Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Day Three Hundred Twenty-Four

at by

Well, the total amount of snow predicted for tomorrow and Tuesday has increased to 12 -18 inches.

Yikes. It’s going to be at least a 48 hour event as the system will stall over the coast and the mid to lower Hudson Valley will get the worst of it.

Spoiler alert: That’s us.

So Don is moving cars in preparation, so he can clear the parking area. It may start tonight, it may start tomorrow morning. I’m not real excited about it, but Don is. Since he operates the snow blower, I guess that’s a good thing. In the meantime, we sit tight and wait. I’ve requested that Don make an apple pie tomorrow during the “event.” Hey, at least we don’t have to change our plans…these days, we have none.

C’est fini. Now, of course, I wish I had another one on hand that is just as complicated. I do have some other puzzles, but they are fairly easy. Better than nothing, of course! I have to say I’ve been spoiled by these John Derian puzzles. They’re gorgeous.

I got a little package in the mail yesterday – from England. I ordered this a while back from Minimum World but I didn’t expect them to ship before February 1st because of lockdown. But they did.

This is a kit from Mini Mundus – they make amazing furniture kits. This piano will go in the Beacon Hill. I decided to order it now because it was on sale.

I couldn’t find hardware for the finished desk that I liked from my usual sources, but I did find some at Minimum World. I’ve taken a picture, but the pulls are still in their plastic pouch as I didn’t want to lose them. They’re teeny-tiny.

I really like them, especially the darker patina. There’s a lot of shiny brass fittings out there and I inevitably have to ‘age’ them. These, however, are perfect.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

 

Day Three Hundred Twenty-Three

at by

Closer to the finish.

I finished up the rivers and the shorelines, added Central Park and St. Patrick’s Cathedral  – now I have to fill in the neighborhoods, as well as Union Square and a couple of other parks. I find this kind of thing so absorbing and stimulating, while at the same time, very calming. There’s nothing I love more at the moment than working on this puzzle with Don playing music and singing at the other end of the room.

I’m about a hundred and twenty pages into Winter Solstice  and I’m really enjoying it. Pilcher is a master of describing time and place. Her characters are complex and beautifully written. Someone suggested in a comment here that this book was like a Hallmark movie. To me? With all due respect, not one bit. Hallmark movies are meant to be superficial and surface level, with impossibly pretty actors and shallow plot devices, because they’re a form of visual escape, just like Harlequin romances were a form of escape for me when I was younger. I get it. I’m not at all into those movies now, but I understand their appeal.

Pilcher, on the other hand, is an excellent writer and her books have far, far more depth. There’s no comparison. There are elements of romance of course, but they’re character driven and beautifully written. I hadn’t read one of her novels in several years and I forgot what a pleasure it is to be in her hands. All this is to say, I love her books. This is just what I need at the moment – interesting, complicated characters, beautiful descriptions of the English and Scottish countrysides, cottages, houses, the streets of London, and characters who are forced to face heartbreak and change and move on in the hopes of something better. Characters, I might add, who have weaknesses, regrets, and resilience in the face of the unknown.

The forecast for Monday and Tuesday keeps changing. Yesterday: 1-3 inches of snow with 1-3 inches overnight. This morning: 1-3 inches of snow with 3-5 inches overnight. Apparently, the forecast models keep changing. So, we won’t really know anything definite until sometime tomorrow.

We’ve been looking through a book of Jeff Bridges’ photographs, all taken on movie sets with his Widelux camera. Some of them are from Crazy Heart, which we saw when it first came out. Bridges won the Oscar for his role. So we rented it from Amazon Prime last night and I’m so glad we watched it again. He’s brilliant in his role; heartbreaking, touching, dissolute, sad and, in the end, inspiring. Also wonderful – Maggie Gyllenhaall, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall. It’s so damn good.

Don will pick up groceries today. I’m forcing myself to clean the bathroom. Then we’ll do all the disinfecting, etc. Then, I hope to hear some music from my husband. I sang to him last night. I don’t sing a lot these days but I sang onstage, in church, and professionally for years. When Don catches me singing while working in the kitchen, he asks for more. What a good guy he is!

Really, really cold out there. But sunny.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Day Three Hundred Twenty-Two

at by

I worked on the dollhouse bathroom yesterday, but I wasn’t completely happy with my work. I decided to wallpaper the sloped ceiling/eaves/what-do-you-call-them? and some of the wallpapering was just a bit off. Most dollhouses are made to be wallpapered in sections, laying flat, before you put the rooms together. Not all, but most. But when you’re renovating an existing space (and a tiny one at that) it’s a challenge. Trying to measure hidden parts of the walls – even using a pattern like I do – is very difficult. I think I’ve hit on a solution; which is in reality, a disguise, and I’ll try it later today. Anyway, lots of time spent upstairs in the studio with frustrating results.

Later in the day, I worked on the puzzle:

I finished the Battery and Wall Street and Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge, plus the place where the East River and the Hudson River meet. The next section will be the most difficult, because it’s basically rust colored pieces in varying shades denoting the grids in Manhattan. And more water, as well.

It is unbelievably cold here today. The wind chills are well into the below zero range. It took at least three hours for the house to warm up this morning and I’m still wearing my flannel pajamas and a hooded sweatshirt. More of the same tomorrow, then it will remain cold, just not as cold. And then snow on Monday and Tuesday. Since the snow is on the horizon, we put in another order for groceries this morning and we’ll pick it up tomorrow.

But…the sun is shining.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

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