When The Baby Cries....

What Do You Do?

I hope you can find it in your Hearts, Dear Readers, to forgive Daphne for giving up her child, but I must warn you that the younger Lawyer, Raymond Du Lac, could not! Raymond and his Father, Gaston Du Lac, were the Lawyers for the deMontaigne Family and had been for generations. They were practically Family, and Raymond had grown up with Andre deMontaigne, almost, but not quite as brothers. Raymond was older by a couple of years, but Andre had always reminded him that his Family "Employed" the Du Lacs and clearly ranked higher in Society. Raymond had been raised from childhood with the expectation that he would be a Lawyer and serve the deMontaignes as his Father did. While he and Andre were not close, nonetheless, Raymond had been shocked to discover after Andre's death, that he had left a young woman pregnant. He was not at all surprised however, to learn that Andre's parents wished to adopt the child as their own. Raymond could understand their reasons for wishing this, but he was not at all sure it was the best answer. And he was deeply troubled at the idea of the mother giving up her child! Especially as she would always know who was raising her child... there was no anonymous family to take over. She would always be hovering in the distance ... watching her child be raised by others. He convinced himself that only an unnatural Mother would do such a thing... and that if this woman did give up the child, it was a sure sign that she did not deserve to be the child's Mother! So he was prepared to despise her when she contacted them and said she was willing to give up the child. He did not, afterward, know what he had expected her to look like... but he was not prepared for her to look so frail and weepy.

And neither he nor his Father were prepared for her to stare at them and the papers on the desk as though they were asking her to drink poison.... and then to jump up and run from the room.... leaving the child behind!

Raymond turned to his Father and said "She didn't sign the papers giving up her rights....!"
His Father sighed. "Do not worry.." he said... "We will just have to find a way to get a signature..."

"And if we can't...." he added 

"clearly a case can be made for abandonment of the child...."

At that moment the child began to cry!

Raymond and his Father both stopped and stared in shock! 

They were not prepared to care for the child! 

They had expected that the Mother would give them some warning...... 

and let them make arrangements.....

But she had called at three and arrived before five the same afternoon!

And fled without saying a word!

And now the child was crying! 

They looked down into the basket.... 

the little baby was wrapped in a blanket that was tied with a Pink bow...

Raymond looked down at the crying baby and felt a pulling at his heart...

'This was not right.... where was the Mother...? ' ran his foolish thoughts! 

But he knew the Mother was not coming back.

Something would have to be done...

"Isn't he supposed to be a boy...?" 

he asked as he picked up the crying baby.

"Madame seemed to expect so..." replied his Father..... 

"She will not be pleased."

"When will Madame get here...?" 

asked Raymond as he tried to decide the best way to hold the crying baby.

His Father cleared his throat and replied... "That is the other complication... They have taken their young colt to the races in America. Saratoga, I believe. The soonest they can come back will be the day after tomorrow..."
Raymond just stared at him in shock.... the realization slowly forming that they were in charge of the care of the baby for two whole days before the new "parents" came to get him... er... her!

Raymond had No experience of babies whatsoever... 

and he was sure his Father had forgotten whatever he had learned during his own infancy....

His anger at the Mother for abandoning the child without a backward look grew even stronger.

"What are we supposed to do..?" he asked his Father, 

knowing even as he asked what the answer would be.

"I am sure you will figure out how best to take care of the child, my son" he replied with conviction...

"You have always been very resourceful in a pinch..."!

Raymond held the crying child in front of him and looked into the little puckered face.... 

and then something happened that he could never explain afterwards...

The child stopped crying and looked back at him... 

little blue eyes blinked at him..... 

the little mouth formed a perfect "o"

And he suddenly knew that he would give his life to protect her...!

"Okay, Little Sunshine," he said softly 

"It looks like it's just you and me against the whole world..."

"Think we can make it..?"

And he held her close, and rubbed her back....

Because, When the baby cries, Dear Readers,

What else Can we do?

When The Sun(flower) Rises

Someday A Garden There Will Be....

Everything seems better in the morning light, Dear Readers, and perhaps that is what Daphne and Will are discovering as the new day is beginning. Are they still on the porch? Did they sleep at all? Or did Dawn sneak up on them as they sat and talked, trying to restore their sense of normalcy after the revelations of the night. Will has made the coffee and carried the mugs out to the porch where they sit, reluctant to break the peaceful spell of Dawn. Daphne is feeling better now that her Secret shame is brought out into the light.

Will is not sure he is feeling better.... but he is feeling wiser....

and he is willing to argue that wiser is better... even if it doesn't feel that way.

At least he is aware of where he stands, and how far it is from where he thought it was.

And if he is honest with himself, 

he would much rather know the 'real' Daphne, 

with all her flaws and mistakes, 

than only be allowed to see the false image she shows to the world.

Daphne is just relieved that she no longer needs to be so guarded, 

that she can open up and let those close to her see her pain.

Even if nothing else changes, 

she thinks that will make it easier to bear her sorrow.

In spite of everything, the world is still turning and a new day has begun.

 

And I hope you will forgive me Dear Readers, if I confess, that Nothing got done this week in my miniature World! Too many disruptions happened in my RL world!

But as is often the case, 

there are a couple of tiny things I have made a while ago 

and never had the chance to share with you!

The first is this little bird feeder I made out of a jewelry part I got at "Michaels"...

And I hung it from the corner of the front porch. 

I always fill my bird feeders in RL with sunflower seeds....

So it seems only appropriate that when I made this.... 

I imagined those black beads are sunflower seeds!

And then when Sans! of My Maharajah's Palace Dollhouse blog sent me some lovely sunflowers for her blog anniversary giveaway... I knew At Once that one of these sunflowers was destined to grow from a lonely dropped seed from the bird feeder....

And no shrinking violet would THIS Sunflower be!

But it would grow as if by magic... to a towering ten feet tall!!!

And please, Dear Readers... do not examine too closely my attempts to make a Sunflower plant! I am a novice at mini flower making... and I know I have been claiming that "Someday" I will make the Garden that surrounds The Folly. And I even made a start! But that start consisted of the Tree.... which became a mini Tree House Project.....! Which is not even half way done after a year and a half of building! So you see how far I am from having Anything that resembles 

the Garden I Dream of!

But I need to show you the Other place that Sunflowers have been growing in my life....

Just a year ago I started painting sunflowers on my RL Kitchen walls....

Around the walls in my breakfast nook.....

And of course, this is just the beginning.....

I had to add some morning glories too.....

And because I am SO SLOW to complete these wall paintings.....

It still looked just about the same at Christmas.....

When Sans! was deciding to send her Sunflowers around the World....

Bringing Magic and Sunshine into the far flung corners of Mini blogland!

And in case you didn't notice.... 

everything else that is "growing" in this "Someday" garden....

Is a gift I have received from Sans! 

The suitcase Garden... 

and the Sunflower, and the wild Rambling Rose that is hidden behind the fountain..... 

all came from my Dear friend Sans!

Oh, Look! Even now the Sun is Rising....

Turning the sunflower into a little piece of Sunshine....

Sneaking it's warmth into every corner....

From the tiniest seed, a Giant flower has grown.....

From one stray Flower a Garden will grow....

With the help of our friends, near and far.... 

we will realize our Dreams....

And even though we are a Long way from the Happy Ending I have promised you, Dear Readers, I hope you will take this as a little seed of Happiness that will blossom in Time...

Because Just as This Sun (Flower) Rises...

 Someday, Surely, a Garden There Will Be!

A Tale of Sorrow

Daphne's Despair....

There is no Easy way to tell this Story, Dear Readers, so let me warn you at the beginning that you might need a handkerchief, and there might be parts Not suited to a young audience. I know this is not what you expect to hear when you come to visit, but I have wracked my brains to try and find an easier way, and have concluded that there isn't one! I hope you can find Forgiveness and be easy with your Judgements of the characters in this Tale.

The Weather was too hot for sleeping anyway, and Daphne had awakened Again from that Dream. Only this time when she saw the little girl, she was holding the little doll that Daphne had bought only a few weeks ago.... on an impulse.... on a wish.... the doll was just so sweet and it made her wish.... well it made her wish for too many impossible things, but she had bought the doll anyway. And how the child ended up with the doll she had no idea. But this time when she saw the child approach the fountain, she gasped in horror as she watched the child throw the doll into the fountain!

She wanted to call out.... but it was a Dream....

She wanted to reach in and rescue the doll....

But she was paralyzed... and could do nothing....

And that was when she woke from the Dream... and remembered it was only a Dream. 

She got up and came downstairs to sit outside on the porch in the sultry night air. Fireflies were dancing in the hedgerows and in the distance lightning lit the sky, warning of an approaching storm. Daphne held the little doll in her lap and thought about the dream. Suddenly her tears overcame her and ran slowly down her cheeks. She thought she had given up crying a long time ago.

Will had not been able to sleep either and came out to join Daphne on the porch. Spotting the doll in her lap, he smiled to himself. From what he had noticed recently, Daphne was feeling her "clock" ticking... she was ready to settle down and start a family.... something Will had been thinking about too..... she was buying dolls and dreaming about children after all!

Will sat down beside her, and noticing her tears he said  "Hey sweetheart... there is no need to cry.... we can get married.... start a family... if you want to..."

At that Daphne cried even harder and said "Oh Will, don't say that! You don't understand! I'm not what you think I am. I can't marry you! I can't love you like that! I don't think I can ever love like that again!"

Will was shocked at this sudden outburst, and more than a little wounded at her words. He replied "when you say it like that, you make it sound as if you have loved someone else 'like that'." He didn't want to think she had given her heart to another.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Said Daphne between sniffles. She took a deep, shuddering breath.
"I was so young. So in love. He was charming and funny and so smart and so passionate. We met when I was away at the University in France, studying for my degree. Everything he did was somehow bigger than life. He made everything seem so exciting.
Will felt a nasty spurt of jealousy at this description and couldn't keep his words from betraying him. "Well, where is this guy now....this paragon?" he said, trying but not succeeding in keeping the sneer from his voice.

Daphne grew very still. She stared sightlessly out into the black night.
"He died" she said at last.
Will recoiled as if she had struck him. That was the last thing he had imagined she would say! He didn't know what to say but blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Just like that?..... How?"

"It was an accident" said Daphne. "A car accident." She sighed. "Racing cars was one of the things he was passionate about. That and racing horses. He was the darling of local society. The only son of a prominent family the de Montaignes. I never quite understood what he saw in me" she said quietly. "He called me his Muse. He said I was the 'still center of his life that he always wanted to come home to'..."
Will felt another stab of jealousy. He might not be the son of a Count, but the Otts were a very respectable family with connections.... good connections in all the best families of Europe.... but it was true, he never thought to say such poetic things to Daphne.

"We were going to get married" she said quietly." 

He took me to meet his parents. They were at their chateau."

"I was terrified. 

They were so happy to see him."

 

 

"They were very polite to me, but I could tell that they didn't want him to marry me.... I was just a foreign nobody. We didn't stay for long. He brought me back to the University that night." She paused and took a deep breath. "That was the last I saw of him. Two days later he was dead. Something went wrong with his race car and there was a terrible crash. I wasn't even invited to the funeral. It was as if I didn't exist" she said, her voice trailing off to a whisper.

Will was silent. Then he cleared his throat. 

"I'm sorry" he said. 

Then quietly "So you think you will never love again...?"

 

 

"No. You don't understand" said Daphne. "That's not all." She looked away, down at her feet, anywhere but at Will. She took a deep breath. "You don't understand at all. I was pregnant" she said.

"What?" blurted Will, not at all sure he had heard her correctly. "What did you say?" 

"I was pregnant with his baby" she repeated.

"Did he know?" asked Will, staring in shock, not at all sure why that would make any difference.
Daphne just nodded. "That was why we were getting married" she said. "I was so young and so stupid. One day I thought I had everything... and the next day I had nothing. I was so alone. I was so confused. So frightened.

"Do your friends know? Does Pollyanna know?" asked Will.
"No!" said Daphne sharply, turning to look at him. "I told nobody!"
"Not even your Mother?" said Will, already knowing the answer.
"No. Not even my Mother" whispered Daphne. "She's always so.... judgmental. She's always so sure I am going to mess up my life. She'd given up so much so I could go to the University... I just kept putting off telling her. I was so confused.... and I was trying to complete my studies...."
"And the baby....?" asked Will, not daring to put his suspicions into words.
Daphne was silent for so long Will thought she wasn't going to answer. But at last she spoke, her voice drained of all emotion. "Several months after Andre died, his Mother came to visit me at the University. By then it was obvious that I was pregnant. She told me that since Andre had been her only child, she would take his child and raise him as her own. She said she could give him all the advantages of wealth and position and family, things it was obvious I could never provide. She told me I would be a fool not to accept her offer. When I asked her what if the baby is a girl... she replied that the de Montaignes always have sons." Daphne paused, "I didn't tell her the O'Mallys always have daughters, but I did tell her I would never accept her very kind offer."
"She replied that she was sure I would change my mind when I had time to think it over... and that her Lawyers would have the adoption papers ready. All I had to do was contact them. And she left their card."
Will could think of nothing to say. Daphne said nothing for the longest time. The crickets were chirping and the lightning still teased the distant sky.

 Eventually, Daphne spoke again. "She was born at the end of Summer, just three weeks before my classes were starting for the new term. I tried to talk myself into keeping her... but I knew in my heart that Andre's Mother was right. I had nothing to give her. It would be unbearably selfish to keep her and try to raise her while continuing my studies.... if I could even manage to do either.... so I called the Lawyers and packed her bag....

"I will never forget the way they looked at me..." whispered Daphne.

"Especially the younger one... 

as if I was committing some horrible crime.....

by signing over my child......"

"I couldn't do it" she said at last. 

"I couldn't bring myself to sign the papers."

"I ran." she said "I got up and I Ran away"

"But I left my child" she cried. 

"I left my darling little girl."

 

Will could think of nothing to say. How could he possibly understand what she had gone through?
He scooted over and put an arm around Daphne's shoulder, pulling her closer. But it explained a lot, he thought. She had held this secret inside for so long... and it had slowly eroded her faith in her own ability to love another. He thought it wasn't that she couldn't love again, it was that she still loved too much and with too little hope.

Perhaps the next time he was in Europe on a buying trip he would look into things.... just privately of course.... make sure the child was truly being cared for and loved as she should be.... he would decide later whether to tell Daphne what if anything he discovered. For now it would have to be enough to just hold her... and to hope that Maybe someday she would want to start a family again.
He looked up at the sky. The storm seemed to have moved off and the lightning was barely noticeable. The crickets sang and the fireflies danced as though there were no cares in the World worth heeding.

So, do not Despair, Dear Readers! This Story does not end here.... 

although it may well pause here for a while. 

The solutions are not simple nor accomplished in a single chapter.

But I hope I can promise you that when we get there, 

it will be a Happy Ending

to this Tale of Sorrow!

 

 

Going In Circles....!

Engineering Challenges and a Few Halos....

By now, Dear Readers, I am sure you have realized that the Saints are going to take quite a Long Time before they are finished! I will TRY not to bore you with too many pictures of unfinished paintings.... but at the same time I would like to keep you updated with any Progress that HAS been made! To begin with, above we see the ceiling in place in the Castle Great Hall and now the first row has at least the shadowy under-painting of all its Saints completed. You may wonder why I am working this way.... starting the Next one before the others are even partly done.... and there are actually a couple of reasons why I am doing this. The first is that it is easier to work out the color choices as the paintings develop simultaneously. This way I can make sure there is a harmonious balance of colors rather than discovering by the time I reach the Last Saint that nothing looks right next to the already completed ones! Another good reason is the better use of mixed paint colors when painting more than one figure at a time. I can mix a certain color of shadow for faces and use it on three or four figures before the paint dries out! And the last and maybe most compelling reason is that it is Easier to paint the under-layers and Avoid the careful Tricky parts.... for as long as possible...! So I added the final Saint for this side of the ceiling. He is Saint John the Evangelist.

And since I was painting Some detail on faces.... 

I will show you the more developed Saint Mark.....

I apologize for the blurry and reflection streaked pictures!

The ceiling surface is "ribbed" (the bends in the corrugated cardboard)

which makes painting much more challenging and the lighting almost impossible!

But in the Long run it will provide a layer of detail and texture 

that I hope will add to the realism.

Nevertheless, it makes it hard to avoid the reflections!

On Saint Hedwig I added the altar cloth draped over her arm....

And the Halos of the Virgin and Child Figures she is holding to her breast.

I know, it is really difficult to See these details!

I also added another layer of "gold" to several of the Halos....

Most notably for Mary Magdalene and Saint John with his Eagle. 

So you can see there is still a LONG way to go with the Saints!

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, I have been Wrestling with 

the Engineering of the next floor of the Tree House!

I will show you what I mean....

To begin with, I have closed in the back hallway 

behind the Chinoiserie Bedroom...

Can you even see what I am referring to?

And I have to confess that I threw caution to the Winds... 

and decided to put a Light back there....

Because it made light shine down the stairs 

 and onto the book left in the window halfway down.....

Which I CANNOT get a good picture of, so you will just have to believe me!

And while I was adding lights to places I hadn't intended to put them.... 

I added an Ambient light to the Dressing Room....

And OH! What a Difference it Made!!!!

Why did I think I could go with out Light????

It is just One light added overhead

Before I glued the ceiling in place!

Here you can see the light from above. 

The hallway is at the upper right.

And here is another glimpse of the inside of the Bedroom.... 

with just the Ambient lights!

It turns out that my battery was very run down 

and made the lights very dim!

As for the Engineering Challenge I have been struggling with.... 

that has to do with the NEXT Floor up!

Oh my! Are we ready????

Here is the Tree House as it now stands....

(separated from The Folly so I can build on it...)

And as I have so many times Before....

I started with the Door...!

Making a Circular Window from a large piece of polished glass....

And cutting out the walls to get a rough sense of the space.....

But the Real Challenges are not in the main room....

but behind it with the Spiral Stairs....

There will be a door into the room cut in the panel at the top of the stairs.

The next run of stairs will start just to the left and Spiral up as before....

But I (along with so many of you Dear Readers) 

have been wanting to make a way to 

Open a Door into the side of the Turret.....!

The door would be curved....

But it would need a Sturdy Post to be hinged upon!

And Just HOW to attach the post has been 

Bothering me for a Long Time!!

But I think I have figured it out.....

The post would be a thin strip of plywood....

Which would be attached between the two floors.......

I will probably glue AND Screw the post to both the floors!

It needs to be able to take a lot of twisting without breaking!

When the door is closed it would be the outside of the turret.....

And would swing open to show the Spiral staircase

as it spins up to the Next level...!

But Accomplishing this is

Oh So Much harder than it Sounds!!

I cannot attach the floor until the post is attached to it....

I cannot build all the walls with the Ceiling in place.... 

and I cannot "sandwich" the post between the floors 

without attaching the ceiling...! (Which IS the upper floor!)

Hmm.....!

I think I am going to be doing a lot of "Temporary"

attaching of pieces with masking tape and clothespins while I figure this out!

Perhaps I Will just go back to painting Halos....

I know I will solve these Engineering Challenges!

But is it any wonder I feel Like I am going in Circles?