Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Walk, A Butterfly, and a New CD!

October 11, 2015 at 6:40 am by Claudia

Saturday was another gorgeous fall day. Heavens, it was beautiful.

A trail walk:

10-11 trail walk

We stopped by the Vet’s to get Scout’s dog food and saw this:

10-11 monarch 1

10-11 monarch 2

He was loving that butterfly bush so much that I was able to get quite a few pictures. Sweet Monarch Butterfly….a little Saturday miracle.

Good news! Don’s CD is now available to order online. He’s done so much work getting it ready. He designed the cover and the inside of the CD. He arranged for the recording session. He sent it in to be mastered. He’s listened and listened and listened to it, making sure everything is A-OK. All that and that doesn’t include writing the words and music for each song.

Very, very proud of my talented husband.

readyfortheradio

The inside of it is also very cool!

Some of you have mentioned wanting to order it, and of course that makes us very happy, so here’s the information. It’s on a site called CD Baby – they are great, by the way – and you can order it as a digital download or as a CD in the packaging you see above.

To buy it, sample the tracks, or just see the site, click here. I’ll eventually have something on my sidebar, as well.

We’re very excited here at the Hill-Sparks household. This is something Don has wanted to do for literally (and you know I use that word ‘literally’) years: to make a professionally recorded and mastered CD.

On a personal note, to watch Don doggedly pursue this and make it happen has been a joy.

Yay Don!

Next Saturday is the CD Release Party at our local eatery. That will be a lot of fun. Don and Dan are performing, along with several of their musician friends.

They’re very, very good, you know.

I’m off to the city today.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Tagged With: CD, Don Sparks, Ready for the RadioFiled Under: butterfly, Don, music 32 Comments

The Defiant Ones

October 10, 2015 at 9:43 am by Claudia

Throughout the garden there are signs of the inevitable decline that comes at this time of year. Flowers have stopped blooming; in many cases, there are dried up stems where once there were beautiful, green plants. I’ve been looking at all of it through the camera’s lens for the past couple of days.

There are, hidden among the fallen leaves and debris, a few defiant ones – flowers that still bloom despite the disarray around them.

All of the purple coneflowers look like this:

10-10 dried up coneflowers

But, almost hidden away in the side garden, I saw this:

10-10 coneflower

The last man standing. So beautiful.

10-10 brown-eyed susans

A few defiant brown-eyed susans.

10-10 rose

The last of the roses.

10-10 butterfly bush

A bloom hidden deep within the butterfly bush.

10-10 catmint

There are some catmint flowers here and there.

10-10 spirea

The spirea is giving us one last burst of flowers.

10-10 phlox

And the phlox isn’t giving up without a fight.

My goodness, there is such a beauty in this decline, these flashes of color amid the fading greens and browns of the Autumn garden. It’s easy to focus on what was, instead of what is. And what is, is completely gorgeous in its own right.

Oh, I saw a Monarch Butterfly the other day! I didn’t have my camera and it was flying quickly around the property. It was gorgeous. Sadly, I don’t see them much anymore, so when I do, I stop and watch it until it fades out of sight.

Today is another beautiful, sunny fall day. I’m lapping all of this up. Tomorrow, I head into the city again to watch a run-through of the show.

I stopped by the library the other day.

10-10 library haul

I’m pretty sure the Sue Grafton books I’ve missed reading are S through V. Fortunately, my little local library had them on the shelf. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ace Atkins but have yet to read any of his books. This one was on display, so I grabbed it. I had been in the queue for All the Light We Cannot See  and it finally came in.

Just as it did when I was a little girl going to the bookmobile every week, a stack of library books makes me very, very happy.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: autumn, books, butterfly, flowers, garden, reading 37 Comments

Splashes of Autumnal Color

October 9, 2015 at 9:28 am by Claudia

Yesterday was a gloriously beautiful Autumn day. We mowed all of the grass on the property, a very satisfying feeling, and then I took advantage of the warmth and the sun to take some pictures for those of you who have been requesting all things Fall.

10-9 house and leaves

10-9 top of maple

The top of the maple that’s next to the house (where the big garden bed is).

10-9 back of house

That’s the house you see tucked in there among the trees. I took this while standing in the back forty, which is up a hill from the house. That’s the mountain ridge that we can see from our cottage – the same ridge where we occasionally hike.

10-9 looking at shed

10-9 the other maple

The maple tree on the other side of the house, which is simply beautiful. Hydrangeas and porch to the right.

10-9 leaf caught in tree

As you can see, there’s still a lot of green; the colors have just begun to change.

I’ll have more photos for you as the leaves change and more colors are added to the landscape. I took a lot of photos of the gardens, as well – I love capturing the changes in all of the plants as we move away from summer.

Book review on Just Let Me Finish This Page today. Her Final Breath  by Robert Dugoni – click here.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: autumn 38 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

Thanks for stopping by.

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The Dogs

The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

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