Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Wind, Rain, Plants & Reading

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So sorry that I’ve been late responding to comments the past couple of days. But I’m either outside all day or, as in the case of Friday, out and about with my husband all day, so I’m too pooped to respond.

It rained a LOT yesterday and certainly made our errands a bit harder to navigate. We took a little drive and ended up at Davenport Farms, a family-owned business in a neighboring town. I bought a flat of pansies and a lavender plant – the same things I purchased from them last year. Don got some vegetables for one of his crock pot creations. We really love that place.

They’ve been in business for decades and decades, as you can see by the original cooler with the art deco font. I have to take a picture of it every time I’m there.

What else? We drove around a bit, ended back in our neighboring college town where we had a late breakfast at our favorite breakfast place. We are being very frugal, so eating out, albeit very modestly, was an indulgence. Then we went to our local market to pick up some things. Oh, and we mailed the bills and stopped at our little library to pick up some books I had ordered.

Today, as seems to be the norm lately, the rain/storm is gone, but we have high winds. AGAIN. I’m so, so sick of them. The gusts are so strong (up to 40 mph) that I can’t really do any work outside. And it’s going to rain again on Sunday. And almost every day next week. I have a lot to do out there, but Mother Nature clearly doesn’t want me to do it. I’m frustrated.

All that being said, it’s nothing compared to what many of you are dealing with in the midwest today. Snow. And lots of it. I’m so, so sorry. I know I would be screaming if it were happening here. The only comfort is that it will melt quickly, but it’s a small comfort, I know.

We watched Mrs. Miniver  last night. We’ve been watching movies that we now realize we’ve never seen in their entirety. Bits and pieces, half the movie, but not the entire movie.

It was very moving.

I just had to take a break from writing this post to go rescue the pansies, lavender, and Boston fern from the porch where they were in danger of being knocked over by the wind gusts. Sigh.

I read more of the Donna Leon this morning. I found myself getting into it – I only have about 75 pages left in the book at this point. I always try to give a book a chance, unless I absolutely know from the early stages of reading that it’s a no-go. And that happens. But, in this case, it seemed worth the effort. If I gave up on every book I had some minor issues with at 20 or even 50 pages, I would have missed out on some of my now-favorite books. Plots take time to develop. The author may be slowly but surely weaving the initial threads of the plot and being patient will be worth my while. I only give up on something when it’s just plain badly written or if I find I don’t like or care about any of the characters. I love reading. But I also love the process of reading.

Anyway. I’m housebound today. Take care everyone, especially those of you dealing with snow at the end of April.

Happy Saturday.

 

 

Wind

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We had a high wind warning yesterday and from 3 pm until about 2 am, the wind was relentless. At one point, I happened to look out the kitchen door window and saw another branch (though not nearly as big) fall from the catalpa just  to the left of Don’s car. Needless to say, I ran out there and moved his car next to mine. The branch was long but it was light enough for me to carry to the wood pile, but my heavens, I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz  out there trying to open car doors and just plain maneuver in that wind.

It took me a long time to get to sleep, so I slept in a bit this morning. It’s still ‘breezy’ but the sun is shining. We’re due for a couple more visits from winter over the weekend in the form of snow showers, but it will melt quickly. I am SO ready for spring. I had a little meltdown on the phone with Don yesterday because it’s just been plain old hard this winter and that, along with my recent bout with a bug and my sore back, sent me off into ‘feeling sorry for myself’ territory.

I guess I needed to get it out. I’m better this morning. Bless my husband for being there.

I wanted to share the growth on this Zz plant with you. It, along with my two other Zz plants, has been growing steadily during the winter. One of my readers wrote in a comment a while back that someone had told her that Zz plants were slow growers. I assured her that I hadn’t found that to be the case. They’ve been pretty prolific so far and I’ve only had them a few months. Imagine how they might perform during the summer! The two tallest shoots are recent additions.

I love these plants. They can get by on low light and, like a succulent, they don’t need a lot of watering. They have a sculptural quality that is quite lovely.

Current morning light from the skylight.

I’m grateful that it’s sunny today. One day of sunny or even partly sunny can keep me going.

Happy Thursday.

Flickering

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I’m getting this post up quickly as we’re in the middle of a Nor’easter and I’ve seen the lights flicker more than a few times. It’s windy out there. (Not a happy camper.)

It’s a strange storm because it’s impossible to predict whether it will be snow, ice, or rain from town to town. The Hudson Valley is a large area and it has mountains and valleys. I’ve been watching our local website (Hudson Valley Weather (dot) com) which is excellent and incredibly detailed and the two guys who run it say they’re never seen anything like this. Just south of me it’s snowing. Here – as of right now – it’s raining. But it clearly snowed during the night, so it’s a snowy, slushy, icy mix out there. And the winds are picking up. I’ve watched it rain, then snow, then rain again.

Where is Don when I need him?

If I lose power, I lose power. At least I have Stella, who can provide some heat and cook some food.

All in all, it’s a scary weather day and I’ll be glad when it’s over.

I know we can have scary weather in the spring and summer, too, but I’ll be very glad when the season changes to spring. Enough already!

Anyway, that’s all for today, my friends. I’m going to sign off and hit ‘Post.’

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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