Not that long ago and far away, yet miles and miles
from here,
there
is a quaint country festival in a clearing in a wood
where
folks dress up in costly costumes and pretend they are in 16th
Century England.
It's quite droll, really- you might enjoy it, and
anyway, it is where this story takes place...
The
Dollmaker very very carefully descended the steep steps which led
down from her bedroom to the Doll Shoppe below.
The floor downstairs
was cold. Eyes closed, still half asleep, she unlatched the heavy
wooden front doors.
They swung outward by themselves, disturbing a
dense cloud of October morning fog which turned and reached for her face.
The
Dollmaker was already in a fog more dense than the one outside.
She
plunged down the sidewalk, bee-lining it toward the privy, not
stopping to chat with a neighbor who was sweeping out her shoppe;
not
stopping to chat with another neighbor who was returning briskly from
the showers;
not even actually seeing either one of them as she
stumbled onwards with blind determination to relieve the natural function.
Once
that had been accomplished, the Dollmaker sighed and at last opened
her eyes.
She slowly began to take stock of the situation.
As far as
she could tell, she had somehow made it down the treacherous steps
into her Doll Shoppe in her pajamas with her eyes closed
and then she
had found her way to this privy which she knew to be on the grounds
of the Texas Renaissance Festival
so it must be Saturday- or Sunday- morning....
Ok.
Ok. What time is it now? she wondered.
A canon would blow at 9AM
sharp, heralding the opening of the front gates to let patrons onto
the festival grounds.
Must get back to the shoppe. Must get out of
pajamas and into costume...
It
was solid white back out on the sidewalk again; the Dollmaker stood
there and looked both ways, up and down the sidewalk.
"Good
DAy Miss Wee!" a voice boomed from the fog, and to her left a
huge beard materialized slowly.
It soon became apparent that it was
attached to the face of the Furrier, the one who had a habit of
speaking in riddles.
She thought she heard him say, "The moon is
in Capricorn and that means
that the conjunct despot will distort the
indecisive, and feign companionship for it's own accumulation, so
keep your distance!"
"I
will." she murmured, looking down humbly and nodding. And he
dematerialized into the mists.
The
Dollmaker looked back after him
and shook her head. Focus. Focus.
The fog was so dense she almost
walked past her own shoppe. Ah- but there was her doorway.
She turned
into it, glad to be back home and thinking about a nice cup of hot
tea- when something in the doorway moved.
In
fact, there was something large and blue and frilly backing out of
her doorway,
and this thing was going to run into her in a few
seconds if she didn't get out of it's way..
"WHOA!" the
Dollmaker cried out. But the giant blue thing kept coming.
The
Dollmaker got out of the way. And it came on-
a huge deep blue sea of
a dress, backing out through the half-closed double doors
and
spilling out onto the sidewalk in ruffley blue waves.
The
Dollmaker sprung into action and threw both doors wide open,
freeing
the dress to cascade outwards, it's arms waving wildly.
The dress was
occupied. The Dollmaker stood forward, addressing the occupant of the dress..
"I
am the Lady Kandra. Welcome to my Doll Shoppe."
The
Dollmaker, still in her pajamas, felt a little sheepish welcoming
anyone formally-
it had to be hours before the canon blew, and she
wasn't technically open yet.
The fog wasn't even gone yet. The Dolls
weren't even out of the boxes yet.
Who was this person, anyway,
arriving in full costume so early?
The
voluminous blue dress turned on it's axis so that the wearer
revolved into view.
Impossibly wine-red curls covered head,
shoulders, back and front
-more hair than a person could grow in a
lifetime sat atop this woman's head...it was a veritable sea of
curls
....upon which floated a little diamond-studded tiara.
She
was smiling and her lips were- well, her lipstick was a little- off.
Like a little off to the left. And some off to the right.
Her eyes
were like- concentric circles. Like black rings inside of one another
growing larger and smaller into infinity.
The
Dollmaker shook her head. Focus. Focus.
Must get ready. Must get the shoppe ready. Must get the dolls out of their boxes.
Must get out of
my pajamas. Must have a cup of tea! Must get this woman out of the doorway!
Queried
the Dollmaker politely as she craned her head to see if she could
find a way around the dress:
"And
your name is...?"
"Don't
you recognize me? I am The Queen!" The spots of lipstick smiled
warmly. "I am here to meet with the Fairies!"
Oh
no, the Dollmaker thought.
"Oh
Really?" The Dollmaker said out loud. "This is quite a
surprise!"
The
Dollmaker clapped her hands to emphasize what a
surprise this was.
"They...?"
"The
Fairies."
"OH!
Yes, of course, the FAIRIES!
Well, if you will let me into my shoppe, I'll show you... " The
Dollmaker slyly said,
negotiating
her way along the coastline of the frilly blue sea and finally
sliding through her doorway.
"Would
you care for some tea? Or perhaps some breakfast cookies, what did
you say your name was?"
the
Dollmaker called out from the tiny kitchenette.
But,
instead of hearing a reply, she heard the voice of Jeff the Chef:
"Good
morning Lady Kandra, Dollmaker Extraordinaire! Where are you- in the kitchen?"
(pause...)
"OH good morning Mistress Nevermind. How are you today?"
Jeff
the Chef rounded the corner into the kitchen
where the
Dollmaker
grabbed him and whispered, "Who IS she?"
The
Dollmaker could hear, coming from the main display room:
"Fairies!
Oh Fairies! Where ARE you, dear Fairies?"
Jeff
the Chef whispered back- "Oh that's Lady Nevermind! She's quite
mad, you know. She thinks she's the Queen!"
The Dollmaker whispered, eyes wide, "I
think she thinks the dolls are fairies..."
The
Dollmaker called out, loud enough for Lady Nevermind to hear:
"The
Fairies are- ah- still asleep- in their rubbermaid- er- beds."
The
Dollmaker nudged Jeff the Chef out of the kitchen and briskly
approached Lady Nevermind.
Though still in pajamas, she bowed and
crossed her heart and said,
"It is a great honor, your majesty,
to have you here for the waking up of the Fairies."
Then the
Dollmaker opened up all of the rubbermaid tubs.
Lady
Nevermind clapped her hands. "OH! Fairies! What FUN!"
She
reached into a pink rubbermaid tub and lifted out a red Flower Annie
Doll and began a conversation with the doll.
She inquired of the doll
what it's preferences were, and evidently the doll suggested that she
be placed in front of the begonias.
"Oh
Yes! I do agree! You would look beautiful in front of those
begonias! The red flowers match your dress!"
Then
she turned to a blue Sea Goddess Doll. "Now you, dear, did you
say you prefer a view of the pond? I quite agree.
Now then, you
there- you little Green Man- there's this spot I think you'll
enjoy over here amongst the vines..."
The
Dollmaker threw open all five doors to the Magick Doll Garden,
and
walked through it,
sweeping her arms around to indicate all of the
little spots where she usually placed the dolls in the garden.
The
Dollmaker felt confident that Lady Nevermind would occupy herself
with "the fairies" for some time,
and so she slipped back
upstairs to get dressed into her own shopkeeper costume.
Lady
Nevermind, meanwhile, explained to the Fairies that she was their
Leader.
She inquired as to how many of them would like to listen to a
story.
Then she took a count of fairy votes...
35 dolls wanted to listen to a story.
The
Dollmaker slowly, carefully, descended the steep steps down into the
Doll Shoppe again, dressed in her costume this time.
She had heard
the canon signal the start of the show, so she bustled out into the shoppe to get the rubbermaid boxes out of sight,
but they were
already put away.
The music was playing and the shoppe was swept and
the sunlight was filtering in through the stained glass windows-
but
where were all the dolls?
The
Dollmaker stood in one of the doorways to the Magick Doll Garden
and
spotted Lady Nevermind out there beside the pond, her voluminous dress
under her like a great circling tidepool
and 35 dolls in a semi-circle
around her, all facing in towards her and listening raptly to the story.
"And
so, my friends, the moral of this tale is... never give clothes to a
pixie!"
The Lady Nevermind finished her story
with a laugh and a flourish and a nod of her head.
That
was when the Dollmaker heard the applause.
She
looked to her right, to the outside of the Doll Garden border, to
the sidewalk,
where about fifty people stood, facing the storyteller,
adults and children alike, all applauding.
The
Dollmaker couldn't be sure, but she thought maybe she heard some
doll applause in there too.
****************
The
Wee Peeple Shoppe #145
The
Texas Renaissance Festival
is
going on now... for
four more weekends....
and this
time
we
are going to be open on
the
FRIDay AFter Thanksgiving!
(right.
this day is known as the
"Biggest
Shopping Day of the Year"...need we say more?)
Meanwhile...
The
Shopping is ALREADy Underway!
What's
Going On in
the
Wee Peeple Doll Shoppe
at
the Texas Renaissance Festival...
The
Holidaze, of course, starting with Halloween.
Wee
Peeple Witches...
They
started out ordinarily enough- kind of controlled, friendly and cute...
aH,
BUT THEN- the closer we got to Halloween,
the
more they took on a
wild
and reckless WACKINESS!
WACKINESS
IN VOGUE!
Well,
it's true that most anyone COULD
get
their hair to fly out in a dozen different directions...
the
trick is: to get it to STAY THERE!
tHE
NEW wITCHES HAVE this great hair which sets
THE
STANDARD for a fresh new WACKINESS
a
WACKINESS which has proven to be contagious...
bEFORE
LONG, it wasn't just witches anymore...
LOTS
OF other dolls INSISTED
that
they were also entitled to BE DESCRIBED AS: WACKY!!!!!!!!!!
(passion won out over reason again-
NEW TAGS were MADE...)
Right NOW there are more
Open-armed Dolls in the Shoppe than ever before!
Celebration
Dolls Go Berserk
with
Arms in that Upward, Outward, Open, Thanksgiving gesture-
Welcoming,
Embracing, Warm and...
what?
WACKY!
Yes,
just look at the explosive floofs on their heads!
Speaking
of HEADS....
anticipate
more wackiness at the
Witch
Hat-and-Cauldron Boo-tique
(fun
accessories for your dolls at home who want to be witches for Halloween)
where
all hats and cauldrons are now ON SALE!
(THE
aFTER-hALLOWEEN CLEARANCE SALE is ON!!!)
Fancy
Witch Hats and Fancy Cauldrons were $6- now $4 each.
ALL
HALLOWEEN DOLLS ON SALE NOW TOO!
*******************************************
now,
get this!
If
you were around ten years ago you might remember a small child
standing outside the Wee Peeple Doll Shoppe
holding a basket full of
her own handmade clothespin dolls.
The dolls were all Angels and the
child was nine years old.
That was
the Dollmaker's daughter, Shannon,
selling her
own line of dolls,
clothespin Angels- which she made, herself..
well,
now THE CLOTHESPIN ANGELS ARE BACK!
and guess who is making them!!!!
Shannon,
now age 19, has returned to delight us once again with her adorable
Clothespin
Angel Dolls.
Boyfriend Joel is also helping again this season.
Remember, he
helped out with the driving during Scarborough Faire...
This
season he and Shannon are learning how to decorate the dolls.
Joel
added yarns and leaves to this Greenman Doll.
****************************************
Loving
the Lavishly Wearable BeadHead Dolls
Since
Shannon and Joel started working for Wee Peeple Doll Constructions,
Shannon has also become very good at making
the lavishly wearable and
increasingly popular BeadHead Dolls!
Of course, the Lady Kandra
always does the faces on all the wee dolls sold in her shoppe.
**********
Big
Thanks to Shannon and Joel for all their help this season so far!
MORE
BIG THANKS:
Also
helping out at TRF this year, as she has done for the last ten years:
M'Lady
Jeri
Wee
Peeple Shoppe Manager
You
have to listen closely because she kind of mutters, but M'Lady Jeri
is constantly offering amusing bits of insight into what the dolls
are thinking!!!
LOL! She's a great sales gal, a funny person and
always knows the weather forecast for the weekend. She's a true blessing!
***********************
Much
Appreciation also
GOES
TO:
M'Lord
William of Norman
(otherwise
known as "Bill")
this
was Bill's very first Renaissance Festival
and
he has been "On Board" for the whole thing,
helping
in every way and being a strong support person.
What
a guy!
Thanks Everyone!
Good
Day, Lords and Ladies
See
you at the Faire!
The
Texas Renaissance Festival
Discount
Coupon
|
RENAISSANCE
FESTIVAL DISCOUNT COUPON
This
COUPON GOOD FOR 10% OFF ON ANY DOLL
IN THE WEE
PEEPLE SHOPPE
(GOOD
FOR DOLLS ONLY- NOT FOR WEARABLE ART OR OTHER ACCESSORIES)
Good
during the 2007 Texas Renaissance Festival season only
DATES:
October 6th- November 25th, 2007 |
The
Wee Peeple Newsletter 