Little Girls playing with their Dolls

“The dolls had been having their afternoon nap, but they were awake now, and Bertha said she heard them crying; so the little girls left off playing “Hide and Seek,” and went back to the nursery. Here Mary taught her doll to walk, leading her by the hand, and pretending they were out in the green fields; while Bertha tossed her child in the air – “the higher the better” – and made such a merry noise, laughing and talking to her, that if Dolly was not amused, it must have been her own fault.”

This adorable vintage engraving of two little girls playing with their dolls is from Little Folks and Little Friends by Oscar Pletsch, circa 1880.

This adorable vintage engraving, by Oscar Pletsch, features two little girls preparing dinner with their toy dishes, small table and play stove. Here is an excerpt of the story from the book: “…the little girls began to cook their dinner. It was great fun, Mary thought; indeed, she liked it almost better than playing with Dolly. She mixed the pancakes, while Bertha warmed the soup upon her little toy stove. “It is boiling splendidly already!” said she, before Mary had finished; – and that was all the more surprising, because – to tell you a secret – there was no fire in the stove! But “making believe very much” will do wonders, as I dare say you have found.”  

Aren't the above engravings adorable?

Little children had such fun playing make believe in past years.

I think too much electronic gizmos must rather fry their little brains.

I believe "make believe" play is very good for them.

I found these sweet illustrations on a lovely blog:
Old Design Shop

I found it by checking out Pinterest, a daily habit of mine!

Enjoy!

By Loretta Houben

Books I've read in January 2015.

I adore reading! I found the above image on Pinterest. I have a cabinet full of old books similar to these. I should take some photos soon. I love their beautiful bindings and the old engravings inside, plus the delightful stories of days long gone.

This is Anne Perry's latest Christmas book, 2014.

Matthew gave it to me as a gift, which has been his tradition for many years now.

I read it in one day. It was very well written. I love Anne Perry's writing.

In January 2015 I read a total of 4 books which for me is a large amount!

I re-read "A Christmas Journey". I love Anne's Christmas novels.

Being in the mood for Anne, I also re-read her first Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel,

The Cater Street Hangman. This is one of my all time favourites of hers.

Then I turned to a deeper novel by George MacDonald.

It was written in 1866 and re-published with modern English in 1985 by Dan Hamilton. 

I love George MacDonald's writing. "A Quiet Neighborhood" is a romance set in Marshmallows, in rural Victorian England. A young vicar, Harry Walton, begins work in his first parish. Oldcastle Hall is the center of the area in which he lives, and hides dark secrets.

This is a theme MacDonald loves to weave through his stories, which contrast the evil side of human nature, along with the grace and forgiveness of a loving Heavenly Father.

I discovered George MacDonald's novels in the 1980's when they became popular again due

 to revising and republishing. I collected nearly all of them, and they are stored in an antique walnut book cabinet in my living room. I haven't re-read them in a very long time, so I enjoyed this book immensely. 

Here is a paragraph from the book:
"What a horror of darkness seemed to hang over that family! What deeds of wickedness! But the horror came from within; selfishness, and fierceness of temper were its source; no unhappy doom. The worship of one's own will fumes out around the being an atmosphere of evil, an altogether abnormal condition of the moral firmament, out of which will break the very flames of hell." 

(page 132)

A famous quote which you may recognize is on page 145:

"If, instead of a gem, or even of a flower, we could cast the gift of a lovely thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels, I suppose, must give."

In another part of this book, an old woman is dying, and she says:
"I don't see how He can think of everybody, at every minute, like. I don't mean that He will let anything go wrong, but He might forget an old body like me for a minute, like."

The young vicar responds:
"You would need to be as wise as He is before you could see how He does it. But you must believe more than you can understand. It would be unreasonable to think that He must forget because you can't understand how He could remember. I think it is as hard for Him to forget anything as it is for us to remember everything, for forgetting comes of weakness, and from our not being finished yet, and He is all strength and all perfection."

His writing is quite profound and very refreshing, so I always read his books fairly slowly.

But how I do love them!

Loretta Houben

Jane Eyre movie, Bronte's house in Haworth, and the moors...

Today Leona, Helen and I went to see the new movie, Jane Eyre, starring Mia Wasikowska.

It was very well done, and for two hours we were swept away to Victorian England in the 1800's, set in a bleak stone house in the middle of the barren Yorkshire moors.

This is one of my all time favourite stories, written by Charlotte Bronte.

In July 2007 I visited the Brontes home, where Jane Eyre was written.

Here I am on the front steps. This was a dream come true for me.

Alas, we weren't allowed to take photos inside.

Here is the view from the front porch; please click on photos to see a much larger view.

The church is in the distance with the graveyard before that, and the school where Charlotte taught for a time is to the left.

The school.

Me in the graveyard. Did I ever mention that I simply love graveyards?

This one was especially exeptional!

A beautiful view of the Yorkshire moors and the stone houses with the stone fences.

I fell in love with this place.

Robert and Matthew walking down Haworth's main street.

Yet another view of the fascinating graveyard.

The Bronte family are buried inside the church.

Me on the steps of our fantastic bed and breakfast, only a few steps from the Bronte house.

Aitches Guest House was a delight to stay in and the breakfasts were scrumptious!

A Mad Tea Party 2010

To say we are excited is not the correct word!

It's the Day at last; the special Mad Tea Party,

where all the friends of Alice and Lewis Carroll meet in Cyberland to have one gigantic

mad day of fun.

(if you click on each photo, it will enlarge so you can study the details)

But where has Alice gone?

Here is her pretty party hat and gloves, yet she is nowhere to be found.

The centre of attraction at the tea table seems to be this very special Alice teapot.

Two mugs to match, given by a best friend as a gift.

However, pretty though they may be, we still can't find Alice!

Oh! Here she is...in a very small room indeed.

Suddenly Alice was transported to the Mad Tea Table, after drinking a very teeny weeny cup of tea in the Small Room.

The Rabbit who was concerned about Time was seated to her left.

A yummy chocolate hedgehog was on her plate.

Everything seemed a little big for Alice.

Alice noticed a black hat on the table, among all the other delicious looking things.

She was anxious to begin tea.

What was the holdup?

OH.

They were waiting for the Mad Hatter.

Alice wondered if she could return to the Small Room.

The size of the food would be enough to fit in one of her hands, and would hardly sustain her for more than 10 minutes, but it might be better than waiting forever for the host to appear.

So Alice asked a serious question.

"Should we begin the tea by ourselves?"

Meanwhile...in the Small Room...

...a tiny Alice was sitting at her table.

She had been studying some lovely Alice drawings by John Tenniel, after

finishing a really good book by Jenny Woolf.

Jenny's book had interested Alice because she wanted to find out more about what people really thought about Alice.

Some things were right, but the part about Alice's hair colour was dreadfully incorrect!

(A picture of Alice Liddell is hanging on the wall. Lewis Carroll told her the story of Alice in Wonderland, and wrote the book just for her.)

Suddenly Alice came to her senses.
Something special was to happen today.

A girl can only read and study for so long.

A certain ache began in her middle.

Alice looked down in surprise.

She hadn't grown or shrunk, yet she felt very odd, and there was a draft of air swirling around her ankles.

Alice stared in astonishment. She was surrounded by candles, food, a huge rabbit, flamingos, and another Alice! A big Alice. How extremely odd; nearly as odd as one of the Mad Hatter's riddles.

Alice gave herself up to enjoyment, and feasted on delicious ham sandwiches, potato salad, chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and a special un-birthday tea. It wasn't any one's birthday that she knew of, so it was a good name for the tea, although a tad strange.

Ah, there's the Mad Hatter.

But he's fast asleep, after a surfeit of tea!

I hope you've enjoyed our tea party.

I had such fun setting my table and planning the menu.

It was also fun taking the photos.

I enjoy doll collecting, and had to include two dolls as Alice, not just one.

The large Alice is a Canadian Chatty Cathy doll, dressed in an original Canadian dress.

The small Alice is a reproduction Bleuette doll. I made her Alice outfit.

I, too, have read Jenny Woolf's book, "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll", and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think if he were alive today, he'd so enjoy our party in cyberspace, don't you?

Thank you, Vanessa, for allowing me to take part in your online Tea Party!

If you leave a comment, your name will be entered into a drawing, to take place on the last day of June. The prize will be a package of chocolate hazelnut hedgehogs by Purdy's, the delicious local chocolate shop.

The Alice in Wonderland Party!

Please come here tomorrow for part of the fun Mad Hatter Tea Party going on in Blogland!

Vanessa of The Fanciful Twist is our hostess.

I think it's going to be FUN!

Happy birthday, Alice!

On May 4th, 1852, Alice Pleasance Liddell was born.

She is THE Alice which inspired the wonderful book, "Alice in Wonderland".

I'm currently reading a fascinating children's book about her, and how she met Charles Dodgson. (Lewis Carroll) The name of the book is "The Other Alice", by Cristina Bjork.

The book has exquisite illustrations by Inga-Karin Eriksson. I've always loved illustrations better than the story in a book!

Happy 158th birthday, dear Alice!

You are invited to...

While browsing through one of my favourite blogs, I came upon an invitation to the above; a Mad Hatter Tea Party on June 26th, 2010. Well, this is really my cup of tea! I haven't been the same since watching the new Alice movie last month. I've re-read Alice in Wonderland, and I just finished reading a very thick volume of Charles Dodgson's life, by Morton N. Cohen, plus I've just finished creating a new Alice dress for my Bleuette doll, and am now working on a white rabbit with a waistcoat and a pocket watch.

On Vanessa's blog (above and in my side bar) she says, Jenny Wolf, author of "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll", will visit her blog on June 26th. So I had to sign up! If you visit my blog on that day, I will be having some sort of Alice/rabbit/teapot/tea give-a-way, so be sure to come back for a wonderful tea party!

The future of libraries?

I belong to SCBWI Canada. I maintain their website and edit the newsletter. The group is a lot of fun, and also knowledgeable and helpful in the world of children's writing and illustrating. It was always my dream when a young girl to become a chilren's book illustrator. That dream never materialized, although it's lurking somewhere in my inner being. I'm still working on my dream of writing a children's book, but I'm very lazy and sluggish, although I'm trying my best to get out of the rut. It's good to have dreams, and better yet if you work to make them come true. Recently our assistant regional advisor, Simon Rose, posted a link to an article about the future of libraries: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/ Please click on the link and let me know what you think. I'd be lost without my books! I love to handle them, rustle their pages, lose myself in their world, and gaze at their spines lined up on my shelves. When all the books are gone in the rest of the world, you will be welcome to come to my house, dear friends, and browse the pages of my vintage volumes, breathe in the dust of past years, and handle the weight of the book on your lap. Nothing can replace that scent and feeling; nothing!

Book I'm reading

This is a different subject. I'm currently reading "The Cater Street Hangman" by Anne Perry. I think it's the 3rd time I've read it. I have a wonderful un-photographic mind; I can re-read a book 10 times and never remember the details. I can remember the characters and scenes, but not necessarily the plot line. Isn't that handy?

I have quite a few of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Pitt novels. My sister in law Margaret got me started on them during those lovely summers when we'd vacation at her Metchosin cottage on the Island. Margaret had stacks and stacks of books, and I'd pluck one off the shelf and take it to the beach, and read for an hour or two, sprawled under the beach umbrella. 

Ooo...if I could only snap my fingers and be there right now! Well, not exactly right there, but back in time, in those golden summer days, when Matthew was a young boy and I helped him build sand castles, and he and his dad went rock climbing. Let's see if I can find a picture...or two...Hmmm...this was taken in 2005, the last time we were in Metchosin, as Margaret's job came to an end, and she had to move back to the mainland. I think I got off my topic!

Here is Matthew climbing on the rocks at Weir Beach, July 2004:

And here I am in beautiful Butchart Gardens on their 100th anniversary, July 2004:

By Loretta Houben