THE DOLLHOUSE

Gnome house.

  The Christmas of my kindergarten year my dad built my sister and me a sturdy wooden dollhouse from scratch. Since he no longer lived with us, he delivered it Christmas morning  complete with dolls and furniture( by Fisher Price ), and a realistic wooden table and chairs with matching dining table and hutch. To add even more to the delightful surprise, he had drilled holes in the second floor roof which he had strung mini Christmas lights through which made the whole house glow with a warm light. I can remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. From that moment on I was hooked on the magic of miniature things and dollhouses. Something about things that are just like the large sized object in every way, and yet much smaller, gives me this kind of feeling that I think only miniaturists truly understand, but I liken it to seeing the presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. 


   My sister and I spent almost every weekend of our childhood at our grandparent's house, and when my Opa found out I loved dollhouses, decided to build me a grand one. The plan was by Houseworks and is still in print as it's such a popular design. It was a grand, three story Victorian. He built it from scratch from a plan and I helped finish the details. We put hundreds of real mini shingles on the roof, I chose wallpaper and flooring and glued it on, he wired every room with light and plugs for the lights, and on and on. It was a treasure. Every now and again he'd drive my sister and me to this warehouse laden area of North Vancouver where we shop for parts and furniture in an amazing but very dusty shop. It was the only time we came to North Van. I looked so forward to these visits, and over the years, between this shop, travelling to Europe, going to miniature fairs and making my own things, I've amassed quite the collection of beautiful, tiny objects.


   After a number of years of enjoying this dollhouse, fast forward to me leaving for University from the small town I was living in at the time. My parents moved away as well, taking with them only a small trailer. The dollhouse was given to friends nearby for safekeeping. Sadly, the barn it was put it had mice and it was so damaged that it had to be burned. I never saw it again.

Two pieces of a branch with the bark sanded off  to make it look
 like giant posts are on either side of  the upstairs bedrooms.

   After mourning the loss of the house, I decided one summer, while staying with Dad in his country home complete with workshop, that I would get over it and build my own dream dollhouse. I had only a rough sketch and no real plans, but with perseverance,  I managed to complete the shell of my dream home, with a large stain glass window, thirteen rooms, a stage in a ballroom with a backstage and dressing room on the top floor, all working lights and tiny plugs, crown mouldings and much more. I finished this by my fourth year in university, moved back to Vancouver and got an apartment. Even when I had Westin, we were still living in an apartment. My dad in the meantime had moved to Scotland for a while, was renting out his house and didn't want my house in the way of the renters. So we moved it out to his little artist's studio. Despite my protests, he really didn't think he could keep it in the house, and we had so little room as it was, so it stayed there for a while. I went one day to check on it, and to my chagrin saw that mice had gotten in and it also needed to be burned for safety reasons. 

Mall parking garage.

  In the meantime I had also built a miniature cabin at my mom's house but when I visited one time, she admitted that she had kept it her storeroom, which, you guessed it, had been moved into by mice and destroyed. 


   Clearly I should stop building houses for myself and just make them for mice right off the bat because they sure are popular with them. It didn't help that everyone storing the houses for me lived in the country where mice can abound. But still, what are the odds?


  

Train shed.

So the last time we were at my mom and stepdad's house, I decided to build a house for the kids and keep it in our mouse-free home to enjoy for, hopefully, many years. I knew I'd build a fancier one once we built our shop, but I wanted a simple one with an open plan that would allow for anything their imaginations would allow them. 

So, using only my vision and scraps of reclaimed fence wood and barn wood, I built a five room house which looks very woodsy and natural and the kids just love! I hope this is the start of many long-lasting dollhouses.

My sister, Vanessa, playing with our amazing Victorian dollhouse.

A few treasures: citrus, glass and copper vases, citrus juicer and cookie cutters.

Vanessa and Jennifer mugs and fancy dishes from Germany.

Dollhouse windows I gave a stained-glass look.

The dining hutch I got with that first dollhouse.

The first fancy dolls I got for the Victorian house. ( From left: Sir Gregory, Lady Alice, the twins and Tommy)

A few things I made for a miniature sale a few years ago.

Tiny music books.

  When we moved to Norgate, I discovered by some lovely twist of fate, that my beloved dollhouse shop, which I hadn't been to in years, was actually within walking distance of our home. As a child I had no concept of where it was, so it was a surprise that it was so close to us now!

Thanks for sharing in my dollhouse joys and tears. If you have any of your stories, don't hesitate to share them in the comments section.

The Good Life ( in spring)

There are moments in my much too busy life that pull me out of the rat race and give me a glimpse of the down to earth life I want to lead. A life that's full of children playing in the dirt, drying laundry in the fresh, spring breeze, flowers blooming, young veggies and fruits growing, and the sun on our faces. This past week was so beautiful, I experienced many of these moments. I hope you had some of your own. Happy Spring everyone!

Blueberry blossoms

These turned from lemon yellow to pink!

Apple blossoms.

Our new hill slide. ( more on this later)

The first ripe strawberry.

Bell peppers, flowers and strawberries.

Romaine lettuce sprouts.

Veggie patch finally nearly complete after three years work!
Now I just need to put in fence post for my new picket fence.

Just walking for a month and now almost running.

Posing in a dress I made her.

GLORIOUS SPRING

My first ever planted bulbs spring into bloom.

Could there be a more gorgeous tree than a pink magnolia?

What's more fun than playing in your briefs with
mud on a sunny day when you're three-years-old.

Isla recently discovered the joys of playing with dirt.
Give her a spoon and she goes here to her favorite spot
happily each time.  (I'm just not sure what she'll do when my
basil needs its spot back)

The humble dandelion gets a bad rap.
Cheerful, healthy to eat, and free, it's welcome in my garden.

Love at First Sight (My Little Girl is Now One!)

    Exactly a year and two days ago, I went into labour with my third baby. As we already had two little boys, we were finally going to answer the question soon that we had been asked for months.  People couldn't help but ask, "So you tried for a third to get a girl, huh?" Or "So, are you hoping this one's a girl?" We just wanted a third baby, not at all needing that "girl" and we honestly answered, " We just hope the baby's healthy". But as the contractions strengthened and I knew I'd meet the baby soon, I can't say that it didn't cross my mind that I might gain a female ally in our male heavy family. But I was expecting a third boy, because everyone was saying that statistically a boy was more likely, and I was carrying like it was a boy, and all sorts of nonsense. Also there hadn't been a "Morgan" girl born for generations, so could it really happen this time?

    The labour progressed, the baby was finally born, and the assistant doctor, his first time assisting a birth, and so nervous about getting everything right, pronounced " It's a boy!" We weren't at all surprised. Then Josh and I did a classic double take. We looked again, looked at each other, looked back again at the baby and exclaimed " It's a girl!" In the assistant's haste, he had gotten it wrong!

   I held her in my arms, she went straight for her first nurse, and we bonded instantly in that legendary way. In a way that no one could really understand unless they've been through it. It brings tears to my eyes just to write about it. Love at first sight.

   We've had so many adventures together in this first year, including a trip to England together. We get along more like friends already than just mother and daughter and she continually surprises me with her bright, shining personality, her humour and intense love of life.

   We had a little birthday party for her on the 8th, her birthday, up north here on Paradise Hill with her Oma and Opa and my step-brother and his wife. I made impromptu decorations with paper
and string and built her a barnwood doll bed from scratch in the shop, complete with mattress and pillow from fabric I had scrounged and using a needle and thread instead of a machine.

  Josh baked an amazing white cake that we topped with whipped cream and raspberries frozen from mom's summer garden. Isla cracked us up by doing her crazy nose-crinkling-dimpling-eye-squinting smile every time a camera was aimed her way. She had a great time, and we couldn't help but enjoy it with her. What a lovely way to celebrate her first year on earth with us.

Had to show us her serious side just once.

Something to Make ( 10-15 minutes)
Birthday pendants and heart string


Need: 3 pages of colourful construction paper, scissors, tape, yarn or string, stapler, pencil/chopstick/stick


Make: 


1)For large pendants, cut 3 circles as large as the paper, for smaller, cut as small as you like.


2)Cut strips all around the circle towards the centre, taking care not to cut them off.

3)Take each completed cut circle and pinch in the middle and twist until you have a shape that you like and staple or tape it to hold the shape. Then gently bend chunks of the strips to make a crazier looking ball if you like.

4)Tape shapes to three long strings tied to the stick. Wrap the yarn around the string at the top to make different lengths until it looks right to you. Then tape the stick to the ceiling.

5)For the heart string, cut out small hearts from the remaining scraps of paper and staple them to a length of string long enough to stretch across a window.

The Mona Jenny

  Recently, a museum in Madrid, Spain, was doing some work restoring paintings from their basement storage. Among these paintings was one that was supposed for many years to be a much later copy of the Mona Lisa. It's background was painted in black, but when the restorative work was done they shone a certain type of light through the painting and discovered that the black paint was actually covering an entire background of some sort. What they uncovered was astonishing. It was a detailed painting replicating the original Mona Lisa background but in much greater detail and clarity. After further investigation they realized that this was most likely painted by one of Da Vinci's star pupils at the very same time Da Vinci himself was painting the Mona Lisa. So this painting, relegated for years to a museum basement, was actually a very old and precious work that revealed much more about the Mona Lisa than could ever been seen because of the aging of the Da Vinci painting. The awful black paint had actually preserved the copy perfectly. This copy will be joining the original on loan to the Louvre.

  Okay, so this is a very long intro to my blog today, but I found it to be a fascinating story on so many levels! So for Valentine's Day this year, I challenged Josh to make a card like I was going to make for fun. He's not a very sappy romantic, so I found some humour in asking him to make something sappy for me. But in usual Josh form, he went way beyond just making a regular card and put my cardboard heart card to shame. Inspired by this Mona Lisa copy story, he created, with only a few hours and some watercolor pencils, a perfect cross between the Mona Lisa's face and mine.
(Amazing and yet somewhat creepy at the same time.)

    Then, when I arrived at choir practice that night I received beautiful red carnations given to me and each choir member by another sweet choir member, as well as a vintage Bronte Sisters ( I just love them!) compendium someone was giving away, and some amazing heart cupcakes someone had baked for the tea time break. I had already had a night out with Josh the week before, so it was lovely surprise to have such a beautiful, romantic evening this night as well. It's nice when things happen like that, so easy, naturally and unexpected.

The Mona Jenny has proudly joined other portraits
on our portrait wall of other talented family portraits
by other family members.