Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1239 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A More Striking Presentation for Riley’s Dish Garden

August 6, 2014 at 8:44 am by Claudia

I don’t do much decorating these days. The walls need painting (how long have I been saying that on this blog?) I still want to build bookshelves in the den. And I want different window coverings in the living room. None of those things are urgent. I’ll get to them when time and funds allow. Other than that, things are pretty much the way I want them.

I did change a little thing the other day, based on a conversation I was having with Don. The center of the kitchen table has been taken up by the Vernor’s soda crate and Riley’s Dish Garden. Since the table isn’t that big, those two items take up a lot of real estate. Don mentioned he was a little tired of seeing the Vernor’s crate there. And then we talked about Riley’s Dish Garden, which is important to both of us, but let’s face it, the blue plastic dog dish isn’t all that attractive.

Hmmm. I wasn’t ready to move the Vernor’s crate out of the kitchen, so I moved it to the end of the kitchen island.

vernors crate on island

And I added the mug full of pens, pencils and scissors. There’s notepaper in one of the other compartments, along with my older camera and a jade plant. I tend to write out lists and pay bills while standing at the island, so this works rather nicely.

Moving it to the island meant that I had to find a place to store the cake stand and glass dome, which were pretty but were serving no purpose other than to accumulate dust. Since storage space is at a minimum here, finding a home for them took a lot of maneuvering. They had become a source of irritation, so I’m relieved they are out of sight.

Then I spent about an hour trying to figure out what to do with Riley’s Dish Garden. I knew I had to disguise it a wee bit, so I pulled out various pieces of pottery until I hit on this combination:

rileys dish garden 1

I grabbed the larger of my two Homer Laughlin Orange Tree bowls, then spent what seemed like an endless amount of time trying to find some little piece to put in the bottom of the bowl to work as a base for the dish garden.

But that didn’t seem like quite enough. So I plucked my vintage Fiesta platter from high atop the pantry and plopped it under the bowl.

I really like that splash of contrasting color.

rileys dish garden 2

Those succulents are getting a bit out of control. On the other hand, they look sculptural and I like that.

So there you are. The not-so-pretty plastic dog dish deserved a prettier presentation. To the rescue: a couple of pieces from my pottery collection.

Love you, Riley.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Wednesday.

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Thoughts on Traffic Noise and Garden Colors

August 5, 2014 at 9:02 am by Claudia

Sometimes, when I sit here in the morning (or any other time of day) with the window open, all I hear is traffic: trucks rumbling by, cars, motorcycles. If I somehow tune into those sounds, the noise of it all becomes overwhelming. It’s enough to make me want to scream.

But how is it that at other times I’m not even aware of those sounds? Same amount of traffic; but I’m able to tune out all of that noise. I’m barely aware of it. I suppose it’s all in the level of concentration on whatever task is at hand. I didn’t sleep so well last night, so this morning I’m tired and a bit edgy. It’s harder to concentrate. So, it follows that I am hyper aware of all the traffic noise.

But if at some point today I am able to become completely engrossed in a book, all of that sound will fade away.

I’m looking forward to it.

Just one of things I contemplate during the course of a day.

tuesday - zinnia bud

Zinnia buds are little works of art.

tuesday - group of phlox

Walking by the big garden bed is such a pleasure these days because the scent from the phlox is so heavenly. Don tells me that when he lets Scout out late at night, the scent from those flowers fills the night air. We’ve determined that the white phlox has a stronger scent than the purple and pink volunteers that have sprung up in the bed.

tuesday - purple phlox

Though I have to say that the purple phlox is quite lovely.

I looked around my gardens the other day and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is very little red in my garden. I like red, in fact, there is quite a bit of it in my house, but I’m not so crazy about it in the garden. The bee balm is red, of course, and some of the first roses that bloom are red. Though, to be honest, those roses were yellow when I bought them. I wanted yellow roses. And I got them for a few years but since they were grafted, the red blooms eventually emerged. I’m not so crazy about that deep red.

Truly the most predominate color in the garden is purple in all its shades and variations, with white coming in a close second. There are pops of orange and yellow and pink here and there. But purple and lavender are the winners.

If you have a garden, do you find yourself continually drawn to a certain color? What about when you buy flowers for a bouquet?

(Don’t forget about the book review on Just Let Me Finish This Page. I’m giving away a copy!)

Happy Tuesday.

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The Pencil Passion Continues

August 4, 2014 at 9:14 am by Claudia

Don and I took a little drive yesterday and ended up in a neighboring town, the one with an independent bookstore and a really neat used bookstore. Why did we go there?

Because I have become obsessed with those pencils I told you about. You know, the Palamino Blackwing. (If you missed the post you can read it here.) Ever since I brought that pencil home, I’ve been using it. I write lists with it. I use it to write notes about all sorts of things in my spiral notebook. I do crossword puzzles with it.

I know, I’m a bit nuts.

The pencil sharpener I was using here at the cottage was a vintage wall sharpener, like the ones that were in our school classrooms. I love it because it’s vintage, of course, but it was hacking up my pencil. Horrors! In my earlier post I wrote about Blackwing’s pencil sharpener. It has two holes: #1 sharpens the wood, #2 sharpens the graphite. And I knew that the used bookstore had at least two of them on display.

So I confessed to Don that I just had to have that pencil sharpener.

four blackwings

And I came home with three more pencils. They had a Sampler Pack that had one each of the Blackwing Pearl, the Blackwing 602 (which has “Half the pressure, twice the speed” on the barrel) and the original Blackwing.

four blackwings and a sharpener

My past experience with pencil sharpeners has been less than positive. The verdict on the Blackwing Sharpener? It works like a dream! It’s a thing of beauty.

On the way home, we stopped at the library so I could make a copy of the Sunday New York Times Crossword Puzzle. I mean, I had to have something to use as a test for my newly sharpened pencils, don’t you think?

And I added this at the checkout:

booklover

Now, that’s the kind of bumper sticker for me!

I’m reviewing Wendy Tyson’s new book Deadly Assets, over at Just Let Me Finish This Page. I’m also giving away a copy. So, stop on by!

Happy Monday.

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A More Striking Presentation for Riley’s Dish Garden

Thoughts on Traffic Noise and Garden Colors

The Pencil Passion Continues

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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