Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Anniversary Recap, Hatpin Holders, Sister & Riley’s Tongue

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I couldn’t resist. As I was trying to capture a photo of the ever-elusive Riley the other day, his tongue came out at the exact moment I snapped the picture. What would be your caption for this photo? I have several ideas, but I will keep them to myself until I hear yours.

Thank you, sweet friends, for all the lovely anniversary wishes. They made our day! As I predicted, yesterday was spent raking, raking, raking and then more raking as we cleaned up the outside of MHC a bit. Of course, more leaves will fall, but the Maple in the front yard is almost bare. We’ve had a few windstorms lately that have hastened the process. We also cleaned out the gutters. Lots of fresh air and work makes for a good night’s sleep! Apart from the work outside, husband went into town and brought home Thai food for dinner. Ummmm! Love Pad Thai. As you know, Don does 98% of the cooking here and he wanted an evening off. Well deserved, I might add. Our anniversary was low-key and quite lovely.

Today I continue on my cleaning binge. I have a list and everything must be completed before my sister arrives on Thursday. We go to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, otherwise known as Rhinebeck, every October. It is this coming weekend. Meredith has been dealing with swine flu – both her boys have had it – and she needs a restful time at her sister’s! I adore her and can’t wait to see her. We laugh like crazy, the dogs get spoiled by their Aunt, we talk about everything under the sun, she gets to knit without distractions, we watch baseball and generally have a great time. Don is playing at a cafe on Friday night, so Mer will be able to hear him live.

My latest obsession, or about-to-be-obsession? Antique hatpin holders. I saw one that was going to go up for auction yesterday, and had Heidi bid on it, but it went for more than I was willing to pay. So I visited ebay – oh my gosh, there are so many beautiful hatpin holders! I see a new collection coming on!

Have a great day, my friends.

Adorable animals at Rhinebeck and other thoughts

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One of my favorite things about Rhinebeck is walking through the area where the animal pens are. These guys are so, so cute. There are lambs, sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, rabbits…all so adorable you can’t stand it! And I must admit, as a vegetarian, I don’t understand how anyone can look at one of the lambs and ever eat one again. My sister and I are always shocked at the line of people waiting to have lamb for lunch. We just shake our heads and quickly walk away. I know many people, in fact, most people, do not share my feelings on this subject. Someday I’ll share the story of my decision to commit to vegetarianism, but that is for another day. Pardon the blurriness of these photos. I think there is something wrong with my battery.

Look at those curls!

This sweetie is kissing my sister.

I wonder if my Lambchop knows she has a sister?

I want to take them all home!

There is frost on the ground today and I realize that my lovely potted impatiens on the porch are not long for this world. This always makes me a bit melancholy. Our trees have dropped huge amounts of leaves in the past few days and this week will find us raking, raking, and doing some more raking. We love our beautiful old trees – wouldn’t trade them – but the raking that comes along with them is a bit tedious.
I’ve resumed knitting my sweater. That little project had been shelved temporarily while I was traveling around the country. Since the yarn is super bulky, packing it in my little carry-on bag was not possible. But my sister, as always, had a project with her (a beautiful shawl knitted with Noro yarn), and I felt I had to rise to the occasion and do something.
By the way, I love having wireless! I am currently sitting in the den, tapping away on my keyboard while my husband is upstairs composing and using the computer. The only problem I have is posting photos on Blogger. If the wireless signal isn’t strong enough, I can’t post them. The same thing happened to me on the road. No big deal. I’ll save this and post them using the computer upstairs. The real problem is that I am still in my pajamas at 9:40 am and I haven’t exercised or eaten breakfast or done anything else!
More later…

Autumn in New York

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Isn’t there a song with that title? I think there is – if there isn’t, there should be. The last two weeks have been spectacular here with brilliant colors everywhere. My sister left today after visiting for a few days and I miss her already. We went to Woodstock for the day on Friday and had a great time. The sun was warm and golden as we walked through the streets and visited all the shops. Since my sister lives in Florida, she needs to get her dose of fall weather. We were raised in Michigan and grew up with fall = football games, back to school, and crisp leaves on the ground. I really missed this time of year when I was living in Southern California. It is our favorite season. It was so great to spend time with her, talking, knitting, sitting on the front porch, playing with the dogs (they love her) and going to our favorite event – The New York Sheep and Wool Festival!!! This annual event is held in Rhinebeck, NY, which just happens to be across the Hudson River from our little cottage. It attracts thousands of fiber artists from all over and is often just called “Rhinebeck” by knitters. I first discovered this mecca of yarn 3 years ago when I saw an article in the paper talking about it. I talked my husband into going with me and when we arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday my jaw dropped open when I saw how huge it was! We covered as much of the area as we could in the time we had and I immediately went home and called my sister and said “You have to come next year!” And she did! We thought she wouldn’t be able to come this year, but her plans changed and she came. The Dutchess County Fairground is filled with yarns, sheep, llamas, alpacas, looms, knitting needles, knitting supplies, rug hookers, hand-dyed yarns, you name it – its there. It is simply fantastic. I didn’t buy any yarn this year because I already have too much on hand that I haven’t used, but I did get a few treasures which I will share with you in another post. My sister got some great yarn and lots of treasures.

I have to say that I have never seen the Festival as crowded as it was this year! There was a several mile long back-up of cars traveling the road to the Fairground, and a long delay trying to leave at the end of the day. There were so many people that it became an athletic event trying to edge one’s way into and out of booths. But knitters are friendly, happy people and we struck up conversations with several people that we met. We emerged from the Festival after 5 hours of shopping, petting animals and eating to drive home and watch the Rays and the Red Sox play Game 6 of the ALCS. You see the problem, don’t you? The Rays are from Tampa (and my sister lives in a suburb of Tampa) and we are die-hard Red Sox fans. I have to hand it to my sister – she sat there cheering her Rays on, relatively quietly – while Don and I screamed for the Sox. The Sox won and we are ready for game 7 – tonight. May the best team win!
Today we had wireless installed so I can be online when Don is online. Now I can use the laptop at home – even on the porch. It will make life much simpler here at the cottage. The cottage is moving firmly into the 21st century, don’t you think?

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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