Mockingbird Hill Cottage

• It’s been raining for 12 hours and it will continue throughout the day. Definitely a stay indoors day, which is fortunate, since I did a lot of porch clean up yesterday and have no desire to do any more for the time being. Pots were lugged, one by one, to the leaf pile and dumped out and then placed near the shed entrance. Porch decorations were added to the pile. Various pots and supports were retrieved from the garden beds and they were added to the pile. Then the rakes, weed whacker, and shovels. Then I had to find a place for them in the shed – not easy!

And then, facing reality, I brought the snow shovels to the porch.

I always put off this particular job, partly because I’m lazy, but mostly because I hate saying goodbye to the summer and fall. I still have a bit to do, and we have to take the Adirondack chairs and cushions to the storage facility, but soon it will all be done.

My little stone doves are now upstairs in the office, perched on top of the French cabinet. The little turquoise child’s chair is up there, too, but I think I have to find a better place for it. The Boston Fern is already up there, wondering why it isn’t outside.

• What else? I upgraded my iPhone, not because it wasn’t working just fine, but because it kept running out of storage and I was sick of having to delete photos all the time. I was eligible for an upgrade because I’d paid off my current phone, so I bit the bullet and got a new one with a lot more storage. I like the larger screen area. And the camera is better, as well.

• Did you know you can call Amazon? I ordered a phone case that was to be delivered in one day because I have an Amazon Prime membership. I needed it in one day because the phone was arriving that same day and I needed to go into the city the following day. I didn’t want to be carrying around a phone that had no protection. Anyway, the next day I got a notice from them saying it wouldn’t arrive until Friday. I was not happy. In googling how to call Amazon, I found a number, called it, and someone answered! I explained my problem and my disappointment in the change in delivery dates. (I guess there are times the inventory looks available for a certain area and then the computer realizes that it isn’t nearby, hence the delay.) Long story sort of short: the woman I spoke to called me back on Friday to confirm that it hadn’t arrived in time for my day in the city, so she’s refunding the cost and I can keep the case.

Even though they are a monolith, you can talk to someone.

• We’ve been watching season 3 of The Crown  and finished it on Friday. Excellent. Don had seen seasons 1 and 2 (he watched it when he was staying in the city) but I hadn’t, so we started watching the first season last night. Wonderful acting, wonderful set design and attention to detail. Simply superb.

Okay. Looks like we have to clear our culvert a bit as it seems to be overflowing (though this is the county’s responsibility). And then I’m going to read.

Happy Sunday.