Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Sort of a Chatty Post

September 21, 2012 at 8:47 am by Claudia

Is it time to take down that coffee filter wreath? I’m thinking it is.

I want a real stair runner for those stairs – something from, say, Dash & Albert. When Riley and Scout were still sleeping upstairs with us and Riley began to be a bit unsure about his footing, we hastily tacked down those mini carpets for the treads. I tried to make them colorful yet funky by alternating a red one with a blue one.

I’m sick of them.

And every year, I look at the walls in this house, which were given only one coat of paint when this house was flipped, and get the urge to paint all of it. There are lots of dings and cracks and paint marks from furniture being moved up the stairs. I just never show them to you. When fall comes around and I see the amount of moths and bugs coming into the house lessen (we live in the country), I think now’s the time.

Then I get overwhelmed. Because I will be the painter. And there are a lot of walls. And the kitchen cupboards need to be painted. Even the kitchen island needs to be touched up.

I hate painting walls.

Maybe if I just start in one little area and do a little bit each day?

Still overwhelmed.

The view out our car window as we drove into town the other day – the day we found my Featherweight. Don’t we have  pretty mountains?

So many of you are flannel pajamas lovers. That makes me smile. And yes, flannel nighties count as well. Someone mentioned flannel sheets, but the funny thing is though I love my flannel pajamas, wear them in the morning and in the evening and other times of the day, I don’t wear them to bed. I tend to run hot. And it’s not due to menopause, which is, thankfully, over. Flannel sheets make me hot. Flannel pajamas while sleeping would send me up the wall. Don, on the other hand, runs cold and always has piles of covers over him.

By the way, I’m trying to reply to any questions that you’ve asked in your comments – right there under your comment. Since I have threaded comments now, it’s so much easier to do that. So, if you ask a question, check back. Maybe we can eventually get a dialogue going and I will respond to more than just questions. I see that on other blogs and I like the back-and-forth. I’ve not found a plug-in that I like that will allow subscribing to comments, so for the time being, if you are so inclined, check back.

Speaking of plug-ins, Brenda and I found one that will show the latest blog posts on our blogrolls (like Blogger has.) I like it so much more because I often read your blogs that way. It shows the post title and the amount of time that has elapsed since the blog was updated. The only problem? All Typepad blogs show that update as ’42 years ago.’ I’m not kidding. I don’t know why. It makes me laugh. So if you have a Typepad blog and you’re on my blogroll, my apologies.

Our elusive male cardinal made an appearance and I ran for my camera. I would have been able to get an even better picture had Miss Scout not decided to start barking at that moment. I love our cardinals.

Okay. That’s all for now. Stay tuned. I will post A Favorite Thing tonight at 8:00 pm EST.

Happy Friday.

 

Tagged With: Dash & Albert, paint, stair runnerFiled Under: A favorite thing, decorating, flannel pajamas club, painting 26 Comments

Fall: It’s Time for the Flannel Pajamas Club

September 20, 2012 at 8:45 am by Claudia

Suddenly it’s Fall around here. The night before last, the east coast was pummeled by rain. Big storms, lots of rain, lots of wind.  And leaves were falling everywhere. They’d already secretly turned from green to gold but since they were hidden high up in the trees, we were fooled into thinking a bit of summer was still here.

Time to look up.

Ah, there they are. Still a lot of green up there, but that won’t be for long.

Ahem. Time for an official announcement:

This morning I have my flannel pajamas top on. Not the bottoms – I’m still wearing my summer pajama bottoms. But if the top is in evidence, can the whole thing be far behind? You know that I’m reluctant to say goodbye to summer, but oh, how I love my flannel pajamas. And that means that it is almost time for our club to begin meeting once again. Oh heck, it is time.

Membership is free. There are some rules, however.

  • • You must love wearing your flannel pajamas.
  • • Simply loving them isn’t enough. You have to find any excuse to wear them.
  • • Possible excuses: “But I need to clean the house.” “My writing suffers if I’m not comfortable.” “It’s 3:00 pm.” ” It gets dark early.” “I just came home from work and I have to change my clothes, so why waste another outfit? I’ll just go straight to my pajamas.”
  • • More excuses: “If I must cook, then I have to wear my flannel pjs.” “But I’m drinking hot chocolate.“
  • • That’s all. Simple.

Feel free to use the button. As the official Flannel Pajamas Ambassador, I feel compelled to spread the word, to extol the pleasures of soft, warm flannel. I pledge to educate my readers as we move into fall and winter as to the many things that can be executed successfully, nay, even more successfully, in flannel pajamas. I promise to keep you informed. And yes, I have driven the car while wearing my flannel pajamas.

Will you join me?

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: autumn, flannel pajamas club, nature 31 Comments

Blogging Stuff

September 19, 2012 at 9:31 am by Claudia

If you’ve been blogging for a while, as I have, your blog has probably gone through a lot of changes. Mine certainly has. And while I have some screenshots of Mockingbird Hill Cottage’s past incarnations, I don’t have all of them. So when I saw this link on another blog the other day, I had to investigate. It’s an internet archive called the Wayback Machine and if you enter your URL, you just might find some earlier screenshots of your blog. I found two (from the days this blog still had ‘blogspot’ in its URL:

Check out my blue glasses. Those glasses were very popular here in blogland. I had a lot of comments on them. My blogging pal Elizabeth still thinks of me as Claudia-with-the-blue-glasses. Eventually I bought another pair of glasses (not in blue) and I had to quietly phase this photo out. Confession: I have another pair of the same blue glasses now. They’re readers and are a bit too strong for my eyes at this moment. But for all of you who loved them, rest assured, I sometimes wear them – usually for crocheting.

But on to the design itself. The background was from the Background Fairy and I really liked it. The banner was based on a photo I had taken of peonies. I asked a designer friend to come up with the font in the blog title. And yes, that is the Papyrus font you see in the body of the blog. Despite all the negative stuff I have read about this font, I really liked it. Still do. And those capital letters in the post title? I resorted to them when I couldn’t figure out how to make the post title larger. Now that I know more about html, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be a problem. Those capital letters are now the bane of my existence. I am currently in the process of going back to each of the posts that have caps (over a year and half’s worth) and changing them to the normal combination of lowercase and uppercase, because in this new blog look, the all-caps-look is HUGE.

I’ve often referred to the period of time when the look of this blog was courtesy of a designer. Here it is:

Since I loved that earlier look of blue borders and faded writing I asked the designer to come up with something in that vein. I sent her 3 photos that I liked and she designed the header. I was still using Papyrus, but that eventually changed when I started using Century Gothic. During this particular incarnation of the blog, I began playing around with html. I changed font sizes, I increased the posting area, making the blue border more narrow. I eventually got rid of the ecru spidery writing background of the posting area because it was just too hard to read the posts. I added some red highlights, eventually finding my look: the combination of aqua and red. But I started feeling like a bit of an imposter because this look I wanted the designer to create no longer seemed like ‘me.’ It was too frilly. And I’m not frilly at all. I tweaked the banner because it took up too much real estate. I changed the font. When my efforts to contact the designer for some updates failed, I took control of the blog and changed everything. New banner, new borders, new everything.

After using the usual photo collage as my banner, I eventually ended up with this (taken with my iPhone):

This was the look of the blog until I moved to WordPress. Now, with the possibilities of the WordPress platform, I have been able to create a look I really truly love. Clean. Colorful. Less extraneous ‘stuff.’ All of which helps to highlight the content and the photos, which is really what a blog is about. Every previous incarnation of this blog helped me to find my true voice. Everything extraneous has been sorted, purged and distilled down to this new look.

Have you checked in on your blog lately? Is it serving you well? Does the look of it fit who you really are? Does it enhance what you are writing about? Our blogs reflect us. It’s a good idea to step back and look at your blog with fresh eyes. And since we all love to decorate and fluff, why not do it to your blog as well?

Just some thoughts for today.

Tagged With: blog designFiled Under: blog, blog design., blogging, blogging tips 19 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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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

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