Chapter Two of Life in Smithville

Small Stories from Life in Smithville

CHAPTER TWO

   

Right next door to the Lamper family home , there stands a red English manor

house.  It is smaller than the Lampers'  colonial, but has a lot charm in its own way.

This is the Switcher family home.  And, just like the house, the Switchers are smaller, too.

There are just five in their family, and they are not only smaller in numbers, but in stature, too.

But, just like their home, the Switchers are very charming, too.

The mother is Winifred Switcher who owns Winnie's Coffee Shop.  Right now Winifred leaves

the day to day operation of the coffee shop to her employees, as she wishes to stay

home with her children.  But she does a lot of baking at home, both for the coffee shop and

for her husband's bakery.

Her husband, Conrad is both the mayor of Smithville, and also owns and operates

the village bakery.  Although they specialize in bread and rolls, Winifred makes

delicious cakes, and does the cake decorating, too.

The Switchers have three children.  The oldest is their only son, Corey.  Corey is

ten years old.  His sister, Cathy, is seven.  And then there is baby sister, Caroline, who is

ten months old.  Corey isn't very happy about being the only boy in the family.   You see

they all thought that the new baby was going to be another boy.  They planned for 

Corey to share his 3rd floor bedroom with the new baby.  Boy!  Were they all surprised

when baby Caroline arrived.

Corey was very unhappy that Mom and Dad decided to paint his bedroom bright pink,

with PINK curtains, no less.  And then they moved Cathy upstairs to share the room

with baby Caroline.  And, as if that weren't bad enough, they made Corey move into

their room because they thought it looked more like a boy's room, and they didn't want

to redecorate another room in  the house.  So Mom and Dad moved their big bed into

Cathy's room.  Dad doesn't seem to mind the fancy mirrors and dresser.

Since Corey was so unhappy with his new room, Mom and Dad have allowed him to

keep both the dog and cat, and their beds in his bedroom.  Corey doesn't seem to mind

that his room smells like the vet's office, and the animals wake him up early in the morning 

for their walk and breakfast.  Seems like Mom and Dad made a pretty smart decision.

Small Stories from Life in Smithville

This is the beginning of a series of stories written for my Great Grandson, Britton.  When Britton comes to visit, he likes to look at the doll houses, and to take some of the little people who live in
the doll house for an "outing" in his little hands.  I hope to make a book of "little people" adventure stories that Britton will enjoy reading with his Great Grandmother.


CHAPTER ONE

     Deep in the cornfields of Indiana there is a tiny community that is only known to exist by a very
few people........a very few,very tiny people.  It is named Smithville, and is located in the county
of Redbud.

     At the present time there are only 4 or 5 houses in Smithville, and the house belonging to the Lamper family is, by far, the largest of all.  It is of Colonial design, but is a comfortable, well lived-in home.  After all, the Lampers have four children, so the home has been more than "gently" used. The Lamper's home is situated in their owners' fireplace den.  So the Lampers have named their street "Middleden" Drive.

     You must understand, dear reader, that the citizens of Smithville started life as standard doll
house dolls.  And only by having the good fortune of being purchased by a caring doll house owner, and living in a stable and lasting environment have they been able to transform into living, breathing
people.  That is, they can live and breathe when their human family is sound asleep or away from
home. Let me introduce you to the family.

     On the far left is the father, Edward Lamper.  Edward teaches vocal music and debate at the drama school, and also gives private singing and speaking lessons at home.  Next to him stands Muriel Lamper, his wife.  She is the teacher at the Smithville School.  Also standing in the back row are Herbert, the elder son, and Harriet,  the elder daughter.  Seated in front are little sister, Annie, and the younger son, George. Herbert and George run the local delivery service.  George also teaches hip hop
dance at the dancing school.  Harriet baby sits with Annie, and also baby sits for the other families in
Smithville.

     Muriel is definitely the "head" of the family, or tries to be.  Being a school teacher, she tries
to maintain some discipline in their family life.  Edward is more creative and relaxed about discipline, so the children try to go to Dad for permission when at all possible.  Herbert and George love to play pranks and tease their sisters.  The give poor Harriet a lot of grief.  But Annie, being the youngest, is
pretty much spoiled by the whole family. See if you can guess which rooms are used for what.

My Seventh Birthday

My paternal grandfather, Grandpa Green, passed away before my mother and dad were married.  So all of my life my paternal grandmother lived with her daughter, Dad's sister, my Aunt Alice.  They were two of the sweetest ladies you would ever hope to meet.  Even after Aunt Alice married Uncle Burt, Grandma continued to live with them most of the time, only taking some time away to stay with her other two children for visits.

A few years ago my cousin Adelle, Alice and Burt's daughter, sent me some of Grandma Green's photos when she was clearing out items from he Mother and Dad's estate.  Among those items was this letter that I had written to my Grandma and Aunt in 1943 when I was 7 years old.  Imagine how touched I was that my grandmother had kept that little letter all the rest of her life!

As you can see, this is a thank you letter that I had written to them after my birthday.  I do remember the doll
that my maternal grandmother had saved.  It had been my mother's when she was a child.  The idea was that
they would find someone to restore this doll because she was not in very good condition.  And Grandma Green and Aunt Alice had sent a pretty blue taffeta dress and a slip for my doll to wear.

You see both grandmothers were trying to help make my birthday special, when there was very little money to be had.  Our family had just moved back to Anderson from Marion, Indiana, the year before.  My dad had quit his job selling furniture at the Sears store in Marion, because he had been able to get a job at the Guide Lamp plant in Anderson.  Everyone was trying to recover from the great Depression of the 1930's and the United States was in World War II.  We were renting a small two bedroom house on Main Street, and there were seven in our family.  We slept two boys in each of the two bedrooms, and Mother and Daddy made the dining room into their bedroom.  I slept on a cot in the corner of their room.

We had no car for two reasons:  there was no money to replace the car that no longer ran, and gasoline was rationed because of the war.  My dad took the city bus to work - one bus to downtown, and then a transfer to another that went to the factory.  I can remember that Mother would walk downtown to the post office every week to send a one dollar money order back to a doctor in Marion.  The doctor had operated on my brother, Dan, when he had a ruptured appendix.  The total bill for that surgery was $40.00.  Can you imagine that?  And the doctor came to the house every day during Dan's recuperation to check on him.
And he borrowed a different car from other doctor's at the hospital because he found out the boys liked cars, and did it to entertain my brothers!

I don't know how Mother managed to have a birthday party for me.  But, I am sure she baked a cake, probably had lemonade.  And I'm sure she made a very pretty table, and we played some games.  Mother could make a special party out of almost nothing.  I am sorry to say that I have no memory of this 7th birthday party, or any of the presents mentioned in my thank you letter....other than the doll and the dress and slip.  I know I never received the three doll houses I mentioned in the letter....I never had a doll house until years later.  It must have been some kind of paper doll container.  I would almost think that I made up the whole party, except my mother would have never allowed me to tell such an untrue tale.

But I do remember that doll that had been my mother's when she was a child.  She was or had been a beauty.  She had a china head with a hand painted face.  Her hair was well worn by the time she became mine, and her wooden body was in bad condition.  Mother and Grandma planned to find a doll repair person to work on her, but, sadly that never happened.  I loved her anyway.  I remember that I took her to school with me the next year, and my teacher, Miss Bronnenberg, let her sit in a desk all day just like she was another student.  I was so proud!  And she always wore that blue taffeta dress and pretty slip that my other grandmother and aunt had sent her. I have no pictures of her, but she must have been in this buggy.

However, even though I have forgotten the party, I do have one very important memory about that day when I turned seven years old.  Evidently my mother had told my dad that morning how sad she was that there was no present from them for my birthday.  When he came home that evening from work, he gave me a package and wished me happy birthday.  In the sack was a most inappropriate gift for a seven year old girl.
In it was a beautiful aqua blue hobnail glass bottle of cologne!  Oh! How I loved that bottle of cologne!  I am sure that he stopped at the drug store downtown when he was transferring from one bus to another and bought that present!  Now I wonder what he sacrificed in order to find that money for a gift!

I don't know what ever happened to the doll.  I think she just gradually deteriorated beyond repair.  I don't have any memory of the children at my party, or the presents I received.  But today, almost 72 years after that birthday, sitting on my dresser on a tray covered with linen embroidered by my mother, stands the beautiful aqua blue hobnail cologne bottle carried home by my dad on my 7th birthday!

After the Fun Comes the Clean Up

Well, after several weeks of doll house construction, the craft room/ office was just a disaster.  And I have spent all winter casually "throwing" things into the craft closet without making an effort to organize.  Lately it has been impossible to even walk into this "walk-in" closet.  I didn't take a photo of the closet or the room because they were such disasters, they might give you a nightmare.

But, I spent the weekend cleaning up the office and the closet.  It about finished me off, but I did it!
Believe me, it took all week end, and I was mighty tired by Sunday evening.  But it is a very satisfying feeling to have it finished  Here is how the closet looks now.....Ahhhhh.

Don helped by staying out of the room and watching the golf tournament.  Oh yes, there is a televised golf tournament every weekend.....from Thursday to Sunday.  Shown below is the proper and only way to view a golf tournament.

Actually, he did help.  He fixed all our meals...yum....and carried out all the trash that I threw away.

The Swedish Chalet Dollhouse

I have just completed this pretty little dollhouse.  I think it may become one of my favorites.

I bid on this dollhouse on the Goodwill auction site, and was successful in getting it for about $7.00.  Boy, was that a lucky buy.  People have caught on to the bargains on this site, and have been bidding the items up to some pretty high prices.  I guess everyone was busy over the 4th of July holidays and forgot to check the auctions.

This is how it looked when we picked it up in Indianapolis.  It was dingy and dusty.  The front had these hidden wires for electricity that ruined the front when they were taken off.  However, it was really solid wood, sturdy, and well made.  It had been built by the Brio Toy Co.  in Sweden in the 1960's.

I have had a wonderful time with Don's help.  I sprayed old furniture all white and made new cushions.
I have made rugs, lamps, flower arrangements, books, etc. etc.  I papered all the walls and added hanging pictures that I made.  All together it was such fun, and is a delight to look at.

Our Neighbors, The Doves

This spring and summer we have been serenaded with the lovely songs from Mr. and Mrs. Mourning Dove.
I know it is supposed to be a sad song, hence the name "mourning dove", but I think it is a lovely peaceful sound.  I am always happy when we have doves living in our yard, they are such sweet birds.

I guess they are monogamous, and remain loyal to one mate all their lives.  They have become a symbol for happy marriages.

When Taylor was here last week and trimmed some large shrubs for us.  He made a discovery while trimming our large forsythia bush.  He was trimming away, and suddenly saw this nest with Mrs. Dove and two babies sitting in it.  Awww, he had trimmed away most of their protection and shade.  However they remained in their nest until this week.

Now the babies have taken their first tentative flights and seem to be living mostly under a shrub right beneath the bedroom window.  I watched today as Mother Dove flew down, gathered them to her, and fed them whatever was in her beak.  They are so sweet.  I hope they stay safe and grow to full adulthood.  I'm afraid they will choose another yard for any future nests, since we so ruined this spot for them.

Our Very Own Valet Service

This week we have been house and cat sitting at Debra and Rod's.  They were attending a food bloggers conference in Italy.  From all the pictures and writings, they are had a wonderful time.

We had volunteered to take them to the airport in Indy, and then to pick them up went they came home.
Today we drove down to pick them up.  Their plane was to arrive at 7:30 pm, allowing us an easy and safe time to drive the interstates around Indy.

We chose to go 9 to Greenfield and had our supper at the Bob Evans there.  I know, I know, we eat at Bob Evans in Anderson ALL the time, but it was closest  to the I70 on ramp, and we know what we like on their menu.  And, indeed, supper was delicious.

Then we drove 70 to 465 and had no problems circling Indianapolis via downtown.  We made excellent time, and arrived at the airport a little early.  Rod had instructed us to wait in the cell phone lot where he would call us when they arrived and were ready for pick up.  The "new" airport is so nice and easy to access.  There was a convenience store right at the cell phone lot.  Don went in and bought  ice cream and coffee for us.  So we enjoyed dessert and coffee while we watched the beautiful cloud formations, and the planes coming and going.

 It was a really fun "date" !  And before long Rod called and they had arrived.  So we picked up the world travelers.

They were very tired, having been up for 24 hours, but had many stories about their week.  We made it back home in an hour, and they were very happy to see "home."