Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Favorite Thing #13

November 23, 2012 at 8:00 pm by Claudia

What the heck? It’s already the 13th week of A Favorite Thing? How can that be?

Welcome. I hope you all had the loveliest of Thanksgivings and are happily full of leftovers and pie! (I am.) Let’s look at some highlights from last week:

Ms. Redo wrote about her love of thrift stores. She found a Better Homes & Gardens book on Color at a Goodwill store  and  discovered that her favorite colors are those that are Warm – red, yellow, pink and orange. Of course, she simply had to go out to the thrift stores so stock up on treasures in those colors! (I love that shade of green.)

Linda of Coastal Charm shared some new things she bought for her home at the beach. Linda has a home on the Gulf Coast and look at that view! Oh, I’m more than a wee bit jealous. It’s getting colder and grayer here and that beach looks heavenly.

Vicki, of Life In My Empty Nest, decided to take her daily walk in a different place. She chose a nearby nature park and shared the lovely views with us.

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I’m cheating just a wee bit by re-posting a photo that I used in my Friday post. My favorite thing this week is the stylish, trend setting look on my girl, Scout. Scout was in the hospital for 2 days this week and had to have some IVs inserted, resulting in shaved legs – poodle style – and a very cool animal print bandage was added. I’m loving the look. And I’m so grateful that my girl is back home where she belongs, getting better all the time.

Now it’s your turn!

You can link up anytime from this evening through Sunday. Make sure you enter the URL of your post. If you’re unsure how to do that, just click on your post title after you’ve published it and copy the information in your browser address window. Come back here, paste the URL into your link entry and there you go! If you have any problems, drop me an email and I’ll help you out. Please link back to this blog on your post. That way, those that read your post and are interested in reading more can do so.

One of my concerns about link parties is that the very reason for them has somewhat gone by the wayside. They’ve become so big and there are so many of them that many bloggers don’t take the time to visit any of the other participants. Link parties are a way to meet new bloggers and share with each other and the only way to do that is to visit each other. So, please, take some time to visit everyone over the next few days. No rush. Stop by, introduce yourself, and leave a comment. It’s the neighborly thing to do. It’s also nice if you leave a comment here, as well.

Have fun!



Filed Under: A favorite thing 36 Comments

Grateful Thanks & Bits of the Birthday

November 23, 2012 at 9:17 am by Claudia

Before I ramble on about my birthday, let me take a moment to say how much I love all of you.

Truly.

I don’t know if anyone who is not part of this amazing world of blogging and bloggers would understand just how much love and compassion and support we give to each other. I’ve been a part of it for going on 5 years and, yet, I am still knocked for a loop when I share something that is personal and sometimes fearful and you all come through for me. With prayers, with support, with love, with everything that is good about us – you, my friends, are there for me. Your prayers for Scout helped her. I know that. I believe in that. So many of you kept checking back to see how she was doing, to see whether I had posted an update. Many of you sent me private emails expressing your concern about her.

I’ve shared with you the stress and worries that plague our family. You always have an encouraging word. You always hold us in your thoughts.

Words are inadequate but I do thank you sincerely. I am blessed by your friendship, by having you in my life.

Thank you, dear friends.

Okay, a little birthday stuff. Though we were immersed in worry about our girl, Don took me out to lunch. I expressed a desire to eat at a favorite restaurant that serves this amazing dish called Lentil Cakes. Believe me, they are scrumptious. So we drove south quite a ways to this charming town on the Hudson River.

The restaurant was closed.

What? Apparently it is always closed on Wednesdays. Feeling somewhat down anyway, I thought: It figures. Nothing is going well. Let’s just go home. But Don suggested we walk a few blocks and we discovered another restaurant – new to us, filled with sunlight and happy people and we decided to eat there. Great food, wonderful staff. After lunch, I was surprised by this:

Two lovely ladies brought it to the table and started singing Happy Birthday. Don joined in. And suddenly, everyone in the restaurant joined in. I mean, everyone! With smiles and laughter, they all sang to me. It was so lovely. I joined in the applause at the end of the song, for I was applauding their sweetness and generosity. It made my day.

You might remember that my birthday present came early this year – 2 months early – when I discovered a Singer Featherweight in a little shop. We decided that would be my big birthday present and, so, Mabel joined the family. But Don thought he had to give me a little something.

Hello! I won’t be returning these. (Actually, I rarely return anything. I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings.)

I specifically asked for this one. I couldn’t justify buying the new Lee Child in hardcover. But I figured it would be totally justified as a birthday present. Right?

And this magnet for our refrigerator:

Answer: Decades younger. This has always been one of my favorite quotes and it reminds me that age is a state of mind.

And at the risk of posting yet another photo of myself, here I am eating my unbelievably sinful piece of cake:

I normally shy away from posting a lot of ‘me’ photos and as I look back over the past week’s posts, yikes! There are a lot of them. I promise to back off on them as of today. Enough already.

With my new vow in mind, let me share this with you:

Miss Scout had her legs shaved for her IV’s. She rather looks like a poodle, don’t you think? The techs put that animal print bandage on her when they took out the last IV and, though they told me I could take it off when we got her home, I’ve left it there. Such adorableness.

After an exhausted morning yesterday, she is perking up and I’m definitely seeing signs of my feisty girl. This morning she greeted me with some playful pounces as I came down the stairs.

Grateful. Thankful.

New scarf in the shop!

I really love this one.

I will be back at 8:00 EST for A Favorite Thing. I don’t know how many of you will want to link on this holiday weekend, but everyone is welcome.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: birthday, blogging, friends, life, Scout 70 Comments

Thanksgiving

November 22, 2012 at 8:13 am by Claudia

We got the word yesterday around 6:00 pm that we could bring Scout home. Her fever was down and she’d been given fluids and antibiotics. Her chest X-ray was clear. Her bloodwork was fine except for some elevated levels in the liver, most likely due to Lyme disease. Her heart looks good. She has a very bad case of Lyme but it hasn’t affected her kidneys, which is a relief.  She was feisty as ever last night when we brought her home, and we were so grateful that she was back when she belonged, with her family.

She’s a bit more subdued this morning and may be running a slight fever, but that’s the way it is with an infection. She’s a fighter and so are we. Seeing her sweet face was the best birthday present ever.

Our local animal hospital is filled with the most wonderful caregivers – loving and caring, compassionate and kind. I am grateful they are here in my little town, available any time we need them. As you can imagine, our bill is shockingly high, but we are grateful that we can make payments. Another plus of living in a small town where everyone is your neighbor.

We’re rather tired but managed to stop at the store yesterday and buy the makings of a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. And we will have our little celebration here at the cottage, grateful for the kindness of doctors, techs and nurses, grateful that our little girl is home with us, grateful that I have been given the gift of 60 years here on earth, grateful for all of you. Thank you for all of your kind messages and prayers for Scout. I know they made a difference. Thank you for all the birthday greetings; they warmed my heart.

I’ll share more about my birthday tomorrow. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Filed Under: Scout 54 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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