Fall Movings and Musings

Greetings Dear Friends.

Well, it has been a busy week indeed around here. Today, our person did Fall Cleaning. In the process she re-arranged her furniture...and even re-arranged some of the doll accomodations. I am afraid our neighbors at Ms. Merriweather's Victorian Seminary for Young Ladies have moved. Not far, fortunately...just across the room...but it is still an adjustment.

In the process of cleaning and re-arranging, our person rescued the big pink dollhouse (otherwise known as Preble House) from the basement. It had been on a large table that simply took up too much space. Our person finally found a place for it again upstairs on a smaller table.

My sister Mehitabel's household, who had been living in a small cabinet since their house moved to the basement, moved back into Preble House. My person promised to add wallpaper and to finish the two side wings in time for Thanksgiving, which will make Preble House a very comfortable (not to mention active) home.

That left the small corner cabinet vacant. The cabinet is rather nice and the shelves are tall. Poor Ms. Merriweather always had to sit at her academy because she was too tall to be able to stand up in the low-ceiling rooms. My person discovered that Ms. Merriweather and Master Elrond, who teaches at the Victorian school, could actually stand up in the corner cabinet. Ms. Merriweather discovered there actually was enough room for her household to live quite comfortably there. So, her household moved to the corner cabinet. Their accomodations could also use some brightening up with wallpaper or paint, but they are at least large enough to stand up in.

Holly, a wooden Appalachian doll living in the doll cabinet, moved in to help with the managing of the girl's school. I think Ms. Merriweather welcomed the help and the company.

Master Elrond is delighted with his much larger office. He can teach and tend to any sick members of the household quite comfortably now. In fact, one of the little girls at the school, Merilwen, was feeling rather poorly today and was our resident healer's first patient in his new office. Merilwen says she has a bit of an upset stomach and thinks she might have a touch of Fall Fever. We think it could be all the cookies she "rescued" from the cookie jar this morning.

In the music room, Betsy greeted a new student, Sarah Crewe. Sarah, like Holly, had been living in the doll cabinet. She was delighted to be able to join Ms. Merriweather's school. That leaves the household next to Miss Hickory and I vacant. It is larger than our house, and our person offered it to us as a new home if we wanted it. We decided, however, to stay right where we are. Small though it may be, we are quite fond of our home.

Our person thinks she will use the vacant cabinet house to store some of her own things. She had best be quick about that before word gets out there is a vacant doll home around here. Otherwise, we might just have new neighbors.

The only other thing happening today is the Changing of the Clothes. All the dolls are donning their fall clothing. With the cooler weather, it is nice to finally feel like fall.

We thought Eilonwy looked quite fetching in her fall dress. Our person tried to talk her out of the pink boots, but we think they look nice on Eilonwy.

Well, back to Fall Cleaning.

Until Next Time,

Hitty Rowan and Miss Hickory

Pokeberry Yarn

Greetings Dear Friends!

Well, when last I wrote, Miss Hickory and I were "hanging around" our person's spinning wheel waving merrily at her each time she passed by in hopes of having a bit of yarn. We had managed to gather the few remaining pokeberries off our bush growing in the back yard before the birds ate the last of them. We hoped to dye some yarn for lovely fall and winter shawls.

Our person finally took pity on us and provided us with a bit of yarn she had just finished spinning last week. We claimed our prize and set off to dye it. First, we decided to enlist a bit of help with the job. Miss Hickory and I visited our next door neighbors at Ms. Merriweather's Victorian Seminary for Young Ladies to ask for volunteers.

Ms. Merriweather said we could take a helper as long as the lucky girl finished her lunch with us. With it being a fine, brisk fall day, however, we had a bit of difficulty recruiting a helper to stay indoors to dye yarn. At last, Amelia, a little girl who recently arrived at our house...was kind enough to volunteer.

Amelia is a stowaway. When our friend Hitty Prudence attended summer camp in August, Amelia decided to sneak into her luggage and return home with her new found best-friend. The poor dear ended up being stored away with the luggage in our person's craft armoir for several days.

Our person was too busy to help Hitty Prudence unpack when she returned home. So, she simply shoved Hitty Prudence's luggage into the armoire (which is the fate of many things around here....we didn't know there was actually still room in there to stuff anything else...but our person somehow managed). Fortunately, the camp administrator sent out an e-mail informing camp attendees' people that there were a few stowaways who had decided to find new homes. One was still missing. Our person searched Hitty Prudence's luggage...and out tumbled Amelia. We were most glad to have our new girl's help!

So, off the the three of us went to gather up all our supplies.

Our first step was to pre-soak our yarn. The three of us managed to shove it into a bucket of water.

Our next step (literally) was to step on the berries to mash them and release their purple dye. Amelia rather enjoyed that part.

After having a stomping good time, we poured our smashed berries into a pan of water.

As Miss Hickory stirred the berries around, Amelia and I added a bit of white vinegar to help the dye stick to the yarn.

After adding the yarn to the mixture, we had to wait for the water and yarn to boil for 30 minutes. A perfect time to have lunch!

The water had to cool completely before we took out the yarn, which takes awhile. So, after lunch, we returned Amelia back to Miss Merriweather. We promised her a new winter shawl for her assistance. Amelia was delighted!

The yarn finally cooled and our person was kind enough to hang it in the basement to dry. It is more of a rose color than purple, but still perfect for fall! It will take a couple of days to dry completely....and then we will begin to crochet our shawls!

Gathering Pokeberries

Greetings Dear Friends!

Well, this week has been rather eventful. On Friday, Miss Hickory and I and a few other doll friends accompanied our person to "Pioneer Day" at a local school. We modeled handspun shawls and such for the children while our person showed them how yarn is made on a spinning wheel.

It was a rather hot day, especially for our person. Although it is October, the heat index was over 90 degrees. The pioneer events are all outdoors. For once, our person dressed rather like us in a nice, proper, old-fashioned dress. After wearing her nice dress outside in the heat for five hours, however, I think our person decided that although the "olden days" have nostalgic appeal, there is something to be said for modern conveniences such as air conditioning.

A rather fortunate outcome of the exhibit is our person's renewed interest in spinning. There happens to be a rather large pokeberry bush growing in the back yard. Miss Hickory and I managed to climb it and salvage a few pokeberries the birds did not already pick. Pokeberries make a wonderful yarn dye. Miss Hickory and I were rather fancying nice, new purple shawls for winter.

Our next step is to convince our person to spin just a bit of yarn for us. Being small, it will only take a bit. We decided to help our person keep us in mind by spending some time "hanging around" her spinning wheel and waving hello at her each time she passes by. Surely she will remember to sit and spin a spell for her doll friends.

We will update you on the success of our strategy soon!

Until next time,

Hitty Rowan and Miss Hickory

Fall Adventures

Greetings Dear Friends!


Well, it has certainly been a while since my last musing. How time does fly when one is having fun! When last I wrote Miss Hickory and I were struggling through the heat of summer and now the cool breezes of fall are finally upon us.


Today was a glorious day in our part of the country. Cool and crisp with sunshine and the smell of fall blowing in the air.


Miss Hickory and I overheard our person talking about taking the Dangerous Dogs of the household for a walk in the woods. We decided that if dogs get to enjoy a walk in the woods on such a lovely day, doll companions most certainly should share in such a privilege.


So, we put on our fall dresses and wraps and yelled (in a most dignified manner I assure you) for our person to wait for us.

Wait she did. Our person said she would be delighted to share our company today. Unfortunately, the only room for us on the walk was in the dogs' little waterbowl pouch our person carries with her. She put the little collapsable water bowl in her pocket and we took its place. Not the most dignified of travel accomodations, but a day in the woods is worth the cost of being a bit cramped in a dog dish carrier. We were, however, obliged to leave wraps and bonnets behind to fit in the pouch nicely. No matter...it turned out to be such a fine day that wraps and bonnets were not needed.

We arrived at the park and began our journey. We were so thrilled to see the paths leading through the autumn woods!

Down the path we went and our adventure began!

The one Dangerous Dog accompanying us set a rapid pace down the path, with our person and us trotting along behind. (The other Dangerous Dog, we are sad to say, has grown rather stubborn and a bit lazy and decided to run and hide under the bed when our person announced "Walk!" It is no use trying to make her enjoy a nice walk in the woods since she will only lie down in the middle of the trail and stay there until our person carries her the rest of the walk. We are happy to say dolls companions have more consideration for their people than that, proving we really are the ultimate companions).

We crossed a swinging bridge over the river, which is rather lazily meandering on its way after a summer with very little rain.


We took a break to just sit and enjoy the fall weather...although from the looks of the bench...several others have sat here along the way and left their mark upon it.
Next, we went under a little covered bridge.
Miss Hickory and I enjoyed the view from the window inside the bridge.
We continued along to see the last of the summer flowers still lingering.We stopped to explore a little cavern at the base of a tree. Miss Hickory looked rather distant and pensive as we gazed into the dark little cave. I asked her what she was thinking about. She replied, "Oh...I am just thinking that had I not landed on your doorstep, I might have been spending the winter in a cold, dark little cavern in a tree just like this."


I quickly consoled the rather unusual little doll person who has fast become my dearest friend. "Oh, my dear Hickory, you musn't dwell on the might have beens. The fact is, you are most certainly NOT going to spend the winter in a cold, dark cavern. We are going to spend the winter sipping hot chocolate in front of our own little fireplace in our own, snug, bright little house safe from the winter winds."


Miss Hickory's spirits lifted with this thought and we continued our adventure.
We took a minute to sit on a fence post as we considered brighter thoughts and brighter days.
Next, we found a path strewn with acorns. "Oh!" Miss Hickory exclaimed excitedly. "I have the absolute BEST recipe for acorn pie!"

"Acorn pie?" I asked. "Why, I don't believe I have ever tasted acorn pie."

"Then I MUST make one today!" Miss Hickory joyfully announced. "You haven't tasted autumn until you've tasted acorn pie!"

We quickly gathered up some acorns...

Before the Dangerous Dog could gobble them all up. Our person said he wouldn't eat acorns...but a dog that will try to eat dolls or their bonnets or shoes....will eat about anything. Sometimes our person takes a rather overly optimistic view of the habits of her adored canine companions. We dolls, having had run ins with the Dangerous Dogs in the past, take a rather dimmer view of their inclinations.

Finally, we were ready to leave the autumn woods behind and return home.

Just in time to begin baking an acorn pie to share with our friends!

Well, that is our adventure for today.

Until Next Time,

Hitty Rowan and Miss Hickory

A Bicycle Trip

Finally it is Saturday! It has been another very busy week for my person and I was glad to reach the end of the week so she could spend some time with the doll family.

This week did have its excitement, despite the busy pace. Miss Hickory and I received our very own "Hitty" travel companion! She is a tiny, tiny little doll and we have to be very careful of her or she could easily be lost. Her tiny arms and legs really move and she has the littlest face I have ever seen. She needs a dress, but making her one might be a challenge. So, for now she must be content to remain in her natural state...fortunately it is summer and certainly warm enough for that. In fact, the heat has been terrible, but this morning brought a bit of relief with a cool breeze.

With the break in the heatwave, my person took an early morning bicycle ride. Miss Hickory and I tagged along. We left our tiny little friend behind for her own safety. It was a wise decision. My person put Miss Hickory and I in a pouch, which she tied inside her bicycle basket. It is rather rough riding even fastened in...rather like being on a stagecoach I suppose...one certainly feels every bump along the road.

But, bumps or not, it was a lovely morning for a ride. We set off down the path at a leisurely pace.We passed through wooded areas and past farmland.

Occasionally, we took time to stop and smell the flowers.

A good start to a new day for Miss Hickory and I!

Hitty Rowan

A canoeing adventure

Today my person decided to take me on a canoeing trip. I dressed in my bathing clothes and took leave of Miss Hickory early in the morning. I asked if she wanted to join me, but she said she preferred to stay on dry land.

I was placed in a plastic see-through bag and then placed inside a waterproof bag my person kept with her at all times so I would not become lost at sea or wet in the case of a canoe mishap. She left a corner of the bag unzippered so that I might peek out from my hiding place and enjoy the scenery. I will not include a picture of being stuffed in a plastic wrapping here since it is not the most dignified way to travel.

However, at least my wrapping allowed me to participate in quite an adventure. We boarded our canoe and set out to sail the wide blue yonder (or in this case the small green river).

As we began our three-hour tour, we encountered a small cave canoes were allowed to explore. It looked a bit frightening to me, but in we went, frightened or not.

The cave was rather interesting inside, but rather small and took some maneuvering to get in and out of. I will not mention the spider webs along the wall that my person, sitting in the front of the canoe, got rather too close a view of. Shrieks of fear really do echo quite loudly in a cave. As we exited...rather quickly...we met some fellow canoers.

We decided to do a mid-stream rendevous with them to exchange cameras so that each party could have a picture of their canoe trip. I was rather worried the cameras might be dropped in the exchange, but no harm was done.

As we continued our journey, there were little islands along the way. We occasionally parked the canoe and disembarked to explore...and for our crew to take a break. I was only glad I did not have to help row, since I heard my person comment that it was rather hard work.We enjoyed being on the water on this lovely, breezy day....passing the time floating down the river and enjoying the scenery.

However, after the adventure I was more than happy to return home and share my adventures with my family....as my person took asprin and collapsed in a rather undignified heap to take a nap after the exhaustion of rowing. Being a doll truly does have its advantages :).