More on Rolfe Author, Ruth Agle and Hazel Twigg & The Hollyhock Hideaway

As promised, here is Ruth's bio.  She announced on her blog yesterday that there will be a very special price for her books ordered on Amazon on Black Friday!  Think Christmas gifts! 

Hazel Twigg & the Hollyhock Hideaway is basically about three things.

The first is Iowa: Ruth Agle is the middle child in a family of seven kids whose dad had a healthy dose of wanderlust. She’s lived in many places from Hawaii to England. Nine years ago, she moved to a small, dusty town in Iowa with a population of less than 600 because it beckoned her with its flashing stoplight and cold but welcoming people.

The second is dolls: For the past 25 years Ruth has been collecting composition (sawdust and glue) dolls from the 1920s and 30s. These dolls are often found abandoned in attics or forgotten in closets or tucked away in barns. She gently restores these O.L.D.s (Once-Loved Dolls) and makes new clothing for them so that they can go back out into the world and be loved once again.

And third: All her life, Ruth has believed in magic. She read all the Oz books she could get her hands on and dreamed of one day visiting that place.
Which brings us to her book.
Hazel Twigg is a little girl with no known relatives other than her overprotective mother, who never lets Hazel out of her sight. One ordinary day, two things happen to Hazel that have never happened before: her mother not only lets her out of her sight, but she puts her on a train to an unknown destination to meet a relative. A relative! From the moment Hazel meets Aunt Ruth, strange things start to happen. Hazel finds herself pulled into a world of magic, where old dolls come to life and sinister forces use every means in their power to remove Hazel from the Hollyhock Hideaway and to stop Hazel from achieving her destiny as the last Holder in the Hollyhock line. And it all happens in a tiny town in the Midwest. Land of Scotcharoos, ham balls, and tenderloin sandwiches the size of platters.

Hazel Twigg & the Hollyhock Hideaway is a very homegrown book in its very early stages of life. It’s the first in a series. The entire book is 81,000 words and 410 pages long. Even though it is novel length, it has been beautifully illustrated done by artist Nina Khalova, who lives in the Ukraine. It’s available on Amazon, or if you happen to catch a “Hazel Twigg” presentation at your local library, books will be available for purchase there. For more information or to contact Ruth, go to hazeltwigg.com/blog. 

another of the amazing illustrations in the book

Exciting Day at the Library

This past Wed. was an exciting day for our little library.  For about four years, we've been hearing about and learning more about my fellow transplant, Ruth Agle's, repair and resale of O.L.D.s (Once-Loved Dolls).  She's so talented and creative with being able to repair broken arms and repaint lips and eyebrows of these composite dolls.  Not only that but she sews 2-3 outfits and makes accessories for each doll using old jewelry, lace, wool and leather from her stash. You can read about each O.L.D. that she has restored and sold on eBay at her blog hazeltwigg.com.

In her spare time, Ruth has been writing her first book, Hazel Twigg & The Hollyhock Hideaway.  Its finish has been much awaited by many of us here in Rolfe so we were thrilled to be able to be at her library program and first book signing this past Wed.!!  We actually got to buy the books which she personally signed for us! 

Bill's mom has already finished hers!  I'm on page 111 and loving it already.  There is so much to tell you - this might be another one of my posts that has to be done in multiple posts!  The really FUN thing is that this book is actually based on our town which Ruth calls Reliance in the book.  One of the main characters is Aunt Ruth which is really our Ruth! 

Throughout the book she mentions many of the things I've talked about here on my blog like when you're driving here, people wave at you even if they don't know you.  One of my LOL! parts was on page 55 when Hazel saw "the thinnest phone book she had ever seen.  It had both the yellow and white pages and was still less than a half-inch thick."  I thought the same thing when I saw it after moving here from the Indianapolis area where the white pages alone were at least three inches thick!  Glenn and his girlfriend were here recently, and I had even showed our phone book to Lori and she couldn't believe it either!  It's going to be fun to see how she works all the things us transplants notice when we first arrive here into the story!

Ruth had her latest O.L.D. with her Wed., Cora, the Town Crier.  I see that she sold for over $400, and she was a small doll!

There are lots of beautiful color illustrations in the book.  Ruth's illustrator is a woman in her early 20's from the Ukraine.  Ruth had all of these large, original illustrations with her for us to see. 

I'll post Ruth's bio in my next post.  In the meantime, you can order her book on Amazon!  Or, let me know if you want a book signed especially for someone, and I can get it for you.  It would make a great Christmas gift!

    

Miss Spenser's Tearoom

In two other posts this week, I've talked about our trip to the Iowa State Fair for the Century Farm Program and our stay at Longview Farms Bed & Breakfast. 

Also at Longview Farms, is Miss Spenser's Tearoom.   Spenser is the daughter of the owners of the B & B.  Donna and Spenser love England and the tradition of afternoon tea.  They have quite a collection of tea pots, serving pieces, lace, etc. making their tearoom very beautiful.  They serve traditional afternoon tea but also have themed teas where Donna and Spenser dress up and provide a program.  All of their teas are by reservation.  They can hold a fairly large group.  

Donna and me

 

Just like our Garden Room, beautifully decorated.

I would love to get a P.E.O. group together and go by bus for a special tea.  Think I'll keep that in mind for next summer!

Happy Birthday Glenn!!

I didn't get a card sent and didn't think to make a birthday cake for Glenn while he was here this past weekend so thought I'd tell him Happy Birthday via the Internet!

He and his girlfriend, Lori, came for a visit this past weekend.  We had not met her until now but had heard lots of good things about her.  She is as nice as everyone had said!  

We spent lots of time with Diane and the girls, and they visited a bunch of Glenn's friends.  We took Lori to see The Grotto in West Bend, to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Emmetsburg, Diane made lasagna for all of us one night, and went to the Mexican restaurant with friends another night.  Spent some time at the bowling alley too. 

Have a nice birthday Glenn!

Glenn, Lori & his granddaughters

at The Grotto, West Bend

at The Zone (bowling alley in Pocahontas)

going across our creek - fun!

 

Longview Farmes Bed & Breakfast Continued

This is a continuation of the previous post about our stay at Longview Farms Bed & Breakfast. 

Unfortunately, we didn't arrive until early evening so it was a much too short stay for me.  I would've liked to have enjoyed reading a book for a few hours (or days . . .) in front of that fireplace.

Hickory Hills Park is nearby with nice trails for hiking which would be fun to do too.

Donna knew that we needed to get to the State Fair to register the next morning by a certain time so asked us if 8:00 was a good time for her to bring our breakfast to us, and that was perfect.  She arrived right on time and set out everything for our morning feast.

We had a pot of hot tea, orange juice, milk, fresh fruit, quiche, bacon, roasted vegetables, chocolate filled croissants, and some sliced homegrown tomatoes.  What a treat.  It was all yummy and very filling.

I know some people don't like to stay in Bed & Breakfasts because normally you eat breakfast with the other guests.   It's usually fun to visit with the other guests and the owner(s), but it was really fun to have our own private breakfast.

After breakfast, we reluctantly had to check out of this beautiful room so soon and head to the State Fair.  But Donna asked if I'd like to see the tearoom.  Of course!

In my next post, I'll take you inside the tearoom.  So many of us around here wish we had a tearoom like this to go to.  So many have closed.

www.CindyKCreations.com

 

  

Longview Farms Bed & Breakfast

The day before we needed to be at the State Fair (in Des Moines) to accept the Century Farm award for our landlord (see previous post), we drove to New Virginia which is just south of Des Moines, to Longview Farms Bed & Breakfast.  (if you click on the name/link you'll go to their web site)  Des Moines is a little over two hours from us.  This was just one room we stayed in, but I don't know where to begin to tell how nice it was.  And I took so many pictures!  I'm going to have to do about three separate posts.

The B & B (plus tearoom) is out in the middle of nowhere so very quiet and peaceful.  It is off the road down a long lane past their cattle. 

 

The house and Miss Spenser's Tearoom are straight ahead and the building on the right is where the two guest rooms are.

We stayed in the Garden Room - which overlooks a little courtyard - and they have a larger room upstairs.  Both have fireplaces.

the courtyard outside our room - our door on left

Our room was decorated beautifully and was so cozy.  I could've stayed there a week I think.  There were lots of tea related decorations including books.  There were two nice afghans on the arms of the couch.

When we arrived, Donna met us and told us that there were some goodies in our fridge.  She would've had a pot of tea or coffee waiting for us too, but it was too late in the day for caffeine.

the bed was too pretty to sleep in - hated to take all the pillows off

There was a cute little table for two and a cabinet stocked with plates, glasses, silverware, tea, etc. along with a microwave and more.  The bathroom was very nice and modern with a small shower.

orange flavored cake filled with cream - and choc. dipped strawberries

there were several pretty teapots in the room

 

drop leaf table for two overlooking the courtyard

the bathroom

In my next post I'll show you our wonderful breakfast that Donna served us in our room the next morning before we headed to the State Fair.  And the post after that will be all pictures of the tearoom - sure wish it was closer!