Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 617 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Reading, Watching, and Art

January 23, 2020 at 10:33 am by Claudia

I keep thinking it’s Friday and it’s Thursday. I’ve been like that all week. I’m also going through one of my bouts with too little sleep. I’m just trying to maintain some calm about the whole thing. I don’t have to be anywhere, I don’t have to travel to Hartford or NYC, I can fall asleep in my chair in the late afternoon (like I’ve done for the past two days.) It’s all good.

Finished The Night Watch by Michael Connelly. Excellent, as always. And I do mean ‘as always.’ He’s one of my favorite writers. Now, on to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Hmmm. ‘Night’ seems to be the theme in this post so far; 3 nights with too little sleep, and two books with night in the title. What is the universe trying to say to me?

We’ve also been watching Hinterland on Netflix. It’s an excellent police/detective procedural which takes place in Wales. It’s been around for 3 seasons, so I’m sure we’re late to this party and that some of you have already seen it.

More den artwork:

A very old lithograph by Currier & Ives – a famous one at that. I don’t know how old this particular print is, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s one of the earliest printing runs. The paper is foxed, there’s quite a bit of damage near the top. I got it at an auction several years ago. I had no idea that it was this old until I looked at it more closely after having won it for $25.00. I bid on it because I love the sentiment and I absolutely love the colors, especially that vivid red. It hangs above our television set.

And this one, which you’ve seen before in my McCoy photos. Both of these shots had to be taken from strange angles because the den has windows on 3 sides, making it virtually impossible to get a shot of anything glass without a reflection appearing in it.

This is a watercolor of a winding road with a windmill in the distance. It’s signed, but I can’t quite make it out. We bought this when we were living in San Diego. We loved the watercolor, but we really loved the frame! Isn’t it gorgeous? It really makes a statement and looked great in our Craftsman house in SD with all its dark woodwork. I hung it above the sheet music cabinet here in the den because it seems to go with the dark mahogany of the cabinet. The minute I added the McCoy, the whole thing popped.

I didn’t reply to comments on yesterday’s post as I have to count them for the giveaway and adding mine in only makes it more difficult.

Some errands to run today. It’s going to be warmer, thank goodness!

Happy Thursday.

Brrrrr! (And a Giveaway.)

January 22, 2020 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Heavens, it’s cold this morning! We had already been up 3 hours and the thermostat had only climbed 2 degrees. The good news is that it’s going to warm up after today and this bitter cold will be moving on.

I’m driving Don to get his car this morning. It’s been fixed and all is well. What a relief! I’m going to run some errands after that. I’m almost done with Michael Connelly’s newest and then I’m going to start The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time.

We watched Judy the other night, starring Renée Zellweger. She is simply superb. She captures the essence of Judy Garland toward the end of her life and her performance is powerful and moving. Don worked with her on a movie several years ago and he thinks very highly of her. She was warm and friendly and kind. They played their guitars together and sang. So, we’re pulling for her in the Oscar race.

I want to share something from reader Barbara, who lives in Canada. You might recall that she did this once before. Barbara recently received a parcel of books from a local independent bookseller that she knows. One of them, The Overstory, is a book that Barbara has already read. She would like to give this copy to one of you. Aren’t we lucky? If you remember, I loved The Overstory. In fact, it was my favorite read of 2019. I’m an evangelist for this book and would love nothing more than to see one of you win a copy. So. This is officially a giveaway post. If you’re interested, please leave a comment on this post. The usual rules apply. Don’t leave a comment via the email version of this post. You have to come to the blog and leave a comment here. I’ll keep the giveaway open until Saturday morning, and then I’ll pick a winner via the Random Number Generator. Good luck!

And a big thank you to Barbara!

Happy Wednesday.

Art and Knitting

January 21, 2020 at 8:38 am by Claudia

Some more artwork for you today. As always, there’s a story behind everything.

This grouping is hanging above the sofa in the den. I got “Please put book back after using” from Milne Antiques a couple of years ago. Since this area of the wall is between two sections of bookshelves and since I’m a passionate reader, it seemed appropriate. It came from a library in New Hampshire. Plus, we love graphics around this house.

The large print hanging below it is one of my favorites. The frame is wood, carved in scallops. You can’t see it, but the outside edges of each scallop are a beautiful soft green. It’s very, very heavy. The story: Many years ago, I was at an auction with my friend Heidi. I spotted this piece and knew I wanted it. This particular auctioneer was slow as molasses and I waited and waited until it was close to midnight. It never came up for auction. I couldn’t believe it when he said he was going to stop for the night. The audible and negative response from the crowd made him ask if there was anything in particular anyone wanted. I raised my hand and pointed to the framed print. He asked me for a bid. I said $15.00. He said “Sold!” And that’s how I got this. A steal. Every once in a while I think of adding shelves on this section of the wall, but frankly, I would miss this print and its whimsical frame too much!

Never easy to photograph, this piece lives above the picture window in the den. It’s about 4 feet wide and mounted on wood. I spotted it in a photo on Vignette’s website several years ago. (My favorite little shop in San Diego.) I fell for it because it was so charming. It was a method of keyboard training for piano students. There are little hooks on the white keys. Lori packaged it up for me, sent it across the country, and for a long while it lived above the piano until we purchased the lithograph that lives there now. I knew that this space between the window and the ceiling would be perfect and we’ve started to collect antique keys to hang from the hooks.

There’s more in the den but we’ll get to that another day.

Some of you may have seen this on Instagram. Yesterday when I was looking for something to wear – it’s SO cold out there – I went to a basket I keep in our tiny closet and dug through it. I found this sweater that I knitted about 13 years ago. I had completely forgotten about it. Since it’s cut to be oversized and slouchy, it still fit.

It was like getting a new sweater! It’s so comfortable! I’ve not knit in a while because my frantic crocheting for the Etsy shop a few years back screwed up my wrists. The last thing I knit was about 3 years ago and it was a little project.

These bunny egg cup cozies. I adore them. They’re based on a pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits (I think that’s the name) on Etsy.

Okay. I have to go. It’s grocery shopping morning.

Happy Tuesday.

Reading, Watching, and Art

Brrrrr! (And a Giveaway.)

Art and Knitting

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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