Une Envie de Sel

Corner View: miniature worlds

I was a bit alarmed to notice today that it was Tuesday again. This has been a particularly rough month for us, illness-wise, as a family. It is more or less still our first year as a family, so a plethora of illnesses is probably par for the course. That said, I am one of those people with the kind of immune system that has allowed me the luxury of having a cold maybe once every three years, no more. So the first year or two as the parent of a toddler has been a serious wakeup call for me ;)

As it happens, the worst sick-month we've had this year also corresponds to a time during which I am working hard to complete some large-scale commissions and meet some serious deadlines in my professional life.

So, when I noticed it was Tuesday and I was in need of a Corner View, I had a moment of panic. "Miniature Worlds"? What could I come up with on short notice?

Then, scrolling through my photos, I remembered that I had never posted our shots from our family foray to TinyTown last summer. TinyTown is an Eastern Slope institution, and something that my husband (a Denver native) remembers fondly from his own childhood. It is an extensive village, executed in perfect miniature, set deep in the verdent Rocky Mountain foothills just southwest of Denver.
This is TinyTown. During the two years of our adoption process, we drove past it a few times on our way in and out of the mountains, and dreamed about how we would stop here someday with our as-yet-unknown child.

And so we did. We also stopped in with our extended family of nieces and nephews, including Q's elder cousin Harrison who, even before he met her, thought she hung the moon.
Harrison was utterly besotted with the Q from the get-go. While we were waiting for permission to go to China for her, he used to enter our house peering into each corner and asking us if Q were here yet.
Apparently he was not disappointed by the genuine article once she arrived. You can see his infatuation in the very lines of his body.
Just look at the proprietary look on his face when his little sister Isacah attempts to adorn the Q with a cowboy hat!
Ahhhhhhhh...back in his arms again. Shortly after this particular visit, Harrison sent Q a package from his home in North Carolina, containing a wooden tongue depressor inscribed with the legend "Harrison Loves Q". Naturally, I put it in her scrapbook ;)
Anyways....this is TinyTown. Q was pretty tiny herself a the time, and apparently she thought she might actually be the right size to enter.
She has yet to discover the meaning of the word "school", but she seems already to know that this is something she might want to explore.
Let's hope she likes it!

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