Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Monday

August 8, 2011 at 5:49 pm by Claudia

Scout looks a little drunk here. Or pissed off. She is the dog with 1001 different expressions. I cut her nails today and she wasn’t too happy about it.

My mom is in the hospital again. Yesterday, my sister Meredith stopped by my parents’ place and discovered my mom had passed out – she was unconscious for at least 10 minutes, her breathing was raspy and her head was hanging to one side. 911 was called and now she’s having tests done; cat scan, ultra sound, brain scan.

She’s not doing well. She’s miserable most of the time, she’s tired and very unhappy. The quality of her life has been greatly diminished. It breaks my heart.

This is a strange time for me, partly due to the last month of hospitalization and surgery (though I’m feeling much better,) partly due to our worries here at home that seem to sap our strength and energy and of course, ongoing worries about my mom and dad. I have barely taken any photos lately and I usually love doing that. I can’t seem to get enthused about much. Trying to find an idea for a blog post is daunting. I’ve contemplated taking a little break from the blog – I’m not ready to commit to that yet, but it may happen. I know that all of us go through those times where coming up with a blog post seems overwhelming. That’s where I am now.

I usually visit new (to me) commenters and I fear I am behind on all that. I apologize.

Thank goodness for Jack Reacher suspense novels. I’ve read 9 of them so far. Our little local library is part of a bigger group of libraries and I went online and reserved every Lee Child (the author) book that I hadn’t yet read. Then I sent Don to the library to pick them all up a couple of days before I had my surgery. They are a great source of escape and I’m ever so grateful for them.

As I learn more about Mom, I will let you know.

Filed Under: blogging, books, mom, Scout 28 Comments

Quality Time With My China

August 6, 2011 at 1:44 pm by Claudia

Remember this set of china? The china I had to have and eventually found in 3 different auctions on Ebay? I wrote about them in this post and this post. Yesterday I opened the cabinet and spent some quality time with each piece. Do you ever do that? Do you ever walk around the house looking at your pottery and china with fresh eyes? I do.

They’re so beautiful.

I love them.

I don’t know whether I will ever have the occasion to use all these pieces, but if one arises…I’m ready.

In the meantime, knowing that they’re mine makes me smile.

Filed Under: china and pottery 26 Comments

A Couple of Quick Projects

August 4, 2011 at 12:03 am by Claudia

To keep myself from going insane after oh-so-many days here at MHC (we only have one car at the moment and Don has been using it for work) I finally got around to a project that had been on my mind for a long while. A simple one, really, but one that for some reason I just kept ignoring.

The lamp shade. We keep this lamp on our kitchen counter. Please ignore my tiled countertop with the awful dark tinted grout – someday it will be replaced. Anyway, the lamp used to be closer to the stove, hence the various stains on the white lampshade. I’m too cheap to replace the lampshade, so yesterday I went through my fabric and found a cute pattern that I thought would do nicely.

Scissors, a glue stick and voila!

I can’t believe the transformation. And I can’t believe I didn’t get around to this sooner!

In the studio cabinet, I added a piece of lace to the edge of one of the shelves:

I want to find another piece similar in design and width for the top shelf. How nice that I left the glue stick right in the middle of this shot.  I’m always doing things like that, though the culprit is usually my lens cap.

I’ve been reading like a madwoman but there are times I just need to create. Even if it’s something fairly simple – it makes me happy.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, DIY 29 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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The Dogs

The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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