No time for sewing the next week or so as we left this morning and had a nice day for traveling! We arrived at my sister, Deb’s house and have already had a fun evening and Deb has some fun and new places for us to visit this week.
I’ll keep you posted… :o)
I’m glad everyone seemed to find something in the antique shop…and yes, Linda was right about that “contraption” in the first picture. It was an apple peeler… and like Kathie said, it sure did look complicated!!
Karen in Kentucky, sent some pictures of her girls…I’ll share what she emailed me…
Here are some pictures of the kids with their dolls. You can use them if you want. They were playing that the little dolls were the “Borrowers” from a book/movie. I’ll try to send a few more. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!
Thanks, Karen
(I don’t know anything about “The Borrowers” so maybe someone can fill me in…)
Thanks Karen,
Blessings, Jeanne
I’ll try to update my time here in Springfield… as I have the TWO BEST SISTERS in the world!!!
The borrowers appear in a series of children’s books written by English author Mary Norton in the 1950s. They are a family of miniature people who live under the floorboards of the big house lived in by human beans ( human beings ) and who have to ‘borrow’ things from them in order to survive but they can’t risk being seen.
How do you know if your house has borrowers? well you know that reel of cotton you put down that has gone from where you know you left it that reappears somewhere else? it may just have been borrowed.
The peg in the dolls hair is exactly the type of thing that would have happened in the book.
Loved those books when I was a child.
Lorna in the UK
Lorna, I loved those books and the movie as well. What a great idea the author had for stories.
Jeanne, I’m glad you got to your sister Deb’s house safely! Have fun and enjoy your mini-vacation!
Oh, Karen, thanks for the wonderful pictures of your girls! How old are they all now? (I’m sure you’ve told us, so pardon me for not remembering…I have a hard time keeping track of the ages of my own grandchildren sometimes!)
As Lorna mentioned, the Borrowers are little people who live between the walls and under the floorboards of old English country houses. There were four books in the series originally–and they were my Absolute Favorites when I was a kid!!–and I was delighted that Mary Norton had written a fifth “Borrowers” book in the 1970s, which I found when I was Christmas shopping. Of course, I bought it!! I have the first four all bound together in a special edition, and I have read all of them 2 or 3 times as an adult. (You have to remember, I was a teacher, and my minor was library science, so I really love children’s books!) I hope you can take a look at those books some day–the pen-and-ink illustrations are just delightful!!
There have been some movies made about the Borrowers, too–the first one, with Eddie Albert as Pod (even their names sound “borrowed”), is probably the best of the bunch.
Hi Charlotte! Thanks for sharing about the Borrowers! The girls are 10, 8, 6, 4 and 7 months now.
My goodness, Karen, you certainly have your hands full while grocery shopping! When I go, it is just me, myself and I, but the girls look so sweet and well behaved, and darling holdng their “babies”!
That is a beautiful dogwood tree, which must be in your yard! Years ago, we were in Louisville on our way back from a trip to North Carolina, and passed through while they were having a dogwood festival. I never saw so many beautiful dogwood trees in all my life, all blooming at the same time!
I have heard abut The Borrowers but never really read the books, since I must have been too old for them at the time. But such a cute story and I see that your girls have made the books into a fun way to play with their dolls! It reminds me of my 3 sisters and I. We lived on 400 acres, and of course, had no neighbors close enough to play with, so we played with each other.
Jeanne, hope you have good weather during your visit! Our granddaughter graduates from SEMO this weekend, but it looks like rain might be in the forecast! At least it will be indoors, thankfully!
Thank you, Linda! Yes, it was nice that their babies kept the busy while we were shopping.
That dogwood festival sounds wonderful to see! I really like our one dogwood, especially when it is blooming. Its flowers remind me of Mary and her purity and protection and it is so calming to be near it. I think the dogwood flower represents Jesus’ Cross and His wounds with the 4 red spots on the four petals… I just read that the indentations on the petals represent the nail wounds and the flowers in the middle represent His Crown of Thorns. Need to think about.
That is so neat that you had three sisters to play with and on so much land! Were your parents farmers?
Neat*
Oh, heavens, Karen, not farmers at all! We lived 30 miles away from St. Louis, and my father drove everyday back and forth to his job in St. Louis. My mother was the elementary school secretary, but we did have chickens, plus dogs and cats!
What a wonderful sight to see these darling girls playing with their dolls. So rare these days, thank you so much for those photos!
And Jeanne, you are so blessed to have 2 sisters. I grew up with 2 brothers!
Thank you, Sissy 🙂
Thank you for sharing them, Jeanne! I bet you are enjoying your time with your sisters 🙂
Love the pic of Karen’s kids grocery shopping. An American icon showing the cereal aisle. 🙂 So remember those days, and we only had two girls. 🙂
The dogwood tree is beautiful in bloom and wonderful that the girls can play together so well. They are growing up quickly.
Looking forward to hearing about the Springfield Follies. Hope some pictures can be shared. 🙂
Thank you, Joy 🙂
What beautiful sisters playing together! I’ve never heard of the Borrowed story books. How enchanting. Now I get the clothespin in the dolls’ hair.
Love the cereal isle picture. It looks like the girls watch out for each other – lovely family!!
Thank you for letting us see the pictures of your girls. The baby has grown since we last saw her.
Jeanne, enjoy your sisters- nothing like having sisters and I know several friends I consider my sisters!!❤️
Thank you, Paula! My pleasure 🙂
Hi Karen, yes, I know “The Borrowers”. They are The Clock family—Homily, Pod, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Arrietty. I’ve not seen the movie, but my daughter and I read the books when she was a child.
So very nice to see your sweet girls and their dolls. I’m sure they have so much fun together. Your dogwood tree is beautiful. My grandparents had a white one in their backyard and I loved to read under it.
Enjoy your sister time, Jeanne. I too, have friends I consider my sisters but I would have loved to grow up with sisters to play and share things with as a child/teen.
Hi Barbara, I wanted to answer you regarding four o’clocks. I have an heirloom variety called “Broken Colors” and as the name implies, there are two colors on each flower. They are gorgeous and smell so sweet.
Thank you, Laura 🙂
Laura, I’m going to check out those “Broken Colors” 4 o’clocks. They sound lovely. Like I said we have so many problems growing things here because it’s either too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry or the moles get them. Evidently they don’t like the roots (more like tubers I think) of the 4 o’clocks so we’re going to plant them everywhere. I’m tired of empty flower beds or dying flowers. And it’s hard to keep up with the weeds. The 4 o’clocks seem to choke them out.
Love seeing the little girls under the Dogwood tree. We honeymooned in the Ozarks 57 years ago when the Dogwoods were blooming. I had never seen them and fell in love with them…we are too far north to have them here so I really enjoyed your pictures🤗 Had not heard of religious/ Jesus connection but that is interesting too
Enjoy your sister trip Jeanne!
That’s neat. We used to live south of the Ozarks, but north of Branson, Missouri. It was hilly there, but I don’t remember seeing any dogwoods.
As a kid in South Carolina our house’s address was on Dogwood Drive; I’ve ever since had a particular fondness for that beautiful tree. I think in may have been in the library there that I first read “The Borrowers”. (I went on to collect the entire series as an adult; I love collecting childrens’ & YA books.) The illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush inspired me to, many times, try to build a DIY doll house with found objects. They never stuck around too long because my family moved frequently. But I still love the Borrowers.
I collect children’s books, too! Mostly picture books, as my emphasis in college was primary grades. But I definitely have all the Borrowers books!!
Hi Karen,
Your girls are growing, what cuties! It’s hard to believe the baby is already 7 months old, my but time flies, doesn’t it? It’s so nice to see your girls enjoying their baby dolls. I love the Borrowers books too. I don’t recall the Eddie Albert version of the movie, so I looked it up it was made in 1973. I was 13 and we didn’t watch much television back then. I do remember watching the version with John Goodman, he played the part of the bad guy (1997). It was very cute.
Thank you for sharing your photos Karen and thank you Jeanne for posting them for us to enjoy.
Jeanne thanks for taking us along on your antique shopping trip. What a shame there was a power outage while you were out. It’s so fun to enlarge the photos and get a closer look. I’m reminded I have a child’s size roll top desk in the basement, I should bring it up so Dominic can use it.
Linda, your photos are always a highlight. Happy Birthday Molly! Her Bday party looks like a hit with all her guests! Kaya is such a pretty doll; her outfit is wonderful. I am especially fond of white dresses, so the First Communion outfits are so sweet to me! What a nice find those roseries are. LOVE!!! How nice you get to tour the Botanical Gardens when you want. I love tulips, they are just starting to open here in Western NY. It’s especially exciting because I planted a bunch last fall, they are up and ready to open! Yeah! Ingrid one point! Squirrels zip! haha
Can someone share Laurens address with me please, I’d like to send her something. My email -> just_ingrid1960@yahoo.com
Thank you all again for your prayers and kind comments. Hubby seems to be doing well. Doctor appointment this Thursday and the Cardiologist next week. Heart healthy meals happening here and someone’s not very happy with me!
Hugs
Ingrid
Karen, it was great to see your girls enjoying their dolls and each other’s company. I have three sisters but with the exception of my first sister who was born when I was 2 yrs. old all the others are spread out. Beth and I always played together because for the first few years we did not have neighbors who had children. I was 7 when my second sister came along and 11 1/2 when my third sister was born. I was a senior in high school when Beverly was in first grade, but I did take the time to play dolls with her.
I never heard of “The Borrowers”. I’ve always been an avid reader but I never came across those books. My favorite book when I was little was “The Boxcar Children”. I was looking for the book one day and discovered that there is now a whole series of them.
Enjoy your time with your sisters, Jeanne. Looking forward to sharing more of your adventures.