While the Cat's Away....

"I'm home!" Mandy cried as she closed the front door.

All the other dolls rushed to meet her. Mariah was first, because she was in the upstairs hall when she heard Mandy's voice.

Jolena was second, because she found a fast way down the stairs.

"The delivery man let me out of the box on the porch," Mandy said. "The ride home in a box wasn't as interesting as the flight to Ireland on a real plane."
Mandy gave each of the other dolls a hug, because she knew they like hugs.

Then she greeted Marmalade, who had heard her voice, too. "I missed you, Marmalade," Mandy told her cat.

The dogs, Pierre and Freckles, were happy to see Mandy.

Of course, Mandy knew Brownie would be happy to see her, too.

Even Cleo would be glad Mandy was home.

"The Writer will be home in another week," Mandy told the other dolls.

"We're alone!" Billy exclaimed! "What should we do?
"We could do some things we never do when The Writer is here," Emil said with a smile.

"Let's fill the tub with water and use it for a swimming pool!" Jolena suggested.

"We will have to wear our swim goggles," Mariah said.

"We could try on some of The Writer's clothes," Veronika said. "That's always fun."

"Remember when The Writer was out of the house," Jolena asked, "and we found her credit cards in her purse?"

 "We bought a lot of things online," Charlotte said.

"The Writer wasn't very happy with us," Veronika pointed out. "She told us that if we needed something, we should ask, and she would buy it if it was OK for us to have it."

"Anyway," Mandy pointed out, "She has her credit cards with her this time."

"Why don't we have a tea party!" Mariah exclaimed. "We could invite the bears."

"All of that sounds like fun," Veronika said, "but I have a better idea."
All of the dolls wanted to know what Veronika's idea was.
"Let's clean the house again!" Veronika exclaimed. "That was so much fun when we did it before, and won't it be a nice surprise when The Writer gets home!"

The dolls thought about that. 
It would be fun to swim in the bathtub.

It would be fun to try on The Writer's clothes.

It would be fun to buy things online if they had The Writer's credit card.

It would be fun to have a tea party and invite the bears.

The most fun, though, would be to see The Writer's face when she walked in and saw her clean house.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer, St. Baldrick's Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment.

Image on Mariah's shirt used with permission with thanks, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.


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Copyright © 2020 by Peggy Stuart

A Letter from Ireland

Dear family,

My flight to Ireland (AYE-er-land) was pleasant. (Not every knitter gets to fly in The Writer's knitting bag.)

The plastic bag was to protect me from the rain, because they have a lot of rain in Ireland. I'm a doll, and I don't want to get water inside my head, because it could give me silver eye. Real children should never wear plastic bags over their heads. Real children don't get silver eye, so they don't need it, but you can't breathe with a bag over your head, so it's dangerous. It's good I don't need to breathe. 

We flew over some land covered with snow and then the ocean. The Writer held me up to the window, so I could see. 

The writer said Ireland is close to another country called England. She said that was where the English language started. (I knew that, of course. I read a lot.)

The sun was shining when we landed in Shannon, but it was raining by the time our ride reached the hotel. I was glad I had my boots and umbrella. 

Shannon is the town where one of the main airports in Ireland is located.

We went hiking in one of the big parks. We could hear a cuckoo bird calling from a long way off. It sounds just like the little bird that pops out of the clock in the hall to tell us what time it is. There were lovely yellow bushes everywhere. The Writer said they were gorse bushes. (Gorse rhymes with horse.)

We took a ride in something called a jaunty cart. It's a nice way to travel, but it doesn't go very fast. That gives you plenty of time to look around. A horse pulls the jaunty cart. (A gorse doesn't do anything much besides sit there and look pretty, so a gorse pulling a jaunty cart would be really slow!) There were lots of jaunty carts on the road, so we decided that a lot of other people had the same idea we had.

I discovered that there are a lot of sheep in Ireland. Sheep make all that yummy wool, which is where a lot of knitting yarn comes from. I think sheep are my favorite animals, other than cats, of course...and dogs...and horses...and goldfish.

We have been seeing the sights, too. That's called sightseeing (SITE-see-ing). Sightseeing is when you go to places you have only read about. 

Ireland has some great castles you can visit. We went to see Blarney Castle. It was built in 1446, which was 574 years ago. That's a long time, especially in doll years. It was built long before there were dolls like us.

Of course, one of my favorite things about the trip was visiting the wool shops. Those are what we call yarn shops.

The writer told me I could buy something, and she would pay for it. I picked out some nice yarn to bring back with me.

This is the yarn I picked out. It will keep me busy for a while.

The pubs in Ireland are very nice. The word "pub" is the short name for "public house." That's a place where human people go to eat and drink. It's like a restaurant (REST-uh-rahnt) or a cafe (keh-FAY). They have drinks for grownups, like wine and beer, but they also have drinks for everyone, even children and dolls, like tea and soda. You can even get milk!

When you drink a toast in Ireland, you say, "Slánte" which means "health." To drink a toast, you gently touch your glass or cup to someone else's and say "Slánte." I think you say it like "SHLON-sheh." At least that was how it sounded to me.

I've been pretending to drink the lovely local tea with milk. I have my tea with something called "soda bread." It's tasty. I like the kind that's brown best. Sometimes it's still warm from the oven, with butter on it.

Some people bring musical instruments to the pubs and play for everyone. 

Sometimes people get up and dance (or pretend to dance, which is easier for me). I watched the human people dancing and pretended to dance the way they did.

Tuesday was a special holiday in Ireland. It was St. Patrick's Day. That's when people in Ireland celebrate (SELL-uh-brate) the man who brought the Christian religion to Ireland. That means they do special things to remember him, like have a party or a parade. There are people of all religions in Ireland, but a lot of them are Christian. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated every year on March 17. Everyone was dressed in green. I wore green almost every day. I knew I would need green clothes in Ireland!

People keep telling me I look Irish.

Much of Ireland is very green. I think green is their favorite color. It is an island, so it is surrounded by ocean. Sometimes the ocean is green, but often it is blue.

The seaside towns are so pretty, and there are lots of boats. 

Some of the people who live close to the ocean make a living catching fish. They catch the fish to eat or to sell to other human people to eat. (Don't read this part to Cleo!)

Today is our last day, and it has been very exciting! We stopped in a pub for tea, as we have done every afternoon. It was raining (again). When we came out, the rain had just stopped and the sun had come out. There was a real rainbow!

I've heard that leprechauns hide their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, so I went to look. The part of the rainbow that touched the ground ended by an old fence. I was very surprised to find a pot of gold-colored yarn!

That was not what I thought a pot of "gold" would be. I wonder where the leprechauns hide their other colors. I didn't take any, of course, because it didn't belong to me; it belonged to a leprechaun. We shouldn't take things that don't belong to us, and besides, I am a guest in their country.

Our return trip may be delayed because of flight cancellations (KAN-suh-LAY-shuns). That means the airline couldn't fly as planned. The writer said that she can ship me home in a box, but it may take a couple of days. That's OK, because my new knitting wool will keep me cosy. See you soon! (If The Writer's flight is cancelled, we may have the house to ourselves for a while.)

Love and XXX,

Mandy

P.S., The Writer says not to worry if she can't get a flight home just yet. She will stay in Ireland and work on the stories with Mariah by email. Mariah and Billy can decide what photos to take. The Writer will come home when she can, but we should please stay out of trouble!




Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL
Cleo: Herself

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer, St. Baldrick's Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Photo of Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland, by Morgan Lane on Unsplash.
Photo of glasses by Scott Warman on Unsplash.
Photo of musicians in pub by Morgan Lane on Unsplash.
Photo of Kerry, Ireland, by Nils Nedel on Unsplash.
Other photos of Ireland taken by Charles Stuart.

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Copyright © 2020 by Peggy Stuart

Staying Well

"Eddie says the boy he lives with is sick," Emil said. "He says it's something called flu. Eddie is afraid he is going to get sick, too."

Veronika closed her book and looked at Emil and Charlotte, who had just come in from school. "Dolls can't get sick," she said. "Not for real. We can pretend to be sick, but then we can just pretend to get well again when we're tired of pretending to be sick."
Charlotte sat down on the chair nearby. 

"We can get damaged," Charlotte said. "We can fall and get scrapes, like real children, but the scrapes don't heal."
"We can get silver eye," Emil pointed out, "but that doesn't heal, either."

"No," agreed Charlotte. "They have to take off your head and change your eyes for new ones."
Emil sat down on the bean-bag chair. "How do real children get sick?" he asked. He looked at Veronika, because he thought she might know the answer.

"Well," Veronika began, "it depends on what kind of sickness it is, but Eddie said it was the flu, and that he thought it was catching, so I'll tell you about that."

Charlotte and Emil looked at Veronika expectantly. That means they thought she was going to say something important.
Veronika put her book down, so she could talk with both hands. "The flu is caused by something called a virus (VY-rus)," She explained.

"It's a thing that's alive, but it's so small you have to have a special microscope (MY-krow-skope) to see it. A microscope is a thing you can look through to see things that are very tiny. An ordinary microscope is small enough to sit on a desk."

"Viruses are so tiny," Veronika went on, "you have to use a special kind of microscope. It's called an electron (ee-LEK-tron) microscope. An electron microscope needs its own room, it's so big."

"What do viruses look like when you use an electron microscope?" Charlotte asked.

"The pictures of viruses I've seen," Veronika replied, "look like pretty little balls. You would never know they were bad things."

"There are lots of different kinds of viruses," Veronika said. "There are good viruses and viruses that make people and animals sick. Some people call the viruses that make them sick germs (JERMS) or bugs. When these things enter a human person's body, they grow and spread and make the person sick. That person might tell people they had caught a bug."

"I thought a bug was like an ant or a fly," Emil said.
"Yes," agreed Veronika. "Insects like ants and flies are called bugs, but they are different. These bugs get inside the person's body and make them sick. How sick the person becomes depends on the virus and how healthy the person is."
"How do they get there?" Charlotte asked.

"Lots of ways," Veronika replied. "Sometimes a sick person sneezes, and the tiny virus bugs go into the air around them. Then another person breathes them in."

"I'm glad I don't need to breathe," Emil said. "Is that why dolls don't get sick?"
"That's part of it," Veronika agreed. "Only living things can get sick, and we aren't alive in that way. We're alive in imagination."
"So that means we can't make children sick!" Emil exclaimed.

"Well, not usually," Veronika replied, "but it is possible for a child to get a virus from us."
"But if we can't breathe out the viruses,"Charlotte said, "how can we make a child sick?"

"It's because another way a human can get a virus is by touching something that a sick human has touched," Veronika explained. "Let's say Eddie's boy, who is sick, is playing with Eddie. He wipes his nose with his hand, plays with Eddie some more and then puts Eddie down. Then another child, say the boy's sister, picks Eddie up and plays with him. She could get the virus on her hands. Viruses can live on Eddie's vinyl for several days."
"Then the sister would get sick!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Maybe," Veronika replied, "if the sister rubbed her eye or scratched her nose. Maybe if she went to get something to eat and touched her food with her hands."
"So then she would get sick?" Emil asked.

"She could get sick, yes," Veronika agreed, "but if she washed her hands before she touched her face or ate something, she might not get sick. She could still get sick from breathing in the air close to her brother, especially if he is coughing or sneezing."
"So to keep from getting sick," Emil said, "children should not get too close to someone they know is sick and should wash their hands if they touch anything that person touches?"

"Washing hands is very important, anyway" Veronika agreed. "Children need to wash their hands before they eat and after they use the toilet, but if they are around someone who is sick, it's even more important."

"Why after they use the toilet?" Emil asked. 
"I know that," Charlotte said. "Mandy and I have cleaned the toilets in the house. That's where people get rid of waste from their bodies."

"Yes," Veronika agreed. "Because people are alive they need food and water to fuel their bodies. When their bodies take everything they need out of what they eat and drink, they have to get rid of what's left over along with anything else that would be bad to leave inside them. They put it in the toilet."
"So the waste must be dirty," Emil said, "if their bodies need to get rid of it. Is that why people need to wash their hands?"

"That's right, Emil," Veronika agreed. "They don't want to leave the bathroom and touch things other people might touch. It's important not just to wash their hands, but to wash their hands completely."

"People need to wash both sides of their hands," Veronika explained. "They need to wash all of their fingers and their thumbs, and in between their fingers, and use lots of soap. Soap kills most viruses. I know if I sing 'Happy Birthday To You' to myself twice or recite my A-B-Cs once while I'm washing my hands, use lots of soap, rub it on both sides of my hands and all sides of each finger, my hands will be clean."

"We can't wash between these two fingers," Charlotte said, holding up her right hand, the one with the two fingers stuck together. She knew this because it was the reason she couldn't learn to play the piano.

"That's OK, Charlotte," Veronika said. "Viruses can't reach between those two fingers, so you can just wash what you can reach. Most real children can reach between those two fingers, so they need to wash there, too."
Emil had been thinking. "But if people can still get sick from touching something a sick person has been touching, there could still be a lot of places a virus could be."

Veronika nodded. "There are a lot of things a sick person can do to help keep others from getting sick," she said. "Sick people can use a tissue to blow their noses and then throw the tissue away."

"They should always cover their mouths if they cough or sneeze," Veronika went on, "and they should wash their hands before they touch something another person might need to touch."
"What if Eddie had the virus on him when he came to school?" Emil asked. "He's in my class. I could have the virus on me right now. I could give it to the human people we live with."

"I played with Eddie today, too," Charlotte exclaimed as she stood up. "Let's go wash our hands right now, Emil, before we touch anything."

Charlotte and Emil went straight to the bathroom and washed their hands completely. They sang "Happy Birthday To You" twice as they washed, and they washed between all the fingers except the two fingers on their right hands, the ones that are stuck together. They used lots of soap.


Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer, St. Baldrick's Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Photos credits from this story:
Microscope: Pawel Czerwiński on Unsplash
Electron microscope: Science in HD on Unsplash 
Virus: CDC on Unsplash

Hand washing model: Johan Stuart


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Copyright © 2020 by Peggy Stuart