Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Spring

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Happy First Day of Spring! (Finally!)

“As is” in this photo. Don’s books, headphones, charger, various coasters – all on the coffee table. You might notice that Don’s vintage camera is now on the lower shelf of the blue table. I finally managed to persuade him to move it from its longtime home on the red-checked chair. That chair is one of my favorites (a $50 steal way back when we lived in San Diego) and I miss having the option to sit there. It was as if we had a constant guest sitting in that chair: “The Camera Who Came to Dinner.”

Speaking of the camera, Don will soon be able to get back outside taking his Polaroid Portraits. It’s been a long stretch of no picture taking and I know he misses it. He’s already signed up for the weekly Farmer’s Market (he’s been very successful there.) Don’s a social guy – much more so than me – and he loves meeting people and taking their pictures. Can’t wait to seem him work his magic once again.

Yesterday, I spotted some day lilies emerging from the ground in the garden bed right outside the living room. I’m sure there are a lot more around the various garden beds, but they’re covered in leaves and I won’t uncover them until we are past nighttime freezes. And we aren’t. Sometime next month.

We watched two documentaries this week: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?  about Fred Rogers, and the other, Free Solo, about a guy who climbed Ed Capitan in Yosemite without ropes – just with his two feet and his hands. Both were wonderful. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?  brought tears to our eyes. What an extraordinary man he was with such a kind, compassionate, and giving heart. And Free Solo  was a terrific portrait of a man driven to climb. There were moments when I had to cover my eyes, but boy, was it powerful. Both of the docs are on the On Demand channel on our cable – and they’re free. Free Solo  won the Academy Award for Best Documentary this year.

Today’s weather is going to be in the 50s and I’m going to open the windows and the front door, because Thursday and Friday are going to bring a lot of rain.

Enjoy this first day of Spring, my friends.

Happy Wednesday.

Shaft of Sunlight

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Morning sunlight.

Goodness, do I hear lots of bird song this morning! So beautiful. Such a harbinger of Spring.

When I hear it, my shoulders drop. I smile. I feel like I’m being let out of prison. I’m not exaggerating. Though I love being in my house, the absence of bird song, of working outdoors (other than shoveling snow), of the kind of connection I feel when both indoors and outdoors are part of my life, really wears me down. I feel hopeful again.

Spring means more to me with each passing year. Yes, I know that it will rain a lot. The ground will be muddy. I don’t care. I’ll begin to see the rebirth of my gardens and of our woods. I’ll be able to walk around, noting signs of life. I’ll start to get my porch back together for another three seasons of outdoor living. No seed sowing until May 1st, but I’ll be planting my impatiens and my hanging pots in the meantime.

Oh, it will be heaven.

This is that strange time in our landscape when there are big swaths of brown – and even green – grass showing. When the garden is no longer covered in snow. At the same time, there are big piles of snow along the driveway and in all those spots which became deposit zones for freshly shoveled snow.  It’s a graphic display of season-straddling.

I have some errands to run today and some chores to do inside. But I can open the windows and air out the house while I’m doing them.

How is the weather in your neck of the woods?

Happy Thursday.

 

Small Things

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My little row of butter pats. I think I have about 14 or 15 now, most of them ironstone. Most of them, in fact,  are from the same dealer where I found the egg cup cubby. I love small things.

Another Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cup came up for auction. Unfortunately, it was Doc. Doc frequently comes up for auction, much more than any other egg cup in that collection. I’ll keep hoping for Sleepy.

This morning there was such lovely bird song! Tiny little birds were in the tree outside the den window. I tried to identify them but I’m not sure; sparrows? chickadees? I couldn’t get a good look at them. Several of them were in the tree and they kept flitting from branch to branch. Now that I look at my bird book, I’m thinking they were sparrows. Hearing their song was such a nice way to start the day.

The sun is shining and the snow is melting. That’s all I need today.

I ordered this book, originally published in Great Britain. It just came out this week here in the States. I reviewed one of Garfield’s other books, Just My Type, several years ago. In Miniature  is all about our fascination with small things. Guilty as charged. Of course, I had to get it.

Today I have to sort through our many W2s – you have no idea – and send them off to our accountant in Los Angeles, so that we can file an extension. Since we have to wait for all of the W2s to arrive here, we almost never file our taxes by April 15th. And often, though not this year, one of us is away working. Then I’m going to clean the pew with some Murphy’s Oil Soap. And read, of course. I’m currently reading a book I’m going to review on Monday – all about birds! Stay tuned.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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