Planet Nilknarf

November 2013
Celebrating FIVE Outta-Site Years!!!

Welcome to Planet Nilknarf!!!!

Here's to celebrating FIVE amazing years of exciting travel, colourful artwork and random, honest musings! This month I will be showing highlights of the 2013 National Carousel Association Convention in Kansas, but first I would like to share with you this very important link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/comics-that-capture-the-frustrations-of-depression Since I've been back from Kansas I've been recovering from a very nasty cold. Understatement of the millennium! I am SO NOT exaggerating when I say this is the WORST SORE THROAT I've EVER had in my life!! The worst part is that I've felt like nobody really believes me or understands. It's just a sore throat. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! And the Titanic is just a boating accident. I woke up with a sore throat on the morning of Saturday, September 21st and managed to drag myself through the rest of the convention. I'm glad I'd already decided ahead of time not to leave until Monday so I'd have time to rest after the meeting whether I was sick or not. I needed it and slept most of that afternoon. Of course, during the flight home I developed an ear infection and my throat continued to get worse throughout the week. I wasn't going to seek medical help at first because I'd been through this before when I came home from Denver in 2011 only to be told by the doctor at Urgent Care It's just a virus. Nothing to do but let it run its course. But I ended up dragging myself there on Thursday, October 3rd and this time the doctor prescribed antibiotics. The only problem is she never thought to prescribe anything for the pain so I kept getting worse instead of better and my husband ended up taking me to the hospital Saturday night, or early Sunday morning more accurately. The hospital is a joke! We were there from about 1:30 in the morning until around 5. We must have waited at least two hours before they finally called on me. I waited at least half an hour before the first doctor looked at me and he didn't seem to believe me, thinking my throat mustn't be all that sore if I can cry out like that. HELLO!! I was crying out in PAIN!!! He disappeared and I waited ANOTHER half an hour for the next doctor, a lady who did a swab and it felt like she nearly scooped out half my brain in the process. At least she prescribed me some Tylenol 3's but I still have to take my antibiotics. Damn HORSE PILLS! I've tried grinding them up into a powder to mix with my iced tea or Ensure but they are so bloody BITTER!! At least I'm finally not in as much pain even though it seemed to take forever for Dave to finally leave the house and buy me my Tylenols. He seems to think it's more important for me to learn PATIENCE than get relief from my pain. Janette seems to be the only one who hasn't thought I'm exaggerating, being a drama queen or being a big baby!!!

If you want to read about the rest of my trip you can click on this link HERE: http://www.scribd.com/doc/174660276/2013-NCA-Convention-Kansas It was a pretty awesome convention. I spent most of the first day at the C.W. Parker museum where they have this gorgeous 1913 wooden carousel:

This 1950's aluminum carousel:

And last but not least, a primitive hand-cranked carousel for display only:

I also had my art table set up but nobody else participated! :(

We visited the Wizard of Oz museum:

Then we went to the Telephone museum and the delightful little track machine carousel in Abilene...

At the telephone museum they showed an interesting short film about the early days of telephone communication. Did you know that the first telephone operators were young boys. But the boys had attitude problems. They were argumentative and didn't take their jobs seriously, so they were replaced by young women. The women were provided with housing and lived in a protective environment where they participated in daily exercise as part of their routine. They showed pages of sheet music and mentioned how many songs over the years have mentioned telephones. Go figure, this was playing on my MP3 player when I was at the zoo the next day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI05Z0TNXe8 While I was looking at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haL0ZRN9A8g But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The next place we actually visited on this day was the Russel Stover factory where we stopped for some much-needed ice cream!!! I'd been startled by some nasty feedback on our bus' sound system and it helped calm my nerves! The next place we visited was the beautiful Herschell-Spillman carousel in Topeka. At first I'd confused Topeka with Tupelo. I'm glad we weren't in Tupelo. It's the home of a place I would prefer not to think about, thank you very much. The Topeka carousel was amazing. I must have had at least six rides on this one one right after another! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKGdFCUxQhc They have a magnificent assortment of animals both old and new. Most of the menagerie figures are metal. I believe Irode five different horses and a pig.

Ugh, I don't know why but I look like I'm missing a tooth in this picture. The next day was they day we went to the Kansas zoo where we rode their Carousel Works Endangered Species machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2nvjwbj5VE

Then it was off to Worlds of Fun to ride their magnificent 1927 Illions Supreme carousel:

This was my favorite! I must have easily taken at least a hundred pictures of this carousel alone! The only thing I didn't like was the fact that its signs said there was a 170-pound weight limit!! BOOOO! HISSSSS!! MY FUCKING SKELETON ALONE weighs more than that! I haven't weighed 170 since the 80's! 170 is the new 100! I would have to start AMPUTATING LIMBS!! Fortunately they let us all ride anyway because nearly half of us obviously weigh more than that!! However they didn't run it full speed. Better a crawl than not at all!! They seemed to run it full speed when I went there after lunch and sat in the chariot with the whole carousel to myself, though. And it seemed to be going faster near the end when not as many people were riding. Our next destination was the Kansas City Royals baseball stadium:

We were in for a major treat when we got to see and ride their delightful Baseball Carousel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNO2q_-_4Xw Next we went to the Municipal Arena to hear a delightful organ recital and then we went to this cowboy place for supper. It was one of those evenings where I just had to go outside and be away from the noise after I finished eating. Other people felt the same way so it was nice to have them join me for some quiet, friendly conversation. I will be sharing more pictures of these carousels in the months to come. In the meantime you can see them all in my Facebook albums: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/? set=a.313433838796384.1073741832.100003893116310&type=1&l=2919e7720e https://www.facebook.com/media/set/? set=a.313571522115949.1073741833.100003893116310&type=1&l=3d8ffbe1b9

Peaceman Jim for Mayor

Meanwhile I've just discovered more wonderful and exciting news! Peaceman Jim Kogelheide is running for Mayor of London Ontario! You may remember him from previous issues where I've mentioned his Peace Bus project where his students have turned his school bus into a delightful peace-themed moveable art gallery. You may also remember his students designing several of the carousel horses on my second quilt. You can read about his campaign here on his blog:

http://www.bitsandpeaces.com/ and follow him on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/mrjimformayor.oflondonontariocanada.5/media_set? set=a.114623315384179.17248.100005095330194&type=1 I like how he's included his Top Five Peace Bus Moments! And my quilt is one of them!!!! :)

Top Five Carousel of Friendship Moments

Of course that got me thinking and wondering what are mine? Talk about a good topic to reflect upon as Planet Nilknarf faces its 5th anniversary: 1. The Rogers Cable TV interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGSDBcDOk94 2. Having Jim's Peace Bus students participate in my Quilt Project: http://www.scribd.com/doc/47386643/new-peace-quilt 3. Project Pakistan!!!

Of course this is still a work in progress. The biggest highlight of this project so far has been seeing all of these....!!!

4. My Community Day Presentation at my school:

And last but not least my art show in Bobcaygeon that ran from December of 2012 to the end of January of 2013 and included the First Big Sale of one of my quilts!!

First the quilt on the left and later that year the KISS quilt pictured in the background in the picture on the right. Since then I have been interviewed by the Bobcaygeon Promoter but, sadly, the article has not yet seen the light of day.

Of course I celebrated the sale of my first quilt by commemorating it on the last quilt I finished:

My New Toy
Up until now I have always been doing my quilting the hard way with a large embroidery hoop (left). When I was at Jean's in September I noticed she had the following device:

I asked her where she got it and she said it came from Micheals. So last time I was there I bought myself one too!

This piece of carousel fabric was one of the treasures I bought at the Harvest of Quilts as well as the

star-studded fabric I chose to trim the border. These square frames were available in 17 X 17 inches and 11 X 17. I chose the latter. It provides a firm and steady grip on the project I am working on and its square shape allows me to work even more closely to the edge. Back when I just used a large embroidery frame I had the annoying problem of my work always popping out, plus I had to move it around frequently. The new frame allows me to get larger areas completed at a time. I can hardly wait to see how bigger projects will be with the use of this new device!

Five Years of Planet Nilknarf!

With this being our fifth anniversary issue, let us reflect on highlights of these past five years. We sure have come a long way on this magical journey. Planet Nilknarf started in November of 2008 and back then the first issue only had eight pages, basically telling you about who I am and what I do and what was going on in my life at the moment. It was just after my second Geneva Autism Symposium, and the 2008 National Carousel Association convention in Memphis. The highlight of that trip was the Over-the Jumps in Little Rock Arkansas. This is the only carousel of its kind left in existence:

I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to ride this unique machine. You can read more about this trip here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7838445/2008-NCA-Convention At the time I introduced the public to my idea of building a carousel of my own. Originally it was called the Autism Awareness Carousel Project. I wanted to create a concept that taught the public about my two favorite subjects: carousels and autism. I wanted to build a carousel with animals designed by (but not strictly limited to) people on the autism spectrum. Even though my fellow spectrumites are the original inspiration and driving force behind my concept, I ended up changing the name of my project to Carousel of Friendship to prove that my concept is all inclusive and anyone can participate regardless of age or ability. I may not be that much closer to actually building a carousel now than I was back then, but a lot has happened since then, which I shall discuss later. It was in that first issue I introduced the Travelling Dolls project and showed readers where my dolls have been so far. It was also a new home for Olive, Gladys and Edna, The Ewetopia sheep.

In the months to follow it also became a new place to feature the Life With Louella comic strip I had originally created for the Dufferin Dog-star back in 1996. The original series never saw the light of day past the first issue but now they had a place to be seen for nearly two years. As 2009 unfolded so did my commissioned project of Jean's mural:

This took at least two years to complete but in the meantime I had successful sales at Wind Reach Farm and Haydenshore Park: More importantly, I went to my first NCA Technical Conference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/15568123/2009-NCA-Tech-Convention-Sandusky Followed by that famous interview on Rogers which I already mentioned in the Carousel of Friendship's Top Five Moments. And then that fall I enjoyed the NCA convention in Philadelphia: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21528867/2009-Philadelphia-Convention One of the best things about that convention was being able to take videos with my wonderful new digital camera which has been my constant travelling companion ever since! It was also a year when I struggled with horrendous health issues. I'll spare you the gory details. My regular readers who have followed my issues all these years already know too much about them. As the first anniversary of Planet Nilknarf neared I had the pleasure of seeing KISS perform at the GM Centre here in Oshawa at the last minute! And the December 2009 issue introduced the beginning of my first quilt! In April of 2010 I completed it! http://www.scribd.com/doc/30062160/Carousel-Quilt-Project During that time I continued to struggle with Mother Nature's over-abundant gifts but I was okay during when Janette and I went to Niagara Falls together in early July: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34240351/Margaret-and-Janette-s-Excellent-Adventure and in the fall I got to go to the National Carousel Association convention in Spokane Washington: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38664586/Carousels-of-Discovery-The-2010-NCA-Convention

This will always go down in history as one of my favorite conventions because I got to ride some pretty iconic creatures. There was the famous Looff Sneaky tiger at the Riverfront Looff carousel, Paint at the Missoula, Montana carousel, and the trout on the Great Northern carousel in Helena.

And of course I had a friendly kiss from this noble steed at Three Rivers. I can hardly wait to come back someday when that carousel is up and running so that we can be reunited and have our picture taken together again! 2010 was also the year of my third Geneva Autism Symposium. This is always one of my most successful events. By this time I was well into nearly completing my SECOND quilt!!!

I have to admit, however, 2011 holds the trophy for what probably has to be the Worst Year of My Life! Although it was the year I finally had my hysteroscopy to cancel my subscription to Mother Nature's over-abundant gifts, while I awaited that I had to deal with my mother's illness, leading to her eventual death. Because of all this stress and also perhaps due to a lack of iron and other nutrients as a result of my condition I ended up with alopecia and had a bald spot the size of a golf ball on the back of my head! At least in this picture it was starting to grow back but it looks bigger than it is because the person who took the picture was standing too close!

The picture on the right is one of three reasons why Denver was my least favorite convention. Those horrible signs were everywhere and I almost considered getting gastric bypass surgery as a result but ended up chickening out because the cons outweighed the pros, at least in my opinion. At least I got a final look at my mom's place before everything went out and it got sold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZq1Eyqcb10 And even though I had to deal with altitude sickness and a room with no bathtub the 2011 NCA convention still had its iconic moments that made it worth my while:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7xntfQ0i7c Not to mention a unique once-in-a-lifetime dining experience! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWrM8f_8NU And another reason 2011 didn't totally suck is that my quilts finally started getting the recognition they

deserved. I would like to thank Aunt Jean for helping me make this happen. First there was my first show at the Boyd Gallery in Bobcaygeon:

My stuff had to be draped over tables because I was already sharing my space with some other artist whose stuff was already on the wall. These are two out of three of my first quilts along with a selection of T-shirts and the wall-hanging I made for Lorraine with the animals that we rescued from T-shirts she had bought from me ages ago! That same year was also my first Bobcaygeon Harvest of Quilts show. Those first three quilts were on display in the Muir House.

I am happy to see how far my quilts have come since then. 2011 may have been one of the worst years of my life because of my mom's death, but that was perhaps the climax of the ending of a season of tribulation. I like to take comfort in the idea that the

end of one season is the beginning of another. More often than not such seasons are not exactly cutand-dried, but tend to overlap like the stormy weather we get during the transition of wither to spring. On New Year's Eve I was tempted to give 2011 the bum's rush and just sleep through it, but I was also thankful for the good things such as the gallery display and quilt show. 2011 was also the last time I got to see my good friend DooDoo the clown perform. He was at the Royal Winter fair for the second time. These are from the 2010 show.

I wanted to see him last year but there was a glitch in his website so I didn't get the proper dates for the Royal Winter Fair and ended up missing it. Just as well, I couldn't afford to go anyway. And this year it looks like he's going to be somewhere else so I wonder when I ever will see him again. These are from the 2011 show:

This year at this time instead of the Royal Winter Fair he is booked in Halifax and North Bay.

Anyway, 2012 will be remembered as the Year of THREE vacations!! School was very important to me at the time and I got several exciting projects done, including three papier-mache models of three of our very special carousel animals: Janette's Gas Sign horse and my Frog Prince and dog running with sausages:

I also made stuffed versions of Janette's Honeymoon Horse

It was also the year I completed my fourth quilt and gave a Community Day presentation at my school:

However, in March I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with trying to learn math so I gave up in frustration and proposed the idea of a Niagara Trip! I desperately needed one and so did Janette! The two of us never really did get to do anything really fun in 2011. The last time we'd been anywhere together was when we were sorting through all the stuff at my mom's house!! So in April of 2012 we went to Niagara Falls and had an absolute blast!!! http://www.scribd.com/doc/89749177/Margaret-and-Janette-s-Great-Escape

I could easily say this was one of our best trips ever!! We needed this trip! We couldn't wait for North Bay!! Our long-awaited North Bay trip was late June/early July of that year.... http://www.scribd.com/doc/100517817/North-Bay-Trip As you can see it had more than its fair share of drama. I wonder if we'll ever be back to erase the taints and have a better time.

At least we had several rides on a beautiful carousel. Actually make that THREE!!!

Top and center left: North Bay Heritage carousel, Top right: Winter Wonderland carousel, Bottom row: Edna's carousel. And then there was my journey to Michigan for last year's NCA convention: http://www.scribd.com/doc/108777550/2012-nca-convention This has GOT to be my favorite Iconic Moment of that particular trip!

Yep, getting our picture in the paper! That's me in the middle! :) Fall meant another successful Geneva Autism Symposium and December meant my second big show at the Boyd Gallery in Bobcaygeon!! The end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 were the start of an exciting chapter in my life: http://www.scribd.com/doc/118039474/January-2013 It was a bigger and better show than the one I had the previous summer, however nobody really grasped the concept of my art table:

I was talking with Lorraine about it and we were both feeling depressed about how our artistic endeavors were always being misunderstood and then she phoned me the very next day to let me know I'd ACTUALLY SOLD MY FIRST QUILT!!! You already know this story. What a wonderful way to start 2013! As the year draws to a close, highlights include the KISS concert Janette and I went to on July 26th...

and, of course this year's National carousel Association convention, which I've already opened with. After the convention there was the Kerry's Place Autism Celebration Event where I had several of these clowns and bears for sale:

I'm surprised nobody bought any clown puppets but I must have sold at least a dozen bears. The kids were pretty rowdy and nearly destroyed my display! I felt like I was on the verge of a meltdown and their mother literally had to drag them away screaming!! I also sold at least eight of my carousel horse Christmas tree ornaments. Within the last week I just finished my latest project. I want to thank Janette for finding me this piece of fabric when we were at the Bobcaygeon quilt show back in September!

The fabric was already printed with the horses and carousel but I added my own characters as well as sequins and the clown faces to the rounding boards! Once again I got excellent use out of the square quilting frame I'd invested in:

And I got excellent mileage out of the wonderful border-print fabric I bought at last year's NCA convention in Michigan. Next time I see this fabric again I definitely want to buy more! Yes, you've already seen this fabric before on the Fibonacci quilt and the edge of a couple of our doll dresses!

Here is the completed quilt!

It's nice to take a break from those really big projects to do something that can be finished relatively quickly. Now that I've rambled on loquaciously about all the blessings and tribulations of these past five crazy and glorious years, it's time to ponder about what the future will bring...

Planet Nilknarf The NEXT Five Years

Much has happened these past five years and of course much more will happen within the next five. Exactly WHAT only God knows but here is a list of the things I hope really will happen 1. Tomorrow my husband Dave and I are going to meet hockey legend Bobby Orr so he can sign Dave's copy of his latest book! 2. Janette and I are DEFINITELY going to New York for next year's carousel convention. 3. Janette and I hope to go to Niagara Falls in January to celebrate her 50th birthday. 4. I'll be celebrating mine although I'm not sure how yet. 5. Dave and I hope to spend the day in the city for our 12th anniversary and we'd like to visit the new Ripley's Aquarium at the CN Tower! 6. I want to finally build my own carousel horse. 7. I hope I really WILL be building the actual Carousel of Friendship, for that matter. 8. Janette and I want to go to Myrtle Beach. 9. We also want to go to Las Vegas! 10. I want to go to Wisconsin. No, NOT because it's the Mecca for Fat People as portrayed on Family Guy. I want to see the World's Largest Carousel at House on the Rock and the Circus World Museum in Bariboo, complete with its International Clowns Hall of fame and you can bet I will NOT be wandering around munching an entire ham like the people in that silly cartoon!!!

11. There will be at least two or three more Geneva Autism Symposiums over these years. 12. I would really like to visit that big autism conference out in BC but the problem is it's usually when my carousel convention has just ended so there's never been any time to recover between events! 13. Janette and I want to go to GUELPH!! We want to visit the Herschell-Spillman carousel they have there. She's lucky. She's already been there with her family back in the 80's. 14. I want to have sold EVERY quilt I've ever made and actually have a WAITING LIST of orders!!! 15. Next spring is my next big show at the Boyd Gallery in Bobcaygeon. It promises to be even bigger and better than the last one I had over last December and January!! How am I going to find room for everything? 16. I hope I will have even MORE displays of my art and quilts elsewhere! 17. Even more NCA conventions after this next one! In 2015 we're going to Virginia which likely includes several carousels in Maryland. I have no idea where we're going after that but it would be nice to go back to Pennsylvania to see the Pottstown carousel completed and back to Montana to revisit Missoula and see the Three Rivers and Butte carousels up and running! 18. I wouldn't mind going to Holland to visit my cousin Peter and see some of the sights there. 19. Perhaps I ought to get a part-time job somewhere. Mom's inheritance and craft sales just aren't enough for all the travelling and sight-seeing I want to do in order to keep bringing Planet Nilknarf great stories. 20. I wouldn't mind going on a spiritual retreat in Findhorn, Scotland to see what all the hype is about. 40-pound cabbages are growing in soil that is practically dry sand and they believe that the faerie folk and leprechauns have something to do with it! However there gigantic veggies have never been successfully photographed! I'd love to take a picture of my doll sitting on top of one of them!!! 21. I hope to have published some sort of book! 22. I would like to have done several speaking engagements combining my love and knowledge of carousels with my experience of living with Asperger's Syndrome. 23. I want to create a Trilogy of carousel quilts representing all three styles of carousel art: County Fair, Coney Island and Philadelphia 24. I want to finish my Primer Whites carousel quilt. 25. I want to create a quilt with the flowers and birds from that book of Jacobean iron-on transfers I got from Jean ages ago. 26. The two quilts I am working on now WILL be finished! 27. Classrooms and other groups will be creating more horses for my project. I could go on forever with all the things I hope to accomplish and share in the next five years of Planet Nilknarf but so far that's all I can think of for the time being. I wouldn't be surprised if these next five years bring things into my life that I've never even thought of yet! At least I'm glad to be back in Quilting Bee. You may remember there was a time I had to give it up for awhile because of the woman who always insisted on bringing her screaming baby to the group.

Wild About Jungle Cats Quilt

I've just completed the second row on this project. Here's what I've got so far:

I usually start with the logo in the middle and this time was no exception. The upper row is the more recent of the two with the lions at either end being the most recent, an early Looff lion with floating eagle saddle and a PTC lion, likely the one from my beloved Crystal Beach! I worked on the Looff lion while I was in Kansas and finished the PTC lion this morning, saving the eagle, and the Indian head for last. Of course the end of one part of the project means the beginning of the next:

Dear Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad, How's everything up in heaven? Are Coco, Rags and Hugo there too? What's new? It's been a busy time around here however things have pretty much been on hold until quite recently due to the nasty cold I've had. It's been quite stubborn. Part of it is still hanging on. Poor Dave. He claims he's spent close to $300 on stuff to make me better! For the first week my throat was so sore I couldn't even eat. Even my own saliva hurt! I basically lived on bottles of Ensure! That stuff has been a godsend even though my throat hurt swallowing that too. The only good part of this experience is that I've probably actually lost weight! This whole experience has been like gastric bypass surgery in reverse!! I notice a difference when I sit in those armchairs at the community centre where I go for my Quilting Bee. If only I could actually KEEP it off. But I am NOT going off my medication. There's now way I would want to put Dave through that again. While I was having my manic episode I kicked him in the nuts for no reason!! I don't know if you can remember what I was like in the hospital but I'm glad you fought for my right to be allowed to do my embroidery even if it meant having to use lame plastic kiddie scissors and only one needle. If I lost that that would be the end. What amazes me since I've been there is now people are allowed to KNIT! You'd think someone could hurt a person just as badly with knitting needles as they could with scissors or a needle! At least my flight was peaceful even though my ears were becoming infected and my head felt like it was about to explode. Last night was the FIRST time I've been out for dinner since I've been home. Dave and I went to the Fish Grill and I had my usual shrimps and Caesar salad. When I bought Dave his birthday present I told him he'd probably want to open it EARLY when he

found out the news I had for him! BOBBY ORR IS COMING TO THE OSHAWA CENTRE!! He will be signing copies of his latest book. We're going there tomorrow! I don't know which of us are more excited. Dave has already met him before, roughly about 30 years ago. We were thinking of getting Bobby to sign the picture they had taken together back then but he is only signing copies of his book. Janette and I had a nice time together while she was here last weekend. Can you believe we've ALREADY made our hotel reservations for next year's NCA convention?! It's a good thing we did so at the time because ours was the LAST of ONLY THREE rooms left!! It means we have to share the same bed. The good news is that at least we have the last room left with a bathtub. Don Largent is looking into getting us a room with two beds but if he can't I'm not going to worry about it. At least if we do have to share a bed it's king-sized, not like my own so we won't be elbowing each other. I can't believe how fast that first block of rooms got snapped up. As long as there's a bathtub. That's the most important thing. I desperately need a soak to help me sleep at night. The place I stayed in Denver only had showers and I've never gotten over it! I hated it! How I survived all these years living in apartments with only showers I'll never know! I remember in Lindsay sometimes I'd put on relaxing music and soak my feet, but I also enjoyed the tub whenever I'd stay overnight with a friend who had one or at a hotel, or whenever I went to your place for the weekend. We will be in New York for an entire week!! We leave on Sunday the 14th of September and come home on Monday the 22nd. The convention itself runs from the 17th to the 21st with bonus days on the 15th and 16th. During the actual convention days we will be visiting ELEVEN carousels. I have no idea how many we will visit during the bonus days! We were a little disappointed that the Bug Carousel at the Bronx Zoo won't be part of the itinerary because there are SO MANY carousels in the New York region that they decided that this year they would stick to strictly the antique ones. At least this means we WILL be seeing the ones at Coney Island, Nunley's, Central Park and Jane's carousel to name just a few. Jane's carousel is one I haven't seen in person yet and the others have undergone restoration since last time. It was very nice of Richard to offer us to come down a little early so he could take us to the Bronx Zoo to see the bug carousel after all but as wonderful as it sounds we've decided not to because we just don't have the endless money and energy to add anything more to our itinerary. He lives within walking distance of a reasonably-priced Holiday Inn, but we've already planned to stay an entire week at the Hilton and we'd have to face the hassle of travelling from one place to the other, probably on our own. There are three airports in New York City; JFK, LaGuardia and one in Islip and it is the Islip airport we want to be closest to the Hilton where we're staying. I miss being able to just phone you to chat about that sort of thing. About all the trivial everyday things for that matter. And questions about the family. Lately I wake up choking because my mouth is so dry! I hope it isn't sleep apnea. I hope it's just a temporary condition as a result of this stubborn cold. Every time I think I'm going to be okay I have to drag myself out of bed because as soon as I'm about to drift off to sleep I start coughing again. And the other night I dreamt that the three of us went on a road trip somewhere at night. We were in a huge car that was so big that when I was sitting in the back seat I couldn't see what was in front of us. We arrived atthis place with this room that was like some sort of lecture hall but the seats were all off to one side, rows of white plastic benches like the kind they have at the CNE where DooDoo's show is. But we were indoors in a wood-paneled room similar to a gymnasium and a big-screen TV hung in the middle of the wall. There was hardly anyone there and it looked peaceful enough but all of a sudden I had the most horrendous panic attack!! I felt a mixture of anger, rage, fear and anxiety for no apparent reason and I woke up choking, almost unable to breathe because my mouth was so dry the back of my throat felt like it was stuck together! My heart was beating like crazy for several minutes after I awoke and I kept seeing crazy swirling colours! Several times within these past few nights I've actually awakened with my throat so dry it's felt stuck shut. I hope it's nothing serious and the problem will go

away on its own along with the rest of this stubborn cold. That's all the news I can think of for now. Love, Margaret P.S. Check THIS out!!!!!

Interview in Bobcaygeon Promoter

http://issuu.com/thepromoter/docs/the_kawartha_promoter_october_18_20/19?e=0

Latest Adventures of the Travelling Dolls

Above left and right were both taken at the CW Parker museum Below left: Abilene, right: Kansas City Zoo

The Kansas City Zoo had all these interesting rock sculptures outside the front gates where kids could climb, tumble and slide and the ground surrounding them was made of spongy rubber!!!

This elephant statue was also at the Kansas City Zoo. I may not have had time to get the traditional Doll in Elephant Trunk picture on the actual carousel this year but at least I got one at this statue. Worlds of Fun was full of these gorgeous fall displays with various pumpkins, squashes and gourds everywhere!

When Janette was here I updated our dolls' I've Been Everywhere dresses and she showed me the American bug she made to bring along on next year's trip. Her name is Dixie. These are the Tshirts I bought for us at the Wizard of Oz museum!!!

See You Next Month!!!!