You're Invited!

A Little Surprise!

Imagine my SURPRISE, ;) Dear Readers, when I came down to my kitchen this morning and found this tiny note propped against my tea mug! I almost overlooked it, except that the TABLE was clean so it was clearly visible against my dirty mug left from the night before....! I opened it straight away, and this is what I found inside......

In case you cannot read the tiny print, I will tell you that it says:

"Dear Daydreamer,

Please join me to look at sites for weddings.

Let's meet at the Castle.

Yours, Pollyanna."

Oh, how SWEET, I thought! This will be really FUN! We can start to plan the wedding right away (so I have an idea of what I am getting in for....!) and she can let me know what sort of things SHE'S thinking of! This WAS going to be fun!
But since she hadn't mentioned a time to meet (Does TIME matter to the dolls?) I decided to have my tea and run a few errands first. Then I would be free to spend all the time necessary just planning weddings! But one thing led to another and before I knew it it was getting LATE! So I hurried on over to the CASTLE!

Guard Ian met me at the door.....

I could hear all sorts of Noise coming from INSIDE the Great Hall..... That's funny, I thought, Pollyanna didn't mention other people coming to look too...... The Hall was ALL lit up! And FULL of people....
Why, it looked as though MOST of the Dolls had gathered..... and were sitting at tables....

And then I looked up and saw Henry motioning to me and saying "We saved you the BEST Seat over here!"

It was then that I noticed a Banner overhead that said "HAPPY"........ That's a nice touch, I thought........

Then I saw the OTHER Banner, right over my head, that said "BIRTHDAY"....... Oh, how SWEET, they're having a Birthday party, thought I........

And THEN I heard them shouting "SURPRISE!" And "Happy Birthday, Daydreamer!"

WHAT? A SURPRISE Birthday Party For ME?

Oh My! OH MY! I NEVER would have imagined this!

But HOW did they know when my Birthday was, I wondered? When I asked Pollyanna she said she heard from Arthur...... He said to Plan a Party at the Castle for Daydreamer's Birthday.........

When I asked Arthur he said Ken had told him we needed to get ready for a Party at the Castle for Daydreamer's Birthday........

When I asked Ken, he said he heard from Guard Ian that there was going to be a Party for Daydreamer's Birthday and we'd better get ready......
When I asked Guard Ian how he knew he said he'd heard from Kix the Stable Boy that the Daydreamer was having a Birthday Party at the Castle and we'd better be ready.....
And when I asked Kix, he shrugged his shoulders and said he'd heard from Henry that there was going to be a Birthday Party at the Castle for daydreamers........

And when I asked Henry he said Belle had told HIM She'd had a daydream that there was going to be a Party at the Castle for Someone's Birthday........
And when I asked Belle, SHE said she'd heard OLD MEG say "Beware! The Birth this Day of Dreams! There will be a Party at the Castle! Beware!"

Ah, Old Meg! Old Meg KNOWS things........

Even though she never leaves her hearth.....

But Belle was much more interested in the porcelain plate in front of her than in any old sayings from Old Meg...... she has Never seen such plates before!
And now that the Party was truly happening..... people were starting to eat and make merry!

It looks like Chip has had enough to eat for now.....

And the littlest children are starting to get restless..... they are pestering their parents......

The Time Traveling Ladies are even here! They look so Lovely in their gowns!

And Helen and Charles are having a good time too..... is Charles about to make a speech?

But wait, WHAT has caught Henry's attention...? He looks Astounded...!?

Oh My GOODNESS! Look what they have brought in!

A Huge (Little) Birthday Cake just for Me!

So, did I make a wish before I blew out the Candle? .....

Of Course I did! But I can't tell you WHAT I wished because that would break the spell....!

Can we EAT the cake now? The children are wondering...?
( They have never SEEN so MUCH Cake!)
Yes, Please! Have some Cake! You Too, all my Dear friends in Blogland!

You ARE Invited!

(Even though my real birthday is tomorrow....
it is a work day so we had the party a day early!
I AM SO glad you could come!)

Saying Prayers

The Chapel This Morning

Because I have the good fortune to work at a job with paid vacation time, I have been home this week enjoying the leisure life. I can wake up at my own pace and choose what I wish to do each day. Of course, I have been choosing to "work" on minis as much as I possibly can! The Castle dollhouse has seen the most of my attention so far this week, and I have a great many details and improvements I will be sharing with you all, and I have many blog topics brewing in my mind. But this morning's blog was not one of those planned blogs. As we all know, events in life are not always planned, nor are they always happy.
When I came down stairs this morning, much later than usual, the sun was slanting in the windows in just such a way that it lit, briefly, the windows of the Chapel in the Castle Dollhouse. This was only possible because the Castle had been moved last week into the MIDDLE of the supposed Dining Room where I am building it. But the sight took my breath away! Oh, THAT is what it is SUPPOSED to look and FEEL like in the Chapel! I quickly grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, even as the sun was moving and changing the way the light would fall....

The way it would shine through the stained glass window and strike the wall on the side......

The way it would glance across the Golden Threaded Altar Cloth that came from the Far East....

And leave fragments of colored light on the Marble Altar top......

And then I remembered that because I had MOVED the Castle so recently, I had not put the Chapel ornaments back in place..... I quickly hunted for the Gilded Altar Screen that stands at the back of the Altar......

And searched for the Candlesticks that stand beside the Altar........ even as the light was shifting and moving away ...... moments that can't truly be caught were passing by.......

And I realized that THIS was a moment of Prayer, unsought, but profound. Here, in my little Chapel. I send my thoughts and feelings to all those who are suffering.... Sorrow for those who lost loved ones, Hope for those who have survived, and Prayers for those who are hovering in between..... those who I don't know, and those that I do. In the Earthquakes, in the Uprisings, and closer to home, to my Sister Mandy, who has breast cancer and is in Intensive Care.

I ask that you add her to your Prayers.

In The Chapel This Morning

The Answer!

Did she say Yes?

Dear Readers, I knew I was in trouble for leaving that question unanswered at the end of my last post when a co-worker came by my desk at work the next morning and said "But, did she say Yes?" I must apologize for making you wait so long for the answer, but it has been a VERY busy and tiring week at work and no time left over for minis! Besides, Arthur really didn't give much warning that he was going to ask THE question... so I just was NOT prepared! It was LATE at night by the time I had posted the Blog.... which I hadn't really PLANNED on making a Valentine's Day Blog...... and without time to plan it all out I just didn't get ALL the photos taken and posted in the right order.... I'm SURE you know how it goes! And, of course, a little DRAMA from time to time makes life more FUN!

So, DID she say YES?

YES! Yes She Did!

In true Heroine fashion, she leapt up and into Arthur's arms and said "Yes! Oh, my, YES I will marry you, Arthur!" And the roses fell to the floor, forgotten in the moment as they embraced and let their love for each other shine in their eyes........

And we will let the camera pan away to give them their moments of privacy at this special time.

So now will there be a Wedding in the doll world? Well, I guess there will HAVE to be one! But Really, I was not planning on doing a wedding any time soon! I must confess that Arthur took ME completely by surprise! I thought they would be content to be one of those happily independent not married couples for quite some time! Maybe they will choose to have a long engagement (so I will have time to PREPARE for a wedding!) Weddings are an ENORMOUS amount of work...... but they are also a great deal of FUN...... so maybe I am starting to look forward to it already!
But really, I AM a little shocked at how COMPLETELY these little people, um... I mean DOLLS... are taking over my life! A year ago I hadn't even MET most of them.... and now they are all wanting HOUSES and making plans to get MARRIED..... without even asking if it's convenient for me! I AM in trouble! And to give you an idea of just HOW MUCH trouble I am in I thought I would show you a picture of my Dining Room (in my 1:1 scale house) the way it looked shortly after I moved into this house a couple of years ago. I was not yet done painting the walls..... and it was actually a Dining Room! For a short while at least! I swear to you, EVERY single house I have lived in, the Dining Room has ended up being my STUDIO or Workroom! It MUST be the Table's fault! Such a wonderful large surface just Waiting for PROJECTS!

So, before long, really only two months after I moved in, the "Folly" took over the Dining Room Table. There was plenty of room to spread out..... and lovely light streaming in the windows...

And, of course, when I started working on The Lovely Old Dollhouse the following Summer, there was no question but that it had to move into the Dining Room.... and it, too, took over the Table. And by now I had to move a few of my storage cabinets up from the cellar where they were too far away for practical use...... all the craft supplies needed to be close at hand!

For a while the Lovely Old Dollhouse reigned supreme on the Dining Room Table!
And then I began to build the Castle Dollhouse! I simply gave no thought to WHERE it was going to live, let alone where it was going to sit while it was being built! There were a few days that it sat ON the table, but it is too big to stay there. As soon as I had built it's Base, it ended up along one wall in front of the windows that face the street. I rarely open those blinds so I don't mind that the Castle blocks the windows. But having it along the wall has made it impossible to WORK on the wiring and windows that are accessed from the BACK side! Below is a view of the Dining Room (or is it now the Studio?) being used for Christmas Dinner this past Christmas. I had to temporarily move most of the larger supplies back to the basement.... and even had to stack the "Folly" on the roof of the Castle in order to clear the Table for Dining!

And a closer view..... the "Folly" looks kind of cute sitting up there.....

a little like a bird on top of an elephant!

But I still couldn't get the WIRING done that I needed to run behind the Castle! So I have come up with the ANSWER to my dilemma..... at least Temporarily......... I have moved things around in my Dining Room! The Castle Dollhouse now sits in the MIDDLE of the room with access to all sides. And the Table is along the wall in front of the windows. You can sort of see the arrangement in the picture below.

Here is a closer view of the Table workspace........ Temporarily QUITE clean because I had to put so much away in order to MOVE everything around!

And here is another view of the Workroom from the other doorway. These doorways are very wide and the rooms feel quite open to each other.... a good thing in such a small house!

And the Castle in the middle ..... from the other side of the room. You can see the sections of the castle are separated so I can work on the wiring in between the walls.....

So, perhaps you can see why I am feeling a little as though the Dolls are taking over my life? Only a LITTLE? You ask!

Yes, they are!

And THAT'S The Answer!