....if you can find the time between two house moves, one deep into a Covid-ridden Europe. I am afraid that Christmas has been relegated to the back of my mind this year, as has progress in Small Worlds.
I have only just returned to the Czech Republic from the UK, where I have been since last July closing down our house there, and arranging for the bulk of my possessions to be moved across to the CR. A task made far, far more difficult thanks to the nonsensical intricacies of the new rules following Brexit.
I have found a delightful bolthole in the countryside just outside Hertford, for my hopefully frequent visits back to the UK, and so the rest of my worldly goods have gone there. My thanks to my new landlords who have done so much to make me welcome, and to all those who have helped with the move - Jo, Lynda, Sheila, Julia, I am looking at you! And of course Adam and Alison. None of it could have been done without you.
Not being able to safely open Small Worlds to the public this past year has meant I have spent little time there, hence the dearth of blogposts, for which I apologise. I hope for better things next year.
However, I did get back to Bavorov last week in time for us to put in a Christmas window at top speed (Butterfly did most of it - thank you Butterfly).
We gathered together some decorations.....
and all our Christmas stuffed toys. Butterfly spent an evening wrapping parcels....
....and Rose's Christmas tree stood ready to be decorated.
Sadly, photos taken through the window of the finished display are never very successful, and we did not do the usual test run out of the window (apart from the few pictures showing what was going in) so what I leave you with will serve to give you an idea of the horde of cuddly toys celebrating Christmas. They of course wish you all the very best delights of the season, as do I!
Let us hope that 2022 brings some return to normality. In the meantime the incomparable Judy is here to wish us all a merry little Christmas now. (She is singing in 1944 - it is poignant to realise how apt the words are to us today. )
...or should it be the last summer of Rose? Today would have been my friend and neighbour Rose's 104th birthday. Those of you who have followed my blog will know that on these occasions, from her 99th birthday onward, I made a special present for her and apart from last year, wrote a blog post about each of them.
Last year covid prevented us being together on her birthday and I was in fact taking advantage of the release of vulnerable people from isolating to be en route to the Czech Republic from whence I returned just five days ago, after more than a year away. But I left a small gift, and a request to Jo to present Rose with a bunch of giant sunflowers on the day, which of course she duly did.
Sadly, Rose left us, very gently, mid-chatting, in January this year. I am, as I said, back in the UK at the moment, sorting through the contents of my cottage and wondering whether I want to stay here now there is no Rose-next-door. As it would have been her birthday today, she was in my thoughts and, believing in serendipity as I do, it was almost no surprise to come across a present that simply had to be for her, though it sadly never made it into her hands. I was putting off writing a blog post about the new window display that faithful friends and I put in to Small Worlds a month ago; what better time to do it than today and link it to a little, last tribute to Rose on her birthday?
Rose loved the time we spent together making things, in particular the dolls house and theatre we assembled.
We used to play with them too and Rose loved speculating on the rent she could charge for the house. And reminiscing about plays she had seen during her life - always straight plays, not musicals please! So apologies for Deanna Durbin singing The Last Rose of Summer from the film musical Three
Smart Girls Grow Up. I thought it fitting to have a version by a contemporary of Rose's (goodness there are many, many recordings of this song) - maybe it's a film she actually saw back in 1939, despite it being a musical!
Rose's full name was Rosina Florence - usually called Rosie or Rose by friends and family - so when I was on the lookout for something similar to the house and theatre to assemble there was no way I could by-pass these in the charity shop.
I am so sad that for one reason and another she never received them - she and I used to spend happy hours sneering at the Guardian fashion articles and trying to guess the ridiculous prices of equally ridiculous garments. She would have loved the fashion show!
And she was very proud of the way she learned to swim in later life. I can just see her sunbathing on those cruises she used to go on, clad in the most fashionable of bathing costumes.
As for Rosie Flo's cafe - it would have been hard to find a more hospitable person who simply loved cooking for her friends and entertaining them until the late hours. And then producing a full English breakfast, complete with home-made marmalade, for those with hangovers - herself included probably.
What is more, she ran the canteen for the Rosedale Nursery employees when the war had ended and her duties as a land army girl were over. It's only a short step to Rosie Flo's Cafe!
When I get back to my museum I plan a little space for Rose - I will construct these kits and they will make a fitting addition to the birthday presents in her very own memory corner in Small Worlds. She always said how much she wished she could have seen it.....
I hope you have enjoyed this final glimpse into Rose's long and satisfying life - you can find much more about her on the tribute website at rosehoward.muchloved.com.
And the new window display in Small Worlds? Well I have to confess we cheated a little. The museum has not been open this year because the space is small and covid restrictions have forbidden it for the most part. So faithful friends - thank you again Jana and Ondrej - and I simply removed one of the regular displays from the museum's shelves and put it in the window. I think we did fill the gap with something - they may remember - but since I am not planning to open this season we were not too worried.
It is a very fitting scene for summer though. A beach complete with beach huts, a shop selling shells, fishermen who have changed their trade to shell-gatherers, with the aid of their trusty donkey, sunbathers, sand castles, boats of all sizes - even a Bumpa-Julie show as Butterfly used to call it.
First you will see a gathering of the component parts and then the window itself - with the usual apologies for the quality of photos taken through glass. I wish someone would invent a way of preventing reflections!
For a closer look at Butterfly's beach huts see here
I hope life is slowly getting back to normal and I can think more about what comes next in Small Worlds. We have been very preoccupied with the full-size house in the Czech Republic, as those of you who follow Butterfly will know. I think we are almost there now which for me will hopefully mean being able to focus once again on the controllable world of miniatures!
In the meantime, thank you for visiting the blog once again.
