Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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It’s Ice Station Zebra Time Again

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Good morning. Still very, very cold here! It is supposed to get warmer today but Friday and Saturday have nighttime lows in the single digits. We aren’t getting any snow, but we are definitely feeling winter’s frigid temperatures.

It takes a long time for the house to warm up when it’s like this. Both of us are walking around in more than a few layers of clothing!

Don has a self-tape audition this morning. It’s just a routine thing, so don’t get excited. But it’s the first audition since before the holidays, so it’s encouraging. Anyway, right after I finish this post, we’re going to set everything up.

The puzzle is ongoing. It’s taking me longer than I expected but I just popped in a few more pieces while I was waiting for the second cup of coffee to finish dripping – or pouring through, to be more accurate. Morning seems to be my best time for figuring out the puzzle – fresh eyes? Rested? Who knows!

Other than that, there’s nothing new. January is always a hard month for me. I suspect it’s the same for many. The holidays are over. The decorations have been taken down and stored for another year. It’s bleak outside. Add in the low temps and the constant drip we have to run so the pipes don’t freeze and you have what I’ve often called an “Ice Station Zebra” situation here. I tend to get a bit down. So I have to keep myself busy with tasks and puzzles and projects.

I did notice last night that it’s staying lighter longer – quite a bit longer. That’s a positive, right?

Okay my friends. I’m going to make this brief as Don is setting up in the den and I’m currently occupying it.

I can hear a woodpecker in the distance and, even in this cold, I heard a bird sing this morning.

That makes me smile.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Day Three Hundred Forty-Nine

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I’ve been babying my back, but I can’t stay completely away from the puzzle. I did some work yesterday afternoon, alternating between standing and sitting. I’m getting close to finishing.

It was just a few days ago that we had 3 more inches of snow and cold weather. And then, the next day, it started to warm up. I started checking our window to make sure there was no evidence of leakage and yesterday I went outside and climbed up on one of the mounds of snow in the Secret Garden and confirmed that the mounds of ice in the gutters had completely melted. It’s clear to me that they melted a while back as water has been freely flowing out of the downspout and into the rain barrel. Yay, nylons filled with salt! They really work.

We did make appointments to get our first dose of vaccines yesterday. I finally figured out that I shouldn’t take ‘no appointments available’ on the state sites as the last word. I clicked through to see the availability and found there were indeed appointments available at some sites – not every site. At the same time I was discovering this, I read an email from a reader that suggested I do that very thing! (Great minds, etc.) Anyway, I had to yell to Don to “Get over here!” in the middle of making an apple pie because I saw two appointments available back to back and I wanted him to grab one of them. Long story short, we got them. BUT. It’s not until April 9th and it’s quite a distance from our house  – like, a two hour drive away. We’re perfectly willing to do that in order to get vaccinated, but we’ll keep checking locally and if we find something earlier and closer, we’ll grab it and cancel the first appointment.

I will say it was an enormous relief to know we had an appointment. No matter what, we’ve got one and it’s only a little over a month away. All the frigging hoops you have to jump through to secure an appointment, let alone two, are insane. But you know that. Or at least some of you do, depending on where you live.

I’m reading The Moving Toyshop  by Edmund Crispin, as well as another book that I’ll review on Monday. It’s not the kind of book I normally review, but I thought I might find it interesting. We’ll see.

The sun is shining. The snow is melting. We have rain on the docket for Saturday and Sunday so that will melt even more snow. I know from long experience that none of this means that we will now be rid of snow for the season, but it’s nice to hope!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Day Three Hundred Forty-Three

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It snowed most of the day and night and it was snowing when we got up this morning. But surprisingly, I think we got about 3 inches at most. Don is out there shoveling right now, so I’ll have a better idea when he comes back in. We’re supposed to have more snow on Monday, but after that, temperatures will be in the forties with some rain and a lot of snow melt.

It ended up being a lovely cozy-day-inside with Don recording a song and lots of puzzle work from yours truly. I know how lucky we are. We have power and heat and shelter and food. My heart breaks for the citizens of Texas who are suffering during this crisis. It didn’t have to be so devastating.

And Ted Cruz continues to be an ass. Not only is he an inciter of insurrection, but he’s also a guy who takes off with his family for Cancun in the middle of this crisis, leaving his dog behind in his ‘freezing’ house. And then he lies about it and blames it on his kids. I vowed not to write about politics for a while, but this isn’t politics. This is dereliction of duty, plain and simple.

On to something else:

Almost done. This puzzle, The Piano Lesson, is one of my all-time favorites. I took piano lessons for eight years and I well remember sitting in my teacher’s living room waiting for my turn. I also remember several of us crammed into that same room for our recitals.

It’s perfect. She obviously lives in NYC, perhaps in a brownstone. She has a loft upstairs where she sleeps. Lots of bookcases, a birdcage, cactus plants on top of a radiator cover, framed photos of musicians, tchotchkes, including miniature pianos, a statue of a composer (perhaps Beethoven?), a miniature Eiffel Tower. A poster of a Glenn Gould concert. One child is playing the piano. Three are waiting; two with arms crossed, one studying her music. There are mugs and hot chocolate(?) and some sort of cake waiting on the table. A comfy sofa, flowers everywhere, an umbrella stand near the entrance.

I loved working on this one because there was so much detail –  little objects and hidden gems that were unveiled over time. Speaking of flowers everywhere, that unworked area is filled by a hanging ivy plant.

I’ll miss this one.

Next up:

From 1964, Art Shop.

And I’m going to order more.

Don is still shoveling, but it’s obviously easy to clear because he’s not using the snowblower. Good!

Stay safe.

Happy Friday (which I keep thinking is Saturday.)

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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