Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A darkish shot, taken this morning up in the office. The light doesn’t really flood this room until the afternoon.

No, the door hasn’t been attached. Another problem with this kind of dollhouse is that the door doesn’t quite fit the curved opening – I’ve had to add wood putty, I’ve had to sand it, and now, since I’ve added an interior wood floor, I have to sand the bottom of the door to make it fit. Every day, like clockwork, I go upstairs and sand a little. But I don’t have a lot of patience for it. Hopefully, today will be the day when it suddenly fits and I can go about painting the exterior and interior of the door, as well as the parts of the frame.

I had a restless night which was not helped by the time change. Crap, I hate these time changes. They throw me off for at least a week. When Don and I came downstairs this morning, the clock on the cable box said 4:30 am. The other clocks said 5:30, of course, but that 4:30 is going to extract a price.

Sigh.

I cut my hair almost all by myself yesterday. I was so sick of the excess length and my split ends that I did some research online and watched several videos that showed how to cut your long hair by yourself. When I brought it up to Don, he seemed relieved that he didn’t have to do much. (I had also ordered good hair cutting scissors a week ago, so I was ready.) While Don was out running an errand, I went for it. This method isn’t completely foolproof and usually the hair that falls down your back needs a little evening out, but for the most part it looked quite good. When Don came back, I had him trim any hair that was a bit too long or uneven. Voila! I’m quite proud of myself. I think I took about 2½ inches off. I’d like to take off even more, but I wanted to err on the side of caution this first time around.

That’s it, my friends. We’re doing our best to lay low, stay away from anything but essential news, and not lose our minds in this run-up to Election Day. I hope you are, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

You can see the frost on the ground and on the shed roof through the window. It got very cold last night. And it will tonight, as well. All the porch plants are in the house, which makes for a crowded floor by the front door and by the dollhouse here in the den. There’s one more very cold night coming up next week, but then it will stay in the 40s for a while. So I can’t let the plants die just yet. It’s not in me.

For the first time in several days, the sun is shining. Don and I were chatting this morning and we both acknowledged that it makes for a real change in our moods. Even though it’s freezing out there at the moment, it’s sunny. I’ll take it.

My goal for this weekend is to stay away from the news as much as possible. I texted for several hours yesterday and I may do some more of that this weekend. But listening to endless speculation about what might happen on Tuesday is, in the end, not very helpful after you’ve heard it the first time. I’m going to clean, listen to music, work upstairs in the office/studio, finish my book – the kind of task on which I can focus and lose myself.

I’ve been rereading Still Life, Louise Penny’s first book in her series. It’s like spending time with an old friend. Meeting Armand Gamache for the first time as he meets the inhabitants of Three Pines for the first time is delicious. The perfect books for me during all of this insanity. I may just reread all of them in order. We’ll see.

My needs are simple. I ordered new underwear, more socks, and  new pair of flannel pajamas and they all arrived in Thursday’s mail. I’m set. Strange, isn’t it, how new undies, socks, and pajamas can make one so happy?

We were saddened to hear of the death of Sean Connery. There is and will never be anyone like him. Rest in Peace.

Happy Birthday to my nephew, Dave, (Meredith’s son) and to my brother-in-law, Ron. Both of them Halloween babies.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

It’s been raining endlessly for three days (I know, we need it so I shouldn’t complain) and now it’s snowing. Big, fat, wet flakes. Sigh. I can step back and admire them from afar, but frankly, I’m not ready for snow. Tonight, the temps are going to go down into the low twenties, so all of the porch plants will be hauled in (I am incapable of letting them die when I know it will get warmer) and I expect that everything on the property that is still going strong will have disappeared tomorrow. Leaves will fall, the burning bush will be a memory, my roses that have another bloom in October will be gone, the catalpa and oak leaves will fall to the ground.

I realized this morning that yesterday was the fifth anniversary of my Dad’s death. How can it be five years already? That means that February will bring the fifth anniversary of Scout’s passing, as well. We lost Dad and Scout just a few months apart.

A bit of a melancholy morning as I contemplate the change of seasons, the upcoming time change, the loss of loved ones, the loss of my garden, and the slow, crawling, seemingly endless expanse of time until Tuesday and beyond.

I worked on the other window in the dollhouse yesterday. I texted for a few hours. I’m doing all I can for the Biden campaign until there’s nothing left that I can do.

Right before I went to bed last night, I put some of the furniture back in the dollhouse to see how things look. Is the paint I’m using on the trim the right color? What kind of baseboard should I use? What color should I use on the kitchen island? If only I had endless amounts of money, I could buy those pieces that I have marked as favorites on Etsy and eBay. What kind of wallpaper should I use in the bedroom? And on and on it goes. I think I’ll play dollhouse on this snowy day.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.