Josie Chronicles, part 1

Rose Bush

Hello Friends!  This week at Paws, we had a visitors!  Vivian and her dolls came for a visit.  They have been hosting Josie, the traveling mini doll for the past two weeks in Utah.  They brought Josie here to Lake Powell country to visit us!

Josie, the Traveling Mini Doll

Hi Everybody!  My name is Josie and I am from Texas.  My first port of call was in Coalville, Utah.  Vivian's dolls took me on a road trip to Lake Powell to visit their cousins at Paws on Keys.  I have had some awesome adventures while at Lake Powell.

It's huge!

Rose and Saige took me to the Glen Canyon Dam and the Carl Haydn Visitor Center.  



I was only a little bit scared to look out the window at the dam!

That's the Colorado River!  

And here is where the Colorado River flows on to the Grand Canyon.

Time to visit the Gift Shoppe.

Yi, yi, yi!!!!   The Shop is infested with giant tarantulas!  Get me out of here!

Kind of a small dinosaur.  These don't scare me!

Outside, we found some dinosaur tracks!  

Yi, yi, yiiiii!   Run, Josie, run!

To be continued....

What to Wear

Dear me!  We have been so busy at Paws on Keys.  We have had a sewing adventure.  It all started when Karen and I (Phebe) could not decide what to wear...

"Look at this mess!" wailed Karen, "and not a single thing to wear!  What are we going to do, Lissie?"

I decided to go exploring....  and look what I found!
   

"Look at all this fabric!"

"We have found the Mother-Lode!"

Karen was flabbergasted!

"Karen, look at this!  Our Big Person's sewing machine!
Do you think you can work it?"

And there was our Big Person's sewing machine, just back from the shop!

"I'm not sure.  I don't know how we would do the pedal.
If you could get down on the floor and sit on the pedal,
might be able to sew...  I just don't know..."

Karen was in awe of such a beautiful sewing machine.




















  And just then, Karen noticed the buttons on the machine.  Lots of buttons and they did all kinds of neat things.

"Wait a minute!  Lissie, look at this -- a start/stop button.
We don't need the foot pedal.  I can sew some clothes!
Let's go tell Ivy and Rose what we have found."

  We hurried back to the music room where Rose and Ivy were practicing.

"Ivy, Rose!  Come with us.  We found our Big Person's fabric stash!"  "And there is a sewing machine with a stop/go button."  "We need your help.  We can wash and iron the fabric and I think I can operate the sewing machine!"

  They hurried with us back to the Big Person's sewing room.

"Look at all this cute fabric.  I'm sure we can come up with some cute outfits!"

"Our Big Person bought us this new washing machine, just like her mother had when she was little, way back in the 1950s.  They had not figured out spin cycles yet, so Rose is putting the wet fabric through the wringers.  Watch your fingers, Rose!  Karen is hanging the fabric to dry and then Phebe is sprinkling it to dampen it for ironing.  Back then, before steam irons, they bought a sprinkler top for a pop bottle and sprinkled the clothes.  Sometimes when they didn't get the ironing done, they would put the clothes in the freezer to keep them damp!  Ivy is ironing the fabric."

That stop/go button is a great invention!  Without it dolls would not be able to sew.  Karen has been on a sewing marathon for two weeks now.

"This is so much better than the doll machines on the market!"

  And here we are in some of our new outfits!  Karen did a great job.

  Now that Christmas is over, perhaps we can get those pesky elves to make us some new shoes.  We never have enough shoes!

Karen's piano tip:  "Even when our days our busy, it is a good idea to find even a little bit of time to practice your instrument.  I set the timer for 15 or 20  minutes.  You can do anything for 15 minutes!   
  "I practice the part (2 to 3 measures) that need the most work and repeat it slowly until I can do it.  The next day, I practice a different section that needs work.  I play my song to know where I need to work on it, and just work that section for the day.  By the next lesson, I know my piece!
  "Remember to spend some time playing your favorite pieces, too!  Happy practicing!"