Mockingbird Hill Cottage

It’s sunny and it’s 28 degrees, but it will get into the 50s today. Even warmer in the coming days.

Happy first day of Spring!

More and more birds are singing every morning. I am going to keep my eyes open for the appearance of a robin. I suspect they’re already around. I just haven’t seen them.

The wind was relentless yesterday – a full 24 hours plus nonstop. Thankfully, today is much quieter.

I have a lot of dialect research to do today as I ended up just resting yesterday. But I’m feeling energetic today and ready to tackle pre-rehearsal prep.

Let’s see, who do we have here?

1.  A happy, smiley running bunny. That’s a pale blue color on the cup, it’s just hard to see in the morning light. Made in Japan.

2.  I love this one. The egg has a pearlescent luster glaze. That’s a mama duck and her baby. It’s beautifully done. Not sure, but I’m betting it’s made in Japan.

3.  Another ‘house’ egg cup with two little chicks playing on a teeter-totter (that’s what we called them in my neighborhood.) Charming little cup.

4.  A petite egg cup with a rabbit holding up the cup. It’s quite old and very heavy.

I haven’t really done a little egg cup tour in a couple of years and I’m enjoying the process of getting them out of the cubby and rediscovering how lovely they are. I took a quick gander at eBay yesterday. There are some figural egg cups there, but the pickings are slim. I don’t like new figural egg cups as a rule because they are clumsily made and don’t have the detail found on the vintage cups. There are some exceptions, but not many. True of a lot of things, right?

Time for another cup of coffee, a little work on the puzzle, and then – down to business.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Not much sleep last night. We had an unexpected (at least, to me) very loud, strong wind all night long. I couldn’t get to sleep. Each time I was about to fall asleep, a big gust would wake me up. Then I woke up too early. Sigh. Anyway, Don just made me an extra strong cup of coffee because I have work to do today. Oh, and breakfast burritos!

By the way, we finished Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio  last night. It’s really extraordinary. We couldn’t get over how wonderful it was. It’s on Netflix and if you hang in there after watching it you can watch a 30 minute film about the making of the movie. That will blow your mind! The amount of detailed, precise work is beyond my comprehension!

More randomly chosen egg cups.

1.  Two rabbits carrying an egg. There are variations out there of this cup design. In fact, I have a smaller cup, also carried by rabbits.  This is from Japan.

2.  A beautifully painted cup with a chicken and a duck on either side of the cup. Also made in Japan. Beautifully painted and in great condition.

3.  One of my favorites and, if I remember correctly, one I bid on in the middle of the night because I was determined to win that particular auction. The rabbit as egg cup painter. He’s holding an easel and a brush, wearing a smock, and has decided to go with a grinning face on his subject. I cannot say enough how much I love this one.

4.  A bunny next to his egg cup house. A beautiful luster glaze on the house. I have several cups where the egg cup is a cottage-like home. This is one of the prettiest.

I got all of these early in my collecting days. They’re much, much harder to find these days. Thank goodness I started collecting when I did – I’m pretty sure it was 2002, not long after we moved east. Most of the great figural egg cups I have were found in those days. As you know, I prefer vintage, but I do have a few new cups because I like the design – maybe 5? The rest are vintage.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

I’ve been hearing a mourning dove. Heaven. I heard him last night and this morning. Yesterday, I walked down to the mailbox and I heard a lot of birds singing. The same this morning. When I see a robin and hear the peepers, I’ll know it’s spring.

I cannot wait. Neither can Don.

We started watching Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio  last night. It’s enchanting and dark and wonderful. The animation is extraordinary. I’m a big fan of del Toro; he directed one of my favorite movies ever: The Shape of Water. He sets the story during the rise of fascism in Italy. We only stopped because we were tired, so we’ll watch the rest of it tonight. My heavens, he’s so talented.

I’ve got a Renoir puzzle going, I’m reading Kate Atkinson’s Shrines of Gaiety, and I have to do some dialect research this weekend. But not today. Today is Quiet and Peace Day. That’s what we decided to name this Saturday.

Randomly chosen from the egg cup cubby for today’s egg cup tour.

1. My very first egg cup, given to me by my godparents at Easter. I don’t know what age I was, but thankfully, I held onto it for decades. When I was in grad school, I distinctly remember finding it during a trip back home and bringing it back to Philadelphia. It was made by Fanny Farmer as an Easter gift, most likely filled with jelly beans or chocolate eggs. (Kay, who comments on this blog, is my godparents’ daughter. We grew up together. ) Right after we moved east, I saw Martha Stewart Living in a store and there, on the cover, was a photo of this egg cup. I bought a copy and proceeded to read an article on collecting egg cups (didn’t know such a thing was possible!) and that started the whole thing.

2.  A sweet little egg cup with two dogs on either side of the cup. I love the colored lines and dots at the top of the cup. Made in Japan.

3.  The sweetest little bunny rabbit. Made in Japan. This little bunny has always reminded me of    Scout, who had very pink ears and a mischievous expression just like this one. Priceless.

4.  Another Fanny Farmer egg cup, one of the first cups I bought when I started collecting. You can see the words “Fanny Farmer” written on both sides of the base. It’s very heavy and rumored to be made by McCoy Pottery. I’ve seen this cup a lot but the paint is always chipped. I am very lucky. This one is in pristine condition.

More tomorrow. It’s fun to look at them outside of the cabinet.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.