Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Much Better

May 16, 2019 at 10:11 am by Claudia

The lobelia that I’ve planted in several porch pots is taking off rather nicely. This is a quick pic that I took when I ventured out to the porch, walking slowly and carefully, favoring my back. My back, which I’m happy to report, is much better today! Glory be!

Though it will probably be a mixture of sun and clouds today, it’s sunny right now and I’ll take it. I never made it out to the porch yesterday, other than to water plants. No sitting on the glider. But I will remedy that today.

The grass is way too long due to all the rain. Don will have to mow this week. I think I should wait a week to tackle the lawn and so does Don. So, I’ve given him his instructions: the front lawn has to be mowed today because it’s going to rain tomorrow. And if we wait until after tomorrow, it will be impossible to mow.

Carol, a reader of this blog, sent me something in the mail, all the way from Alberta, Canada.

Another copy of Mockin’ Bird Hill,  this time with Patti Page on the cover. Isn’t it lovely? We have two now – the other one has Les Paul and Mary Ford on the cover. We’re going to frame them.

Thank you so much, Carol! We love it and very much appreciate your generous gift.

I’m having the best time reading Beverley Nichols’ A Thatched Roof.  It’s absolutely charming and I’ve lost track of the times I’ve chuckled out loud.  Lucky for me, I have another one in this particular series waiting on the shelf, and there are four more ‘house in the country’ books that he wrote, as well. They hearken back to a seemingly simpler time, though we know that nothing is ever as simple as it appears, and the combination of an eccentric mix of characters and life in the countryside is right up my alley.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: books, flowers, gifts, reading 26 Comments

Rain, Reading & Rest

May 14, 2019 at 9:37 am by Claudia

And so it continues. Yesterday afternoon, I stood up from my chair, thrust the phone between the slats of the blinds, and took this picture.

Rain, rain, go away. You won. Most days this spring have been rainy. Our well is full. Please move on.

Now.

It’s actually not raining at the moment, but it will start up again this afternoon.

One comfort: our cold temperatures will move on tomorrow. This is the last day of this nonsense. Our neighbors who live at higher elevations have woken up to snow for the past two days. So, I’ll only complain a little bit. I’ll be quite happy to see somewhat higher temperatures and I’ll be even happier when I can move around enough to brave the outside and check in on the gardens.

As Don said this morning, “Well, if you have to be resting your back, it might as well be on a rainy day.” He’s right.

More forget-me-nots appearing hither and yon. This time, between the pavers on the funky patio. One of my favorite things about gardening is the magic of self-seeders. Coneflowers are that way – for years, they have appeared in unexpected places on the property. The same with yarrow, which self-seeded from the big garden bed (and subsequently disappeared from that bed) to the little patch where I plant my seeds. For the past two years, they have self-seeded in the corral. Big patches of them! I love that. So, now I mow around them, letting them grow and flower.

This year, the forget-me-nots have moved to surprising places; the above-mentioned pavers, the gravel, the little hill that leads to the corral, and there are several in the memorial garden – fitting, I think. It’s as if they know where to go.

I’m reading several books at the moment; continuing with Paris in Winter,  adding in some Beverley Nichols books that I had waiting for me on the shelf. Have you ever read Beverley Nichols? He wrote the most delightful books about gardening in England. They were written in the thirties and forties. Nichols was a prolific author; writing fiction, non-fiction, children’s stories, plays – he counted Noel Coward among his friends – and had a flat in London along with a country house. The first country house was a thatched cottage. He eventually wrote about three different country cottages.  The first in the Allways (the fictional name for his cottage) trilogy is Down the Garden Path. The next – which I’ve just started – is A Thatched Roof.  

I should be living in England, you know. I’ve always thought that. If not England, then Paris, please. Both Don and I are about as British (ancestry-wise) as you can get and both of us started our careers acting in British plays. Don excels at British farces, especially the plays of Alan Ayckbourn; I was very good at Noel Coward. Both of use just knew in our bones how to do those pieces. I could do a cracker-jack of a British accent when I was in junior high school.

Let’s face it, we’re both Anglophiles.

Anyway, another day of back rest and rain. So books to read and some hot chocolate should come in handy.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: books, flowers, garden, rain, reading 39 Comments

Monday Morning

April 29, 2019 at 9:32 am by Claudia

99% of the time, having a blog is a wonderful and rewarding occupation. But that 1%? A pain in the tush. I won’t linger on my technical problems yesterday, except to say they took up most of the day. Three different times I was on the phone with my host and, after painstakingly describing what was going on with the technician working hard to figure out the problem, the call failed. I would have to call them back, this time with a new technician because there was no way for them to contact the person I had just been speaking to  and I would have to start all over again. Cue Claudia’s scream.

It’s still not quite solved, but one of the side effects of all the technical stuff going on was that trying to leave a comment took you to an error page and I didn’t realize that was happening until mid-afternoon. Another call to my host and the problem was solved.

The result of all of this was a stressful day because – and I admit this – when something goes wrong with the blog that I don’t understand and can’t correct myself, I get very tense.

Plus it rained all day long.

Anyway, I’m back today. And though rain was predicted for this morning, it’s sunny out, so I’m going to grab the opportunity to do some work outside.

However, I had to bring the pansies, lavender and Boston fern inside on Saturday because of the high winds and they remained inside yesterday and last night because the temperature went down to 31 degrees. We had frost this morning. And it’s nearly May.

A very strange Spring, that’s for sure.

I finished the Donna Leon and ended up enjoying it, but as some of you have mentioned, I had to read a great deal of the book before I got hooked. Since I have another Leon from my local library sitting on my coffee table, I’m going to go for it. We’ll see if the same thing happens.

Happy Monday.

 

Filed Under: blog, flowers, garden, reading 20 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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