Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Green Things

August 3, 2023 at 9:28 am by Claudia

Before I forget, two things I’ve been forgetting to mention:

Don chopped off almost 4 inches of my hair the other day. (He had my permission, of course.) It looks so much better.

And my monstera plant, which had been in a darkish corner for quite a while until I switched out the table with Don’s studio on it with the monstera so that it could be in front of the window, has given me two new leaves and they are notched! When a monstera doesn’t get enough light, the leaves tend to just be regular old leaves with no notches.

See? The leaf in the lower right hand corner is one that developed when it wasn’t getting enough light. The big leaf is new and beautifully notched. I don’t know what the official term for that is, I just say ‘notched.’ Monsteras are also called ‘Swiss Cheese Plants’ because of those cut-out areas of the leaf.

Anyway, I can’t tell you how excited I am to see it come back strong. Two new leaves have just appeared but they haven’t unfurled yet, so whatever happens will be a surprise. I’m sure there will be a notch or two.

I got this Monstera at a shop where it had been ignored and was dying. It needed to be repotted and given some TLC. It’s beautiful now.

I weed whacked yesterday and helped mow part of the front lawn, but Don did most of the mowing because my muscles were sore from carrying around the whacker.

I had to trim the weeds that come up between the rocks in the rock garden, as well as around the path to the upper level of the yard. The stepping stones had become hidden and covered with slippery moss because of all the rain we’ve had, so I cleared the moss as well.

Also trimmed around the path to The Dude and cleaned off the stepping stones there.

I always say that we are on the ‘edge of wild’ and this picture is a perfect illustration of that.

I read four chapters of War and Peace  yesterday. I was playing catchup but now I’m ahead. A big battle – the Battle of Borodino – is happening and I’m totally into it. I will say once more that Tolstoy is second only to Shakespeare in my estimation. My heavens, he was a brilliant writer.

I’m also reading The Thursday Night Murder Club  by Richard Osman, which is making me laugh out loud. I’m completely charmed by the cast of characters and the dry wit of Osman – who/whom (I’m never sure and don’t bother explaining it to me because I’ll never retain it) I’ve seen a few times on the Graham Norton show from England. I can see why everyone loves this series.

Don is making an apple pie today. Huzzah!

The lilac side of the front lawn will be mowed today – by me. Don’s knees are bothering him a bit and that side of the lawn is fairly easy to deal with. We have rain and storms coming tomorrow, so I want to get that done today.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: books, houseplants, reading, secret garden 26 Comments

The Photo Cube

August 2, 2023 at 9:03 am by Claudia

I pretty sure you know my reaction to yesterday’s news. Honestly, I never doubted it would happen. Not once.

Can you be happy and enraged at the same time? Turns out, I think you can, given my reaction while reading the indictment.

That’s all on that for now.

Awaiting the news sometime this month from Georgia.

__________________________________________________

A little trip in the wayback machine today. I finally photographed the picture cube from the Gordon Lightfoot concert we attended back in the seventies (maybe 72 or 73?) I saw him live several times, but I attended this particular concert with my friends Becky and Scott. Both of them were close friends from high school and Scott dabbled in photography – I hope he still does!

Scott took the pictures, developed them, and gave me a large print of a photo (I don’t know where that is) and this photo cube – I believe they were birthday presents that year.

Those were the days when Gordon Lightfoot regularly played Masonic Auditorium in Detroit. That’s where I saw and met Judy Collins, as well. At the time, you could get backstage easily and in Collins’ case, I met her onstage and she signed my program. In the case of Lightfoot, we found our way backstage to his dressing room.

I put the cube on the floor to eliminate as much glare as possible.

The last photo was taken as we chatted with him backstage.

You could never get away with that today – only if you had an official backstage pass, as we did when we saw Paul McCartney. Understandably, security is much too tight now.

Don was thrilled when I unearthed this from a box. He insisted we display it by our turntable.

We miss you, Gordon.

Something about me: I have music of some kind playing in my head all day, every day. I can generally tune it out, but it’s there. Right now? For Lovin’ Me. Whoops! It just switched to Bitter Green.

It may be time for another swipe at the front lawn. We’ll see. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday. But today is beautiful. I’m going to listen to some Gordon Lightfoot today.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: life 31 Comments

Critters

August 1, 2023 at 9:29 am by Claudia

A gorgeous eastern swallowtail dining on the zinnias. The sun was shining directly in my eyes, so I couldn’t see much. I just followed the butterfly from flower to flower, hoping something would turn out.

Oh boy. I really worked my butt off yesterday. I pulled weeds, weed whacked, carted buckets of weeds to our debris pile, I pruned and trimmed. And then I mowed the top of the front lawn, which is up the hill and leads to the secret garden. The secret garden was still too wet to mow.

Needless to say, my back is complaining a bit today, but it was so satisfying to finally  get a chance to clean things up out there! Still more weed whacking to do, but the battery died, so I had to charge it. Just as well, as the weed whacker is a bit heavy and I was feeling it. Don mowed the corral and the trails in the woods.

My mom’s birthday was yesterday and the day was filled with memories of her. I miss her.

Today, we’ll take it easy and then tomorrow…back at it.

Groundhog appearance on the porch yesterday. What is the attraction, I wonder? Also, a couple of times lately, I have gone out on the porch around 8:30 pm to put something in the recycling bin and I’ve startled a bird that is resting/sleeping on top of the porch light. I’m going to try to go out there an hour or so earlier. Same thing with the hanging plant. I normally water it earlier in the day but one day I didn’t get to it until late and I startled another bird settling down there for the night. I wonder if there are other pots that provide a bed for the night? There’s probably a whole world of activity I know nothing about.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: birds, butterfly, groundhogs 20 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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