Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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A Chicken Wire Fence Garden

August 29, 2012 at 10:07 am by Claudia

I have two posts up today. Scroll down for my book review – it’s a great book and I’m giving away a copy.

Earlier this summer, I decided to add a narrow bed in front of the dog corral. Those of you who are long-time readers know that the dog corral is made out of chicken wire fencing. It does its job, but let’s face it, it’s none too attractive. I thought adding a few plants grown from seed might add a bit of beauty to an otherwise blah area. I got this idea late in the spring, so my plants have begun to bloom only in the last few weeks. Sort of nice, this late-blooming garden.

I planted zinnia and sunflower seeds. If you read this post, you’ll remember that, instead of sunflowers, I was getting zinnias and hyacinth bean vines. Go figure.

Here is my funky little plot. You know what? It does disguise that chicken wire rather nicely.

 Aren’t zinnias amazing? Big white petals, with little yellow flowers in the center.

Brenda, these are for you. I know you miss seeing your zinnias.

 Each one is unique.

But wait, what do I see?

That’s no zinnia. That, my friends, is sunflower! And darned if there aren’t two of them.

We’re so excited! We’re finally going to have some sunflowers. Don keeps checking on them every day.

Thank you to everyone who keeps checking in on me. We’re doing as well as can be expected. Scout is having a very hard time, so we are spoiling her and doing everything we can to help cope with this change. I can be fine for several hours and then lose it, like I did last night. The minute I hit the pillow I started crying. It’s hard for me to drive by the animal hospital and, since it’s on the road into town, I have to. I just look away. We’re okay, though.

A reminder about Saturday’s new meme/party: A Favorite Thing. This whole idea grew out of this post, where I shared my great-grandmother’s syrup jug. That led me to ponder the idea of a weekly party where we all can share a favorite thing. It could be an antique, a vintage find, a favorite piece of furniture, a garden, an appliance, a book, a film, a CD, a tree, a place, a car- you name it. It just has to be a true favorite thing. That’s all. This will be a weekly party, taking place on Saturday. But I will put up the post on Friday night, with the links available, so that you have extra time to post if your weekend is particularly busy.

I think it will be lots of fun and goodness knows, we can all use some fun.

Happy Wednesday.

P.S. The Etsy shop is open again!

Filed Under: flowers, garden, gardening, Riley 18 Comments

Book Review – Whiplash River by Lou Berney & Giveaway

August 29, 2012 at 8:16 am by Claudia

I’m reviewing Whiplash River by Lou Berney today for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in return for my honest review.

A brief plot summary from the publisher: Having left his life of crime behind, former getaway driver Charles “Shake” Bouchon has finally realized the dream of owning his own restaurant in Belize. Unfortunately, to do so he’s had to go deep in debt to a murderous local drug lord names Baby Jesus. And when Shake thwarts an attempted hit on an elderly customer named Quinn, things go from bad to worse.

Next thing Shake knows, his restaurant’s gone up in flames and he’s on the run from Baby Jesus, two freelance assassins, and a beautiful but ferocious FBI agent. Out of options, Shake has to turn to the mysterious Quinn for help. Suddenly Shake’s up to his neck in a dangerous score that he’ll never pull off unless he can convince an even more dangerous ex-girlfriend to join him.

My review: Loved, loved, loved this book. This is such a fun read. Berney is a gifted writer. He has given us a richly drawn cast of characters. Many of them live on the edge and deal in not-so-legal activities. No matter. Berney’s gift is in writing quirky, far-from-upright characters that, nevertheless, draw you in. This book is populated by a whole bunch of crazies (and I say that with great affection.) Shake, the protagonist, has a past life that led him to a stint in jail and he’s trying very hard to live a ‘normal’ life in Belize.  Quinn, an older, mystery man has a shady past working on ‘deals’ in various countries. He talks about it continuously and hilariously. There’s the misguided young couple who are bent on killing both Quinn and Shake. There’s Evelyn, the beautiful FBI agent who goes a bit rogue.  And Shake’s ex-girlfriend, Gina, who has turned her life around but decides to go in on a caper with Quinn and Shake, just to get back at Shake for their break-up. From Belize to Egypt, this comedy-thriller, takes us on a wild ride.

I like protagonists who aren’t necessarily on the up-and-up, but who are trying to do the right thing. Much more interesting, I think. Shake is one of those characters. He’s done some bad things, yes, but he’s basically a good guy thrown into a situation where he has to do what he has to do. You can’t help but fall for him. Berney has a great gift for creating off-beat characters and a richly detailed environment. The plot is fast-paced and incredibly entertaining.

I like a touch of absurd. What I love about this book is that in the midst of something violent, Berney often adds that touch of absurd that flips the moment and changes my perception. That takes great skill. This would make a great movie; it’s perfect for film.

Berney has been compared to Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard. He is every bit their equal. He’s written another book, Gutshot Straight, that also features Shake and Gina. You can bet I will be buying it. I recommend this book highly. If you love crime thrillers with a touch of the absurd, you’ll love this book.

About the author: Lou Berney is an accomplished writer, teacher, and liar who has written feature screenplays and created TV pilots for Warner Brothers, Paramount, Focus Features, ABC, and Fox, among others. His short fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Ploughshares, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and other publications. His first novel, Gutshot Straight, was named one of the ten best debut crime novels of the year by Booklist and nominated for a Barry Award.

Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, paperback, 305 pages.

One of you will be the lucky winner of a copy of this great book – leave a comment and you’ll be entered!

Thanks for stopping by.

Filed Under: TLC Book Review 19 Comments

Moving from Blogger to WordPress

August 28, 2012 at 9:11 am by Claudia

 

I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress last week. It was a big decision, one I had pondered off and on for quite a long time. Circumstances arose that finally forced my hand and I made the decision to do it. I’m glad I did, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a sharp learning curve.

Blogger has been very good to me until recently. I’ve been blogging over 4 years now on that platform. Blogger is free and user-friendly. It doesn’t require a lot of coding, especially with the new templates. I had an older, somewhat custom, template. Along the way, I learned how to fiddle with the html coding to design the blog the way I wanted it to be. It was the perfect learning platform for me. I spoke about my reasons for the move in this post. Now that I’ve moved, I thought I might share some of my thoughts on moving from Blogger to WordPress.

Why move?

Blogger is an excellent platform. It’s free. Millions of bloggers use Blogger. If you’re happy there, great. I had some serious problems with their help forum, or as I call it: lack-of-help forum. I also had problems with the fact that all of the photos I have posted over these past 4 years are housed in Picasa (part of Blogger) and have to stay there. Blogger, Google+, Picasa, Google Analytics and Feedburner are all living underneath a big old Google umbrella. I have no desire to be a part of Google+, I want to own my content and my photos. I want more control. I also, like many of you, have seen Blogger shut down a blog with no warning. Sometimes it’s due to malware or spam. Sometimes it’s for some other reason. All you have to do is search the Blogger Forum and you will find countless examples of blogs that suddenly vanished. Google/Blogger is in control and that means you aren’t.

There are lots of reasons to move to WordPress. Most frequently cited are greatly improved SEO (search engine optimization) and a platform that is much more customizable and flexible than Blogger. You can reach a larger audience. If you want to grow your blog, that’s important. If you have ads, that’s really important. And personally, I think the look of most WordPress blogs is cleaner.

All of this is true. But you can also lose followers since you are no longer able to use Google Friend Connect. I’m busy trying to let everyone know where I am, that I still have the same URL, and that Google Friend Connect followers have to find some other way of following me now. I worry about losing my readers because Google made the GFC widget unavailable to WordPress and Typepad blogs. It’s needlessly exclusionary, which ticks me off and I have a sneaky feeling it’s all about power.

What you need in a move to WordPress

Since Blogger/Google is the host for Blogger blogs, you will need to find a host. I use Bluehost, but there are many of them out there. Having a host involves a monthly fee. I think I’m paying something like $6.95 a month. I chose Bluehost because their customer service is available 24 hours a day. I can call them any time I want to and they will help me with any issue I have. After my experience with Blogger, that in itself is priceless. They have been enormously helpful during this move.

You need to download WordPress, which is free. I’m speaking of WordPress.org, which is self-hosted, rather than WordPress.com which is the version of WordPress that is like Blogger. And then you need to find a framework/theme that works for you. The most popular frameworks are Thesis and Genesis. I use Genesis along with a child theme that I chose. That involves an initial investment but that investment pays off. In my case, StudioPress, which designs Genesis, has the most amazing help forum. I asked so many questions there and every one of them was answered, quickly and efficiently. How refreshing!

What else?

You can either hire someone to design your WordPress blog or you can do it yourself.

You can hire someone to move you from Blogger to WordPress or you can do it yourself.

These things cost money. If that isn’t an issue for you and you’re wary of making the move yourself, hire someone.

It was an issue for me. Designers charge a healthy fee for designing a site. They also charge another healthy fee to move you. I don’t have that kind of disposable income. After reading rave reviews by other bloggers about Sharon Hujik’s ebook, How to Move from Blogger to WordPress, I bit the bullet and purchased it. It costs $35.00 but Sharon currently gives you a discount code that takes 20% off the price, so the end cost is $28.00. (I’ve a link in my sidebar and I’m an affiliate.) It’s worth every penny.

Believe me when I say that this book gives you all the information you will ever need to make the move. Truly. It became my best friend over the past month. I followed each and every step Sharon laid out. If I had a question, I emailed her. She responded right away. What more can you ask for?

Did Anything Go Wrong?

Short answer: No.

If you do any research on this kind of move, you’ll see all sorts of stories about losing comments or posts or followers.

I had over 1200 posts and over 28,000 comments on my Blogger blog. I didn’t lose one post. I lost maybe 50 comments. 50 comments out of 28,000? Small potatoes. Everything moved over seamlessly.

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. If I had made the move before Google discontinued Google Friend Connect for WordPress and Typepad blogs, all my followers would have made the move along with me. Now, I have to find ways to let them know of the move. If you are a follower on Google Reader, you are still getting my feed and that’s great.

But to be perfectly honest, GFC was becoming something it shouldn’t for me. I don’t want to get caught up in getting more followers, constantly checking my follower count and comparing myself to others. No good can come of it. And the Follower count isn’t an accurate reflection of how many people really read your blog. I had followers on that widget that I’m absolutely sure hadn’t been around in years. I’ve followed blogs that I eventually got tired of and never visited again. So, the numbers? Not reliable.

Other thoughts

For me, the hardest part of the move was designing the blog. The coding used on WordPress is predominantly CSS coding. I had no idea how to work with it. I wanted to tweak the theme I bought so that it worked for me. In the beginning, it took me one entire day to figure out how to widen the margins of the posting area and the sidebar. There is indeed a learning curve. It got easier, however. Every question I had about it was answered in the StudioPress Forum. And with each answered question, my ability to work in this framework increased. I became much more confident. Now, I’m not a blog designer. But I’ve learned that you can design your own blog. I learned that on Blogger and I’ve learned it on WordPress. I like learning new things. It keeps my mind sharp. I feel empowered. The theme I chose had the elements I wanted in a blog and had some design elements that were perfect for my style. It made for a perfect design starting point.

I hope this gives you a little more information about moving from Blogger to WordPress. If you have more questions about the move, you can email me or leave the question in the comment section and I can address it in another post. I do have threaded comments now, so if I can answer your question quickly, I’ll do it there. Check back!

A couple of more things:

1. If you know of someone who reads my blog through Google Friend Connect, can you pass along the information that I’ve moved, that I’m at the same URL, and that I can be followed through my RSS feed or via email? I’d so appreciate that. I recommend following through Google Reader (which you can do by clicking that RSS button.) For a great post about how to use Google Reader visit Marianne’s blog here.

2. Remember that the first post for ‘A Favorite Find’ will be this Saturday. I’ll get the post up on Friday evening, though it is officially scheduled for Saturdays. I’d so love for you to join me.

Thanks, everyone! Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: blog, blog design., blogging, blogging tips 17 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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