Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Shelf Tour, Part Whatever

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Oh, hello! It’s time for another shelf tour.

This is the middle shelf in the china cabinet in the den.

Back row, left to right:

A peach colored McCoy vase.

A pillow vase in the Roseville Zephyr Lilly pattern. It’s flawless. This was a gift from a reader named Sonja. Sadly, I haven’t heard from her in a long, long time. I hope she’s well.

The next vase, in that scrumptious green color, might be my favorite. It’s in the Ixia pattern and it’s 8 inches tall. I love the art deco lines to the base and the flowers, as well as the subtle shading from green to cream. I painted this one in oils.

Next is my ‘saucy’ vase. It always reminds me of a woman standing with her hands on her hips. It’s the Snowberry pattern and it’s 6 inches tall. (Another oil painting.)

And then, a favorite vase in milk glass. Perfect for flowers, though I often forget to use it for bouquets nowadays.

Center row:

A cornucopia vase in Magnolia in a beautiful shade of green. It’s 6 inches tall and it was a gift from Sonja.

A little green duck made by Shawnee pottery.

A candleholder in the Gardenia pattern. I found this at an auction.

Front row:

A 4 inch tall vase in the Peony pattern. This was the other piece I found at the same auction I mentioned above.

A gorgeous candleholder in the Bleeding Heart pattern. A gift from Cathy, a longtime reader of this blog.

And  my very first piece of Roseville, purchased back in San Diego at a time when prices were sky high. It was the only piece I could afford. It’s a small jardinière in the Bushberry pattern.

Next to the Roseville is a McCoy singing bird.

Way in the back are two silver and glass candleholders that were my grandmother’s.

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A beautiful day today and I’m going to mow the front lawn. We’re supposed to get rain for the next few days starting tomorrow, so I have a deadline.

Three of the babies were around yesterday and I found myself longing for the days when Buddy is a solo visitor. Plus, the rabbit and the big groundhog that lives under the shed were hanging around. My afternoon was spent keeping an eye on the three babies and shooing them out of forbidden areas.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday and first day of summer.

 

 

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

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What a lovely greeting this morning!

This little rose bush usually has just two flower buds, but boy, do they develop into magnificent blossoms! The color is extraordinary. By the way, this bush was a gift from a reader of this blog. It’s in the memorial garden.

It looks like we had a light shower overnight. You can see the water drops on the leaves.

My little Buddy appeared off and on yesterday, eating grass, sitting on a rock, running back under the tree when something frightened him. At one point, I saw him come through the gate and make his way through the secret garden and up the hill on his way to the family’s burrow. I thought: oh, he’s gone for the day. About 30 minutes later, he was back. Unless he was another of the kids. But I’m pretty sure it was Buddy, who likes to hang out here during the day.

Just want him to remain safe. Thankfully, I haven’t seen him go in the direction of the street. He seems to be happy up here.

Over the past three days I did three video tours of the girls. I don’t know why, but I had the idea one day and there you go. I posted them. I thought they might be a dud, but people seemed to really like hearing my voice and learning more about the girls. I simply highlighted a few of the girls each day and shared their stories. Anyway, if you’re at all interested, they’re on my IG Blythe feed which is, after going to instagram: (at symbol)sophieandherpals.

I did a lot of weed whacking yesterday and Don mowed the trails up in the woods. I leave a certain amount of weeds near the funky patio, etc., for the groundhogs and rabbits. Just saw our rabbit – maybe the mama of the baby bunnies? – this morning.

Today, I’m going to start working on reorganizing my office/studio. There’s so much STUFF there: dollhouses, dollhouse supplies, my easel, oil paints, mail, scripts, a mini printer, and on and on. Plus, we just took the kitchen a/c unit out of the closet in our office so I have some space available again. It’s time to be ruthless and sort through everything.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

 

Beautiful Monday

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Good morning.

It’s a beautiful morning here at the cottage. The yarrow has blossomed. The back forty was mowed a few days ago. We’re due to mow the front lawn, but we’ll wait a bit before we start in on that. It’s very green out there, helped by our recent days of rain. I’m well aware that we had a drought last summer in July and August, so I’m enjoying this while I can.

My little buddy, one of the baby groundhogs, visited in the afternoon yesterday. He/She is fascinating – usually comes to visit by himself, hangs out, eats, lazes on a rock or two, disappears whenever we suddenly appear, then comes back to the rock. I haven’t named any of the babies, but this one – he is Buddy. I have no idea where the others are, or where they dine. Every once in a while I walk up to the back forty near the area where their burrow is, but I don’t see anything. Buddy definitely goes back to that burrow at night. I haven’t seen mom in a while. I guess the kids are the equivalent of teenagers now and just like when we were kids, they go off by themselves for hours at a time. Mom knows they’ll come back “when the streetlights go on.”

The robins are still busy feeding their babies – this nest is in the big bush in the main garden bed. The burning bush, if you remember it. It’s the perfect place for a nest because the bush is dense and the nest is quite hidden. Heck, I can’t even see it when I’m nearby. I imagine those babies will be fledging soon; in fact, with my track record, they probably fledged this morning. I want to prune that bush, but I’ve been keeping away from it while the nest is active.

Today, I’m going to tackle the weeds in the rock garden part of the secret garden. They are out of control. Soon, they’ll cover The Dude and we can’t have that!

I’m working on a puzzle – another Renoir painting – which is very dark and very, very difficult. If I can fit 5 pieces in a session, I’m happy. It’s very slow going, especially since I’m busy outside much of the time. But it’s there and I often stop whatever I’m doing in the kitchen to see if inspiration hits me.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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