Exploring The Garden

Hello! I'm Carrie. I came to live with Nikki and her other dolls recently, and I think it's lovely here. I'm 16, and Sarah and I get on especially well. :)

Today, we had been sitting talking together for quite a while, but we were both getting bored. Eventually Sarah came up with an idea.
"Why don't we go out and explore the garden?" she said.
"Yes! That's a great idea."
"Alright then, let's!"

We got up and went outside. It was quite cold, but alright to be out without a coat for a while.
"I'm going to look over here," Sarah said, skipping off to our right. I decided to go the other way.

I came to the step outside the kitchen door. I think it's really pretty, because it's rounded, and the slabs of stone on it almost look patterned.
Suddenly I heard Sarah shouting.

"Hey! Come over here!" she said. "Look at this!"
I ran over to her.

She was standing under a funny sort of tree, planted in a huge pot.
"That's strange!" I said.
"It is, isn't it? I think it's pretty though."
"Yes, me too," I said, looking up at it. "And there's a light here too. I wonder if it comes on at night..."
"Me too. Let's watch it when it gets dark tonight."
I smiled. "Yes!" I looked around. "Let's go up to the lawn," I said, pointing.
"Alright," said Sarah, and we ran over to it.

Sarah stopped halfway. "Look at these little steps," she said, smiling. "They're lovely."
"Yes, they are. I think we should have come out and explored the garden long ago."
"Me too..." Sarah turned, and we carried on up the steps. "But then it would have been winter, so it would probably have been too cold."
"You're probably right."
When Sarah got to the grass, she suddenly stopped.
"Ew! This grass is squelchy!" she said.
I took a step onto it.
"Oh, you're right, it is!"
Sarah took two careful steps forward.
"It's not too bad," she said. "We should be able to walk across it without getting wet shoes."
She started walking again, slowly, and I followed. Eventually we got to the other side of the lawn, and were standing under the huge arched trellis.

"It's lovely under here, isn't it?" I said, looking back over the rest of the garden.
"Yes," said Sarah. "It's like some sort of fairyland."

"Shall we go back now?" I asked, after a while.
"Yes, let's go sit on the steps."

We went carefully back over the grass, and sat down, with the wind blowing our hair.
"I like the garden," I said.
"I do too," said Sarah, looking at everything. "I think we should come out here more often."
"Just in summer!" I laughed.
Sarah giggled.
"It's a pity there are no flowers out yet..." I said thoughtfully. "Are there a lot of flowers her in the summer?"
"Lots! Not as much as where we lived before, but still lots. This garden's really beautiful in the summer."
"It's beautiful now, too."
"Well wait till summer, then it's really lovely."
Suddenly a cold gust on wind blew over. We both shivered at the same time, and then giggled.
"Shall we go inside?" I asked.

 "Yes, I think we'd better," said Sarah, getting up. "We can get something warm to drink."
I stood up, and we walked inside, talking. I can't wait till the summer so I can see the garden at its best!


PS From Nikki: Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post, but I've been extremely busy (and I still will be until late April). As you know I've been directing the show I wrote at my drama group, but 6 people have left (most of them for fair reasons) after being cast, all in the space of 20 days, and because of that, in those 20 days a role has had to change hands 12 times! And now there's an empty role, and no one left in the group to fill it, so we're having to search like crazy to find someone, and at the same time, the people on committee are giving loads of other stuff to do (like costume and prop lists and organizing for cast photos to be taken), so I have a chaotic amount of things to think about. I actually only found the time for this post today because I was being so overloaded by people on every side asking me to do things for them, I just needed to stop thinking about any of it for a few hours, because otherwise I just would have gotten stressed by thinking about everything at once, and not been able to do anything. So, I may not be able to post again for a while, but I hopefully will every now and then, if I need to take a break from the other things I'm doing. Thank you for still reading even with all the long gaps I have left, and thanks for understanding. :)

Our Dancing Video

Hello! It's Sarah here. Anna and I made a video last week, dancing to an instrumental song by ABBA, called Nationalsång (or Opus 10)! It's only pictures made into a sort of slideshow, and the second half is a bit slow (and a little sloppy, because, Nikki admits, she got lazy with the choreography), but we had great fun making it. It was Nikki's idea, because when she listened to the song, it made her think of two best friends losing each other and then meeting again, so she made up the dance, and we did it!:)

 

We hope you like it!

I'm Back!:)

Hello again! I probably don't need to say it, but: it's Sarah.:) I should have posted this yesterday, but Nikki and I were very tired, so we're doing it no instead. Wednesday evening, we came back from our trip, worn out and glad to be home. It was a very interesting trip, but we did get a few disappointments. The worst one was that the Doctor Who location treasure hunt went wrong. There were seven locations in the town, but Nikki's mom said we four of them were too far from the hotel. Nikki got pictures from the show of two of those four anyway, just in case, but the others were on the opposite side of the hotel, so she didn't get them. In the end, we did have time, and would have been able to see all of them if she'd brought pictures or if she could remember the names.:P Out of the five we had, we found out that two weren't actually the places they filmed at, and another two were changed so that we couldn't get up close for pictures and things. One of those also was actually two different places labeled as one, and we didn't know where the other one was. the last location was only used to film a car going around a corner, so we didn't even go to see it.:P We did go to the local museum though, and that was pretty fun.:)

 This is me in front of a display of mammoth teeth. I don't know what the little carved mammoth is for.:)

And I think this was old weapons or something.

 This is supposed to be a really old log-boat, but I don't know how they can tell the difference between that and an old piece of tree.;)

And these are a whole bunch of old coins scattered in some sand.

 But this is the main attraction... well, for Nikki's brother anyway. Yuck!

  

 This was a huge display of all kinds of things, but Nikki liked the old bicycles and a cute little schoolbook.

 

Unfortunately, you can't really see them, but there were lots of beautiful silver things in the display behind me.:)

I loved this! It's a pretty little model of the entire town a few hundred years ago.

I never actually read what they were, but this display had lots of royal-looking jewelry and things in it.

This one's just for fun; we decided to take it because Nikki thought the pole looked interesting.;)

After the museum we went to a little cafe that Nikki's family's known since she was really little. I got squished up next to Nikki's backpack, which was about to burst.:P

This is me the next day, looking at a map of the Doctor Who filming locations before we left to see them. (It's a funny shape because Nikki's brother's arm was in the way.;))

 And I know this looks awful (it was dark so Nikki to it with flash on), but it's from when we were driving home.:P

And finally back at home!:)

I'm sorry about not having any Doctor Who location pictures. Maybe by the next time we go up there we'll have found out where those missing locations are and then we'll be able to see them!:)

Getting Ready for a Trip!:)

Hello! Sarah here! I'm sorry we haven't posted in ages again; we really are trying to, but things keep getting in the way, or we run out of things to post. Something really great is happening this week, though! Nikki and her family are going up to a town near London, where they used to live, and I'm coming along! My favorite TV show is the 1973-76 episodes of Doctor Who, and the best bit is: one of my favorite episodes was filmed there! I can't wait to see all the places they used, and Nikki's excited too, because she also loves that show.:) But she's also a little annoyed, because she was hoping to get a picture of herself at some of the locations, and yesterday she just got a really nasty haircut, because the hairdresser misunderstood what she was saying. Well, she says it's really nasty, but I don't think it's that bad; it's just not really the kind of thing that goes with her personality, so that's what's annoying her.
Anyway, we're leaving tomorrow evening, so I packed this afternoon, and Anna helped me.

 We were laying everything out on the bed, and it seemed a lot more there than it did in the drawer or on a list.:P

"Here are some more," said Anna, putting down the clothes she was carrying.
"Thanks," I smiled.
"I think that they are the end," she said, satisfied.
"Good," I sighed.
"Where is your suitcase?"
"I think it's in the cupboard down the hall. I'll go get it." I skipped out of the room and dug my suitcase out of the cupboard.

"Here it is!"
"Good."
"Now let's hope it all fits!" I said, half-laughing. Somehow I always manage to set out just a little more than my suitcase will take.

We started putting everything in, and it was looking pretty good. I guess we are only going for a couple of days... but then it is a small case.

"Well," I said a few minutes later, "that's all it'll take."
"Are you sure?" asked Anna.
"Yes," I sighed. "But it doesn't really matter; the only things I had to leave out were spare socks and a blouse, and I can do without both of them."
"Okay."
"Now, let's see if we can close it." I started to lift to lid of the case.
"Wait!" said Anna.
"What?"
"We forgot something!" She jumped up from the bed and ran off to the table across the room.

She picked something up and ran back.
"You can't go without your comb!" she said.
"Oh, of course!" I laughed. "How could I have forgotten that?"
"Here." She handed it to me, and I put it in the case. "Now we can close it," she smiled.

I tucked everything inside and pressed down on the lid, and I finally got it to close. Suddenly I realized I'd made a mistake.
"I can't lock the catch now!"
"Oh, no!"

So, I had to let go of it, and we finally got it down again. This time, Anna held it closed, while I locked it.
"There!" I said, finally standing up straight. "We've done it."
"Finally!" Anna paused and then smiled. "Just a second!"

She climbed up onto the bed.

"Are you not going to take Mary?" she asked, holding the doll she gave me for Christmas.
"Of course, but not in the suitcase."
"Okay, that is good."
"For her or for us?" I laughed.
"For both!" We burst into giggles. "Shall we play with our dolls before we have to have supper?" Anna asked after a while.
"Good idea!" I said, pushing the suitcase aside and getting onto the bed.
"I am going to miss you," said Anna.
"I'll miss you, too, but it's only a couple of days, anyway."

 "Well let's make the most of your last day here then!" she said, smiling, and picking up her doll.