Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The Mundane

2026-05-22T12:19:09Z

I mowed the back forty and the corral yesterday. It was at least 20 degrees cooler than it had been the day before, so it was a pleasant experience (except for allergies.) It looks much better out there!

I’m on hold with any further work on the dollhouse as I wait for the wallpaper I ordered, which is hung up in the mail. I contacted the seller because tracking shows that a label has been created as on lasts Monday, but it hasn’t moved since then. She responded and said she was sure it had shipped and that she would check into it. This was after the posts office had closed for the day, so we’ll see what I find out today. It’s frustrating. I don’t want to lose my mojo!

In the meantime, from my time outside mowing:

Wild phlox on the edge of the secret garden. I’ve never seen as much of it on the property as we have this year.

I love it.

Protecting The Dude, who is just beyond the phlox.

All of the black raspberries are in bloom.

I need to haul out the weed whacker soon, as well as yank lots of poison ivy. There are plenty of chores to keep me busy as I wait on the wallpaper shipment.

I have to cut this short as I have to help Don with a self-tape audition. Don’t get excited…it’s the kind of role that any actor of his age can do. He’s doesn’t even want to do it, but I talked him into it.

Okay, my friends.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Little Projects

2026-05-20T12:26:36Z

Today will be the last day of the heat wave. It’s been very, very hot. We ended up putting in the kitchen A/C unit. Very grateful for it saving my sanity the last few days. The bedroom unit has not been installed yet, because temperatures will be much cooler for a while after today.

We’ve been hunkering down inside the house, and I’ve been grabbing time in the morning hours to work on the dollhouse. It’s not air conditioned, so the morning is the only time I can work there. I’m waiting for more wallpaper – “Waiting for Wallpaper” should be the title of my autobiography – so I have been building little pieces from kits. I’ve had a couple of these kits for many years and I was holding on to them for this house.

This is a little table from Arjen Spinhoven, who lives in the Netherlands. It was quite well designed and easy to put together and stain. I love the detail. It will most likely sit next to the sofa in the living room.

And I made these two base cabinets from kits that I ordered from miniatures (dot) com when they went out of business. The yellow sink unit has been living in the Lake House. I brought it upstairs to the Beacon Hill to see how it might look in the kitchen. I like the idea of a kitchen that isn’t matchy-matchy – a mixture of cabinet styles that have been put together over time. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m going to try it.

Don’t you just love seeing the real-sized paint brushes outside the window?

And then I realized that the other fireplace had been assembled incorrectly. It actually leaned forward and would never be flush with the wall, so I took it apart and figured out how to realign everything.

Wish I had a before picture! This is the after picture.

I’m waiting until tomorrow to mow the corral and the back forty. The grass is very long but it’s been too hot to tackle that job.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Unseasonably Hot

2026-05-18T11:23:43Z

Monday morning – it’s lovely and cool, but we’ll hit the 90s today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Too hot, too soon. I’ve been watering everything outside and doing any work that is necessary in the garden early in the morning. This hot weather will break on Wednesday/Thursday.

We still don’t have the A/C units in yet and we are fighting having to put them in this early. Our thinking is if we can get through this little patch, we can hold off a bit longer. Fingers crossed, but really hot weather makes me cranky, so let’s see if this plan works out or not.

Any work on the dollhouse will have to be done in the morning because we don’t have a window unit for that room and I really don’t want to invest in one. And let’s face it, the Beacon Hill is NOT portable.

Yarrow is popping up everywhere. I planted some when we first moved here. Just one plant. In the intervening years, it stopped growing where I planted it and proceeded to reseed in the corral and all around the funky patio. Can’t wait to see it in full bloom.

The catalpa tree, always the last to leaf out, looked especially bare this year and over the weekend I expressed a little worry that it “might be dead.” Within 24 hours, I saw little green leaf buds emerging everywhere. I should know better. It’s quite dependable. We have other catalpas on the property, but the one I usually mention is huge, kind of the “grand old catalpa.”

And the pansies are doing so well!

Don is singing and composing and recording his songs – he wants to create an archive. This is a hard time for my love. He hasn’t had any work in a long time and is worried that he won’t be hired again. And he turns 75 next month, which is a milestone that is very difficult for him to come to terms with. All I can do is be there for him, and I am, of course. And make him laugh, which is my specialty.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Mini Tramp Art and Work Outside

2026-05-16T12:34:31Z

Lots of work was done outside yesterday. I dug up a big outcropping of some wild plant that was taking over the area right in front of the big garden bed. I pruned, as best I could and there’s more to be done today, as well as mowing. Mowing has popped up on the to do list because I looked at the forecast and after today – it will be in the high 80s to the mid 90s for about 4 days. Not the kind of weather for mowing. No rain for a while, so that’s good. I was so tired after yesterday’s work, but needs must!

It is a lovely, beautifully sunny day, so that will help.

My teeny little budget is keeping me from ordering more mini wallpaper at the moment, so I’m in an in-between stage in the renovation. Just dreaming up ideas at the moment. And I’m still determined to figure out how to tackle the wallpapering of the bedroom. What a glutton for punishment I am!

Here’s a little something that arrived in yesterday’s mail.

A painting (real) surrounded by a wooden mat and tramp art/victorian frame. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it on my Instagram mini feed. She has a few more tramp art frames and I covet them. Re-hanging our tramp art framed angel a few months back reminded me of how much I love this form of creative expression.

Also, sheep!!

Isn’t this exquisite?

It will most likely go in the Beacon Hill living room, but I’m holding off on hanging anything until the room is closer to being finished.

It took a long, long time, but my love of dollhouse miniatures has come back and for that I am grateful.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.