40. Waiting for the ferry to Świnoujśćie

What am I going to work on now? I haven't decided yet. Meanwhile I cleaned off my table and went on an excursion...

It was Sunday afternoon when we set out for Świnoujście. It has always been a bit of a problem when driving to Świnoujście, the last Polish town on the borderline with Germany, because it is situated on two islands. To get to the main part of the town one has to take a ferry. Sometimes the waiting time for the ferry is two hours!

As expected we saw a long queue of cars in front of us. After fifteen minutes' time we gave up and decided to withdraw.

What to do?.. We heard there was a nature reserve about here, but actually never had time to visit it. We might go there now, why not. Let's try and find it!

Very soon we found out it was a good idea.

A couple of swans

The reserve is called Karsiborska Kępa "Birds' Sanctuary" and it is situated in the region of back delta of the river Świna. The landscape is greatly diverse with over forty isles and the river meandering among them. From time to time a tourists' ship turns up. Lovely place, peaceful and quiet.

The reserve itself consists of broad meadows and pastures. Soon we were in the fields of grass waving in the wind all around and we heard birds' singing.

Some horses were grazing in the pastures nearby. They were quiet and admirable... 

On the horizon we noticed a group of cows... 

Since they were far off we started strolling in their direction stopping now and then. 

Unexpectedly we saw them quite near. They were moving towards us, 

some of them even running, what was worse they were on the same path as we. 

Probably they crossed wires fencing the fields... 

We quickly retreated, and the cows.. after a while they left in the direction of the river.

Polish primitive horse (Konik polski), specific Polish breed with beautiful blue dun hair coat.

Here you can see some local farmers' horses grazing in the reserve pastures from spring to autumn.

In the neighbouring village there was an interesting mediaeval church from 15th century. 

And the flowering grass everywhere. 

Heron or crane? Who knows. 

The path where we saw cows.

We had a lovely afternoon here. 

The next day I wanted to go back to this lovely place. 

Thank you for your visit.

Have a nice weekend.

39. What is Marianne like?

If you visit my Etsy shop you will meet Marianne there. She is 17 inches tall.

MARIANNE is a lovely Waldorf girl-doll, a true doll with soul. She is ready to love 

and hoping she will find a home with someone to play with soon... 

She is waiting impatiently  for a new adventure in her little doll's life.

Look at my bow? It is such fun!

What is Marianne like? She is a gentle loving doll. 

She will be the best companion for a girl at the age of four or more.

You will find more stories about Marianne and plenty of her pictures in the previous posts - 

about the beginning of our acquaintance, then about her character and a long dress, and at last about where she came from. 

Or you may just click the label "doll Marianne" at the bottom of the blog .

Below "Marianne's description". 

Marianne is a Waldorf inspired doll. She is about 17 inches tall. She is made from a special smooth fair toned cotton jersey designed for dollmakers (swiss cotton with Oko-Tex label). She is firmly stuffed with clean, carded sheepswool, but soft enough for hugging. Her head is created in the traditional Waldorf style. Marianne's simple facial features are embroidered with floss. Her face is delicately coloured with wax crayon. She has coloured cheecks and nose. For her hair I have chosen several kinds of different woolen yarns, like mohair and boucle, of different thickness and colours. I made her hair by applying strand by strand to the embroidered head. It is very strong. Her hair can be changed, and it needs to be finger styled.

Because she is made of sheepswool, Marianne is soft, warm and nice to the touch. It is very pleasing to hold her and cuddle. She smells of home and gives her little friend a sense of security. 
MARIANNE comes with two complete outfits of clothing: 

Two pairs of underwear, long dress and petticoat, a nightdress, cardigan, bootees, pixie bonnet, shawl, blouse, trousers, bootees/socks, hair band to tie hair and ribbon. 

Her clothes are hand washable only! and laid flat to dry.

Marianne is suitable for children 4 years old +.

The doll herself and all her clothes are made from natural materials: her underwear, dress, petticoat, trousers and a nighgtdress from cotton; bootees, cardigan, shawl, hairband and ribbon from wool,

For more information about how to care about Marianne visit my blog ("Waldorf doll care tutorial" page).

Thank you fro dropping by.
Have a nice time!

38. A forest lake

Do you remember when Marianne wanted a long dress? 

I thought it was one of her new fantasies she was always ready to make up
. She usually had many stories to tell especially on our evening walks by the sea. Most often we climbed the cliff. 

And when we approached the wooden stairs descending to the beach she sat at the top and looked at the sea glittering  down in front of us... 

Yes, Marianne liked the sea. 

**

On that day we went to the forest. When I stopped at the parking area, we saw a little forest lake nearby. Marianne ran to the small wooden pier, sat down and happily looked around. Oh, the place was so admirable.

Light blue clouds were mirrored in the water alternately with the reflections of the trees 

growing on the bank. We were enchanted by this stunning landscape.

When I looked around I had a feeling I had been here before. But no... the point is that the lake with the surroundings resembled another place with a very similar forest lake 
I had been to. Hence, the impression... Yes, it was there where I met Marianne. Just a moment, how did it happen..?

Oh, yes. I remember there was something wrong with my rucksack. I turned my head and saw little legs and arms sticking out of the rucksack. And then I noticed Marianne...

But now Marianne sits at the end of the pier watching reflections in the water and enjoying a quiet time beside the lake. Suddenly she saw an old spider's web. She settled herself opposite the web, leaned against the embedded post and started jogging the web lightly with her foot.

"Be careful, you will fall into the lake."

In answer she smiled at me knowingly. - "Do you remember?" I nodded and said to myself "very clever indeed".

"How did it happen that you were in my rucksack?"

"I came from a fairy-tale land. " - I heard her pleasant voice. 

"I asked you for a long dress, because once upon a time I wore long dresses.." 

I looked at her and Marianne, I could swear, she winked at me...

In a moment she wasn't here. She was running down the path to smell some forget-me-nots growing by the lake. It was all fairy-tale.

We had a lovely afternoon in the woods walking, listening, seeing and talking.

**

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy days.