Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Potpourri on Friday

September 20, 2019 at 10:20 am by Claudia

• Oh my heavens, it was cold on our morning walk! I think it must have been in the forties, though I didn’t stop to check my weather app. Anyway, I felt it. Such a cold morning given that the temperature is going to hit the eighties tomorrow and Sunday. But that’s autumn for you.

• This David phlox is still blooming in the big garden bed. I managed to click the shutter just as the white spider emerged. Great camouflage, wouldn’t you say?

• Don is playing his guitar as I write this. We had our second cup of coffee after the walk. Part of our little morning ritual involves an app Don has called Word of the Day. We look at the word, think about it, and then I will say what I think it means, and Don will say what he thinks it means. We’re usually right, but sometimes we are completely wrong, or one of us will say we have no idea what it means. I have come to realize that there are a few words I routinely read that I assume I know the meaning of, but in reality, I don’t.

Then we read a bit from Samuel Pepys diary. Pepys, in case you’re unfamiliar with him, lived in London in the 17th Century. He kept a diary over the course of 10 years. It tells us a great deal about daily life in the city, as well as the Great Fire of London, which Pepys witnessed. He was an administrator for the navy and, eventually, a member of Parliament. He kept the diary from 1660 to 1669. We have the volume for 1660, so we have started reading it aloud to each other. We just started doing that this week.

Yes, we’re nerds.

• Huzzah! My monstera is growing another shoot! That makes seven in the last two months. So proud of my once-abandoned baby.

• I head for the miniature show tomorrow. I briefly debated whether to go or not, but it’s always inspiring and I can use some inspiration. I shall be back into the dollhouses come winter, so any and all inspiration is welcome.

But it will be a long day because it takes over 2 hours to get there. Don and I were talking about it this morning and I said it’s the only miniature show I go to and that there’s a big one in Philadelphia in November, but I never seem to get there. He said he’d go with me! I didn’t even ask him! Bless his heart, it would be much easier with him along for the ride.

How did I get so lucky? I thank God for that man on a daily basis.

I’ll post tomorrow if I have time, but if I don’t, it’s because I have to get on the road early in the morning.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: Don, flowers, garden. grass, houseplants, miniatures 26 Comments

The Woods and the Property Line

September 19, 2019 at 11:04 am by Claudia

This is the view from the edge of our woods – the back of our property. It backs up to that same field that we see when we’re taking our walk.

We walked through our woods yesterday. This little walk was initially taken because we wanted to make sure the raccoons that got in our trash the other day hadn’t scattered it up in the woods. When I discovered the upended trash can the day before yesterday, I immediately looked toward the woods and saw an opened trash bag about halfway up the path, retrieved it, rebagged it, and reflected that this particular visit had been much less messy than the one in the spring. I can only presume the raccoons were spooked by something and ran off. Still, we thought we should check out the rest of the woods.

So, as we made sure there was nothing up there that we needed to bag, we ended up finding our way through a clearing to the edge of the property. Then we had to walk through waist high goldenrod and wildflowers to reach the field. It was gorgeous. Wildflowers everywhere, bees buzzing, butterflies and moths, just plain lovely.

We could see areas of ground where deer have been sleeping. It’s nice to know that they’re safe here. No hunting allowed on any of our neighborhood properties.

We found another path back to our property, this time walking through another neighbor’s wooded property, which borders our property to the south.

We don’t go back there often enough. It’s really beautiful this time of year.

This is one of the very, very old posts that mark the property line at the edge of the woods.  You can see some ancient barbed wire hanging from this one. There are four of them back there, but I’ve not seen them on anywhere else on the property. I assume they date from 1891 (when the house was built.)

All in all, a lovely day. I finished The Woman in the Window   and started in again on I am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes, a book I had just started a couple of years ago when I was pulled away for something else, most likely a book I had to review. I never got back to it. It’s an excellent mystery/spy thriller. I saw an ad the other day for Hayes’ newest book, which is to be published soon, and I realized I’d better get a move on and finish the one I had on my shelf before the new book comes out.

Errands to run today. I’ve been putting them off but it’s time. Then more reading, I hope.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: books, nature 18 Comments

It Sure Feels Like Autumn

September 18, 2019 at 11:25 am by Claudia

I love those rare mornings when you can still see the moon in the sky at 10 am. That’s what we saw this morning. It may not be fall officially, but it sure is around here. The mornings are cool and crisp, leaves are constantly floating to the ground, trees are turning color, and the garden beds are full of leaves and cobwebs.

On this sunny day, it made for a lovely morning walk. It’s going to get warmer this weekend, with temperatures in the mid-eighties. The last hurrah?

I read a lot yesterday and I’m just about to finish The Woman in the Window. I must say, it’s well done, with lots of twists and turns in the plot. It has a Rear Window – type premise, which allows for all sorts of thrills.

Monarchs have started migrating south, but this guy won’t be migrating for a while. We saw him on one of the milkweed plants this morning, chomping away on a leaf. I’ve seen more monarch caterpillars this year than ever before.

I’m missing some of the birds that were here all summer long  – I think robins have already headed south – but I saw a goldfinch drinking from the birdbath yesterday, and a catbird calling from the porch railing. We also saw (and heard) Canada Geese this morning, flying in beautiful formation.

It’s a lovely day today.

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: autumn, books, monarch butterfly 18 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

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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