Sir Thomas III made his fortune in wheat stalks. His secret? Pick them when they are ripe and trade them before they dry. Sweet Esmeralda came to America by ship, and quickly found work in the wheat fields. It wasn’t very long before Sir Thomas III spotted her nimbly climbing the sheaves. Essie, as Thomas fondly calls her, now spends her time keeping nest and chasing her wee ones, who inherited her love of climbing!
GrandFather Tobias actually enjoys being sent out of the house by his beloved, to smoke his thistle-berry pipe. Up there, under the rafters is where he re-imagines his childhood adventures living through the ‘Great Mouse Wars.’ Times were grand back then, when he and his buddies could sneak ‘huge cheese crackers’ onto the railroad tracks, waiting for enemy trains, and then jump into the hedgerow trenches watching as the wheels squealed SNAP CRACKLE AND POP!
Nellie loves to knit! Not a knit-pick, she is careful to bring her yarns over twice, and gather all her stitches. Purls are important, skeins quickly disappear. Her current sweater is crafted of double seed stitch, with moss diamonds, sleeves in criss cross cable with twists, and edged in a garland of bee stitches with butterflies on the seams…
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a....
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
May your light shine bright this winter! Sending warmest wishes from all of us at Castle in the Air.
"Mouse Castle" by John McRae and Ulla Milbrath. Stories by Ulla Milbrath. Photos courtesy of Tue Nam Ton and Karima Cammell.
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