Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Little Treasure

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Over the course of 17 years, I’ve taken pictures of just about every possible “scene” inside and outside. And while those will continue, of course, I’m also going to concentrate on showcasing some favorite items that I have found/collected/inherited.

First up, my tiniest Wallace Nutting. As you know, I have a very modest collection of Wallace Nutting prints – I think there are 5 of them. Nutting was a minister, photographer, and artist who lived in New England. He photographed New England landscapes as he bicycled around the countryside. He had a studio where colorists hand tinted the photographs. They were hugely popular. He also designed furniture.

I really love his tinted photographs.

The frame, which is quite old, measures 4½” x 5½” and the photo is 2″ x 3″.

I love the carving on the frame.

I haven’t purchased a Nutting in several years, but I try to find them with the original frame and backing. Not always easy! There is a seller in a nearby antique mall who carries some of Nutting’s work. I haven’t been to that mall in a while, so I’m not sure if he’s still there. One Christmas or birthday, Don gave me an official biography of Nutting, signed by Nutting himself. I think he found it in the same seller’s booth.

This little gem lives on the bookshelves in the den.

Thunderstorms on the docket today – it’s quite humid this morning. I had planned on mowing, but I’ll have to wait a day or two. That’s probably for the best as the temperatures will be cooler starting tomorrow.

There’s a noisy crow outside. He’s quite vocal!

Oh, I walked down to Phileas’ abode and, though I didn’t actually see him – he was too quick, I heard him jump from the grass to the water. He landed with a “plop!” He hangs out on the lawn, apparently, which means we will make sure we’re noisy when we come to mow in order to give him a head’s up.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Tuesday Thoughts

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Goodness! Yesterday was supposed to be cloudy and rainy but it remained sunny all day. Today was supposed to be cloudy and rainy in the morning and it’s sunny, with a high of 59 degrees. It will most likely rain later in the day, but I can’t complain. It’s beautiful out there.

On the wall in the office. A map of Paris that Don gave me for my birthday a year or so ago. A gold Paris/Eiffel Tower medal that I found in San Diego many years ago. And three Wallace Nuttings. It’s hard to get a clear photo because the sun pours in on either side of this wall. Those are sheep in the Nutting on the bottom right.

I finished M Train  by Patti Smith this morning and Don and I promptly traded books. I’ve now started Year of the Monkey. I really love her writing. She has a strong streak of the mystical in the way she sees life and those around her. She’s also a bit of a loner. As I am one, as well, I identify.

As more and more signs of an early Spring show themselves, I am treasuring this time to read with no distractions. Soon, the garden and clean-up will be calling me. The lawn will have to be mowed. I’ll be distracted – happily- by bees and bugs and butterflies and blooms. I saw the beginnings of one of my day lilies yesterday. The daffodils have started to poke through the ground.

So for the present, I’m fully into reading mode. And I’m so grateful for this time in life when I don’t have a 9 to 5 job that takes me away from my books. Been there, done that. I feel as if I’m heading into a stretch of non-fiction, what with the Patti Smith books, the book about the Seine, which I’m still reading, and some other books that are catching my attention over in my TBR piles.

That’s one of the joys of winter that I discovered this year in our attempt to live in the present season, to be patient, to fully see the beauty in the winter landscape. We are afforded the opportunity to hunker down and nest. And that includes reading.

I was discussing ‘alone time’ the other day with our friend, Doug. I’ve always had a great need for privacy and time with myself since I was a young girl. Whether this would have been in me no matter what, or whether it was shaped by four kids and two adults and a dog being crammed into a tiny bungalow, I don’t know. I just know that I need it. I need quiet and reading time, time for reflection, time away from the world. Happily, I am able to find that with Don right here in the house with me. He gives me space. He needs his space, as well. We compliment and support each other that way.

I’ve worked in the theater for most of my life; coaching and teaching. That means that when I was working, I was surrounded by lots of people all of the time. Lots of lively people. I had to be ‘on.’ (Teaching is rather like performing, at least in an acting program.) When I went home at the end of the day, I craved quiet. When I was teaching at Boston University and had the summers off, I was fully capable of being alone for weeks at a time. I would venture out, of course, and take a walk, run an errand, converse with the grocer or the clerk at the bookstore, but mostly, it was time to replenish my energy.

I have friends who are very social. They need to go out to lunch or go somewhere with some friends. I always felt they were normal and that I was not normal. But I now know that it’s normal for me and that there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m an introvert living and working in the theater. That may seem impossible, but there are more of us than you’d think!

Don is more social than I and that’s a good thing. He balances me and his spontaneous ideas for adventures get me out of the house. I’m pleased to say I’ve come up with a few spontaneous ideas as well.

As so often happens in these posts, I had no plans of writing about this, yet here we are. That’s what I love about blogging. I rarely know what will come up in a post.

Happy Tuesday.

The Vintage Dollhouse and Sheet Music

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I took the Christmas decorations down yesterday – since we don’t do a whole lot of decorating, it isn’t all that time consuming – and then I moved the egg cup cubby cabinet away from the wall, which is always scary, opened the door under the stairs, and stored everything for another year. Then I moved the cabinet back, which was a bit tricky this time around, but I finally got it in place.

Then I vacuumed like crazy.

(By the way, Don broke a glass yesterday and then I proceeded to break a glass and a bowl. What’s with us? We’re down to three glasses.)

I sorted through the sheet music in our music cabinet. That cabinet was one of the very first things we bought for this house. We got it at an auction. I have a lot more music than I had remembered, some of it from my childhood, some of it from my grandmother (a hymnal, and three songs from Oklahoma, which means the sheet music is from the 40s,) and my first Beatles Songbook, which I got when I was 11 years old. I wrote the names of each of the guys under their photos – in pencil. And look what I found:

Neither of us can remember how this got here and we were shocked and thrilled to discover it! Was it in my grandmother’s music? Doubtful. Was it from my parents? Also doubtful. Was it a gift from someone after we moved to the house? Or did we find it when out antiquing and forgot about it? Either is possible.

It’s getting framed, that’s for sure.

After all the chores were done, I moved the vintage dollhouse onto the coffee table in the den to give it a cleaning. Eventually, the exterior will need an even deeper cleaning but for now, this will do.

I took some pictures.

By the way, the chimney on the roof actually connects to the fireplace. I dropped something down there by mistake and the object ended up in the fireplace.

I put this in the living room to see if the scale worked and it does.

There are arched doorways into the adjoining rooms.

The other two rooms, which are small. And I can only get into the front room from the doorways, so that will be a little awkward!

This is the opening at the back of the house and it’s the only way to get into these rooms. There’s a high, vaulted ceiling. I briefly debated painting the walls, but it would be very difficult. I can’t lay the house on it’s front because the porch is there. I think I’ll put battery operated hanging lights on the ceiling just so I can see more of the room. But that’s down the road.

A corner of the house. Aside from a deeper cleaning of the exterior, I plan to leave it alone. These shutters, by the way, are adorable. They work. They completely cover the window space.

Just playing around. I don’t really have a large stash of miniatures – a few things, but nothing like other miniaturists have. The painting is a mini Wallace Nutting given to me by Barbara. The books were in my stash.

Since I’m currently working (or not working, which is more the case at the moment) on three different houses, and since we are back on a strict budget, I’ll have to take my time. That’s what I did with my first dollhouse. I did what I could, when I could afford it.

My thoughts are still the same with this treasure. Keep it rustic – maybe a little removable wallpaper, maybe not – and honor the work of the creator. Living room, bedroom, kitchen…and we’ll assume there’s an outhouse somewhere nearby.

I really love it.

We have a wee bit of snow on the ground this morning, but once again, it’s not covering all the grass. Still, it was neat to see some snow-covered tree branches this morning.

Happy Thursday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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