Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Visit

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A little bit of wonder for you this morning.

Look closely. A small fawn is investigating one of my potted plants. A beautiful little baby.

Mama saw me as I stood in the kitchen taking this picture, so they were soon gone. I posted it on IG and my neighbor commented, wondering if they were the same pair that had been hanging out near her house. As they took off toward her meadow, I think they are.

Oh, such sweetness.

This morning the Carolina wren pair that were scared off when the trailer dollhouse was knocked over and hanging by a thread, came back. (They had opted to nest across the street on my neighbor’s property. I could hear them singing every day.) They were clearly scouting for their next nest. They sang on the porch and flew around, concentrating on my purple hanging plant. Ummm….no.

Then a while later, they turned up on the maple tree and one of them went in and out of the trailer.

Dare I hope?

I keep having this urge to push the nesting material away from the opening to where it probably was before the house got tilted. But Don says to leave it alone, that the birds will fix it up if they want to nest there. He’s probably right.

All this and three bunny sightings – two yesterday and one this morning.

It’s going to rain today.

I donated three bags of books to the library yesterday and I’ll be donating more next week. I have SO many books around here, and I have no problems letting go of some of them. Many of them, of course, I would never consider donating. But I only have so much shelf space. Next up: some older decorating books that I have not cracked open in years. Reward: others get to enjoy them and I have more shelf space available.

I finished the Elizabeth George and have now started the next in the Slough House series by Mick Herron – Real Tigers. What a joy he is to read!

Don reinstalled a clothesline outside, and I hung the sheets out to dry last week. They smelled so fresh! Since rain is on the docket for today, I’ll wash them tomorrow so I can hang them on the line.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

The Recipe

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It’s a partly cloudy day – which is good for picture taking. Don just left for the Farmer’s Market, where he’ll be doing just that, taking photos. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing today; most likely a bit of work outside, some laundry, taking 3 bags of books over to the library for donation, finishing my Elizabeth George book (I’m very close to the end.)

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Here is Don’s recipe for Sugar-Free Apple Pie. It’s quite simple.

Ingredients:

2 9-inch pie shells (Obviously, you can also make your own crusts
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 12 ounce can of frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate – thawed
5 sliced green apples (granny smith) equal to 6 cups

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, cinnamon,  and 1/3 cup of the thawed apple juice concentrate – whisk together and set aside.

In a large saucepan, simmer the sliced apples with the remaining apple juice concentrate until the apples are tender, approximately 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer until thickened.

Spoon the apple mixture into the pie’s bottom crust, cover with the top crust, and let sit for a few minutes. Then flute the edges of the crust, cut steam vents in the top crust, and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Additional notes from Don: poke holes with a fork in the bottom crust, place on a foil covered baking sheet. In our oven, Don uses the lower rack. I also know he likes to cut larger apple slices, he thinks they work better.

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There you have it. He just made one yesterday. Oh boy, it’s good!

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

A Rose

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I almost missed this beauty. It was peeking out from the yarrow in the memorial garden. I don’t get many roses from these bushes – maybe one or two – but when they do emerge, what loveliness! They are almost always accompanied by these little bugs.

Well, all I can think about right now was last night’s January 6th Committee hearing. I hope you watched it. If you didn’t, watch it online. There is nothing more important than what is happening in the hearings: the systematic laying out of facts about January 6th, all of them leading to the ringleader, Trump. This is the first in a series of hearings where the committee will unveil what they have discovered.

The video of the attack on the Capitol, taken by a documentary filmmaker, was absolutely horrifying. The evidence that Trump knew he had lost, had been told that he lost by advisors, but kept inciting his cultists no matter the evidence was chilling. Equally chilling are his words about hanging Mike Pence.

These are facts. Those who blindly follow Trump’s lies and conspiracy theories won’t let themselves be swayed. That would be admitting they’d been taken in by a conman, a carnival barker. They’re lost.

But for the rest of us who value truth and the Constitution and our democracy, this evidence is chilling. And it’s just the start.

Bravo to GOP Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are risking their careers in the pursuit of truth.

It was riveting. We’ll be watching the next hearing on Monday at 10 am.

The word “patriot” has been bastardized by those who are anything but patriots. But I’ll invoke it to say that I believe it’s our patriotic duty to watch these hearings – to bear witness. Just as I watched the Watergate hearings (Watergate seems like child’s play now) I will watch these hearings. Yes, it can be upsetting. You should  be upset.

And please, if you’re going to say “It won’t make a difference” please don’t. It’s defeatism, which isn’t helpful. The fact is we don’t know what will happen. But it’s clear to me that the Committee is skillfully and painstakingly laying out a case against Trump and all who enabled him.

It’s all Don and I can talk about this morning.

It’s a gorgeous day and I can hear a bird singing right outside my window. I’m reading The Punishment She Deserves  by Elizabeth George, trying to finish it by tomorrow because I have another book waiting for me at the library.

The puzzle I’m working on is the hardest I’ve ever encountered, so it’s very slow going.

I will post Don’s recipe for sugar-free apple pie over the weekend.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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