Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Simple Pleasures

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Saturday. It’s turned very cold, so our mild – for the season – temperatures are now gone. We are due for snow tomorrow; 1-3 inches during the day and 1-3 inches overnight. We have our snowblower again so that’s great. Very nice people repaired it and returned it to us, but Don is having trouble removing the gas cap. So he’s got to figure that out today.

As always with early snowfalls, I’m all in. That will change, of course. But I’d love to see some snow on the ground for Christmas.

I just finished Slough House  this morning and that darned Mick Herron has ended it in a real cliffhanger! What am I going to do? The most recent book in the series, Bad Actors, is out in hardback, but a quick google search has told me that my worries about the status of one of the characters will not be resolved in that book. Oh well, patience is a virtue – so they say.

In the meantime, I have the newest Anthony Horowitz at the ready. And Louise Penny, of course, but you know I always delay that pleasure.

And a new puzzle has arrived, thank goodness.

And Don is going to make an apple pie.

Simple pleasures. That’s all I need.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Nature, Miniatures, and Spoiler Alert

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Yesterday was a full-on amazing nature day.

Spectacular sunrise with a pink sky as far as we could see. A spectacular sunset. Two murmurations of starlings on our property that were truly magnificent and glorious. At one point, I looked out the back window in the kitchen and there was a huge hawk standing on the ground eating something. I’ve never seen a hawk land on our property and stay there for at least ten minutes. Don said he was eating big, fat worms. It was amazing to watch – all of this was happening as we were talking to someone on the phone!

Wow.

Turning to miniatures, I’ve been trying to find a vintage-looking stove other than an Aga for quite a while. Almost impossible to find. Then a friend reminded me of the Hallmark Keepsake ornament from 2004, which you can still find on eBay. It’s very Christmasy and loaded with things I don’t want (and have already started to remove) but it reminds me of our stove. It’s 1:12 scale, or pretty close to that. It arrived in yesterday’s mail. It’s plastic, of course.

This ornament was designed to be plugged into a Christmas light strand and there was a fragrance pack tucked into the rear of the stove – sort of an apple spice scent. You plugged it in and you could smell cookies baking. I think there was a light in the oven, as well. It will need some work, as I’ve already removed the salt and pepper shakers, cookie sheets, and mugs, so I’ll have to repaint the top of the stove. I know of at least one other miniaturist who has worked with this ornament, so I’m going to check out her stove, which I believe she has since sold. I also have to cut off the electrical cord.

But I think this will look great in the Beacon Hill, don’t you?

Spoiler Alert  opens nationwide today! Go see it – it’s a wonderful movie with beautiful performances by everyone. Jim and Ben will make you laugh and break your heart at the same time. Sally and Bill are brilliant, as one would expect. And you can see me!

I’m so proud of this and my little contribution. My work with Ben paid off as he aced the dialect, and I managed not to embarrass myself in my scene. Who would have thought I’d be acting again, on screen, after 30 years?

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Books and Puzzles

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Finished. The puzzle is from Lawrence King and the title is The World of the Harlem Renaissance. Loved every bit of time spent working on it. Of course, a couple of hours later, I realized I needed another puzzle, so I ordered one that was on sale and that could be delivered today. I am not kidding when I say that I HAVE to have a puzzle in the works. They keep me calm when my mind is full of worry or fear – and let’s face it, for most of us, that’s a lot of the time. Last year and the year before, it was a wintertime thing. Now, it’s an all-the-time thing.

I tried to take photos of the dollhouse interiors/Christmas trees yesterday but it was so dark outside and inside that the photos were depressing, which is not what we want at Christmas time, is it? I’ll try again today. It will be partly cloudy but it’s much lighter outside. If not today, tomorrow.

I’m almost finished with Slough House, part of Mick Herron’s brilliant series about British Spies – Slough House being the place where spies who have screwed up are sent. This is one of the best series I have ever read. Herron writes beautifully and the books are a wonderful combination of humor, irony, and can’t-put-it-down action. I’ve read, I believe, seven of them and there’s one more that was published this year. It’s still in hardcover. I am a big, big fan.

The library informed me that my copy of the new Anthony Horowitz, The Twist of a Knife, has come in, so I’ll head on over there today to pick it up.

So happy to hear that Brittney Griner has been released by Russia and is on her way home. Prayers that Paul Whelan is eventually allowed to come home, as well.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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