Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Flowers and Renewal

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The miracle hydrangeas, back from the dead!

I spent hours cutting back most of the dead wood, spurred on by the appearance of tiny little shoots coming out of the ground. I think that I’ve checked on them just about every day since then. And look! They’re tall and the flowers are far bigger than they were in the past. One bloom is over 10 inches across.

I’m so thrilled by this. Thanks to those of you who told me not to give up. I was ready to write it off. Boy, do I need this, to see renewal and regrowth out of seemingly nothing. It’s also so much healthier.

As we were leaving for the grocery store yesterday, I saw this great spangled frittilary on one of the coneflowers. (My favorite butterfly name.)

Just about to fully open.

It’s spectacularly beautiful out there. After an incredibly rainy spring, we’re in our first stretch of several days with no rain. We may get some storms tomorrow. I’ve noticed that both of our rivers are low. It happens every summer.

I started the new puzzle and worked on it quite a bit yesterday as I stayed true to our “Day of Rest” Sunday. The only thing I did outdoors was to get in the car to go to the grocery store with Don, and water all of my plants. The rest of the time was spent quietly.

I even slept in a bit this morning.

FYI, the starting time of the  January 6th Committee hearing tomorrow has been changed to 1 pm EST.

Can’t wait!

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

A Day of Rest

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My favorite time of the summer is when my coneflowers start opening. I have scads of them because they self-seed. Over the 16 or so years since I first planted them, they have popped up everywhere. The deer got some of them this year but now that I’m spraying, no more damage.

First monarch butterfly sighting the other day. I tried to get a picture but he/she flew away before I could get close enough.

I pulled a Claudia yesterday and did way too much, including mowing both sides of the front yard, cleaning, laundry, pulling weeds, pulling out the refrigerator to clean behind it, etc. By the time Don got home from the Farmer’s Market (which was a dud yesterday) I was fried. But hey, the front lawn looks nice! I was trying to get to it before it gets very hot on Monday, and when Don is away, I get much more done. But I’m very tired today, as is Don, so we’ve declared that Sunday will truly be a day of rest.

Here’s a picture of the puzzle I finished the other day – it’s not the greatest photo, but it’s very hard to capture the tiny detail in these city scenes. It’s called The World of Sherlock Holmes.

I just started an Alice in Wonderland puzzle by the same company.  After my flurry of activity yesterday, I sat at the kitchen table and started sorting through the edge pieces and that’s as far as I got.

It’s a quiet Sunday morning, though for most of the day yesterday I thought it was Sunday instead of Saturday. I was surprised to see the mail truck because I was sure it was Sunday!

Katie – my surprise doll – is settling in nicely. As you know, I purchased another doll from Ukraine. She’ll take a while to get here. But when she arrives, I’ll have ten  Blythes, which is two more than I’d planned on having. I think ten is enough. In fact, I know  it’s enough – I have no more room!

Today, I’m going to read, walk around the garden, and work on the puzzle. That’s it.

Oh, and finish my coffee.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

A Surprise in the Mail

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You know I love to tell a good story, so here’s one for you on this Saturday morning.

Stacy, a longtime reader of this blog, follows my Blythe account on IG. That’s because she is also  a Blythe collector, though I didn’t figure out that she was the same Stacy that follows the blog for a bit. But I finally did and thought how neat it is that we both collect these girls.

She messaged me when she heard about our tree and said she’d like to send me a few Blythe outfits to cheer me up. I was touched by her kindness and kept an eye out for the delivery of the package to my PO Box.

It arrived yesterday. Usually, I’m a bit slow about getting to the post office, but miracle of miracles, I picked it up that afternoon. Thank goodness.

When I got home, I opened the box. There were adorable clothes; some overalls, a t-shirt, a dress, a little coat, some fun little Blythe headphones and some bits and bobs. I’ve had a moratorium on buying new clothes for the girls for a month or two, so having someone send me some as a gift was very exciting!

But I soon realized that there was something else in the box.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a Blythe doll.

Here she is:

These is how she looked when I unwrapped her. Oh my god. Isn’t she adorable? She was customized by the same woman who customized my very first Blythe, Sophie.

A close up:

Don wasn’t home at the time and I couldn’t wait for him to get back so I could show him this unbelievable gift! I was so excited that I ran outside to tell him. He was so happy for me.

How lucky am I? I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of my readers. I have been thoroughly spoiled over the 14 years I’ve been writing this blog.

Stacy wrote the loveliest note to me. Thank you, Stacy. I love this new addition to the family. Her full name is Stacy Katie, but I think she’ll be called Katie for short. She looks like a Katie to me.

And here she is after having been dressed this morning:

I can’t stand it, she’s so darling! Maybe a bit of a tomboy? All shall be revealed.

She and her sister Sophie will spend some quality time together later today. Maybe while I’m slaving away mowing the lawn.

In other news, I saw a deer right next to the garden at 5:30 this morning and so I went outside. She moved to the catalpa tree and I stayed there – maybe 8 feet away? – softly talking to her. Said good morning and please don’t eat my flowers. Then we just stared at each other for about two minutes. I’ve never seen a deer stay in place for so long. Then she took off. I think it’s the fawns’ mom. Since I’d just sprayed the plants the other day she didn’t eat anything. I checked. Phew!

A really lovely moment.

Thank you again, dear Stacy. Katie and I have had some bonding time this morning.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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