Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1292 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

An Escape from the Cottage

March 15, 2014 at 9:16 am by Claudia

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Smile.

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Another smile.

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And another big old smile.

You’ve probably gathered that I did indeed make my trip to Trader Joe’s yesterday. Yes, I bought some food but the first thing I did was grab three bouquets of flowers. $3.99/each. You can’t beat their prices and the bouquets aren’t skimpy, like many I see. At this time of year around here, a bouquet like the one above would easily be $15.00 or more. Hello. It’s a no-brainer.

Driving to either of the Trader Joe’s that are closest to our house takes about an hour. This time I was adding in IKEA which is in the same area as TJ’s but a bit further south (both are in New Jersey.) So that means I have to calculate a driving time of 2 hours round-trip, Scout’s mealtimes and, ahem, elimination needs, and I have to move quickly once I’m in those stores. If Don was here, I would have been able to be quite a bit more leisurely about the whole thing. But…I did it. It was so good to get out of the cottage and on the road. And I clocked in at just over 4 hours. Excellent job if I do say so myself.

IKEA kept cropping up in my head because I had seen a lamp that I liked – you guessed it – on several blogs. I thought it would be perfect for my sewing table. I’ve never been thrilled with the one I’ve been using (also from IKEA) and I have plans to transfer that one to the desk in the guest room/studio/office. But I was unsure of the dimensions and, for some reason, IKEA didn’t include that information online. So I just bit the bullet and went there. I always have fun at IKEA, but there were the usually crying toddlers and big groups of people taking up the whole aisle so that I couldn’t get past them. And my eyes started to sting from the lighting.

I digress.

Here’s the lamp.

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It’s powder coated in white with neat darkish brassy looking accents and a fabric covered cord. I really love the look of it and it seemed perfect for the sewing table. I figured that if I didn’t like it there, I would use it on my bedside table. (It’s called the Ranarp, if you’re interested.)

I really like it. And, like everything at IKEA, really inexpensive, which suits my budget rather nicely.

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I suppose it would be a good idea for me to actually do some sewing after all of this work in the studio.

I also got a couple of cooking pots for the kitchen and two sets of these:

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I need them and the color is self-explanatory, don’t you think?

Then I came home, accidentally knocked over Riley’s Dish Garden, which now needs some work, put something in the refrigerator overnight that should have been put in the freezer, and dealt with an insanely hyper Scout for about 4 hours. She pushed every last one of my buttons.

Ah well. If you play, you pay.

Or so they say.

Happy Saturday.

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Chatty on Friday

March 14, 2014 at 9:16 am by Claudia

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• Weather-wise, we were fortunate compared to some of you, who I know got lots more snow. We got a lot of rain, then sleet, flash freezing and ice, and a dusting of snow. The ice continues to be a pain in the tush for Scout. That poor girl has to navigate a dog corral that one moment is squishy and slippery with mud after a 57 degree day and the next moment is full of treacherous ice patches because we had a flash freeze. This morning she stopped right behind an ice patch that was outside the kitchen door and just stared at me with an expression that said, “I have to deal with this again? Enough already.”

I get it, my girl. I echo your sentiments. I have more than had it with this bizarre winter. I feel like most of the time Don has been away, I have been putting all my energy into coping with the elements. Chopping ice, shoveling snow, figuring out how to get the ice dams on the roof to melt, trekking through four foot high snow drifts to rake the roof, salting, clearing several feet of snow to find the downspouts and gutter extensions, worrying about the weight of snow on the roof.

I might not be cut out for the role of a pioneer woman.

• I’m feeling a bit stir crazy here at the cottage. I’m contemplating a trip south to IKEA and Trader Joe’s. I need a change in scenery. TJ’s has the best deals on fresh flowers and heaven knows I could use some around here. And sometimes I simply need to take a jaunt through IKEA. Today might be the day.

• I’m reading The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith. It’s a very well written mystery that got great reviews in Great Britain when it was published. Then it somehow got out that Robert Galbraith was really J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. She wanted to publish something under another name, free of all the expectations that would come if she published a new series under her own name. She is a wonderful writer.

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Photo © T. Charles Erickson/The Huntington Theatre Company

• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov opened Wednesday night in Boston. Here’s a photo of Don with Kate Burton (a wonderful actress and the daughter of Richard Burton.) Now all the rehearsals and long days are over and Don can settle into the run of the play.

I love Chekhov. I was in The Three Sisters when I was an actress and it remains one of my favorite experiences. I’ve coached several different productions of Chekhov’s plays. He was such a wise man, so attuned to the complexities of the human spirit. And very funny, as well.

Check out those mutton chops on Don!

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• My girl with a look in her eyes not unlike the look she gave me this morning. She’s a beauty. And a handful. She misses her dad. We would go visit him, but he’s staying in an apartment that is only reached by stairs – a lot of them. She just can’t handle that many stairs these days. And she’s too big to carry. So we have to stay here. If only there was an elevator there! There is Don, in the city where I lived for many years and still love, and I can’t be with him. (And no, we really can’t afford a hotel.) Ah well. It’s frustrating, but Scoutie’s health and well-being has to be our top priority.

• On a very sad note, my brother-in-law lost his mother yesterday, just two weeks after he lost his brother. Gracie was a wonderful woman who was the proud matriarch of her family. Loving, strong, wise – she was a role model for everyone. At what one would consider an ‘advanced’ age, she was helping build houses for Habitat for Humanity. John adored her, as did Meredith and my nephews. Rest in peace, Gracie. You will be missed by so many. We are blessed to have known you.

That’s all for now.

Happy Friday.

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Tressa and Emma

March 13, 2014 at 9:47 am by Claudia

When I wrote about the studio update the other day, I included a photo of my beloved dolls.

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My mom’s Shirley Temple doll on the left, Tressa in the middle, and Emma on the right. I also said that both Tressa and Emma had a story; more specifically, a rescue story. One of you asked me to share those stories. It’s my pleasure.

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Tressa’s story: In 2008, my friend Heidi and I were on an antiquing jaunt. Heidi was looking for things for the shop. One of the rooms in her store was called “The Baby Room” and it was filled with all sorts of wonderful vintage toys and books for children. Heidi spotted this doll and grabbed her, thinking she would be perfect to display in the baby room. We both fell in love with her.

When Heidi took her up to the checkout, she was told that the doll had two left feet. What? Sure enough, upon closer examination, we did indeed confirm that she had two left feet. Dolls were often repaired with replacement parts and that’s what happened with her leg. We were told that doll collectors would pass on a doll like this one, that a collector didn’t want a doll with two left feet.

Well, this only made Heidi and I love her more. She was so exquisitely done, her smile was so sweet, her satin dress and bonnet so beautifully made, that we knew she had to go home to Heidi’s shop. She’s a large doll and one can hold her just like a baby. We often did.

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There she is, on display in the shop. Every time I worked there, I would pick her up and hold her. I was in love.

At the beginning of 2009, I went to San Diego for a six month long job at the Old Globe/University of San Diego. I never forgot about that sweet doll. Would someone buy her while I was away? When I came home on a break in April, she was still there. I scooped her up and held her. As I was about to go back to San Diego, I realized that I couldn’t let anyone else have her. So I called Heidi and asked her to hang on to her until I returned home in July. She marked her ‘Sold’ and Tressa came to live with me that July.

She’s named Tressa after one of my great-aunts. Meredith suggested it because we’ve always loved that name. It suits her, don’t you think?

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Emma’s story: In 2010, Don and I were exploring an antique center (the same one where we found our lamps.) As I turned the corner into the first booth, I saw her. She was tiny. She had a beautiful face. Her dress was lovely, as was her bonnet. She looked lonely in her chair. I picked her up and looked more closely.

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There was damage to her legs and some crazing on her limbs. But her socks, her shoes, her dress, her bonnet, her face – they were simply lovely. The damage? Who cares? It just made her more beautiful in my eyes. But, I sadly put her back. I couldn’t afford her.

I went back to that shop two more times over the course of the next few months.

She was still there. In the same place. In the same chair.

No one wanted her.

But, I had to stick to my budget and besides, I was about to go out to San Diego – again – to do some coaching and I would be gone for about 10 weeks.

I went to San Diego. I couldn’t get her out of my mind.

Now, I am not a doll collector. But I did love dolls when I was a little girl. And I had a Tiny Tears doll that I especially loved, given to me in the waning days of my girlhood. My grandmother made all of her clothes. She had a pink corduroy hat and coat. Somehow she was given away by my mother in the course of moving and it broke my heart. I still think of her to this day and wish I could find her.

This little doll reminded me of my lost doll.

I couldn’t bear to think of her sitting there, once loved, now forgotten and lonely. Does that make me a bit loopy? Probably. I can’t help it.

One day while I was sitting in my apartment, I googled the Antique Center and sent an email to the manager. It said: “I saw this doll when I was in your shop – if you turn to the right when you walk in the front door, she is in the first booth. She’s wearing a pink dress and a bonnet and she looks sort of like Tiny Tears. Is she still there?”

The next day I received an answer from the manager, who knew exactly what I was talking about and yes, she was still there.

The price had been reduced.

I called the next day, bought her and asked the manager if he could hang onto her for the next six weeks until I was home again.

He said yes.

And six weeks later, Don and I went to pick her up. She has a home now. And friends to play with – Shirley and Tressa.

I’m a rescuer. All of my dogs have been rescues. So why not these two dolls? They needed a home. They needed to be loved once again. And they are.

Happy Thursday.

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An Escape from the Cottage

Chatty on Friday

Tressa and Emma

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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