until sometime this afternoon and right now it’s sunny.

I’ll take it.

We had a FaceTime chat with Little Z yesterday. He is obsessed with elevators and knows pretty much everything about them. He’s smart as a whip, you know, and listening to him rattle off his knowledge is pretty darned amazing.

Don and I were telling him about the elevators that were around when we were kids, the kind that had actual elevator operators. We told him all about their uniforms and the little seat that came out from the wall of the elevator so the operator could sit if needed. We talked about the J.L. Hudson department store in downtown Detroit (and department stores across the country,) where the operator would announce the departments that were on a particular floor, so you knew what floor to go to for a certain item. Don talked about the famous outdoor elevator which was on the El Cortez building in San Diego.

This morning Don sent Z lots of photos and a newsreel about the El Cortez elevator. Z loved it,

As expected, Don and I chatted about it during this morning’s second cup of coffee. Everything is so impersonal these days. No more elevator operators (you just felt safer on an elevator when they were in charge,) no more gas stations where your gas was pumped, your oil was checked, your windows were cleaned and your tires were checked. I know they still pump gas in New Jersey, but I don’t think they do the other stuff. (Correct me if I’m wrong!) Robots doing jobs that real people used to do. And we all know how frustrating it is to get any sort of customer service on the phone. I could go on and on, but it’s a very different world nowadays. And a great deal has been lost because of it.

Don is off to take some portraits today. He did that yesterday, as well. Last week he took a photo of Chris Hayes (of MSNBC) and his family and friends. He has a house in our area.

The porch is looking good. The potted flowers are filling out and growing by leaps and bounds. It’s our summertime haven.

Happy June. May we have less rain please? And Happy Anniversary to my parents, who were married on June 1, 1946. What I wouldn’t give to call them up and wish them a happy anniversary!

Happy Saturday.

 

Simply Beautiful

at by

Yesterday was, to put it simply, the most beautiful Memorial Day I can remember. The skies were brilliantly sunny, the temps were in the mid-seventies with no humidity, and the gentlest of breezes was accompanied by the faint sounds of the wind chimes.

It was so, so lovely.

We sat out on the porch much of the day, trying our best to be in the present moment, relaxing together, reading, Don occasionally playing his guitar. We felt tremendous gratitude for our house (a seemingly impossible goal for many, many years,) our gardens, our porch, our relationship and marriage, for the bird song which was unceasing all day long – for everything.

And we blessed those who were lost to the unspeakable tragedy of war.

We took a walk on the rail trail later in the day.

I suppose I need not say that we stop and stare at our new sofa countless times each day. Because we do. More gratitude.

Don had expected to spend the afternoon taking portraits, just as he did on Sunday. But at the last minute, he decided he needed to rest. We’ve been awfully busy this past week and, on top of that, Don has spent several hours in the sun over the course of a few days, camped out with his table display, hoping to get some customers. And he has. But the hours spent waiting are tedious and he was just plain exhausted yesterday. I’m glad he took the day off.

I hope you had a lovely day yesterday.

From the Memorial Garden, this teeny tiny little bee on a geranium. These flowers are about an inch wide, so you can imagine how tiny the bee was. I cropped the original photo.

It’s my favorite time of the year. Speaking of that, I’ve noticed the peony buds are getting larger, which means they’ll bloom – like clockwork, it never fails – during the first week of June.

Happy Tuesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives