The house is mine!!

I have the Tynietoy house at last!! It is not in my hands yet, but it has been picked up from the auction house by dear friends from Pennsylvania and will be in my hands soon.

It needs some TLC, but that I can give it.  I am so excited!!

For those of you who haven't been following the saga of the Tynietoy house, go to CM's blog, MyReality.blogspot.com and read the posts from May 30, 2012 to June 4, 2012.

I bought this house and its contents last February from an Auction house in Maine. I paid for it (shipping too) and waited for it to be sent to me. I called and emailed the auction house several times but received no indication as to when I would get it.

Over a month later I finally managed to speak to someone in charge and was told that I couldn't have the house. It had been sold to me in error. It was being put up in a future auction and there was nothing I could do about it. I said I bought it, I paid for it and I want it, but to no avail. I was not happy, but I was going through chemotherapy at the time and had no energy to fight.

My dear friend, CM, went to bat for me when this house came up for sale again a few weeks ago. She posted about it on her blogs. She called and emailed all the dollhouse collectors and dealers we know. And she had me file a complaint with the Maine Attorney General.

While none of these valiant efforts stopped the re-sale of the dollhouse, CM got the support of the dollhouse collectors world and no one bid on the house except her. And she bought it for me!!!

I am so touched and moved by CM's kindness and the support of our collector community. Thank you, also, to Ann Meehan and her husband for picking it up for me. And, thank you all for being such great friends!

In a few weeks the elusive Tynietoy Townhouse will be ensconced in a place of honour in my home. Every time I look at it I will be reminded of the love and kindness of CM and of you all. It certainly is a special little house.

Daphne stays home

Daphne didn't want to come with me on my latest adventure. I went to Iceland to celebrate recovering from chemotherapy. Daphne said "Who wants to go to a land that is made of Ice?"

She couldn't have been more wrong but she seems quite happy with the souvenirs I brought back for her.

We saw each of these things in 1:1 scale while we were there. Daphne didn't know what she was missing. There was a lot more than just "Ice"!

The small, sturdy Icelandic horses were everywhere, and very charming, except for this one who tried to bite me. Daphne's pony certainly won't try to bite her. It is very well-mannered, and has a soft, permanently closed mouth.

Daphne's Icelandic sweater is very small. The one on this hairy Viking is very large. But apparently he and the ten-foot tall polar bear are on sale for half price. I guess that included the sweater. No, I didn't buy them. Just imagine trying to fit them into the overhead bins on the plane.

There aren't any polar bears in Iceland unless they happen to float over on ice flows. I am glad this didn't happen while we were driving in the sparsely populated northern part of the island.

I couldn't resist buying the little book because we saw the same house in Hofsos. They have added a deck railing since the picture on the book cover was taken. Very charming. It looks like a doll's house.

In Iceland there are sheep everywhere. They outnumber people by 3 to 1. Daphne is enchanted with the two little ones I brought her and has promised to take good care of them. I may sign her up for a course in sheep shearing. She'd love that.

I wish Daphne had decided to come with me as there were many things that were just her size and I could have taken pictures of her with them. This little Icelandic house with the turf roof was in someone's yard and was a perfect 1:12 scale. We saw several of these during our travels.

Daphne would also have enjoyed the Settlement Centre where people just her size helped to tell the story of Iceland's history.

But, even without Daphne we had a lovely trip. It seems to have restored my energy and joie de vivre after the chemotherapy kicked the stuffing out of me.

Iceland is a country of waterfalls and a variety of landscapes. I highly recommend it.

Hugs,
Susan