Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Purple

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I am reminded every day of my love for shades of purple in the garden. It’s not something I plan. I don’t decide to go for a color scheme as some garden designers do. I just plant what I love. There’s purple phlox, purple coneflowers (lots and lots of them), purple hydrangea, purple catmint, and purple blooms on the crown vetch. There’s also a purple butterfly bush:

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Purple Liatris:

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And, much to my delight, there are purple flowers of the wildflower variety, that pop up here and there on the property.

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I’m not sure what this is called, but it’s on the property every year.

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This is what it looks like when it opens. So pretty!

Then there’s the Purple Loosestrife that pops up down by the culvert – it likes water. Yes, I know it can be invasive but in my nearly 11 years here, it’s never become a problem.

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I became fascinated by this bee. (I have a penchant for snapping pictures of bees.)

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I stopped trying to count the variety of bees on this property, including the honey bees in the catalpa. There are a lot. And that is a good thing! We need them.

I putzed around the house yesterday, watered the plants that needed watering, ran a couple of errands, and worked on the new dollhouse project.

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I put this together – the box for the fireplaces (one on each floor) plus the chimney. Lots of careful punching out of the pieces, trying to figure out the directions, sanding each piece, glueing and clamping. But it turned out well. Sigh of relief.

That was my dad’s screwdriver. I keep it up here in the studio with my tools.

Today? Mowing. Rain is due tomorrow, so we need to tackle the lawn today. And more work on this fiddly dollhouse project. I’m starting to enjoy it, though. The trick with this one will be making design decisions as I go, not my preferred way to work, but since this is half scale, it would be impossible to get my hands inside each room to wallpaper, for example. So I ordered some half scale wallpaper yesterday, after a futile attempt to find what I want in the scrapbook paper aisle. The prints were way too large in scale. I’ll need to paint as I go, as well. Yikes.

Don’t forget to stop by my post, Let’s Not Let Dryness Get in the Way. If you leave a comment, you’ll be in the running to win a $100 Visa Gift Card! #ad

Happy Friday.

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Perfectly Lovely

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After the heat wave, then three days of rain, yesterday dawned with blue skies and white fluffy clouds and temps in the mid-eighties. All in all, a perfect day for a visit with my best friend! Laural and her husband, Craig, took the train north from Manhattan. We picked them up at the station. First stop: our cottage. It was so important to me to be able to share it with Laural. The gardens looked beautiful (though now that I look closely, they need weeding!) and Laural loved the cottage, both inside and outside.

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(Taken in the early morning light.)

Then we talked and talked and talked and went to lunch at a Thai restaurant and showed them around a neighboring town, with a quick drive up into the mountains for a view of the Hudson Valley.

And then we talked some more and it soon became time to take them back to the station.

Perfect day with beautiful friends. I’m very grateful.

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Here we are. Friends of almost 52 years. Unbelievable.

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The butterfly bush is right outside our den window, and as I sat on the sofa with Don late in the day, I could see at least two butterflies circling and landing on the blossoms. Beautiful.

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Don’s in the city today, signing a contract with his commercial agent. I’m taking it easy. All that cleaning and mowing and weed chomping tired me out. It’s a slow morning here at the cottage.

I may not answer yesterday’s comments, if that’s okay with you? But I’ll definitely respond to today’s.

Happy Thursday.

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Limelights, Finches & Scout

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I’m writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, since we’re picking my best friend and her husband up from the train station on Wednesday morning – right around the time I’m usually writing a post!

A few things:

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The limelight hydrangea is blooming. Actually, it’s even further along after all the rain, but I haven’t been out to take a picture yet.

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Two finches clearly admiring my car.

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And this surprise, which arrived in Monday’s mail. It is a gift from my dear friend, Linda. A marker for our Memorial Garden. I was completely surprised and both Don and I had tears in our eyes.

It’s from the Etsy shop, Secret Garden Herbs, and was made by Cecilia, who blogs here. It’s perfect. I’m going to order two more; one for Winston and one for Riley. I love it.

Thank you, Linda! And thank you, Cecilia! We are thrilled with this memorial for our little girl.

If you want to know more about my best friend, read this post: On My Best Friend Laural.

Happy Wednesday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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