In my comment on 24 Jul 2022 10:04:02 , I have given you a link to an article, its the words in blue. I suggest you select it and read the article. Replace where it says ‘Group Containers’ with ‘Containers’ as you say you are using Mountain Lion, also I suggest you might need someone to help you to follow this as it maybe not straight forward.
The first little section obviously refers to a later version of Notes than I am using, as it does not have a Recently Deleted option. 2nd part - When I reach the Go To Folder and enter ~/Library/Group Containers it says The folder can't be found. I've also tried this with the Option key down, same result. sob.
Okay! I can now see com.apple.Notes, I've switched on my Time Machine drive on which I can see Applications, Library, System, and Users, folders. If, in the Finder, I open com.apple.Notes I then see Container.plist, and Data folder. open Data folder and I see Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures. Is this the Library folder to open, or the one on the Time Machine drive?