Questions, questions, questions :-)

It was a beautiful day and the little ones were sitting in the kitchen while Uncle Ukki prepared lunch.

They were chit-chatting about all kind of stuff and admiring the new wall paper Uncle Ukki received from a gnome from the other side of ( this) world.

Uncle Ukki finally decided to put up a painting he had for a long time and he was in a very good mood.

Barby was reading quietly as usual when suddenly she asked: "Uncle Ukki, I've read the Gnome book from A to Z but there is something I cannot find . . . . ."

"What is it Barby dear ?" Uncle Ukki asks her.

"Well, I'm trying to find out why the sky is blue ! I did check your Great Book of Knowledge but there are missing pages and where the missing pages should be there was this very old photograph."

"Yes yes look Uncle Ukki ! This fell out of your book!"
 Arthur held up a very odd looking picture.

"Oh dear. . . ." Uncle Ukki replied and he paused for a minute.
He had a frown on his face as if he was thinking very hard.

"Children, the man on the photo and the man on the painting are one and the same man.

He is the Great King Ollamh and he is one of the few Gnomes who is responsible for feeding a creature called Skugga."

The little ones started talking all at once: who is Skugga ! what does he feed the Skugga ! what does that has anything to do with the blue sky!  why are the pages missing?!!!

Uncle Ukki raised his voice and told them to be quite.

"CHILDREN ! Our lunch is ready so first : lets eat ! "

 While we eat you take a close look at the painting of King Ollamh, it's a magical painting and if we call him with our thoughts he will hear us and come soon and tell you himself what 

his task is in this world."

Uncle Ukki has said enough, the little ones were quite as a mouse :-) and while enjoying their lunch they looked up at the painting and tried very hard to think about this Great King.

 To be continued. . . . .

Hatchoo. . . . . .hatchoo

It's that time of year again. . . . sneezing, coughing, running nose. 

You wouldn't say it if you look outside , it feels like early spring. I even heard the birds sing like springtime!

Although we've had 2 stormy days with "dijk-alert" the temperature is ridiculous. 

Well, my body must have thought we are in the heart of Winter so I have to catch a cold :-(

Can't work unless I tie a hanky under my nose but then I won't be able to breath at all so better to sit up and write a bit.

Mr. Sandman and Suzanne had a very good New-Years night. Suzanne did her job as if there were no fireworks at all and Uncle Ukki is very pleased with his training. 

He is considering training the poor geese who are flying around in panic on this night but it will takes time to organize such a big enterprise. He is hoping to get a hold of Nils Holgersson.

The Sandman is staying with Uncle Ukki for a while, he is in between the sprinkling of magical sand and working on a special mission.

As we know, when it snows, they say: Mother Holle is making her bed.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm#2H_4_0022

Well there is no snow and if there is, it's in unusual places and  Mother Holle is missing so the Sandman is spending his free time to look for her and for as long that takes he stays with Uncle Ukki. Mainly because Uncle Ukki has connections in several worlds and is using all of his powers to get information.

Mmmmm this could be a major adventure. . . . . 

For now :

The Sandman and Suzanne are saying goodbye and stay tuned !

Hooray !!! Finished !!!

We have a new friend in the house and since he is very close to Finkle I let him talk you through our little catwalk show :

Wow, thank you little Duff for this nice presentation !

Little Duff is a present I received from Sharon !

She sells her little critters her : http://www.etsy.com/shop/riamelin?ref=seller_info

The tiny scarf is made by sister Sophie and you can find her shop here :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OpheliasVoices?ref=seller_info

New Gnome in the making. . . .

Picktin and Baker were keeping a close eye on me while I was working on the clothes of the new Gnome :-)

This is : Finkle "Fall" Fudnock III

He is the Autumn-watcher, he makes sure the last leaves will fall, some late birds get going to their wintering grounds and helps the elves to conjure mushrooms.

Trying out my Broom ?!

As I was sewing his shirt he took the opportunity to take Baker for a ride on my Broom . . . . . they flew through the entire garden and beyond, sitting backwards, upside down, well you name it !

I took a quick snapshot of them and whooooosh off they went! They're still not back and I've been calling out for Baker ( I still need more names !!! for the Gnome )

It's almost lunchtime so I think they will be back soon . . . . .

Update: They came back have their lunch and now they're taking a stroll together in the garden ( Baker adores him )

New clothes for the Gnome

I worked hard all day to dress this little man, not because he said it was cold without clothes ( he really didn't mind at all ! ) but well , I've had some comments :-)

So, he sat with me at the kitchen table and so every now and then nodded his head for approval  ( I think ) .

I'm not quite finished yet but the little man wanted to fit his new clothes and as you can see he is something of a mannequin !

OH and by the way : Do anyone know his name or can you suggest a name ? 

He acts like Rumplestilskin, won't tell me his name !

Just think of something : The one who suggests the coolest name will be send  a little bat :-)

Hoppity Hop ???!!

Look what I found this morning hopping on a Pumpkin like a Hoppity Hop !

I've heard of this odd behaviour among Gnomes : they like to walk around in their Birth- costume in  warm Autumn morning dew. . . . 

I think I have to get him some clothes, he's hopped a long way from where he left his clothes

Owls from another world. . .

One morning, the little mousies saw something strange in the garden . . . . .

"

They ran inside and jumped on Uncle Ukki's bed. Uncle Ukki was still in bed but he had a busy night.

"Uncle Ukki"said Arthur, " there are some owls in the garden and we've never seen such owls ! "

"Yes Arthur, I know, they arrived last night and I've been busy comforting them all night. 

These owls are not from this world you see, I'll tell you the story :

"Once upon a time, long long ago there was this man : Pygmalion.

He was a sculptor and he made a beautiful woman out of marble. She was so beautiful he fell in love with her.

So day after day he went to the temple of Venus, begging her to give him a woman as beautiful as his sculpture.

After a while Venus came to his house and turned the statue into a real  woman.

Pygmalion was of course very happy and he married his Galatea ( that was the name he gave her) .

But Venus didn't know that Pygmalion overheard the spell she used to transform the statue and every time he created a sculpture he used the spell to give it life.

After a while Venus found out and because of the possible danger ( if Pygmalion ever should have a bad mood he could create a monster ) she banned him to another world.

He is still creating and giving life to his sculptures and they are kept in his world by a invisible chain.

But every now and then the creatures find a way to escape and when they arrive in our world the chain is getting visible. 

So, did you notice the little chain under their wing? 

These are Pygmalion's owls, he called them Athene Pygmalion and they come from that other world."

" WOW Uncle Ukki, this is a great story! I hope we see more of Pygmalion's creatures someday ! "

Frightening discovery !!!!!

One morning, Ginny, Arthur and Higgins were up very early and decided to watch the geese flying over.

But My Oh My what is this !!!

It looks like a Stork baby!

Higgins speaks the bird-language, but no response from the bird.

They quickly ran inside to get Uncle Ukki.

Uncle Ukki stumbled out of bed ( forgot to put on his slippers) and ran with the children outside

They managed to get him inside and on the kitchen table,

Well Uncle Ukki's  vision wasn't good but there was nothing wrong with his nose ! SUDDENLY !!!!

 The bird changed into something horrible! Uncle Ukki fell over and the little ones screamed !!!

Oh my oh my what was this! Arthur ran to get some dates!

Little ones, this is an Uldra!
I know now what happened with my glasses, he did something with it.
He knows that a gnome recognize an Uldra in disguise immediately and you little ones have no experience with them.
He disguises himself to get into the house, at night he will check the house of innocent people and if he likes it he wants to be invited in.
Of course no one lets him in as soon as they see it's an Uldra and that is why he disguises himself.
When he is invited in, he won't leave.
When he is not invited in he can't stay in the house ( there are other creatures who have these rules)


An Uldra is a creature who originally lives way up North but these days you find them more and more all over the world.
They have one light coloured eye and one dark coloured eye, so they can see during the day and at night.
You see the leash on his neck? When Uldra's are born the mother gives them a leash right away!
They are not too bright and they will forget who their mother is so they are kept on a leash.
The mother of course is also not so bright and she will forget which child is hers if it's not on a leash.
The creatures are quite harmless but because they are a bit ( very ) stupid, they see no harm in harming animals or humans.
They just doesn't understand hurt ( unless it's themselves who's hurt)
Well I will come up of a way to get rid of him and in the meanwhile we keep him busy with fruit, he is a vegetarian and loves dates and prunes!


To be continued. . . . . .

The Reunion !

This was an exciting week, first Pa Gnome send us photos from the little Sun bear, yesterday we've got another letter with pics of Pa and the little bear

We of course were very happy with the pics but the surprise came this morning !

 It was a very very happy reunion ! !

The family will not stay long with Uncle Ukki, they will be travelling all the way to Ohio 

 Look at Pa's happy face !

They are going to live in Hittyville and if you want to know what happens in that magical world : http://hittyvillefriends.blogspot.com/

The changeling

This time little ones, I have a sad story.

You know the story of Pinocchio ? How he turns from a doll into a real boy?

This story is the other way around, a boy turning into a doll.

It all happened in a small village in Wales, England. . . . . .

In that village lived a woman who just had a baby boy, one day she went outside to feed the chickens.

She was only outside for a minute when she thought she heard her boy cry and quickly ran into the house to check the baby.

She made an awful discovery, in the crib was a baby boy but it wasn't her beloved boy.

She immediately knew what happened, her child was switched by the Elfs.

It was a Changeling !

Well she cried for days,weeks and months but she knew there was little chance of seeing her boy back.

The best she could do was take care of this strange boy for she knew the Elf-mother would treat her son the same way she treated this Elf boy.

She dressed him with fine cloths, no shoes tho, she was afraid he would ran away, and gave him the best food but she couldn't love him.

The Elf boy always felt sad and as soon he could walk he was sitting on the windowsill, just looking outside.

His human-mother saw him smile just once ; when a Jay came to the window.

From that day she called him 'Adar " ( that means bird in Welsh )

The Jay lost a feather and the human-mother made a necklace for the boy with the feather, she hoped he would smile again.

The boy never smiled again.

When the boy was 5 years old he wouldn't want to go to bed anymore, he just sat by the window.

The human-mother didn't bother to call him, she had a baby girl and it was her pride and joy.

It was a sweet little girl and because her "brother "wouldn't play with her, she played with her doll who she loved dearly.

Adar watched them play and one day he gave up hope, his mother would never come to take him away, he would never be loved in this house.

He turned into a doll. . . . . . . dolls are beloved and maybe one day, there would be someone who loved him.

Adar will be in my Etsy shop today.. . . . . .

Little adventure

We are going on a little adventure today, off to Germany seeing this house for sale