Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Miniature Oil Painting

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We’ve been walking around in a kind of daze. 91 degree days which feel like 97 degrees are the culprit. The oppressive heat makes us both lethargic. Today, a few degrees cooler, still humid, with thunderstorms. It’s too early for this sort of weather and I’m over it.

The catalpa is in bloom. I’ll try to get some closeups later. It just started blooming the other day and there are already petals on the ground. The scent is so heavenly. Don said it kept wafting toward him as he sat on the patio yesterday.

We’re watching The Bridge, a series that was recommended by a reader – I think it was Fiona. It’s Swedish and it’s excellent. Thanks so much for the recommendation! (On Amazon Prime.)

Don has an eye appointment this morning with the retina specialist. So I’m writing this earlier than usual since I’ll be driving him there.

I did paint a bit yesterday. I painted the background for another Roseville painting. It will take a couple of days to get dry enough for me to start on the vase. In the meantime, I’m playing around with mini paintings for the dollhouse studio. That easel I ordered is in route to my mailbox, so I want to have a few canvases to display – one of them will mostly likely be ‘in progress’ so it can sit on the easel.

Anyway, here’s the first experiment.

It’s so tiny!

It’s drying at the moment. I’d love to have some of these paintings stacked in a corner of the miniature studio, some propped against the wall, and one on the easel. Maybe I’ll get around to framing one, if I end up painting one that I really, really like.

These are fun little projects that don’t take up too much time. I like painting both life-size and 1:12 size canvases. The artist who lives in the English cottage loves to paint, so much so that she transformed that little room into a studio. So she has to have some finished work!

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Trees

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I heard a bird chirping this morning; I could tell the sound was coming from the porch. It was still somewhat dark out, but I could see a tiny little thing perched on the railing. As I watched, he flew up to the trailer nest in the maple and went inside. Then he flew back out, and then back in, and so on. Babies? Feeding the female? I’m not sure, but I was greatly heartened to see some activity!

I’m waking up way too early lately and it’s frustrating. I have decided to try to go with the flow (what choice do I have really?) and know that I will eventually get back to my usual patterns. I end up taking a nap during the day, which then throws me off that night. I don’t like to nap, though I used to love it, because I wake up feeling groggy and irritable. So I’m going to try to avoid napping today and see what happens.

Today I’m going to pull some weeds and mulch. And water. In addition to the seeds I’ve planted, we also have grass seed to attend to. It rained a bit yesterday but it looks like we won’t have rain for a couple of weeks, which means I have to water all that grass seed every day, in addition to everything else I water around here. Ah well.

The catalpas have begun to leaf out. I look forward to seeing those big heart-shaped leaves again. Meanwhile, it’s absolutely gorgeous out there! Spring at its finest.

We sat on the glider yesterday, watching a storm roll in. Huge dark clouds, rumbles of thunder, all the while rocking back and forth on the glider.

That’s the stuff of spring and summer.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Mowing, Noble Robin, & Baseball

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Mowing was exhausting! Even though we love mowing, we mowed the entire front lawn (both sides), the far side of the house, the secret garden and the grass strip in front of the former corral. We tag-teamed, of course, but still…

About 3 pm, I fell asleep in my chair for an hour.

And this morning, we woke up at 4:30. Things are topsy-turvy here.

Another view of the bridal veil spirea. The blooms don’t last all that long, so I’m enjoying them while I can.

We’re supposed to get thunderstorms this afternoon. I’m hoping that’s the case because I won’t have to water the grass seed. Or the flower seeds.

If you look closely, you’ll see Noble Robin in the catalpa tree. That’s Don’s name for him. He fiercely protects that nest, chirping warnings at us, sometimes swooping over our heads to let us know we are not welcome. I took this when I was smelling the lilacs; he followed me there to see what I was up to and to make sure I wasn’t planning on doing anything nefarious.

We’ve been watching Ken Burns’ documentary, Baseball. Some of it I saw when it first aired. We’re really enjoying it, and learning a great deal, to boot. We also watched a little bit of baseball yesterday, part of a Twins game, and a bit of the Yankees (they are the enemy, since I am a diehard Boston Red Sox fan.) I do like the Mets, though. Anyway, it was fun, and we’re trying to figure out whether we want to fork out for MLB Extra Innings this year so we can watch the Red Sox. The jury is still out on that one.

Okay. I’m tired. I’m going to make some oatmeal to help ground me on this ‘lack of sleep’ day.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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