Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Waiting Out the Blizzard

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Late in the evening, the weather forecast changed to a blizzard warning. Needless to say, that wasn’t welcome news.

When I got up around 7 a.m. this morning, I’d say there was already more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and, by now, there’s at least 8. It’s falling heavily and the winds are blowing and I can’t see the house across the road.

Digging out of this mess is going to take a whole day. A day that, frankly, Don could have used to run errands and prepare for his trip. The whole thing is a pain in the tush.

But, the good – so far: Our oil company came through and heating oil was delivered mid-afternoon yesterday. Since I had turned our heat way down in case we had to make a go of it for the next 48 hours, I was wearing a winter hat and a crocheted throw was enveloping my body as the truck pulled up in the driveway. What a relief to see them!

So far: we have power. That could change but I’m praying that it doesn’t.

We’re waiting it out. That’s all we can do. Millions of people are being impacted by this storm, so I try to see the bigger picture.

My first thought upon waking this morning was that Don was leaving in a few days. For some reason, it’s so much harder for me to deal with this time around. I’m not sure why, but it is. We’re doing our best to stay positive, but I will admit to crying this morning.

Maybe because everything is in a state of flux; weather, the world, our country? Maybe, too, because this will be the first time I’ve not had the companionship of a dog when Don is away. I’m missing my girl. And my Riley. And my Winston. A separation was more bearable when I was blessed with their company.

Anyway. We’ll get through it. We always do. It’s always harder for the person left behind. We know this. We’ve done it countless times in our 23 years together. Don has had to cope with my absence a few times since Scoutie left us. It’s my turn. Only fair.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do today. Read, of course. Maybe a little hand quilting. Eat a piece of the apple pie we bought yesterday in preparation for hunkering down in the cottage. Make biscuits for tonight’s dinner. Watch Rachel Maddow (power, please stay on!).

Tomorrow? Snow blowing, shoveling (I can already see the snow drifts forming outside), shoveling some more, snow blowing again. That will be our day. Then we can run errands on Thursday. I want to make sure that Don gets all the help he needs in preparation for his trip.

Okay. Wish us luck!

Happy Tuesday.

Bracing for the Storm

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I’ll be very happy when I can take pictures of my garden again. As it is, with this relentless winter, I run around the house at the last minute and snap a picture for the blog, hoping that it will do. You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow’s picture will be of snow and blizzard-like conditions.

Over a foot of snow expected and…wait for it…high winds.

Don is out getting salt and last minute stuff. I’m running to the store after finishing this post. We just discovered we have less heating oil than we thought, so we called our supplier in a panic. He has hundreds of deliveries today, so we’re praying he makes it here. In the meantime, Don is buying a space heater. Of course, there’s always the possibility that we could lose power. Fingers crossed that we stay plugged in here at the cottage.

Don has so much to do before he leaves at the end of the week and the combination of feeling under the weather and this storm is not helping. Poor guy. He’d like to get on the road by Friday, but I’m wondering if that will be possible.

I wrote about this on Instagram and I’ll write about it here – I went to my tiny local library yesterday afternoon to check out a couple of books. You know that I donate books to the library a couple of times a year, right? Since I have so many books and many of them are new review copies, I like to pass them on to the library because they have an annual book sale. We all know that libraries are just keeping it together financially, so anything we can do to help them is a good thing.

So I walked over to the ‘new fiction and nonfiction’ table and realized that three of the books were donated by me. They were new books, just out this year. I opened each book to make sure I was right and, sure enough, each had the word ‘donated’ inside the cover. That made me so happy – happy that I can contribute to their collection, happy that others can check out these books and enjoy them. Maybe this has happened before, but this is the first time I’ve seen books that I’ve donated become part of the library’s collection.

Well, friends, I have to get going. Time for a quick shower and then errands.

Wish us luck. Everyone who is in the path of this storm, please stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Crazing-Making Weather, Reading & Biscuits

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Equal time. These guys were feeling left out.

As I’m sure many of you are, I’m thrown off by the time change. There I was, sitting in my cozy chair in the den, reading a good book, when I realized this pesky time change made it later than my body felt it was and I had better hightail it upstairs to write a quick post.

So here I am.

Again. Wind tunnel. Though slightly less than yesterday, there is something about the placement of this upstairs room – right at the front of the house – that makes it sound much windier than it does in our bedroom. Same with the den. It’s making me a crazy woman. Several days of this, along with even more as the Nor’easter heads our way on Tuesday, might force Don to put me in a strait jacket.

For my own good.

On the other hand, the time change gave us one hour less of this Presidency. Thank you for that.

I finished The Dollhouse  by Fiona Davis yesterday. A bit clunky, but an engrossing story that I really enjoyed. I would have thought it a bit clunky not matter what, but to be fair, it wasn’t helped by having just finished the Amor Towles.

Now I’m reading On Turpentine Lane  by Elinor Lipman: delightful, witty, good storytelling and wonderful characters. I’m almost done, so a journey to my little local library might be in order today. Yes, I have a large TBR stack, but I’m what I call ‘book restless.’

We’re awaiting the dreaded Nor’easter. The amount predicted keeps changing. As of this morning, it’s 8 – 12 inches.

I feel another scream coming.

All that being said, I vigorously cleaned the bathrooms yesterday. I swiffered. I dusted. I vacuumed. I straightened up my desk. I read – a lot. I’m keeping myself occupied.

And I cuddled with my soon-to-depart husband. Thank goodness he’ll be here to man the snowblower on Tuesday because that thing is heavy.

I may have to make some biscuits. In fact, I will  be making some biscuits.

How many of you are going to be impacted by this storm? It’s been a crazy winter, no?

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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