Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Avoiding Adding Up Figures

2026-08-08T12:46:51Z

After being chomped on by deer, this clump of phlox has come back beautifully. I would be very happy if phlox self-seeded every year like it has this year. It fills in all the spaces in the garden and it’s a riot of color.

Another insanely hot and humid day yesterday with some rain, but not nearly the amount of storms predicted. I’m wondering if I should try mowing a bit of the front lawn today? Don has a gig this morning, so I could sneak in some mowing time. I’m also putting off working on our deductions (we always file an extension) but I really can’t delay that any longer.

Morning photos of the big old work in progress. I was looking at my IG miniature feed this morning and found a woman who make kits for half-scale (1:24) dollhouses. I was envious. They would take up so much less space. I’m sort of wishing I had gone that way. Very small house and several large dollhouses = a problem. I still have no idea where I am going to put the Beacon Hill when it’s finished. Between the Blythes and the dollhouses and Don’s many guitars and other musical instruments, it’s a wonder we have anywhere to sit!

Playing with placement. That’s an old table I have that is about the size of whatever kind of desk/worktable I’ll end up using. I had to pull it out of the Vintage Folk Art Dollhouse. The legs on this piece are a bit too modern, but it’s the right size.

Working on a dollhouse is a lot more fun than working on deductions…

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Hot and Humid

2026-08-07T13:38:38Z

Yesterday brought 7 Rose of Sharon blooms. Unfortunately, they were kind of smashed when we had a major, rather insane, thunderstorm in the late afternoon. We are under a heat advisory with lots of humidity and high temperatures and it continues through today.

Both Don and I felt more than a little trapped yesterday. It was too miserable to go outside except to quickly water the porch plants and the birdbath and grab the mail from the mailbox. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves.

And working on the Beacon Hill was impossible – the office/studio was like an oven. The box fan just blew the hot air everywhere. I have the window open in that room right now, just to cool it off a little.

All of this reminds me of my youth. We didn’t have air conditioning and August always brought hot and humid weather. I would place my head at the foot of my bed, which was right by the box fan inserted in the window, so I could feel a slight breeze. It was the only way I could get to sleep. My parents didn’t get a window A/C unit until years later and it was purchased for their bedroom. (Thanks for nothing, Mom and Dad.) A couple of years later the living room got its own unit. Those unbearable summer days always fell when performances started for the summer musicals I was in. Heat, humidity, heavy costumes. mosquitoes. I can be back there in a second in my mind – the smells, the heavy air, the faithful audience members, the excitement – all of it.

Later I experienced dorm rooms that had no A/C, and a slew of apartments that had no A/C. One apartment in Philadelphia – which gets very, very humid in the summer – had no A/C, nor could I afford to buy a unit. I was a poor graduate student. I used to come home from my summer temp jobs and take a shower, then position three fans on three different sides of the bed. I’d sit on the bed and try not to move for the rest of the evening. My next apartment did have an A/C unit which cooled off the kitchen living space, but it never quite reached the bedroom, so I had to put a fan in the doorway to draw in some of that cool air. No A/C in Boston and Cambridge, either. None in my first apartment in San Diego. Those were the days when the temperatures were still moderate, sort of a dream-come-true – it gets more humid there now. In the house we shared in San Diego, Don and I put in one window unit in our den. Central air? No. Only when traveling or visiting my parents and sister in Florida.

I still have a box fan, which we use in early spring/summer before we reach the point where we have to put in the A/C unit in the bedroom. That fan is in the office/studio now. And I have a little fan that I place in the doorway of the den to help bring in the cool air from the kitchen/living room.

More than you ever wanted to know about my life with and without air conditioning, I know. But the fact is I have not had A/C access most of my life. I’m so glad I have it now! This has been a very hot and humid summer.

Forgot to add: we have no A/C in our car. It stopped working early in the summer. We’re getting by and will continue to until we can afford to have it fixed.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Catching Up

2026-08-05T13:02:37Z

There is much to catch up on and I’ll tackle it at the beginning of the post. First, the malware has been removed. It is hard for the security company to access my blog now because my host has enabled two-factor identification and they log on from another location, so they don’t always get the code sent by my host. That was the most frustrating thing and, apparently, it’s frustrating for a lot of customers. Anyway, one of the techs finally got on (I don’t know how he did it) and removed the malware. Hurrah! Hopefully, we’re back to normal.

I do not plan to move on from this space on the internet until my contract runs out. Or, until something else happens that turns out to be the last straw. Hopefully, that won’t happen. This blog will keep running for the time being. And I will be writing on Substack, as well. I’m not sure how I’ll do it. I want to write posts that are particular to each space. Substack will be something a bit different, but I have only written the one post and there is much I have to learn about using Substack. It’s the perfect backup space and, when next June rolls around and the blog is no more, I will use that space to write and post and share with you.

I’m rather exhausted at the moment. The stress of the blog being hacked, working on the Beacon Hill, mowing and weed whacking yesterday and a stuffed-up head from all that work outside means I’m moving very slowly today.

I keep forgetting to tell you that Joe is home. Such happy news! He’s been home over a week and he’s so happy to be there. Outpatient therapy begins on August 7th. He has to use a walker and the movement of his right leg has been impacted by the hematoma. They can’t do anything about the hematoma. They just have to wait it out.

The back of the big garden bed:

It’s just gorgeous out there.

I laid another floor in the Beacon Hill the day before yesterday. (It takes forever.)

In the den. I still have to “floor” the 3rd floor landing, and the little art studio. And the bathroom.

The modern sofa I showed you the other day is too dark for this space. Since there are pink flowers in the wallpaper, I borrowed this sofa from the Folk Art Dollhouse. You will note that I use the same sofa in Hummingbird Cottage – also in the den.

I love these little loveseats. I have at least three of them. When I first started in this hobby, I got them from a retailer, who also sold easy chairs in the same style. Now? I cannot find them. I think the original manufacturer must have stopped producing them. I haunt the pages of eBay looking for more. And I really concentrate on searching for the easy chairs because they are so much less expensive than others I’ve seen. There is no identification mark on the pieces, unfortunately.

It looks kind of nice in this space, doesn’t it. But that means I would have to find a replacement sofa for the Folk Art Dollhouse.

Yesterday, I put together a cabinet from a House of Miniatures kit.

I have one of these cabinets in Hummingbird Cottage, as well. I’m going to buy a few more. They’re really meant to be the top half of that desk that I made a couple of years ago. But they work so well on their own. This one will hang in the kitchen. It’s filled with plastic ‘jadeite’ that I found at Michael’s several years ago.

Okay. This is a long post. Thank you so much for hanging in there with me, for your support, for being you.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

I’ve Had It

2026-08-02T20:11:16Z

I’m writing this post on Sunday afternoon because I’ve had it with the delay in dealing with the malware. Bluehost thinks the malware was removed, Sucuri still sees it on a scan. Trying to get consistent support from Sucuri is maddening. It’s been 3 days and I still don’t know for sure whether the malware is gone or not. Scream!

And because my host now has 2-step verification, Sucuri can’t get on the blog without a code – which is sent to me or is never sent. One code was sent to me today and I immediately signed on to Sucuri and entered the code in the malware removal chat but by the time the technician got it, it had expired. And then another technician took over and I said, Are you kidding me? I have to explain all of this again? And now it’s four hours later and I’ve heard nothing.

So I’m taking some steps. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I’m starting a ‘version’ on the blog on Substack because I can no longer handle these hacker issues. I never could, really, but now? It’s impossible. The blog itself doesn’t expire until next June, but I want a backup because at any time, I might pull the plug. Also, it could continue past next June but on a ‘whenever I want to post, I will post’ schedule.

Substack Link.

Hopefully, I’ll be back with you on Wednesday with problems solved.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.