Suddenly it is spring...and summer...

Windows are open here today...furnace is off!

We have had a long cold spring. Today it turned into a summer-like day just like that! Never mind summer doesn't start until June...

Last spring and summer...if you remember...a very loud mockingbird awakened me every night as it sang until the dawn for several months. It was always just a few feet from my window.

Well this year it has been noisy directly outside the bedroom. Robins have built a nest right over an upstairs window on an eave.


Mother robin likes to get an early start. When the sun comes up and she begins to chirp. I cannot see the eggs so will have to wait and watch...and listen.


Thankfully, it does not sing all night! Still, I feel really tired every morning....


Between unseasonably warm weather and bird and songs, I do believe it actually is spring now! Just think...in a few days it will be the first of May! Time is flying!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Exit the mockingbird...enter the robin!

Last summer was noisy....a mockingbird started singing at 4:00 a.m. It went on all summer. He mimicked other birds, cats, and sang long arias in the dark.

This spring started out with the mockingbird, too.

Last week I realized that the singing started at dusk and continued until dawn. It was NOT a mockingbird's song anymore. It was the same song over and over all night. It sounded just like a robin.

And then I saw it... just a few feet outside our window on the peak of my neighbor's roof. It was was barely sunrise and the music had been going on all night. It WAS a robin.



But robins don't sing at night....or do they?

In an article in the The (New London) Day just a few days ago, it states that robins have never been nocturnal singers until recently. Within minutes of investigating on the Internet, I discovered info here. Apparently they have been just as noisy in the UK...you can look it up.

To paraphrase, they sing all night because of artificial light and noise pollution during the day.

I never thought that I would want the mockingbird back! It sang from 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. May through August. But the robin sings all night the same song over and over! (I should add that it is a pretty song...the first few hours.)

Poor robin! Poor me!

Have great weekend....hope it is quiet...

as always,

enjoy the day!

Back to the Dollz...

Yesterday I made a tiny doll. It is 2 inches tall. It's on a tablespoon where I often like to pose my tiny ones. She is sewn, turned, and stuffed with cotton to make her a little heavier. She has a vintage velvet millinery flower in her hand.



Here's a monkey on a teaspoon. The smallest monkeys have gone to live elsewhere, but I recently made more--just haven't photographed them since they are going to be living elsewhere soon.

Below are some of the tiny animals and dolls I have made. (If I have already shown them, forgive me!) Truly, "tinies" take up little space. The giraffe is 6 inches tall.



Do you like miniatures? I have always loved them. I don't have room for doll house but I always have room for tiny dolls and animals

Going to work on some other small things today. The weekend is nearly here and the warm weather is back. The mockingbird started singing at 3:15 this morning. The opera reverberated throughout our house. His operatic voice is beautiful but I think it will be a long summer....

As always,

enjoy the day...


...and happy weekend!

Of dollz and thingz...

It's been an interesting week around here! First of all, April sent me amazing photos of the girls shopping. There are many more photos (all of them wonderful!) so we think they might have to have a blog of their own. Stay tuned!


If you read this blog regularly, you might remember that last year a mockingbird sang most of every night in a tree over our house from May until August. He was LOUD and am unhappy to report he is BACK. He starts singing around three a.m. and continues until sunrise.

Although I am feeling a little hostile due to lack of sleep, I have to admire this kind of tenacity. So, instead of being angry, I made a spun cotton bird in his image and will resist the urge to stick pins in it. I also made that little burro.

While looking for something else, I found the missing baby from a previous post. It has been in a box for about a decade. I wanted to show it to April and e-mailed her this photo.

April e-mailed me back within moments. She took a photo of my Jane with the same little glass pitcher! What are the chances of two people owning this Depression era Scottie? They were giveaways in cereal boxes meant for kids to use. April and I have never met in person but we frequently discover coincidences.

The work week dwindles and there is much left to be done. How is your week going? As always,

enjoy the day...

... and happy weekend