Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Clematis

at by

More clematis because it’s so lush this year! It climbs up and into the boxwood, which I love.

All this, and the wild roses have started to bloom! Soon, the peonies and the catalpas will join them.

I’ll say it again: my favorite time of year.

Though it’s chilly out there! Only a high of 60 today and even lower for the next two days, accompanied by rain. Some holiday weekend! Though I’m not a fan of the three-day weekend. I used to be, however, when I worked 40 hours  a week in an office.

I’m still pecking away on my iPad. A post goes like this: I upload photos to my editing software and then I export them to my blog, which I open on my laptop so that I can do a security check and upload those photos to a draft post. Then I save the draft, open my iPad and sign on to the blog again. I open the draft post and write the text, which takes twice as long as it does when I use the keyboard. I proofread, then publish, whereupon I refresh the blog on the laptop and proof it again, making any revisions necessary. All replies to comments happen on the iPad.

All because I don’t have a working “t” on the keyboard.

I have an appointment at the Apple Store for next Tuesday.

By the way, did I tell you that my husband took my car to a place where it was fully detailed? Since we’ve both been using the car for over a year, he wanted me to have a fresh car, inside and out. It now looks like I just drove it out of the dealer’s lot! Gorgeous!

Series recommendation: Bordertown on Netflix. It’s from Finland, it’s a police procedural but so much more than that, and it’s excellent. Incredible acting from one and all. Yes, there are subtitles. Truthfully, I prefer them nowadays. We never watch network television ( I exclude PBS from this category, of course.) We’ve seen such a high level of excellence from all over the world in the past year. Our horizons have been broadened. Bonus: other countries are not obsessed with casting beautiful young people in every role, along with one token character actor. They actually appreciate age, character lines, and realistic casting. I knew England did, but it’s good to know the same holds true in other countries.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Blooming & Painting

at by

The clematis is blooming and I see buds on the peonies, although they’re aren’t many this year. The truth is, I tend to leave the peonies alone and probably shouldn’t. One of them needs to be moved as it is now in the shade because of the tree that grown in the middle of the bush. I just somehow never get around to it come autumn.

We had thunderstorms yesterday evening and we’ll have more rain tomorrow, but today is lovely. Don swears he saw tiny beaks in the robin’s nest yesterday so I’m going to quietly and carefully investigate. I suspect the wrens have babies, too, but I haven’t heard any cheeps. One of them is in and out of the entrance hole, carrying worms. I was telling Don that once these babies have fledged, I’ll really miss the wrens. Their song has been a constant and I’ve loved watching them. I won’t missed being harassed by the robins, however!

From yesterday:

Just playing with paint. Clearly, I like clouds.

I’m working on a study of the Secret Garden. I don’t have the skill set for minute detail, so it will definitely be my “interpretation” of that space. Wish me luck – I’ll need it.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

The Secret Garden

at by

We had our morning coffee in the Secret Garden. It may be the loveliest time of the year in this space. Although, when the wild roses bloom, I may take that back.

We can take credit for some things: adding the cinder block edging, clearing out the little area that leads to the crabapple tree, adding stepping stones there and at the entrance to the garden, as well as up the little hill to the back forty, adding the chairs and table, adding vintage pots filled with plants, and, last year, lugging rocks to form a rock garden.

But the wild phlox, the wild mint, the wild roses and mustard, the tiny little flowers called fleabane, all of which fill in the spaces, spring out of gravel and grow between the rocks – they make the space magical.

It’s very natural back there, not at all manicured or precise. I love it so much.

For a long time – many years – after we moved here, the area in back of the kitchen was just a wet space at the bottom of a hill. We ignored it. The change began when I added steps up the little hill and then, one day when Don was away, lugged many heavy old cinder blocks from the woods to this space and created a dividing line between the wild growth and the grass. Suddenly, it was becoming a purposeful space. And then the rest followed. Don put in all the stepping stones. He cleared out some of the undergrowth. He was a bit overzealous and suddenly we had a lot of bare dirt, which made me unhappy. Hence, his atonement; his idea for a rock garden, which ended up being the perfect solution.

I’m having a grateful day. Grateful for this little bit of property that is somewhat wild, for our woods, and our huge expanse of lawn, for our gardens and our flower-filled porch, for our trees, for the wild turkey that walked by the front porch this morning, for the wee groundhog who dined on our grass yesterday, for the birds and the baby birds.

We created much of this on a tiny budget, often for no cost at all, using materials we found on the property.

This place has become my dream-of-decades come true.

I never will take it for granted.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives