🍰🌷 Happy (Belated) Birthday, Samantha! 🌷🍰
What with the move to the new apartment 📦, and then getting a cold 🤧 directly afterwards, I didn’t get to take Samantha on her usual birthday outing to the local botanical gardens 🪻🌼🌿 until last weekend; but last Sunday, I finally felt well enough, so off we went! Nellie and Jip 🐕 came along too, as usual, and this time Sam and Nellie brought along their own dolls, Clara and Nora, as well.
Stay tuned at the end for a few bonus pics of the gardens!
As it was properly summer now, the gardens were more hot and humid than in past years; still, the girls had a nice picnic amidst the blossoms.
After they ate, Marley brought out a (slightly flattened) gift wrapped in pink floral paper with a cream-colored bow. “Sorry, it kinda got squashed in my backpack,” he apologized.
“Oh!” Samantha exclaimed. “Look, Nellie! It’s the dress I wore for the talent show!” She held it up for her friend to see.
(NOTE: This is NOT the original Pleasant Company dress, because I am not nearly that wealthy! It is a very lovely — and as far as I can tell, faithful — reproduction from lovvbugg.com)
After they’d packed up their picnic supplies, the three friends wandered the gardens a little. Daring Samantha, of course, couldn’t resist the temptation to walk the edge of a fountain pool. “Please be careful, Samantha!” Nellie cautioned as her friend wobbled along the slippery wet stone, but Sam kept her balance and hopped down easily at the other end.
(NOTE: This actually was a bit of a dangerous photo op, even with the precautions I took, but once I’d had the idea I couldn’t get it out of my head! And it really did end up being perfectly fine.)
“You know,” Samantha commented to Nellie as they played with their dolls, “this place always sort of reminds me of when we first met. You remember?”
“Of course!” Nellie smiled fondly. “In the hedge with the lilac blossoms all around. You gave me a piece of your gingerbread. I was still working as a servant back then; I couldn’t believe the wealthy girl next door had taken an interest in me. And later on, you gave me Lydia!” She looked at the blonde doll in her arms. “I love Nora so much, but I do miss Lydia sometimes.”
“You’ll get her back, one day,” Samantha promised, laying a comforting hand on her arm (while Marley tried to conceal their own doubts on the matter 😅).
By now, the day had turned cloudy, and the sun slowly began to set. As the light faded, the mosquitos began their onslaught; shortly after, gusts of wind caused Nellie to glance nervously at the sky. “You don’t think it’s going to rain, do you?” she asked.
“Maybe we’d better leave, just to be safe,” Marley responded. “But let’s take a picture with all of us first!” But when another strong puff of wind made the tripod sway, Marley decided it was time to go. (It ended up not raining the whole way back, but just as the friends walked in the door of their new apartment, they heard the first drops patter against the windows! “Good timing!” Marley breathed.)
