Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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The Weekend

June 30, 2025 at 8:36 am by Claudia

We did a heck of a lot of work outside last week; mowing the entire property, pruning, weeding, weed trimming, mowing the trails in the woods. After all of the rain, followed by the dangerous heat, we had a lot of catching up to do. We don’t like the fact that doing all of that work is not as easy as it used to be. But it is what it is.

Anyway, we worked outside again on Saturday. I pruned several bushes, yanked weeds and vines, cleaned up the garden beds. Don mowed the trails. So we rested yesterday. We sat on the porch for an hour or so, all the while expressing gratitude for our house and our property. We are blessed. It was so beautiful out there! Don played and wrote some music. And I played with the girls/dolls.

I have this loft dollhouse that was available at Target years ago. A couple of years ago, I removed the loft and the stairs, with the idea of using it for the girls for another photo opportunity. But, I haven’t purchased any furniture in this scale (1:6) and my initial idea of wallpapering the box isn’t something I want to do now.

So I grabbed a vintage glove box out of the cabinet in the studio to use as a sofa, made a makeshift table from a yogurt container I got in Paris and arranged the girls. That’s a fabric-covered board behind the window as I didn’t want a view of Don’s desk.

I like the way it looks.

Afterward, I brought the girls and animals back down to the den and I ended up removing the dolls from their cubbies, while I dusted and readjusted the wallpaper, which is temporarily attached and tends to slip downward a bit over time.

And Katie got a new outfit.

I can’t tell you how calming it all was! These girls bring peace.

Down by the street, our annual burst of orange beauty is takin place.

Ditch lilies are all blooming everywhere in our little town.

Later, I’m going to snip off the now dead blooms on the lilac bush (the ones I can reach) which will promote more flowers next year. And clean the bathroom and vacuum.

Or not.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: Blythe dolls, flowers 23 Comments

They’re Chomping on my Garden Again

June 28, 2025 at 8:22 am by Claudia

More day lilies have opened.

Some pesky deer have been chomping on my David phlox (just like last year) and even some of my coneflowers – that has never happened before! So I sprayed everything the other day, but I’ll spray again today as we’ve had some rain. Oh, and I saw that my big hosta had been chomped on.

It’s all out war now.

I mowed yesterday – I was just going to mow the back forty, but I ended up mowing the corral, too. Boy, that tires me out! I didn’t get to the lilac side of the front lawn, so Don is going to get to that today or tomorrow. Needless to say, today I will be taking it somewhat easy, though I think I’ll be doing some pruning. Everything is out of control at the moment.

We watched The Lady Eve  last night on TCM. It’s one of my favorite movies – Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, William Demarest and a great supporting cast in a screwball comedy directed and written by the great Preston Sturges. Oh my heavens, we had such a good time watching it!

The bee balm fully opened.

I’m going to do my best to avoid the news this weekend. I reached burnout yesterday. The weekend will consist of reading, working in the garden, hanging out with my husband and eating some of the apple pie he’s going to make later today.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: life 20 Comments

Monarchs, Mowing, Reading, and the Girls

June 27, 2025 at 9:11 am by Claudia

The temperatures have dropped as of yesterday and life seems a bit easier. Sort of. We mowed yesterday, though it was still surprisingly humid. There’s lots more mowing to do and I had planned on doing that today, but we’ve had unexpected rain, with more due tomorrow. One good thing; I got to use the weed trimmer in the secret garden – it was so overgrown back there! The Dude was barely visible!

If it stops raining this morning, I might try to mow the “Lilac Side” of the front lawn because I don’t think it will be too impacted by the rain. We’ll see.

On Wednesday, we came back home from grocery shopping and as we were unloading the car, I saw a Monarch Butterfly. She was laying eggs on the milkweed! It was so cool to see that. Timing is everything, isn’t it? We stayed far away as she was skittish and watched her go from plant to plant. I guess I won’t be removing any milkweed unless I’m sure it’s egg-free. At his point, I should just leave it alone until fall.

Change of clothes for these two, who were wearing sweaters during the plus 100° heat.

As I said on IG, with so many girls wearing shoes, available footwear is almost non-existent. So this time, I matched outfits to  the boots they were already wearing.

That’s Zoe on the left and Madeleine on the right.

I think I need to order at least two more pairs of shoes from my friend Cora. She makes the most wonderful footwear and she lives in Connecticut.

I’m about to finish a Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and his son, Andrew. I am wary about this trend of double authors, which seems to happen when a prolific author gets older and, presumably, more tired. But the 3 or 4 that I’ve read have been pretty good. Maybe not quite as good as the original run by Lee Child. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying them. I have the newest Robert Macfarlane on my pile, Is a River Alive?  He writes about nature and is one of my favorite authors. This just came out and I only have about a week in which to read it, so I have to get going.

I hardly buy any books anymore, but I did succumb the other day, as Jane Casey has just published a new book in her Maeve Kerrigan police procedural series. I am an unabashed fan and have read them all, but our library system doesn’t always order her books. So far, there is no indication that this one is in the system. So I ordered it from Amazon. The last one ended with a real cliff-hanger.

But I won’t let myself read it until I finish the Macfarlane.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: life 20 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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The Dogs

The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

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