Can you help me?

"Miss Viola is not here?" The poor bunny cried. " Boo hooooooo."

"Miss Viola won't be back for a while," Louise said. " I will call in the Gnomes to help find you a tail."

Louise sent one of the Hickory teens to find the Gnomes.

It wasn't long until the gnomes came in with something they thought might work.

"Try this William Gnome said as he stuck the blue bowl on the bunnys behind."

"Tee hee hee now he has a bowl on his hiney!" Nancy, the elfling giggled and pointed.

That made the bunny cry harder.

"Quick, go get Miss Jenny, she must have a better idea!" Louise said. "Why do these things always happen while I am babysitting?"

Lauren, the other teen Hickory ran to get Jenny and told her the problem.

Jenny came with her sewing basket and things.

"Hold still so I can fix you up right," Jenny ordered.

"I have to have a tail to deliver all the eggs this weekend," the bunny cried.

"Oh this will do just fine, you just wait and see," Jenny said.

"Yipeeeeeeee," cried the rabbit while jumping for joy.

"Here is my first delivery, Miss Jenny," he said as he handed her a large basket of goodies.

And off the rabbit went with his new tail to deliver the eggs for the Easter Egg hunts.

"Oh my!" Jenny cried as she viewed what the rabbit had left behind.

"What are we gonna do with all of these bunnies?" Nancy asked.

"Hmmmm I do have Hetty's address!" Jenny laughed.

What is the matter with you?

The sicamore sisters were enjoying afternoon tea when Louise heard a tiny crying sound. She walked towards the sound and you would never guess what she found.

"What is the matter with you?" Louise asked the tiny bunny.

The tiny bunny stopped crying long enough to answer, "Mean old squirrell ran away with my tail!"

"Come sit beside me, you poor little thing," Louise said.

Rabbit scrambled up beside her and she tried to comfort her.

By this time, more of the girls came out to see who was crying.

"What is wrong with you?" one of them asked.

"I've lost my tail! Can't you see. Mean old squirrel ran off with it." the tiny bunny cried.

"Did you see where he ran off to? He may have dropped it while running away." Louise said.

The little rabbit hopped up and began to look around.

"What is all this crying about?" Jenny asked the small bunny.

"Mean old squirrel stole my tail!" Little rabbit cried.

"I saw squirrel run into the woods toward Miss Hickory's house." Jenny said.

"Miss Hickory can help you find it.She knows the woods better than anyone." Louise said.

Off little rabbit ran towards the woods. She stopped for a moment to check out the new birdbath.

She ran by the little house near the ridge of the woods.

Miss Hickory had just set down to enjoy a quiet evening when little rabbit banged on her door.

"Who is it?" she called out.

"It is me, Bonnie bunny. The Hittys said that you could help me. Can I come in? It is getting dark and I am getting scared," Bonnie said.

"Sure, come on in." Miss Hickory said.

Bonnie ran in and began to wail.

"Whatever is the matter?" Miss Hickory asked.

Thru her tears, Bonnie sobbed, "Mean old squirrel stole my tail." She turned around to show her.

Miss Hickory tried not to shiver. She had a fear of squirrel running off with her nut head. "Well, it is too dark to go looking for it now. I bet all the running around has made you hungry."

Bonnie' tummy began to growl. "Oh I am."

"Come with me and we will see if I can find something to your liking," Miss Viola Hickory said as she led Bonnie to the kitchen.

Miss Hickory found some garden vegetables and sat them on the table. Bonnie ate the veggies and began to yawn.

"Oh you poor thing," Miss Hickory said. "You must be tired.
My guest room is under construction so you will have to sleep in my room."

They went upstairs and Miss Viola Hickory tucked Bonnie in.
"I am afraid that it is a little close with all this furniture in one room."

"It is ok. At home, I slept with 7 other rabbits," Bonnie said.

"Goodnight," Miss Viola said.

But Bonnie was already fast asleep

Afternoon tea

Jenny decided to have an afternoon tea party to help cheer Lester up. He was still recovering from hip replacement surgery. She got him out onto the balcony so they could watch the others in the garden.

Miss Viola Hickory kept watch on the hickory tots. Merilin, Melinda, Mattie, the sicamore sisters and Annabelle were all enjoying the silly hats and their tea.

Almost everyone had a silly hat on. Iggy the penguin said his was an invisible hat! Some of them sat on the downstair porch while others sat in the garden and a few sat in the gazebo.

There was laughter and all was well until Lester started pointing and yelling, " Did you see that"

"See what?" asked Jenny

"That thing on the new bench!" Lester yelled.

"Oh Lester, that is just Mona, our monkey". Jenny laughed.

"No! Mona chased it off. It was green with a red mohawk!" Lester said sounding rather excited.

"Honey, there is only Mona there. No little green man with a mohawk," she snickered. "I think you need to back off those pain meds. You seem to be halucinating."

"Maybe you are right. We all know there are no such things as little green men. My old eyes must be playing tricks on me." Lester said as he rubbed his head.

Jenny patted his hand and offered him another cup of tea.

Suffering from the after holidays blues.....

The ornaments are safely packed away and the tree is taken apart and put into its protective bag. Everything has been put into their storage place. And here I, Miss Viola Hickory, sit feeling kind of blue, not crying in your beer blues or even my best friend left me blues. It is just that quiet time after the holidays. It is hard to explain this level of blues. but those that know me can see it on my face.

Now don't get me wrong, there has got to be a bit of blues in your life to make you appreciate the joys. I sit and crochet, really I am just looking at my balls of yarn wondering what to make. I am spending most of my time watching the chains disappear as I pull the yarn. Ho hum.

"Knock knock".

"Oh do come in," Miss Hickory said feeling the joy of hearing her friends voices.

The three orphans walked in bearing small gifts, a footstool, a vase of wild flowers and of course baby Joy,(made by Sherry from Miss Hickory site). Surrounded by friends not only chased the blues away but even made her smile so big as she rocked Joy.

"Viola, can you help me with the hem on my dress?"

"I'd be thrilled to!" Viola Hickory said. "Just help me get my block in so it is easier to hem it. Joy can play with the two pups while we work."

"Turn to the left just a bit," Viola said as she adjusted the hem.

"There you go. You just needed to weave the end thread back into it. I love that purple verigated color!" Viola said smiling.

"Thank you so much. I was feeling a bit blue because I couldn't get the thread weaved in there right."

"Ha ha, I was feeling blue just because all of the excitement of the holidays were over, then you girls show up and made my day." Viola said.

They all laughed and munched on some gingerbread cookies and tea.

It is amazing how one small act of kindness can alter the mood of another person. My favorite thing is to find a worn out Mom with a small child wailing and walk up to the and stoop and say, " That sounds like a firetruck , woooooooooooo." Most times the child smiles and is quiet for a little bit. If not I tell the small child, "I can sound like a baby bird too, can you? tweet tweet" The child usually forgets what was making them sad. Then I smile and wink at the Mom and say, please enjoy the moment of silence.

Pass on a small act of kindness today, you never know who might need it.


For more information on Miss Hickory please go to :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/misshickory/

It twas the weekend before Christmas...

...and all through Viola Hickory's house a wee little creature was running about. Jenny and Viola were busing making the tiny creature a new outfit. Jenny and Viola were excited to find out the creature was a girl. It was so much fun to make frilly dresses for a girl.

" A diaper cover and a bonnet are what a young girl needs." Jenny cried.

"Oh and don't forget the frilly dress too!" Viola laughed.

The two turned their heads for only a moment when the tiny dear figured out what a bed could do!

She giggled with delight as she bounced again.

"Wheeeeeee>" she squealed.

It twas the weekend before Christmas and throughout Miss Viola's house the jumping and bumping had stopped and the giggles dissappeared.

When Viola and Jenny looked in on the little dear,

They smiled and felt the warmth inside.....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night!

Ronald McDonald House Open House

Today was the Open House for the Ronald McDonald House in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Ronald McDonald was even there to celebrate the opening. Julie Edwards gave us the Grand Tour of the facilities. Julie has been working with me on the Hitty donations. Since we got such a good turnout, we will be giving the children and their siblings something for Christmas this year.

Tomorrow, the family rooms will open for parents of critically ill children in the hospital and neonatal units.

Everyone must check in here to enter the McDonald house unit. Notice the glass under the window. Throughout the unit there are glasses with what I would call tiny limbs with copper buds just waiting to bloom.

I thought the walls and light fixtures were wonderful but the furniture....oh my! This is only half of the Family room. They were filming in the other half of the Family room so you are seeing just half of it.

One of the visitors summed it up perfectly. "I want to live here, but never need to live here!" 

My kitchen breakfast nook never looks like this!

Kitchen cabinets with more glass and what I call twigs inside.

One of three rooms to try to catch a nap while waiting for a miracle for your tiny child.

A second room to try to catch a bit of sleep.

The reading room with a chaise lounge and shelves for books to read and a computer to send emails to loved ones about your child and to catch up on news.

The artwork on the outer hallway lends a warm feeling.

Our Hittys and friends will be given away Christmas Eve by Santa. All total, we were able to collect just shy of 1700.00 worth of Hitty and friends.

I have to thank all those that made it possible. And to think, I almost didn't do it because I was told it wouldn't work to ask for donations in multiple groups. I am so glad I listened to my heart and pushed on to make this Christmas memorable to kids dealing with sickness and sorrow.

Thank you all and God bless.
Wanda