Laowai

Mom came last weekend and I finally got around to looking through the photos today. We had fun with grandma and I was so glad she was here… but it wasn’t our best weekend ever. Bea was getting over a flu bug and then I got it. So I spent most of Sunday in bed while grandma tried to entertain the girls. It was a huge blessing that she was here because Brian was traveling most of the weekend. And it was one of those occasional times when I really had to go get in my bed so my head didn’t explode. If she hadn’t been here the girls would have been finding their own meals which would probably have been granola bars, goldfish crackers and water. 

We did get to go to the botanic garden on Saturday. We took all our umbrellas and watched the Halloween dog parade – I decided it was really a parade of kooky people who dress thier dogs up. Some people really go all out and it was very funny. They also had a club of fruit growers who were showing off and selling their apples. We got to taste test some unusual varieties – we even tasted a paw paw. The older men were really eager to tell us all about their apples – it was nice. I thought of Doug and how he would have liked talking to the men. We bought a bunch of northern spy apples and had a yummy crisp after dinner.

Mom brought some of my old dollhouse furniture and the girls dove right into setting it all up in my dollhouse. As a kid mom bought a dollhouse kit for me and we put it together. Then I spent many, many hours making all the furnishings. Oh I really did spend a ton of time on that little house and I loved it! I was lucky that I could use dad’s jigsaw and his unlimited scraps of wood in the basement. And mom always had bits of crafty and sewing things around. I love that I could create so freely and independently and I want to have that same environment for my girls. There was a big miniatures (ha ha) store in Frankenmuth – it was heaven and I’d carefully choose some little item – dishes or a pair of ice skates or my (plastic) tile floor for the kitchen.

I looked down on Bea and Claire as they touched each piece of mini furniture that I made. It was surreal to watch my daughters play with my important childhood plaything.

See the little push button phone? I specifically remember being in a dressing room and seeing a little broken piece of a zipper. I had an ah ha moment and grabbed it to use as the reciever of my phone. It’s teeeeensy.

 

I made the two chairs, the little pink teapot on the shelf and the flowers on the table. Also the cabinets and sink that you can barely see on the right. I think (if I remember correctly) the countertop is some leftover formica from Grandma Dice’s kitchen makeover. I was always thinking of my house and I loved to scour magazines for little pictures to cut out frame.

The rug below is a piece of paper with thread glued in a criscross pattern. 

 

These are also terribly tiny.

Our modern playmobil folks fit right in.

Grandma Dice made that little crocheted rug in the forground below. Thinking of that makes my heart ache from sweetness. The lamp is made from beads and a toothpick.

Funny how I’m still fussing over a house – it’s just a little bigger and unfortunately my current house has sewer lines that need cleaning out.