Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

Peeking Inside an Abandoned (Doll)House.

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It’s almost as if it’s been empty for years. Whoever lived there moved out and left a few pieces of furniture behind, leaving us to wonder what happened.

Such an elegant chest of drawers, now sitting there in an empty room.

Is there anything left inside those drawers? If only we could get inside!

And what’s this? This was rather fancy furniture at one time. Did they chat with each other in front of a roaring fire? How many conversations were had here?

A dark and narrow stairway.

A lovely curved sofa. So strange!

Did they have to pull up stakes quickly? Was it too difficult to take all of the furniture? Or maybe it wouldn’t fit in their new abode.

And now it sits there with no chatter, no people coming in and out of the house, no ‘life.’

(This is how I feel when I peek in the windows of real life abandoned homes as well.)

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

A Sweet Surprise

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A month or so ago, Don posted a request on our local Facebook pages: did anyone have any old outdoor benches that they wanted to get rid of? He got a lot of responses and proceeded to drive around and gather the useable and sturdy benches. His idea was to have an area in Maple Grove, which is a clearing in our woods, where he and his musician friends could play music.

This is what it looks like now. He’d love to get a couple of benches that look like the one on the right, but for now, the white benches are sturdy, made of wood, and they’ll do. Maple Grove looks out on our neighbor’s fields.

Even more recently, he grabbed the old lawnmower and the hoe and cleaned up the paths. When he was finished he said that he wanted to show me what he’d done, as part of it was a response to a longtime request that I had. There’s another area to the left of Maple Grove, also a path, that is usually overgrown. I have always wanted the path cleared there so that it would open onto our neighbor’s fields and the beautiful view of the hills beyond. He did that, along with widening it.

Here is what he showed me:

Dan, who runs our recycling/transfer station, had seen Don’s post and saved a bench for him that someone dropped off. Don didn’t tell me about it, but he immediately envisioned it as a place for me to sit and meditate and gaze at the view. He brought it home and secretly took it up to the woods.

Isn’t this beautiful? And don’t I have a thoughtful husband?

This view is always lovely – the sun comes up over those hills. And it’s especially beautiful in the autumn.

From the other side.

My Don appreciation post for this week.

I absolutely love this and, needless to say, I absolutely love my husband.

Okay. Back to another heat advisory and temps in the high nineties. I’m almost looking forward to autumn.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Seems Fit for Office to Me

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Currently juggling all of these. Oh wait, the one in the middle is a journal that I hardly ever write in. The rest are books I am indeed reading.

The new Daniel Silva arrived at the library on Wednesday and, of course, I had to drop everything. It’s early days but I know it will be fabulous because Silva’s books always are.

Most of this morning has been spent reading about the release of Americans being held in Russia and the incredibly complex plan to secure their release – a plan that originally included Alexei Navalny. This plan was successful because of Joe Biden. His positive relationship with our allies, his statecraft, his years spent on foreign relations, and his pure goodness lead to this. I do not mean to exclude our State Department, Vice President Kamala Harris, or any of the players in this detailed plan – I thank them. But it was just – how many weeks ago? – that the media and some Democrats and big money Dem donors were relentlessly questioning Biden’s fitness for office – including the Wall Street Journal, where Evan Gershkovich worked. And, true to form, they have not thanked the President, because that would upset their narrative.

Gee, he seems pretty fit to me. In fact, I’d say he was a master at being President.

The hypocrisy just plain stinks.

Seeing the video of their arrival in the United States brought tears to my eyes. May they find peace with their loved ones.

And bravo to our amazing gymnasts. Each of them – two from the USA, one from Brazil – had to overcome tremendous obstacles to get where they are today. And they did it with determination, grace, and integrity.

Other news: It was an unbelievably humid and dangerously hot day yesterday (and will be today, as well.) I watered twice. We might have storms today and I say, bring them on! Let’s send this front, or whatever you call it, out to sea.

Of course, as per usual on the first Friday of the month so far this summer, there is the threat of bad weather and impossible humidty and Don has another outdoor concert tonight. He’s not playing; he hired the performers. But he has to be there. I hope they move it to an indoor venue because the weather forecast is too dicey. Fingers crossed.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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