Saturday, September 30, 2006
Belfast, Maine, 7:45 PM

Dear Hitty Girls Members:

I arrived in Belfast late yesterday morning and Miss Nancy's mail carrier was nice enough to put my postal box inside the front door, in the foyer, as it was raining fiercely. The carrier must have known how special and anticipated this package was. Miss Nancy's girls helped open the box and waded through all the wonderful hostess gifts to get to my carrier, and then brought me out to relax a little. We did not do anything yesterday (except enjoy the marvelous hostess gifts - you are all too kind!) because of the rain but I do understand that many things are planned for this week, including my attending the first doll show in the area next Sunday. What fun! Miss Sue from NE Maine will have a display and I will visit that with her. Miss Nancy hopes that she and I and Miss Sue can visit Bangor, and see some of the Stephen King "haunts" - one writer to another.

From Miss Nancy's home here in Belfast, I can hear the soft lap of the bay waves and have politely asked if we can go to see the water and everyone agreed. We did not go today because it was quite cool and the ground was quite sodden. We are giving it a day to dry out before we explore the area. If she can manage the tiny digital camera that a friend sent her, we can share photos right away. If not, we will have to do it the old fashioned way.

Miss Nancy lives directly across the street from the lovely Belfast Library and has promised that we can go to see which of my books are stocked there. I know she was happy to see a recent movie based on one of my favorite writings, "A Pavilion of Women", so we will see if the library has that book, and will take some photos there. She also has a friend who raises Jacob's sheep but I do not know if we will get to visit the farm. We may visit the local quilt shop (also called "Nancy's" - but not belonging to Miss Nancy) to see what oriental fabrics are in stock.

I was very surprised to hear that Miss Nancy used to live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and she told me all about her love of Doylestown, where the Pearl Buck House is located, and the surrounding areas. I learned of a lovely farm called Cedar Ridge, home of horticultural photographer Derek Fell and his wife. I know she loves being here in Maine but I think just for this travel doll event, she wishes she were back in Bucks County to show me the area with which she was so familiar. She has asked the Pearl Buck House to send some memorabilia to her, so that it can be included in my travel box. Now it is my turn to tell her all about Stockbridge, and then we can plan her week. I think the Hittys here are getting tired and ready for a book and then bed, so I shant keep them waiting. Maybe they would like to hear part of one of mine? Of I can tell them of all the children I have known. They tell me of a wonderful children's author called Patricia Polacco, so I am sure we will examine some of her books, as well as those of Marguerite de Angeli, another favorite here. One of her books is about a little Quaker girl from Philadelphia and is called "Thee Hannah". I must try to remember if Marguerite is a contemporary of mine. Miss Nancy loves reading and has quite a book collection, children's and otherwise, so I am sure I will not run out of reading materials while I am visiting here.

More tomorrow after we venture out! Pray the rain stays away, at least for part of the day. She has promised I can collect some shells for me, that will stay with me and go to my new home at the end of the traveling time. Have a good evening - it's perfect for some hot chocolate here in Maine.

With love,

Hitty Pearl S. Buck

Sunday, October 1, 2006
Belfast, Maine 8:59 PM

Dear Hittygirls members:

What a special day today was. Miss Nancy headed north from Belfast around noon today, taking me, Hitty Elisabeth, Hitty Gloria and Hitty Erin to meet Miss Sue at the Girl Scouts office where she works. A late phone call before Miss Nancy left had Miss Sue wondering if she had gotten lost.

We traveled north on US Route 1, first crossing the Passamaquoddy River in Belfast, then alternately driving along side of the Penobscot River and Penobscot Bay. By the sides of the highway, the sumac was bright red. There were some hints of gold but the real leaf turning has not happened here yet. I believe it starts in the colder areas first, more north of Belfast, or even where Miss Sue lives in Bradley. Miss Nancy's Beagle, Smokey, came along for the ride.

First stop was the statue of Paul Bunyan in Bangor. I don't know if you can read the details from the display board next to the statue. Suffice it to say, he is enormous! Paul Bunyan's statue is located in park near the Bangor Auditorium. There is also a wonderful skate park there for children. The statue is to commemorate the logging history of this area.

Dear Hittygirls, I continue here:

After seeing Mr. King's home, we went to Mt. Hope Cemetery also in Bangor, where Mr. King's movie, "Pet Semetary" was filmed. Miss Sue and Miss Nancy were sure the location was just up the hill from where we drove in. The cemetery is very old with some graves dating back to the Revolutionary War! There is one separate area with a monument for Korean War veterans, approached by a walkway lined with the flags of different countries. There is also a replica battle tower from the Civil War and we posed by it. Nearby were hydrangea trees that fascinated Miss Nancy and with her camera she took some very close up photos of the flowers (to follow later, after film developed). We also visited the Thomas Hill Standpipe, the largest covered water tower in the US. Miss Sue said that at certain times of the year, you may actually climb all the steps to the top. Today was not one of those times, thank Heavens. I do not think our "pins" could have borne it - dolls and humans alike. The Standpipe is actually a steel container inside a wooden outer covering. I believe it holds 1.7 million gallons of water. Only some of the photos are being shown at this time. The rest will be sent to Miss Julie for the Travel Doll Pages, but we wanted you to have an idea of what we saw today. (I may have the order confused here - cemetery versus standpipe but Miss Nancy and I are very tired and need to check details with Miss Sue.

The second picture top right shows a whoopsie where the wind caught my skirt and knocked me over but I did not fall. Better picture to follow. I am just fine, no harm done. (It was QUITE breezy!)

This is the lighted fountain at Cascade Park.

Hitty Pearl S. Buck

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Belfast, Maine

Dear Hittygirls:

Today was a day of rest. Yesterday, I did accompany Miss Nancy on a trip to Rockland, Maine to get a new printer (wish we had had those in my day!) and while I saw many beautiful sites along the coast, there was road construction and we were not able to stop for photos. We hope to venture out again tomorrow, but needed this rest time.

I wanted to send you two "whoopsie" photos taken by Miss Sue while we were on our outing on Sunday. The wind blew pretty fiercely at times, especially for a little person like me, and I did have some troubles staying upright. All is well and I am no worse for the wear. Enjoy. (In the bottom photo we were by the statue of Paul Bunyan, trying to get the backdrop to stay upright, which it (and I) did not seem to want to do!

Hitty Pearl S. Buck

Dear Hitty Girls:

For a few days, Miss Nancy feared I would have no further adventures while here in Maine, due to some very high winds on the two days we drove to the beautiful seaside town of Camden. She has a few favorite spots for photos along the way but on one day there was road construction and we could not stop (in addition to the wind) and on the second, just the wind prevented my sitting still for any photos. I thought that after the one shot of my unders as I went whoopsie-daisy while in Bangor, that was enough of that unladylike behavior.

Last night I did get to dust off my sewing skills and help Miss Nancy make a Halloween costume that she will send off to Miss Ann in the group tomorrow. Her Hittys are begging her to make another but I don't know that she will before this Halloween. She had gotten just enough fabric for one, so it would mean another trip to the fabric store. Unlike our native Bucks County, PA (Miss Nancy's and mine) where fabric stores are very plentiful, they are few and far between here. There is a store with quilting fabrics not too far from her home, maybe 3 miles, and a discount store near Miss Sue that has some very nice cottons, but no stores for the other types of fabrics she needs for those French bisque girls that can be a little demanding at times. One of Miss Nancy's Bleuettes has gone to live with Miss Sue and the NE Hittys, so now she has only one. I assume so long as there is just one, there will be less signing and foot tapping over anything she makes. Back to the costume - it was great fun to help her sew it and after it has arrived at its destination, I am sure photos will be shown but for now, we may limit those photos to preparatory ones only, so as not to give away the surprise!

Today was a glorious day to spend by the bay here in Belfast. The beach here in Belfast is unlike that to which Miss Nancy is accustomed in New Jersey, where there are sand beaches. The Belfast beach is a rock beach and I am surely hope I was not a pest today while begging her to stay just a little longer while I explored, hoping to find some wonderful treasures to take along with me when I leave tomorrow. I did find some fabulous shells, some beautiful rocks that look like jasper but aren't, one piece of beach glass and a white seagull feather - oh, and a piece of driftwood. There are the most marvelous little shells here, home to a tiny critter called a periwinkle. I gathered a few of these and some of the sand also. These treasures are now sitting in a very weak bleach solution so I do not take along any fishy odors on my travels. It was a day for treasure finding and for saying Good Bye to this beautiful coast of Maine. Hitty Gloria and I had a rest after scouring the beach for our finds, just to relax and talk over the past week. What fun it has been, and there will be more pictures when the photos from Miss Nancy's other camera are developed, but for now, here are a few from this afternoon and maybe later, we will have just a sneak peak at our sewing from last night! Enjoy. I will be on my way tomorrow, across this great land to the other coast.

With love,
Hitty Pearl S. Buck

Here is one last photo of my beach treasures, washed and drying. Not as bright as the outdoor photos but maybe once they are dry, we can get a better one. Some of the mussel shells have the prettiest sheen, almost like they have been polished with pearl dust!

Hitty PSB

The two hostess gifts Nancy chose.