Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Saturday Bits and Bobs

December 19, 2015 at 9:13 am by Claudia

12-19 office before

Office. Before. As you can see, everything is as we left it when we hauled the IKEA boxes upstairs.

We’ve decided to hold off on painting, perhaps because I hate  painting, which might explain why we haven’t done the much-needed repainting of the kitchen. Every year, I plan on doing it. Every year, I don’t.

Anyway, we’ve decided to see how everything looks once we put the desk, chair and lamp together and move things around. But Don isn’t feeling well, so there’s no hurry.

On top of that, I finally hauled out the little white pre-lit Christmas tree and set it up.

And the lights aren’t working. Crap.

Maybe Christmas isn’t in the cards for us this year? Just kidding. But it does seem as if I’m getting messages from the universe to slow down and do very little.

A couple of things to mention:

•  The email version of yesterday’s post went out about five hours late. I don’t know why this is happening, but it’s a Feedburner thing and I spent more hours than I would have liked to yesterday trying to figure it out. The thing is, I could pay for an email delivery service for the blog, but I already pay for enough to maintain this little piece of real estate, thank you very much, and since I have a nice amount of subscribers and I post every day, the amount I would have to pay is just something I would rather not do.

For those of you who subscribe via email, if you don’t get the post between 11 and 1, Feedburner is lagging behind and you should just hop on over and visit the blog directly. You know I post every day, with very rare exceptions. And why not come here directly? It’s prettier here than in the email, anyway.

51-7SmfR9lL._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_

• This book is excellent. This is the first in a series of books featuring Detective Simon Serrailler. They take place in the fictional cathedral town of Lafferton. Susan Hill is an amazing, detailed, and thoughtful writer. There are at least five other books in the series and I cannot wait to get them all. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this one and I’m taking my time simply because the experience is so pleasurable.

• I promised you some links to the blogs of miniaturists who have entered the Creatin’ Contest. Their work is amazingly detailed and I can only dream of doing what they do.

From Pepper at MitchyMooMiniatures.

From MiniModPod.

From Brae at Otterine.

From Minibase.

From Nancy at Nancyland.

From I See Cerulean. More details here and here.

And even though Elizabeth at Studio E couldn’t finish her entry due to the loss of her mother, this post – dedicated to her mom – gives you an idea of what she’s doing and it’s amazing.

As I find more entries, I’ll post the links for you.

• I took some pictures of the article in The Dolls’ House Magazine:

12-19 article1

12-19 article2

12-19 article3

The photo of the fireplace is also featured on the Table of Contents page. That gosh-darned plastic fireplace that I wasn’t going to use, but one day pulled out of a box in a fit of desperation to slap some white paint over its original blah beige because I needed  a fireplace. Another one of my photos of the fireplace is one of my most pinned photos.

Who’d have thunk it?

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: blog, books, Ikea, The Dolls' House Magazine UK 32 Comments

Condo Update: Finding a Home for the Furniture and the Cats

December 18, 2015 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Gray. Rainy. Lights on all day long. Impossible to get a good photo.

Since I have two more pieces from my smallish Roseville collection to share with you, I’ve had to resort to pulling older photos from the bowels of this blog. Bear with me.

Corners-bedroom 6

You’ve seen the cornucopia on the left. But I also have the green dish in Apple Blossom. Both of these pieces live on my dresser, which, I might add, is a heck of lot more cluttered than this older photo would indicate.

(I just deleted the other photo because the code was acting strangely. I’ll take a photo of it another day.)

We’re all caught up!

Today, all of the furniture is being removed from my parents’ condo. Meredith found an organization that works with the homeless that is willing to take everything, so we feel very good about that. Meredith has had to spend some time there in the past few days doing some clean-up and I know that has been hard on her. Too many memories.

Once everything is removed, she’s going to meet with a realtor later in the day to see just what we need to do, if anything, before we put it on the market.

Our biggest worry was what to do with the cats. Luke is gentle and lovely, so we knew we would have no problem finding him a home. But Lydia can be mean, is very territorial and protective of everything in the condo. We promised my dad we would try to keep them together, but for a while there, it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen. Stacy, my dad’s caregiver, volunteered to take them, but she already has 3 cats and a couple of dogs and four children and she was about to move to a different apartment and I was worried that these 2 cats who had only lived in a quiet condo with my parents would not be able to cope with other animals.

Meredith has a friend who has a true gift and can communicate with animals. She has also been involved with cat rescue in the past, so she really knows cats. We asked her to talk to Lydia and tell her that Dad was gone and he wouldn’t be coming back and that we wanted to find a happy home for her but her aggressive behavior was going to keep anyone from adopting her. Once that conversation happened, Lydia started to change. Stacy, who was helping pack up the condo, spent time with her while she was there and assured us that Lydia would be okay. It was clear that Stacy, who had promised my dad she would adopt the cats, wanted to make good on her promise.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when Stacy picked up both cats and took them home with her. And then to a week later, when she sent me pictures of her daughter petting Lydia. She even sent me a video of Lydia clearly loving all the attention. She was a cat transformed. It’s an ongoing process, I know, but the change is evident.

I sat there and cried. Thank heavens for Stacy. My dad is somewhere smiling, I know it.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: cats, Dad, Meredith, Roseville pottery 40 Comments

In the Mail

December 17, 2015 at 9:05 am by Claudia

First of all, this arrived yesterday:

12-17 meandmag

Since this is a selfie, the writing is reversed, but you get the idea, right?

I’ll try to take some photos of the article for you. I’m thrilled that Hummingbird Cottage is the lead feature and a photo of the fireplace gets a full page at the beginning of the article. Don hadn’t seen the article yet, so he read the whole thing and was quite chuffed! As am I.

Again, on a tough day, something lovely lightened my mood. Very grateful.

My ankle is much, much better. I still wear an ace bandage for some mild support and, more importantly, to remind myself that I have to be careful. The bruising has faded a great deal and, as I’m at the two week mark, I’m very pleased.

I hung the lights on the porch railing yesterday. They were modified by necessity as one of the strings wasn’t working and I wasn’t about to go in the shed and look through bins for some more. It’s just fine as is.

No little white tree yet, but maybe today. Or maybe not.

Barbara sent me a package that arrived earlier this week. It was full of lots of goodies. I didn’t take a picture of the lovely Christmas napkins and mints that come in a guitar-shaped tin and winter gloves meant to be used with an iPhone (huzzah!) but I did manage some pictures of the other treasures inside that box.

12-17 books

Yay! I finally have my own copy of All the Light We Cannot See! If you remember, I had it on reserve at my library and didn’t get a chance to read it before it’s due date. The second book is mystery that takes place in Canada (Barbara is from Canada) and I’m excited to read a new-to-me author.

12-17 robot

An incredible robot ornament – isn’t it neat? We’re calling it Mr. Robot, in honor of Don’s appearances on that series.

12-17 ghirardelli

A bag full of Peppermint Bark from Ghirardelli. Oh. my. goodness. As you might imagine, we’ve already had several. I love peppermint bark.

12-17 stereo

Eeek! For the Top Secret Project! This is perfect, Barbara! I haven’t done any work on the TSP since Dad’s death. I haven’t been in the right frame of mind. I am thinking about it, however, and I plan on getting back in gear when I have my little office/studio space set up.

By the way, the house that I’m using for the TSP was designed for the HBS Creatin’ Contest. I never had any plans on entering that contest, but many incredible miniaturists have entered their projects and I am blown away by their creativity. The deadline to enter was just the other day. I’m going to try to gather some links to their finished projects so that you can see them for yourselves. You won’t believe what they have created!

12-17 clematis flower frog_

And this was in the package. Roseville Pottery in the Clematis pattern. Barbara wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but I knew because I’d been watching one of these on eBay. It’s a flower frog. It was designed to sit in a matching console bowl, like the one I showed you the other day.

12-17 clematis flower frog rear

The rear view.

12-17 clematis flower frog bottom

See? There are holes in the bottom.

It’s gorgeous. Thank you, Barbara. I am blessed by your generous spirit.

I am blessed by every one of you who read this blog. Thank you.

I’m clearly celebrating Christmas a bit early this year.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: china and pottery, Christmas, gifts, Roseville pottery, The Dolls' House Magazine UK, Top Secret Project 28 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.

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