The property of the dollhouse was much larger than it is now. Old maps reveal the property covered area from 3rd to 4th Ave. The landscape was much different back then.
The sun fills each room in the dollhouse. We arise each morning with the sun. Some of the household is up much earlier, with work to do.
We all have work to do. But when I get the opportunity, I get lost. I love to get lost in the garden!
Some of us finish our chores early so we can play there!
Emily has been helping me.
So has Samuel.
Each day we tend to our garden.
Our secret garden.
We have everything you can imagine planted there!
The entrance is through the opening of the large, twisted, weeping Mulberry tree that faces the river.
Cherry blossom trees are everywhere!
And moon flowers as big as me!
And roses of all shades and sizes.
White, yellow, pink and red.
Bees like to sleep in the petals here.
Hummingbirds and butterflies love to dance in the lilac bushes.
Daisies and peonies line our picnic area. Samuel made the table and chairs for us!
We keep a picnic basket ready to go at all times and we spend the day here chasing butterflies and telling stories. Emily and Samuel like to tell me about New Orleans. I imagine it across the sea, in a far away land. New Orleans sounds just as fancy as New Brighton. They say it is!
We like to talk about what our lives will be like when we grow up. Emily wants to own a castle like some of the ones being built in town. Samuel wants to be a riverboat captain or a train conductor and marry the neighbor, Josephine.
I know what I want. I want to grow old, living at the dollhouse, tending to our secret garden! Wearing fancy jewels like momma, twirling with my prince across the ballroom, I will feel like a queen!
I imagine myself a princess, like in the stories I hear, marrying my prince in the garden!
I will wear flowers in my hair.
Lilies or roses.
My dress will be lace with ruffles.
The entire town will be there!
A fancy affair!
Like a fairytale!
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