H is for Hospital, or a Medical Emergency at Least

Mouses Houses

I woke up last Monday with excruciating pain in my left (dominant) arm. A trip to my GP resulted in a packet of pain killers. They made me throw up for a whole day non-stop and did nothing to relieve the pain. Two days later I saw a specialist, who did a sonar and gave me the happy news that the tendons in my shoulder are still attached. There's a lot of inflammation but seeing as nothing's broken, my case is uninteresting and they shoed me out the door to 'wait and see'.

So, for the last week, I haven't been able to sit, stand or lie down because my arm is tormenting me. It also won't let me lift things, write, or type on my keyboard. Because I'm not sleeping, my sense of humor and all enthusiasm for Germany has left me. All I can think about is dragging luggage on and off trains; when I'm not busy panicking because nothing's packed or ready to go. I'm considering a trip postponement.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the doctor. Something needs to be done.

The mouse maker at Mouses Houses has broken her arm. I'm so happy that I'm not alone. Misery loves company.

G is for...

The time has finally come to let the cat I've been keeping under wraps for six months out of the bag. In two weeks - to the hour - I will be on a plane. When I started planning this trip it seemed so far away. I can't believe how time has flown and of course, I don't feel nearly ready.

The reason you haven't seen any posts about the Del Prado house and I've been generally quiet, is that I've been busy preparing for a three-month stay in Germany. It's not a holiday. I'm going to attend to family matters, study, work and do a legion of other things.

On one hand, I'm so excited my toes are curling; on the other hand, I'm already missing my husband and animals and I don't know how I'm going to be able to take leave of them.

Fortunately, a lengthy journey needs a lot of preparation and I'm being kept very busy making sure the dogs have enough winter blankets and the tarantulas enough food to see them through till I come back. I made a mega-batch of muesli for Henning (he won't eat the shop-bought stuff) but apart from that, I know that he will be able to keep himself fed and warm. He likes to remind me that he was a happy bachelor for years before he met me. Still, there are so many little details which I routinely take care of that he doesn't even know about. I'm sure I will return to find crocodiles lounging around a swampy swimming pool and all manner of colourful fungus growing in the fridge and in the shower.

I have to confess that my main concern for this trip has been finding a way to stuff as many art supplies and tools from my studio into my suitcase as possible. I would rather go naked than be short of paint and brushes!

The ghostly toy blocks in the photo are one of the projects I'm taking with me. Cast in white resin, they're ready to be painted and accessorized.

If blog readers in Germany would like to make contact with me, I'll be staying in Karlsbad, and I'm trying to wrangle things so I can be at the show in Rheda on the 25th May.

While I'm gone I won't bore you with lots of pictures of forests and castles on this blog, but I do plan to check in weekly to let you know how I'm getting along. If you prefer to share every little detail of my adventures, I'm vlogging on Instagram HERE.

F: Frogs and Fountains

These little frogs are so tiny that my camera squints when I try to photograph them. Only about 5mm long, they're perfect for a 1/12 scale dollhouse garden. I'll be making a fresh batch soon, and I'll show you process photos and some ideas on how to use them in and around your dollhouse.

Rainbow with the first rain - August 2013

In our real-life garden, there are several ponds and a fountain. Needless to say, there are frogs and in summer they have very loud concerts at night. They're not the only noisy ones though. Just look at how the grey loeries enjoy the fountain. Their real name is Corythaixoides concolor, but colloquially we also call them kwêvoëls or go-away birds, for the sound they make.

E is for Endurance

I've persevered with my resin experiments over the last few weeks. Also been exclaiming in exasperation quite often. I switched to white resin. It's great for hiding bubbles and imperfections, but it comes with a new set of challenges. Still, I managed to make quite a few embellishments and they're ready to be sanded and painted.

Here's a bit of biographical chat.

endurance

1.

 Denoting or relating to a race or other sporting event that takes place over a long distance or otherwise demands great physical stamina.
2. The capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear.
 
Very often when we use the word endure, we mean that we're suffering. I know, because in pity-party conversations with myself I regularly ask why I'm forced to endure this or that. However, endurance also has powerful affirmative connotations.
There’s something about an item or activity which has stood the test of time that grounds us and helps to make sense of life. To me, it's ballet.

Geared up for class.

Ha, I bet you didn’t know that I’m a secret ballerina! This month marks my fourth anniversary at the Dance Hub adult ballet studio. I started dancing for the first time after a prolonged illness. My life was in tatters; my body was weak and scarred, and my mind dwelled in dark places.
When I enrolled in ballet classes, I promised myself that I would not give up until three months passed, no matter what. I hated the first weeks; I was excruciatingly self-conscious, I was so tired all the time, and I couldn’t do the simplest things such as balance on my toes. I endured those classes with a capital E.

My favourite ballet shirt.

Gradually, I started understanding ballet terminology, I learned which muscles to use, and I became a bit stronger. While I was doing battle with the physical aspects of mastering the most difficult form of dance, something else was happening in the background. Every slight conquest boosted my self-confidence and  I learned to relax. 

Our beautiful teacher, Louina.
That's me against the window on the left, balancing on my toes :-)

One day I burst out of class and exclaimed, I love ballet! I realized then that I’d found the other kind of endurance; the kind that lets you push your body until you become hot and sweaty and it feels great.

Practice, practice, practice.

Don’t imagine that I’m any good at it. No matter how much I practice, I will always be the clumsiest ballerina in class but ballet has become a part of my life, one of those enduring things that give meaning to everything else. There are such lovely people in the class, the teachers are fantastic, and working on my body, mind, and attitude has had a tremendous spill-over benefit to other areas of my life.

Jump for joy! That's me in the centre.

May you find joy in everything you do this week.

D is for Dog, every day

Attila and I have a secret.  Every morning, we meet at the kitchen window and I sneak her a little snack without the other dogs knowing.

It's been years and we've never been caught.

Rain or shine, when I put the kettle on, she's there waiting for me.  I love this quirky animal so much.

 

She makes a pretty picture.

There is an amaryllis plant outside the window.  Last spring, for thirty days, I took a photo of Attila and the flowers as they grew.

Here's a slide show.

Wishing you a lovely week.  And the devotion of a dog.

C is for...

This week my mind is all over the place, so I've grouped some random thoughts under C to share with you.  C is for comfort food, crochet cat, curated collection, and Chaco.   C is also for covetous creeps who consume my time.  Those are covered under Curate.

Do you have a special comfort food?  When I'm feeling out of sorts, a slice of bread spread with peanut butter goes a long way to smoothing things out.  It's even healthy.  The cute dolly tableware is manufactured at Ceramix, where I sometimes work.  Here in South Africa we have a brand of peanut butter called Black Cat.  It's my favourite.

I haven't had time to crochet anything this year, so I made this little cross looking cat.  I found the pattern HERE.  Hitty likes cats, I think I will let her keep it.

People sometimes contact me when they want to sell their collection of teddy bears, dolls, or related items.
But is it really a collection?  If someone has a box filled with a hundred teddy bears, and the box includes mass produced synthetic Valentines, hand-me-downs with no provenance, and little bears in traditional costume they bought to remind them of their holiday in far flung places, it's a sentimental hoard, not a collection.  Unless the boyfriend forked out for a limited edition bear, or the tatty one eyed bear inherited from a great aunt turns out to be an early Steiff, probably nothing in that box has any monetary value.  In a collection, it's not quantity that counts, it's quality. 

If you want to make sure that your collection becomes worth money, here are some tips to curate it.

What is a curated collection?  It's easy.

1. Items in a collection have a unifying theme.  It can be as broad as 'teddy bears' or 'dolls' or 'dollhouse', or as specific as 'late Victorian 1/12 scale artisan made English dollhouse furniture'.  If your collection grows too large, you might consider specializing.
2. Items are organized and looked after.  Not just a jumble in a box.  Make sure every item in your collection is clean, dusted, well maintained, correctly stored or displayed.
3. Trade up.  Don't be afraid to sell or swap in order to improve the quality of your collection.  If you find a better example of an item you have, trade or sell it, and add on a little extra money to get the better one.  That way your collection will grow better without growing bigger.  Museums do it all the time.  
4. Weed your collection.  We all have the problem that our collections tend to outgrow available space.  From time to time, go through your collection and look for items that don't fit in anymore.  Maybe you found a better specimen and now you have a duplicate.  There's that piece that isn't quite the right scale.  Your taste has changed, or these days you can afford something better, or your field of interest has narrowed.  Get rid of a few things.   A small collection with good quality items is worth more than a large discordant collection.  It's also much  more pleasing to look at and display.  If your surplus items have no value, donate them to someone who's just starting a collection.  If you think you can get money for it, visit eBay or sell it at a show.  You can use the money to add a quality item to your collection.  
5. Collections are documented.  Keep a little book and write down where and when you acquired an item, how much you paid for it, who made it and when they made it, and any other information you might have.  You can even add a picture.  If some day your collection needs to be sold, or passes on to someone else as a legacy, documentation to back up the provenance and value of items will be of utmost importance.  

Even my spider collection is curated and well documented.  Each tarantula has a fact sheet where I write down when I bought/traded it, their size, sex, date last molted etc.

Meet Ms Chaco.  She's big as a house, ha ha.  That's a 1/144 scale dollhouse made by my friend Frieda la Grange in 2017.  Ms Chaco is a Grammostola pulchripes aka Chaco golden knee tarantula.  Chacos are native to Argentina, this one was captive bred.  She's 12cm (4 1/2 inches) long.  This young lady will grow to 22cm (8 1/2 inches) over her lifetime of about 15 years.  Because of poor record keeping by her previous owner, I don't know her exact age or how many times she has molted, but we think she's about four years old.  She was a rescue purchase from an owner who had lost interest and sold her entire 'collection'.  When Chaco came to us she was badly dehydrated and looking very sorry for herself.  The first day, she sat with her face in her water bowl for hours.  It made me cry.  Over the next few days she ate voraciously, then went into premolt and just rested and didn't move around much for several weeks.  She moulted two weeks ago.  I took her out of her terrarium today to give it a good clean.  Her new exoskeleton is beautiful and sleek, none of the bald patches and scars she had before.  Now that she's settled in, she's a very calm and docile girl.  Because of their hardiness and friendly nature, Chacos are recommended tarantulas for beginner collectors.

B is for Bay Window

The bay window is where the dollhouse lives.  It is my happy corner.  I can see the garden, and the dogs come and chat to me through the window.  Today it is overcast and drizzling.  Just the right weather to stay indoors and get some crafting done.
I am going to revisit the colour for the interior walls.  I think I've found it!
Wishing you a happy weekend.

A is for Action Figure

A is for Action Figure.
I'm in a mood.  Nancy calls it a funk.  She suggested we start an ABChallenge to counteract the negativity.  So here's my A.  He's fit to fight.  We're a team.