Fall in the Mountains

Greetings Dear Friends! When last I wrote, it was summer. How quickly pass the days! Fall is in the air and my people, Mr. and Mrs. H., decided to take a trip into the mountains to catch a glimpse of the fall foliage.

On our way up to the mountains of the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, we stopped to look at a local dam. Fortunately, the usual torrent of water was turned off and we were able to venture closer than usual on this day.

But, I must admit, I was still a bit nervous when we climbed down the stairs that led to the water's edge.

It gave me a bit of a shudder to think of being swept away with the awesome force of the currents if the dam was turned on! Mrs. H. re-assured me that the sirens would sound if for some reason the dam was turned on. However, it was not scheduled to be on today.

Still, I was a bit relieved when we resumed our journey to the mountain park. We stopped at the site of the 1996 summer Olympics white water rafting center. Further on down the river, where the current was swift and the water deeper, we saw several rafters out enjoying the fall day. My people discussed returning to the park to try a bit of rafting themselves next summer. I do hope they provide me with a waterproof pouch during that event!

We hiked a bit on the mountain trails. I found a fetching new fall fashion along the way!

The hike was quite long and we all stopped to rest a bit. I found the perfect place to sit for a spell!

There were signs all around warning people to beware of black bears. However, the most fearsome thing we encountered were some rather large centipedes. I thought they were rather frightening enough, actually...especially when you are a small doll.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped by a lovely lake.

I didn't mind being close to the still waters of the lake! Much more relaxing than sitting at the edge of the waters below the dam. I did have one brief scare when Master H. wondered how far I would float, being made of wood. I was quite relieved when Mrs. H. informed him that if I were to set sail, he would be going in after me so he had best leave me right were I was. Master H. can be quite the joker sometimes...at least, I hope he was joking...

Later, we visited Mrs. H's. father. He works at a rock crusher far up in the hills were he grew up years ago. He took us to the top of the hill they are working on now.

The view was quite spectacular, although one had to be sure not to get to close to the edge of the ravine in order to avoid starting a rock slide.

We wandered about the hills....finding some lovely flowers along the way.
The best part, however, was stopping by a pond far up the hillside....undisturbed except for the rare visitor. The beavers had been quite busy in the pond! We could see the little homes they had dug for themselves. After surveying their handiwork, I could quite see where the expression, "Busy as a beaver" comes from.
Overall, a lovely fall adventure!

Until Next Time,

Hitty Rowan

Rivendell Academy

My, my, my....I just CAN'T keep up with all the changes around here today! No sooner had we helped Elrond and Celebrian settle in their new home then another difficulty arose. In the form of a mischievous half-Elven little girl...Merilwen to be exact.

I was catching up on my journaling when Merilwen came into my study. She was not at all her usual rather boisterous self. In fact, she was practically dragging. I have never seen her so long in the face.

"Why, Merilwen, whatever is the matter?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing Hitty Rowan. I was just watching Master Elrond and Lady Celebrian move into their new home."

"Yes...it is rather exciting isn't it?" I remarked...hoping to see some of Merilwen's usual enthusiasm.

"I guess. I suppose....I suppose Elrond's grandaughter will be really happy there. " Merilwen hesitatingly replied.

"Yes, I am sure she will be happy. And, you can go visit all you like and you will be happy too." I did hope this would cheer Merilwen up.

"It isn't the same, though...." she began. At that moment, I was unfortunately distracted by Miss Hickory yelling about something in the kitchen she needed help with.

"Oh, Merilwen dear, I would love to talk later...perhaps for the moment you could go practice your piano lessons, or take a nap if you are tired."

"I guess so." Merilwen rather drearily replied. I really hated to leave her, but one doesn't ignore Miss Hickory when she yells about the kitchen.

I ran to tend to that matter, and Merilwen sulked off to practice piano.

She didn't practice very long, but soon made her way upstairs with her beloved doll Annabelle.

Merilwen sat on the bed sighing, then confided in her closest companion, "Annabelle, nothing here is really ours. It isn't really our home...this isn't my room...these aren't even my pillows. I know Hitty Rowan says it is our home just as much as hers, but...it's just...it's just...I miss how it used to be. You remember, when this was Miss Merriweather's academy. What good times we used to have! Me and Betsy, Nim and Nissa. I know Nim and Nissa live here too...but it isn't an academy. Sometimes I just hate all the changes. I know we companions just don't have as much room as we used to, but I miss the academy. There isn't an academy anywhere here anymore. I know Betsy comes to visit, but I wish she lived here. I know...I know Annabelle...there isn't room. I just can't helping wishing.....oh, never mind. There is no use in wishing."

Merilwen slunk downstairs again, where I found her in my office, staring at Elrond's new home.

"Oh, there you are Merilwen. I am so sorry about the interruption earlier. I was hoping you would be cheered up by now...but it looks like I was wrong. What is bothering you so much, my dear?"

Merilwen looked close to tears, and stammered out the feelings she had confided to Annabelle. I must admit, I felt my heart sink. All this time, with all the recent changes, poor Merilwen and Betsy, Nim and Nissa...all had been quite lost and overlooked. Yes, they had a home of sorts...but not the kind of home they needed. How could we have not realized the girls might even miss....school.

"Merilwen, have you told Miss Merriweather and Elrond how you feel?"

"No," the child choked out. "What can they do?"

"I...I don't know...but there might be a solution yet. Let's go speak with Ms. Merriweather. My heart almost broke as Merilwen spoke.

"Oh Miss Merriweather. I don't want to cause trouble...I really don't. I love Hitty Rowan and it is nice here...but I miss how it used to be so, so much! You know, when you and me and Master Elrond and Betsy and Nissa and Nim got to go places together and lived in the academy..we, we...were a family."

"Oh, my darling Merilwen," cried Ms. Merriweather. "We still ARE a family! We may not live in the same house anymore, or have an academy, but we see each other every day. And, you have lessons everyday with Betsy...."

"But, it's...just...not the same," Merilwen whispered in a small, dejected voice.

Ms. Merriweather sighed. "Oh Merilwen. My dear, dear Merilwen. I am afraid your Miss Merriweather doesn't have a solution for this dilemma."

"Do you think, maybe Master Elrond can help?" Merilwen whispered.

"I don't know, Merilwen." Ms. Merriweather sadly replied.

"Can I ask?" Merilwen said, a bit hopefully.

"Well, it never hurts to ask."

With that, Merilwen set off to Elrond's house.

Master Elrond and Lady Celebrian listened intently to the little girl.

They exchanged a long look.

"Merilwen," Master Elrond said gently, all the while looking at Celebrian, "I think we might be able to help."

Merilwen's face lit with joy, "You can????"

"I think we can," Celebrian smiled. "Why don't you go sit with Ms. Merriweather for a bit and let us discuss some things?"

Merilwen trotted off with a lighter heart. Elrond and Celebrian looked at each other for a long moment.

"Elrond," Celebrian began. "There is indeed much space here."

"Yes, there is, my dear. It is not exactly what we intended, though, is it?"

"No. But, you have to admit, it will be quite the adventure." Celebrian chuckled.

"Knowing Merilwen and our grandaughter...it will be indeed," Elrond replied, hiding a smile.

"Well, let the adventure begin," Celebrian laughed.

And indeed the adventure did begin. We all helped Miss Merriweather, Merilwen, Betsy, Nim, and Nissa move into their new home.

And The Rivendell Academy began....what an adventure it will be!

Especially if it is anything like the past academy adventures:

http://merilwensmusings.blogspot.com/

Hitty Rowan

A New Home...re-established

It seems just yesterday my household was helping our Elven neighbors establish their household. Wait a moment....it was just yesterday...and our neighbors have already moved their household! The small cabinet was rather cramped for companions the size of our neighbors. They could get by, but it was rather crowded for them, especially with a teenager to arrive soon.

So, I went about scouting out potential spaces with more room for our neighbors. I was extremely lucky to find something available right in my own neighborhood! Our neighbors were in the rather remote wilds of the Dining Room, far removed from other companion households.

Now, they are in the more civilized Bedroom Neighborhood. In fact, we can see them from our house, which is most exciting! Of course, our person had to move some of her things out of the house to accomodate our neighbors, but we all must do what is best for everyone concerned. And, us companions voted this was best. There being only one of our person, and many of us, she unfortunately loses on most issues we vote on.
Besides, her and Husband have the use of the top of the new home, which is enough space for them. Our neighbors are only taking up residence in the basement of the armoire. Our people only used the armoire basement to store items not used much anyway, so they shouldn't really be too inconvenienced.

Now the Elves have three nice size rooms. The fourth potential room is not big enough for the Elves to stand up in, so we allowed our person to store her books in there for now. Although, some of us shorter companions might eventually like to move in that space so we warned our person to perhaps be looking for other spaces for her books.

For now, we simply moved most of the Elves' furniture into what will be Master Elrond's office. We are looking for new furniture for his office on E-bay as we speak. We will soon be putting suitable wallpaper in the office too.

This will be Elrond's grandaughter's room. We will also need to paper and furnish it appropriately. We already found her a desk on e-bay (we companions DO love e-bay). We have our eye on a bed, closet, and new couch.
The last room will be the Hall of Fire. We envision a large fireplace surrounded with chairs and cushions where all us companions in the neighborhood can gather and visit. Of course that will also require new furniture and such. We know our person won't mind accommodating us with more e-bay shopping. After all, everyone in the household must be comfortable.

So, we are indeed busy around here!

Hitty Rowan

A New Household is Established

Today my friends and I plan to begin helping our neighors establish a new household. We are forever rearranging spaces around here it seems. Our neighbors are a bit unusual. Not in a bad way, mind you...they are Elves and quite wonderfully unusual. Master Elrond and Lady Celebrian have been shifted from one house to another as guests for quite awhile. Now, they will have their own household in the small cabinet in the dining room. It will have three levels. We really do have our work cut out for us. For now, we simply moved Master Elrond's desk and Lady Celebrian's sofa into Master Elrond's office. He used to have more furniture, but our person temporarily packed it away when households were being rearranged. Unfortunately, she does not remember WHERE she stowed it. At least our resident Elves each have a place to sit until the rest of their belongings can be found

Our next steps are to help Master Elrond work on the walls. The Elves would like a castle type setting, so we will have to do some stonework. Lady Celebrian will be working on embroidering tapestrys for the walls. Most of us are rather inclined to assist Lady Celebrian. I will have to keep all of you updated on our progress. We must finish the house by December. That is when Master Elrond and Lady Celebrian's great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandaughter will arrive. With Elves being immortal, they tend to have great...great...great, etc. relatives. She is a teenager, and a bit headstrong from what we understand. We just hope she does not turn the new household upside down!

Hitty Rowan

Back Home at Last

Greetings Dear Friends!

My, my....I feel like it has been forever since I last wrote! I suppose because there have been so many changes since then. So much has happened with the wedding excitement and Fiance (now my person's husband) joining our household! I won't bore you with the details, else I would be up all night telling about it all. Let us just say the wedding was a wonderous day and then we danced the night away!

The next day, we headed to the beach!!! I fear I am not in any pictures. For some reason, my person was quite distracted and didn't pay me much mind during the honeymoon. No matter. At least I got to tag along and quite enjoyed seeing the ocean from my place in my person's beach bag, even if I did not get out much.

The ocean was quite turbulant, due to a passing storm. In fact, my people only got to actually swim in it the first day of our vacation. The beach was closed to swimming the rest of our stay.

My people at least enjoyed wading in the surf, even if they couldn't swim in the ocean. Well, until a jelly fish washed around my person's ankles. Now, I have heard my person let out quite a shriek at the sight of a spider. But, even I must admit I have heard nothing like the terrified shrieking strains of , "JELLYFISH!!! JELLYFISH!!!" as my person made a mad dash out of the water. A bit embarrasing, actually, but I don't suppose I would want to be stung by one either. Although, being made of wood, I suppose it wouldn't affect me much.

The jellyfish were everywhere, even on the sand. So, I likely wouldn't have got many photo opportunities even had my person been so inclined, since after seeing them all over the beach she seldom moved off the beach blanket again.

No matter. We found other things to do...like visiting the nearby Naval museum.

We saw all sorts of interesting things there....

And I even brought back my own plane...Not to mention my own boat along with my own piece of the beach...

And best of all, good memories to share with friends!
Hitty Rowan

The Countdown is Here

Greetings Friends!

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote. I am afraid wedding frenzy has quite consumed us here...between helping my person work and plan and sew and make bows I fear there has been no time left for writing. However, with only three days to go before the wedding on Saturday, my person stole a few moments to change me into my wedding attire. Relatives begin arriving tommorrow and there will be precious little time to change little dolls into their wedding finery. So, here I am, ready to provide support at my person's wedding. She found a quaint little basket (labeled as a "makeup case") that accomodates my dress and flower basket so I can be with her as much as possible during the next few days. Although, I fear she will have to make the walk down the aisle without me....but, I will be safely in the congregation with a friend so I might peek out and watch the procedings. Well, back to last minute bow making!

A Month to Go

Greetings Dear Friends!

Well, it has been a bit since I last wrote. During that time, our household has been quite consumed with wedding planning. With only a month to go, we are trying to help our person make sure all is in order before the "Big Day." This morning, we companions helped our person "take inventory." We actually look to be in good shape. Our hope is to do all that can be done in advance of the wedding week so that our person can enjoy visiting with family as they arrive that week. We hope to host an ongoing "open house" for whoever might want to drop by the last two days before the wedding (all hands will be needed for cooking pies, cheeseballs, and such that week). The girls are quite excited about all the pending festivities. I plan to take up my survellience post in the living room to observe and report on all activities the "big" week.

The next two weeks or so will be hectic in trying to pull last minute details together, but I think we are almost ready. I recruited the little girls of the household, and Rosina Fayette, to take inventory this morning.

I went with my person and Fiance's sister (secretly of course) to the fabric shop yesterday. We selected fabrics for table toppers, pew bows, and tulle bows for the reception. We will be quite busy bow making and sewing the next two weeks. Fortunately, Fiance's sisters and mother all sew and "bow make" and have offered their assistance, so we won't lack for help.
Rosina Fayette was particularly attracted to the wedding set with the feather pen in it. She would now like a fancy feather pen of her own. Perhaps later we can find an appropriate feather for her to make a quill of her own. Lily loved the idea of the "Unity Candle." Our person's mother and Fiance's mother will light the small candles right before the wedding ceremonies begin. Later, Fiance and our person will light the big candle together to symbolize their new unity along with the unity with their families. Being a bridesmaid myself, I helped our person shop for gifts for the other bridesmaids. We found lovely silver jewelry boxes embossed with silver roses and engraved with the bridesmaid's name for each person. I do hope they like them! Unfortunately, they did not come in my size. We found hankerchief's for each mother involved in the wedding.
I double checked my own wedding day trousseau to make sure all was in order.

Lottie loved the little silver ring decorations that will be scattered on the reception tables. There are even enough packages for her to have a few to keep and play with.

We found rose petals to scatter on the tables along with the silver rings.

Ms. Merriweather convinced our person to wear proper gloves, since it is a rather Victorian wedding.

We even have the something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue arranged.

My person will carry a new Bible, wrapped in a ribbon of pink and white silk flowers for the something "new." For the something "old," she will carry a "grandmother" hankerchief she gave to her grandmother years ago and a much older little prayer book her grandmother gave her before passing away tucked into the Bible. Her grandmother was given the prayer book in 1936, so it is quite old! I believe that although our person's grandmother cannot be there in person, she will certainly be there in spirit!

Our person borrowed a small card from Fiance to carry as well. As for the something blue, there is a small blue rose on our person's garter (although Ms. Merriweather is rather scandalized about me mentioning that). Now, after a bit of sewing, I think we will be ready for the "Big Day" only a month away!

Hopefully, I will get a chance to update you before then.

Your Friend,

Hitty Rowan