Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Wild Roses

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Blazing hot yesterday, over twenty degrees cooler today.

I snapped this quickly this morning. It’s my favorite time of year in the Secret Garden; lots of wildflowers everywhere and off in the background, you can see the wild roses beginning to bloom. It needs to be mowed, but my goodness, it’s magical.

We’re going to attempt some mowing today, but it might rain this morning with storms in the afternoon. I’m definitely going to head out to weed after I write this post.

Today would have been my parents’ 76th wedding anniversary. They lived to celebrate 66 years together before my mom passed away. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Since it was so hot and humid yesterday, except for watering all of the plants, I stayed inside. I started a jigsaw puzzle, but I was very careful. I worked for 15 minutes at a time, then I’d get up and do something else. Just a little bit of work here and there. I’m very conscious of my back and I immediately correct if I find I’m leaning too far forward.

I couldn’t do any work on the dollhouse as there is no air conditioner in our office. We used to have one, but it died, and we haven’t felt the need to replace it.

I had a little job offer yesterday. My former colleague from Hartford Stage is the new Artistic Director of the Geva Theater Center in Rochester, NY. Or will be soon. She was Darko’s Associate Artistic Director for several years. You might remember that my last coaching job right before lockdown was on her production of Jane Eyre. She is remounting that production (which closed early due to COVID) as her opening production in the new season. So I’ll be doing the dialect coaching. Much of it will be done via Zoom, but I’ll work at least two days in Rochester, presumably for a run-through and a preview. Anyway, it’s a modest amount of money, but we can sure use it. And it’s a job! It will start sometime in August.

Now we need to get Don an acting job. It’s been close to three years since he’s had any work. He needs to act. He needs to know he is still viable at this age. His confidence could use a boost. Cross your fingers for him.

Okay, my friends. I have some work to do outside.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

The Secret Garden, Books, and Pippa

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Yesterday morning in the Secret Garden. Wildflowers are springing up everywhere. There’s lots of fleabane and some wild phlox. It’s very, very wet there as we’ve had so much rain!

Wild phlox popping up in the rock garden.

Aside from mowing and planting the vintage pots, I haven’t done much else in this space. I’m debating whether to pull some of the weird grass that pops up in the path that leads to The Dude. Do I get in there and get rid of it, or do I just leave it there? No one can answer that question but me. And I’m feeling lazy at the moment.

It was incredibly hot and humid yesterday and, after some great time on the porch in the early morning, we stayed in. Both of us said that the combination of heavy humidity and pollen was making us feel tired and foggy-brained. I know that I felt completely out of it on both Saturday and Sunday. Later in the day, while talking to my sister on the phone, a big storm rolled in – though thankfully, not as big as the storms last weekend – and today it is much cooler around here. Hurrah!

I was reading one of my other books by Elizabeth George while in bed last night and I suddenly realized that I’d read it before, even though it was in my To Be Read pile. So I grabbed the other one that was also in that pile and started in….already read that one, too! Whoops! I think there’s only one Elizabeth George that I haven’t read and I’m going to order it from the library.

So this morning finds me looking around trying to decide what I’m in the mood to read next. In the meantime, I’m reading a short and delightful book from Slightly Foxed/Foxed Quarterly  – A Boy at the Hogarth Press  by Richard Kennedy. Kennedy worked for Leonard and Virginia Woolf for a while when he was young. It’s a lovely memoir of his time there, complete with his pen and ink drawings. Kennedy went on to be a well-regarded illustrator.

I grabbed a few moments outside yesterday and took Pippa with me:

Here she is in the memorial garden.

And in the secret garden:

The girls are enjoying the opportunity to explore the property.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Autumn, Secret Garden & Baseball

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Autumnal and Foggy Secret Garden.

It’s 9 am and it’s still very foggy out there! When I walked outside, I could hear the drip, drip, drip of water falling from the trees. It’s mysterious and wonderful.

Oh, Red Sox. Somehow, I think you’re not going to outplay the Rays. We’ll still cheer you on and of course, you never know, but I have this feeling. And no offense to Floridians, but I hate the indoor ballpark aka Tropicana Field. It looks fake. And I’ve been there in person. I watched a Yankees vs Rays game there with my sister and nephew several years ago. I understand of course, why it needs to be an indoor park, but on television – and in person – the colors look garish, there are ridiculous rules about the metal rings at the top of the dome and what happens if the ball hits the rings (which happened last night,) there are no outdoor sounds, and there’s no weather – it’s like an alternate world out of some movie.

Nevertheless, I applaud the Rays, especially since they aren’t a big budget team, like the Yankees or the Red Sox. Frankly, I think athletes earn way too much and it’s always refreshing to see a winning team emerge in spite of a limited payroll. “Limited” of course, only as compared to the astronomical salaries paid to professional athletes. Yes, their playing years are short, but so are the performing years of a professional ballet dancer and believe me, they don’t get paid anything remotely near that amount of money. Of course, I could go on with this and compare the salaries of professional athletes with teachers, and nurses, and grocers, and machinists, and bakers, and cooks, and on and on. It’s so skewed.

Well! I didn’t mean to go off on that tangent but that’s what happens when you write a daily blog. Posts aren’t planned ahead of time. They just spring forth out of the moment.

Something exciting is coming in today’s mail. I’ll share it with you tomorrow.

And we have an anniversary coming up next week…

There’s a problem with the email for this blog right now, so I’m not getting comments sent to me nor are my replies, etc., getting to you. My host is working on it. So check back if you want to read my reply! Thanks so much.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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