Giving Thanks....

Family, Friends, Food, Love.....

It is Thanksgiving Day in my RL world, Dear Readers, and I find I couldn't let it pass unshared in my Mini world and in my blogworld! So I have hurried around with my Camera, between stuffing the Turkey and peeling the potatoes, trying to catch the Celebration so I can share it with you! Sally May is hosting the Family gathering at her house this year. She loves to cook, and she loves her family, and is trying to put the best foot forward in her Shabby Sister House.... where in spite of her patience and pleading, the windows are still not even closed in against the coming Winter! Her husband, Chip, is a building contractor, so he knows what needs to be done.... but alas, so often the Cobbler's children go without shoes. This year, he has promised..... and Sally May thinks it Might prompt him to hurry a little bit if the Family is all here. She thought she could get Everything ready for the dinner all by herself, but she is still not ready when all the guests start to arrive!

Her in-laws, Chips parents have arrived early in the morning. They are good Old Fashioned New England people, and they were up before dawn to make the drive down the River to the Shabby Sister House. Chip is keeping them company, and Annabelle is visiting with them too. Yes, there are more gaping windows and no electricity at all in this part of the house! It is a real "fixer-upper" but Chip is a builder.... so he should be able to get it done right! We are lucky it has been a milder than usual Fall, but his parents are dressed in warm sweaters and socks! They are used to New England weather and they don't mind the "fresh" air at all!

Before they know it, Sally May's Grandparents, 

Helen and Charles are arriving, along with the rest of the Family...

They have all met before.... but now it is time to be polite.....

"Please.... sit down..." says Rupert to Helen, offering his chair.

 

Pollyanna has headed straight to the kitchen 

to help her sister with the dinner preparations. 

She knows just how unnerving it can be to host the Turkey Dinner!

Joanna, their Mother, is also helping with the preparations. 

She could see at once that the Table wasn't set....

 

There are so many guests, they will just have to eat "buffet style"....

The turkey is ready!

Pollyanna and Sally May carry it in.... it is a HUGE bird!

It is time for all the Family to gather around the table!

Chip will carve the Turkey....

Everyone is "oohing and aahing" at the Perfectly cooked bird!

Even Annabelle!

Rupert strikes up a rousing version of the "doxology"

 and soon they have all joined in...

"Praise him from whom all blessings flow....

Praise him all creatures here below...."

Suddenly Sally May remembers her other "creatures".....

Did she rescue the pie in time......?

Well, Dear Readers, I will leave you here... wondering...

Because I have to run off and finish cooking the RL Turkey dinner!

But before I go, I want to Thank you All!

Thank you Family, Friends and Blogfriends!

Thank you for being there....

Thank you for coming here to visit in my Little worlds...

Thank you for your Gifts.....

Thank you for your comments....

Thank you for sharing yourselves, your knowledge, your creativity...

And Love....

It's really All about Love!

Thank you! 

(And Pass it Around!)

I Made A List......

(And the Sun Came to Play.......)

Have I mentioned, Dear Readers, how much I Love it when the Sun comes to Play in my Little Worlds? Even when they are situated far away from the windows of my RL house, so the sunbeams have to stretch and reach way into the distant corners.... and there they are for the briefest moments before they have moved on, illuminating the Tiny Worlds in a way that is impossible to copy with artifice! There were a few such moments on Sunday morning, making me pause Life in order to capture the moments with my camera! And here I can share them with you.....

Alas these moments are so brief, 

If you are not there with the camera, 

they are gone before you blink!

And in the Willowcrest too, 

the sun filled the Parlor with radiance.....

Don't you just love the way this delicate lace is silhouetted by the sun?

And the way the sun shone into the bedroom, 

casting a pattern on the floor!

I know you can't see it from here with the curtains closed, 

but these are the very windows 

that are causing me such trouble on the exterior!

Fortunately, I have thought of a workable solution to the problem.

 

But first I made a List, Dear Readers,

 of all the things I needed to do on this house 

before I could glue all the walls in place.... 

and it was longer than I had thought it would be!

There were ten major categories of tasks to do!

Everything from planning the attic lights wiring routes 

to completing the painted details on the bedroom walls, 

to finishing the trees in the Parlor, 

to fixing the curtain rods 

to completing the window frames details...... 

to mention just the most obvious ones!

Yes, it is a good thing I have NOT yet glued the walls in place!

 

Meanwhile, I have tested an idea for the exterior window muntins. 

You might recall that I was bothered by the idea that from the outside 

the muntin on the lower half of the windows 

would abut directly onto the exterior window sill....

(See previous post for reference pictures!)

I found some very thin and narrow coffee stirrer sticks 

to use as the framing material. 

Above you can see the lower edge of the "window frames"

being tested on the windows. 

I think they succeed in making the windows

 look more realistic from the outside.

But you can see here what it looks like from the inside!

 

Here you can see a little closer......

(Sorry it is so dark.... it is night and it is hard to get

 close enough and not block all the light!)

 So you can see I am going to have to add 

small pieces to the inside window frame too.

And I think it will work if I conceal the "crack" between them 

and the outer frame by adding a little window sill as well!

(At least I hope it will look okay... and the curtains will conceal it too!)

And here you can see the exterior with the thin muntins in place....

At least it Fosters the illusion that the lower window 

is set back and can slide past the upper window when raised...

entirely an illusion, of course, as these are non operative windows!

I think it looks So much better with the bottom edge 

of the window frame visible!

And believe it or not, Dear Readers, that is the Only thing 

I got done this week in my Mini worlds!

That and Making the List!

So at least now I know what I need to be doing...

Besides capturing the Brief sunny moments, that is!

(I do Really Love it when the Sun comes to Play!)

Oh look! There's that little fairy again.....

I wonder where he is off to now?

Hmmmmm.... Where Was I?

Letting the Dust Settle......

Well, Dear Readers, I have been Trying to recall just What I was doing when I got swept up in telling tiny Tales.... and I had to browse through Weeks and weeks of photos that I have taken of the goings on in my Mini Worlds..... only to come to the conclusion that I have not accomplished even One Little project since before the summer began! It is a humbling thought indeed! Of course, I have started on several parts of the many projects I seem to have underway... only to hit a snag and put them aside... or simply get distracted.... or run out of Time to complete them. You might recall that I had started to paint the tiny figures in the border of the ceiling in the Castle Great Hall. I made a good start on the first side, but couldn't decide on all the subjects for the opposite side, so it is still just where I left it.... far from finished! But one morning the sunlight shone into the Hall, allowing me to take a picture in the beautiful light, so I thought I would share it with you, unfinished as it is!

And I had made a start with adding the exterior muntins 

to the windows of the Willowcrest....

If you look closely in this picture you will see 

that I have added them to the top portion of the window, 

but not the bottom.

This is because it is bothering me that the muntin will abut directly onto the exterior window sill.... which is not at all how window frames are constructed! Let alone that there is no offset for the "double hung" windows to be opened by sliding past the upper portion of the window!

And if I add a "bottom" crosspiece to the window above the sill, I will also have to add one to the interior side of the window.... which already has the frame in place.

These windows were not designed properly!

So I have not continued with adding the exterior muntins to all these windows

 while I try to decide what should be done.

I started to build the fireplace for the Willowcrest bedroom, 

using various pieces of decorative trim wood from the Home Depot.

I even gave it the initial coats of paint to make it resemble stone.....

But it is still unfinished. The first coats of paint didn't look right......

And I need to decide whether there will be a "lit" fire in this fireplace....

So I can run the holes for the wiring before I attach the wall in place!

And there are still a few details I want to paint on the walls... 

which will be so much easier to do

before I glue them all in place!

And I can't really get more work done on the Attic room

 until I have glued the Floor....

And exterior walls (which still are not attached) in place!

(I think I need to make a list of all the things that are 

keeping me from gluing those walls in place...)

Yes, precious little has been done!

So now that Everybody has gone home from the Halloween Party

 and the Dust has had a chance to settle, Dear Readers,

 I can see that there is Plenty that needs to be done.....

If I can only figure out What I am doing!!!

(Wish me Luck.... I really should be starting on Christmas!)