Mockingbird Hill Cottage
One day at the birdbath:
A robin and a catbird shared the space, which in itself is rare. Robins tend to take over.
Still waiting. That catbird doesn’t seem at all intimidated.
Alone at last!
What the heck???
As is abundantly clear, the robin gave the dove the stink eye.
The dove took the hint.
About a half an hour later, a rare event:
In all my time here, I’ve never seen a cardinal at the birdbath.
The neighborhood pool was clearly the place to be.
Happy Sunday.
Since that horrible dream left me feeling rather melancholy yesterday, I took control and sought refuge in photography. I find that if I can get outside and take photos, I see the world differently. I see my own situation differently. I captured lots of lovely images yesterday which I will be sharing with you over the next several days, including a treasure trove of birds at the birdbath. Goodness, they were active!
Also contributing to my mood change was a package that arrived in the mail for Little Z’s dollhouse. As you know, I’ve been contemplating what furniture – and it needed to be sturdy wooden furniture – to buy. Z is five years old, smart as a whip, and as determined as can be. He also walks with canes because of his disability and is working on using both hands equally. I wanted the furniture to be effortless for him, nothing that can break.
One day, I searched on Etsy and found this shop: upperairs. It’s David DiBenedetto’s shop and he handcrafts this dollhouse furniture. It was reasonably priced and was just what I wanted. And I love to support small businesses.
I was thrilled when I opened the package.
It’s as if it were designed by IKEA for this house.
The living room. Sofa, chair, fireplace, table, grandfather clock and television. I laughed out loud when I saw what was playing on the television! That’s Z’s favorite. He loves, loves, loves Mickey.
Kitchen: None of the doors open. Did you notice the faucet? It’s a cup hook. The table might be a bit too tall, I’ll have to think about that one.
Just like the kitchen in my dollhouse – the hardest room to photograph.
Bathroom.
Bedroom.
Don thinks I should leave the furniture unpainted because it goes so well with the house. I must confess, I’m not sure what to do. I am planning on making some cushions for the furniture and the bed.
Do I paint the furniture? Do I leave it as is until he decides what he wants? Do I put temporary wallpaper up that he could pull down if he wants to?
Meredith says that either way would be great, but she suspects I’d have more fun painting the furniture.
I’m going to think about it for a day or two and then I have to make a decision.
This furniture is so well made and it’s sturdy. Z can handle it, knock it around, move it in and out of the house without any worries about breakage. I want him to be able to do whatever he wants with the house.
Your thoughts?
I have one bird photo to share with you today – I saw this guy looking for food at the entrance to the big corral:
What a beauty!
Happy Saturday.
I had the most terrifying dream right before I woke up this morning. Absolutely horrifying. And I still can’t shake it off. I’m not prone to bad dreams – they happen rarely – but this one, this one was so vivid, so real, that I felt like I had to pull myself out of the depths of the dream to some sort of consciousness, and even then, I was half-in, half-out of it. Horrible.
This may be a three cups of coffee day.
Three balloon flowers opened the other day. This is such a sweet plant.
I know I’ve been posting less often on my book blog, Just Let Me Finish This Page, but I’d sure appreciate your stopping by when I let you know that a new review is up. During the past year, with the death of my father and Scout, I simply couldn’t attend to both blogs as diligently as I would have liked to. Since MHC is the one I write every day, the book blog suffered. I’m doing my best to post more often and I hope you still find it relevant. I used to get more comments on that blog, which leads me to believe less and less of you are reading it and that saddens me. Ah, well.
I posted a review this week that you can find here.
I post a lot of photos of pretty flowers, but I find aging flowers equally beautiful and I’m going to take more photos of them. This pink zinnia was one of the first zinnias to bloom this summer and it’s still hanging in there, less than perfect, but beautifully dignified.
This red beauty has a couple of shriveled petals, but the rest of the zinnia is gorgeous. At least, to me.
I’m going to make another cup of coffee and try to shake off that dream. Oh, it’s a strange time. Good things on the horizon in terms of my professional work, my dad’s birthday next week, the anniversary of Dad’s death next month, and the change from summer to fall. Not to mention the election. Good and unsettling, at the same time. (The dream had nothing to do with my dad, by the way.)
Feeling melancholy on this Friday.
A big thank you to those readers who have donated toward our GoFundMe campaign for our friend. You didn’t have to – you don’t even know her – and I find that incredibly moving and life-affirming. Bless you.
Happy Friday.
