Whoohoo – it’s time for summer camp!!

Exciting stuff is going on around here. Today, Connie Hitty boarded the postal bus bound for New York and Camp Piney Woods. She was so excited she nearly forgot to pack her swaps. Naturally, we are excited to hear how she enjoys camp and fares on her first trip away from home. You can probably sense the “excitement” given the number of times the word was used in this paragraph.

Previously, our Person had arranged for Hitty Eva (who recently decided to change her name to Ava) to see more of the U.S. by attending a month-long camp in Maine. As our little imigrant Hitty from Argentina, she is anticipating seeing more of her adopted country. This will be very special for her since one of the places she will visit is Great Cranberry Island where ancestor Hitty was born. Wow! We can’t wait for her to come back and tell us all about her adventures there.

And perhaps most exciting (we just had to use that word at least one more time) of all is that we are hosting our very first (hopefully of many years to come) Hitty Camps. Our Person is a former Girl Scout resident camp director with years of experience, so we thought she would be the perfect one to help us put this together. If you are interested in learning about how to send your Hitty to camp, check out Camp Wanna Do.

You’ll never believe who stopped by

Early last week, we had unexpected visitors arrive. A tiny tot announced that her name was Peeps Hickory, and she brought along with her a little brown and black sheep, who she introduced as Little Bo. She was a PIF from Sherry who, along with Hitty Joy and Cousin Ida, have made it their business to rescue Hickory Tot Orphans of the Woods. We think Sherry must have known all about our house since she clearly chose the proper setting for these two. It’s not every household that would welcome a sheep.

Aren't Peeps Hickory and Little Bo just the cutest things?

Of course Peeps was welcomed to the family, and as you can see, even a lost sheep has now found her place here.

Yup, a flock of friendly sheep belonging to the Capital City Hittys was right there with me (and L'Orange, who just has to be everywhere) to greet Little Bo and Peeps.

Hitty Geneva Grace had been with us for several days at this point, but she had not yet met the flock, and she was quite excited to learn that we had a small sheep farm. Sheep can be a bit shy at first, but Geneva’s naturalist instincts soon had them crowding around her as if they had known her forever.

Now look who's suddenly shy!

Just as the excitement was dying down, another important guest showed up.

Violet has come to us courtesy of B.L. Amburgey, and is not merely visiting but is here to stay.

It’s been quite a while since we have had a new Hitty join our ranks, so this was a big occasion and she had to be introduced to one and all.

Hitty Violet meets the Capital City Hittys for the first time.

Just as this new excitement was waning, we heard a commotion in the neighborhood and a knock came at the door. Whoever could this be? He had heard all the way from Washington, D.C., that we had a special guest staying with us and made a trip down here just to greet her. Wasn’t that sweet? I think we have a mutual admiration society going.

What a thrill to welcome him back.

Geneva Grace declares she will NEVER wash that hand.

And yes, Lilly … we see your socks.

Indoors with Hitty Geneva Grace

Earlier this week, I escorted Geneva Grace to visit the two schools where my Person teaches Advanced Composition and Research & Rhetoric courses. First we went to the University of Richmond. This semster’s Advanced Composition class is quite small. It began with six, but dwindled to only five, and on the night we were there, the only female class member was absent. However, Person lined up the fellows and made them (er, invited them) to hold us. It took a couple of shots to even get one suitable for publication.

Hitty Gracious and Hitty Geneva Grace with the four macho men at UofR

Then we went to visit the Research & Rhetoric II class at Virginia Commonwealth University. First, though, we held office hours. It was a bit boring since nobody came. However, instead of having to sit still and behave the entire time, we could explore some.

Here we are, being good and proper little Hittys in the office.

Oh my - there are no words to describe what Hitty Geneva found on the bookshelf. Person denies any knowledge of the find.

Fortunately, the hour passed quickly enough and we walked a few more blocks from the office to another building for class. This class was much bigger than Person’s night class at the other university, and the people here were friendly and curious.

Here we are surrounded by our admirers. However, we noticed that several students seem to have ducked out the door before the picture was taken. Hmm.

Going to class is fun, particularly when we are not the ones who must study or teach.

Today, Saturday, Person’s daughter, Miss Legal Eagle, wrote to say that Wild Child had spotted a picture of Hitty Geneva on this blog. She immediately retrieved her dear friend, Hitty Rose, and the two listened raptly to Miss LE explain about Travel Hittys. Learning that Hitty Geneva was in town for only a short time, Wild Child and Hitty Rose immediately asserted that Hitty Geneva and Hitty Rose MUST meet. Could it be arranged? Certainly. Hitty Geneva was most obliging and agreed to stay on simply to meet up with this littlest fan. Stay tuned for the meet-and-greet.

Hitty Geneva in the great outdoors

Our yard was in desperate need of mowing after having lost our previous mower at the end of the last season to the sticky fingers of a thief who absconded with the instrument. Of course it happened about the same time Mister was released from his employment of 15 years (the depressed economy caused a downsizing at his company). So the yard just grew. While one person, after seeing a picture, declared that she would love to have this yard, unmowed, for her own, we can attest to the fact that she wouldn’t really if she saw the full thing in person as we do.

The neglect of the yard had allowed some flowers to spring up among the grass and weediness. Although these had been around for years and did not belong in the middle of the yard, we hadn’t really noticed since normally the grass was kept trimmed. Only the so called good fortune of lacking a mower allowed us to see the problem. I (HittyG) had previously rescued some daffodils from the center of the grassy area and relocated them, just prior to Geneva’s arrival. Now that Mister was not only gainfully re-employed, it was well past time for a new tool and the mowing to begin. Mister selected a lovely green version this time.

Hitty Geneva inspects the mower and says it looks like a good one, but cautions Mister to be careful using it as she has heard that they can prove quite dangerous.

Geneva had noticed that there were also some lovely little grape hyacinths out in the yard, and she enlisted my help in moving them to safety prior to their “beheading” by the mower.

We make the identification. Once confirmed that this was, indeed, a grape hyacinth, we were ready to track down others.

Aha - we have spotted the motherlode of grape hyacinths. Clearly, our work is cut out for us.

We had quite a pile that we rescued, but digging up the plants proved exhausting, and we finally had to stop.

We asked Person to help us in the re-planting, both to find a suitable location as well as with the difficult task of digging an appropriate hole in which to re-plant them.

Hitty Geneva helps with the watering in of the plants.

Don't they look great here? We are proud of our efforts to save them from certain destruction.

While in the great outdoors, Geneva Grace stumbled on other nearby inhabitants and was able to have her picture made with the local wildlife.

Posing with the Richmond Meerkats, a family relocated here courtesy of G3 and GoodWitch, our Person's DS and DIL

By this time, Mister had begun the process of eliminating the jungle and turning it back into a lawn area, but of course he hadn’t heeded the caution given to him and came inside wounded and bleeding, asking for Band-Aids and antiseptic.

Unbelievably, he managed this via a plastic cover on the oil fill to the mower. Hitty Geneva simply tisk-tisked and applied first aid.

After we all got cleaned up from our day outdoors, Mister took us to Mexico for dinner. No, we didn’t fly there. It’s a local family-owned small chain of Mexican restaurants in the Richmond area that serves good food fast (not fast food – note the difference). I believe this restaurant was the location of my own first outing location when I came to live with Person many years ago.

Thinking it a lovely joke, Hitty Geneva is pleased to be able to truthfully tell folks that we took her to Mexico.

After the home made salsa and chips, who needs dinner?

It was another lovely day spent visiting with Hitty Geneva Grace.

More about Hitty Geneva Grace

Since Hitty Geneva is by nature (no pun intended) a naturalist, we decided some outdoor activities were in order.

She had overheard Mister discussing the local labyrinth and decided that she would enjoy having the experience herself, since she had never been to one. I of course, have been to this one and also to the one at New Harmony, IN. The day was sunny, but windy, so we bundled her up in a shawl we loaned to her and her bonnet and sent her off with Person and Mister. The best labyrinth walk is perhaps best experienced solo.

This labyrinth is in a park-like setting, surrounded by an exercise track with various stations along the way. It is on the grounds of Union Theological Seminary.

The first stop was at the informational signs where Geneva could read all about the labyrinth.

This labyrinth is modeled after the famous one at Chatres Cathedral near Paris, France.

Wishing to get the most from her experience, Geneva carefully read the suggestions for walking the labyrinth.

Geneva sets off along the marked path. Interestingly, the way in is also the way out. On the way through to the center, one contemplates something for which she hopes to find a solution.

Having been there myself, I can attest to the fact that, while the labyrinth seems to occupy a fairly small plot of land, the path is long and winding, much like life. There are twist and turns, places where one must pause, moments when we can find ourselves off the path as easily as on it, and times when we think it is endless. There are the moments when we need to remember that the path is more steady than we are, and we simply need to put one foot in front of the other to eventually arrive at our destination.

Progressing through the maze, Geneva encounters a turn.

At last, the center is reached.

The center is where Geneva is enlightened about the problem she had upon entering. She remains here until she feels ready to walk the same path back out in order to return to the world.

After her labyrinth experience, Geneva rests on the nearby bench to consider what she has learned about life and herself as a result.

When Geneva was ready, we started back to our conveyence, but she now took notice of the exercise stations positioned along the walking track that bordered the grounds. She asked to stop at one of them.

She thinks exercise is a good thing, and despite being rather tired, both mentally and physically from her arduous walk through the labyrinth, she is determined to try just one of the exercises.

Geneva Grace performs a pull-up on the fitness bar.

We thought our day had ended at this point, and we headed back across the street to our vehicle. However, we saw a woman looking at something. Whatever could it be? we asked. Nobody knew. And then, we spotted something very small indeed, on the grass right next to the sidewalk where we had parked.

It had moved forward slightly by the time we got the camera out to take the picture. See it at the crack in the sidewalk near the tree?

Oh my, it's a baby squirrel that must have fallen from its nest or been blown out in the wind.

We obtained this close-up of the baby, which clearly needed to return to its nest. Hitty Geneva Grace to the rescue.

We could not leave the area until Hitty Geneva Grace had quite literally climbed the tree to ensure that the baby squirrel got home.

It was an exhausting but rewarding experience, as told to me by Hitty Geneva Grace upon her return. She declared that it was perhaps most gratifying to be both among natural surroundings and also to have been of assistance to a wee critter unable to help itself.

Travel doll, Hitty Geneva Grace

The Capital City Hittys, for whom I speak, are so pleased to have been selected as a stop on the tour of Hitty Geneva Grace Stratton, named for the 19th century naturalist and author, who was better known by the name “Gene.” As the second of eight stops on her tour, we were fortunate enough to have Hitty Geneva’s arrival occur during a reasonably nice period of weather.

Hittys crowd the box in an attempt to get the first glimpse of our famous visitor.

We took her first to meet the rest of the family.

Everyone wants to meet Geneva.

I then escorted Geneva to our guest quarters where we were met by Becassine.

Becassine helps settle her into the guest quarters

Geneva was so tired after her long journey to VA from Montana that she actually fell asleep even before we left the room.

Tucked in, lights out.

After a good night’s sleep, Geneva and I accompanied our Person to work.

We got to the office early.

Geneva meets Miss Legal Eagle, our Person's DD and paralegal for the West End office.

She meets one of the attorneys

She learns to do input to the Best Case bankruptcy program

... to perform means testing and calculate 6-month income averages, ...

... and she answers the phone (hey, this is a call from the attorney of record - hi, Richard).

One of Geneva’s most imporant tasks was sitting at the reception desk to greet clients as they entered, offering them a lovely souvenir pen.

These are very nice pens, and so purple!! Geneva liked this job best.

One of the more unexpected encounters was with the office monkey. The firm’s attorney is always saying that he wants the monkey off his back and on someone else’s (usually the client’s). So Miss Legal Eagle made sure the monkey was in a better location and in the least amount of trouble possible.

Geneva Grace met the office monkey off Richard's back and up in the branches of the office Ficus tree.

It was fun going to work with Person, and I hope to do it again. Hitty Geneva Grace also seemed to enjoy her time there, but she’s an outdoor sort of gal, much like the woman for whom she is named, so we are plotting future adventures for her outdoors.

Unexpected visitors for Easter

We were not paying much attention to the mail lately, and so we missed seeing the little package for us. Tonight, Person opened it and were we ever surprised. It contained a very nice note from Hitty Joy and Cousin Ida (who live with Sherry, a HittyGirl) explaining that we were being asked to help with their rescue efforts of Hickory Tot Orphans of the Woods. They have passed along to us a small girl who was found clinging tightly to a small woolly brown and black sheep, from which she would not be parted. Now entrusted into our custody, she has told us her name, Peeps Hickory, and the name of her sheep, Little Bo. The message she brought with her says that Cousin Ida has house trained Little Bo – so considerate of her – and that she and Hitty Joy hope that Peeps and Little Bo will be welcomed by the Capital City Hittys.

Well, it’s crystal clear that Hitty Joy and Cousin Ida know how to place the little Orphans they find, for we modestly attest that Peeps and Little Bo could not have found a more suitable home than ours in which to settle. The evidence is in the photos.

Little Bo and Peeps Hickory

I greet them, accompanied by the Capital City Hittys personal flock of sheep.

A Pfurry of PIFs

OK, before you all start yammering about what a PIF is, I’ll just tell you that it stands for Pay It Forward. It’s sort of like a random act of kindness for HittyGirls. We do nice things for each other, sending little (and sometimes not so little) trinkets and tokens for the other person’s enjoyment. Our house as been on the receiving end several times with little wee gifties sent by various people. Recently, there was a lot of discussion on HittyGirls about Flat Stanley. He was a character in a book by Jeff Brown.

The book that started the project.

The main character found himself flattened by a falling bulletin board, but discovered that in his current flat state he could slide under doors and fit in an envelope to be mailed anywhere – so convenient and cheaper than plane fare. The Capital City Hittys decided that they would send off some Flat Stanley’s to their fellow Hitty friends. Then Mister suggested that they might send a Flat Hitty out too. That idea seemed quite interesting. Person got them the images – one colored in Flat Stanley, a color-it-yourself Flat Stanley, and a Flat Hitty. The pictures below tell the tale.

Judy Bee cuts images apart.

I (Hitty Gracious) addressed and stacked envelopes

Well, not everyone worked up to capacity

Working together, we got the job done.

If anyone recieved a Flat Hitty and wants to turn her into a paperdoll instead, we will be glad to ship you some clothing for her – just leave us a message or contact us.

Spring is in the air

This past week, I decided that my Person needed a small push into doing a bit of gardening. I spotted some daffodils that had been coming up about every other year right smack dab in the middle of our back yard. On alternate years, Mister would mow them down before they got going, so they didn’t show up. But with the mower being stolen at the end of last year’s growing season, and his being out of work, he hadn’t yet bought a new mower to deal with the greenery. Fortunately, Mister got himself re-employed, so I showed Person where the plants were. I just knew that we had to get them out of there since this is the very weekend Mister plans to purchase and test a new mower. I marked the spot – can you see me?

It only looks like a jungle, but it's really our unmowed back yard.

Could you get just a little closer, please?

Person then dug them up and we found a safer place in the front planting area where they are now happily ensconced. Once we finished with them, I noticed a pot of something that looked rather sad. Person affirmed that it was a pot of tulips left from last year that she had completely neglected after thinking them dead. However, they had little fresh buds coming up, despite being dry as tumbleweed, so she agreed to plant them as well. Then I spotted Grape Hyacinths in the back yard, all over the place just like the daffodils. She promosed to get them up soon and transplant them too, but I think I wore her out temporarily with the other plantings. As long as they are out by the time Mister gets a new mower, it will be OK.

Don't the flowers look pretty in their new (and much safer) home?

Person wasn’t as careful as she should have been when transplanting the daffodils, and broke one of the stems, so we brought it into the house where we can enjoy it.

And they look pretty in the house, too.

It’s very cheerful.

Where we have been

Two of us accompanied our Person to Arkansas and Janet Cordell’s carving retreat by way of Illinois and our Person’s mother’s home. Naturally I (Hitty Gracious) went along as I always do, and with me this time was Ida Ruth, who was most recently helped from the wood by our Person who wanted to be able to do this better than she has up till now without instruction.

The first stop was Grandmama Person’s house. We stayed there for a week where we hung out, slept, and had a bit of relaxation. Then it was on to Arkansas. Let me just mention here that driving from VA to IL to AR is a long trip. We slept through most of it. Finally, we arrived at the ultimate destination, Sky Vue Lodge where we stayed and ate our meals (great food).

Here we are just as we arrived in our tote at Sky Vue Cabin 3

The first night we met all the other carvers, mostly people whose names our Person had heard of on her HittyGirls list but had never met. Meeting them all was fun. We also had a swap where we received a lovely crazy quilt from Sue Thueson. We plan to hang it because our Person has declared that it’s just too too pretty to sleep under. I think she’s afraid we would ruin it.

What a work of art this is!

The next day, we went to the carving school down the road where Janet began the instruction.

The cabin where magic happens.

It is here where we wish to show a picture of our Person (photo by Billie Aye) and, more importantly, the actual wood in which our newest family member was trapped.

In our Person's left hand is the very block of wood from which she helped Lilly Emiline emerge

ASIDE: Naturally, our Person (clumsy thing that she is) attempted to slice off two of her own fingers on that same left hand in a not so graceful sequence of moves which she performed on the first day. We will not show the blood. Suffice it to say she learned her lesson and survived to tell the tale.

We got a bit bored with all the carving talk, so set out to explore the territory.

There were some great views from up here...

... and from down here.

Eventually, we located what appeared to be another little house, which we decided to check out up close. It was unoccupied, so we looked inside.

Wow - look up there. Lets check it out.

Swinging from the chandelier ...

Don't you just know, our Person made us come back down, claiming there was a Black Hole nearby, or something to that effect.

After that, she made us sit in this hollow tree and think about the potential consequences of our actions.

On Wednesday, our new family member was showing signs of life and came back to Sky Vue with us to spend the night.

Here we all are. Thankfully, the weather had turned warm, but our Person did provide us with a blanket.

Our week was flying by. Before we show you the family portrait, we wanted to share this extraordinary view of Janet sharpening a gouge. Check out the sparks.

All Hittys are cautious of fire and sharp impliments. This set our little wooden pegs on edge.

After five seemingly endless days of back and forth between Sky Vue and the cabin, hanging out in odd places, and trying oh so hard not to get into too much trouble, little Lilly Emiline finally came into being. FYI, Emiline is our Person’s grandmother’s name and is pronounced as “Emma Lynn.” She is on the small side, so I loaned her my dress, which was small enough for her, and I put on a different one. Our Person thoughtlessly neglected to provide our newest family member with suitable attire. That needs to be remedied quickly.

Doesn't she have the cutest little bare feet ever?? And so sweet and petite - we just love her.

Welcome to the family, Lilly Emiline.