A little hobby is a dangerous thing

My life-size home décor has been described as "early dormitory," with mismatched chairs, inexpensive kitchenware, and posters stapled to the walls. Among the most boring stores to me are the enormous furniture or household emporiums with five varieties of sofas and bathroom rugs. I look at the price of a simple tea kettle and decide I can boil water in one of my three sauce pans.

But shrink everything down to dollhouse size and I can spend many hours and many dollars on that perfect Victorian couch or a really tiny barometer for a dollhouse living room wall.

It's always easy for me to pass up clothes for myself, also, but I'm a pushover for an adorable pair of jeans, 2 inches long, or a winter cap made from the fingertip of an old woolen glove.

I made a trip to Shellie's Miniature Mania in San Carlos, CA, about a month ago, with the idea of setting up a signing. I did that, but I also found the tiniest kilt, the most amazing 1/32-inch paper clips, and other items that I had to have, including lots of guns. (It's always fun to ask a crafts store owner: "Where are your weapons?")

You have to love miniatures stores. Where else can you spend hundreds of dollars and walk out with everything in one small bag that fits in your purse? (Okay, jewelry stores, but I'm not really attracted to them!)

What else am I'm willing to do/spend for my hobby? Much like Joanna, in her great blog yesterday, I have lots of travel-far-and-wide stories, detouring for a miniatures show or shop.

Once I spent a whole day's per diem from my employer! I was in Chicago on business. I'd heard so much about the Thorne rooms, but never seen them. I was disappointed to learn that Art Institute, where 68 of the rooms are housed, was clear across the city from the hotel where I was staying.

After work, my colleagues headed for happy hour and dinner; I got in a cab and spent my entire per diem ($75, a lot at the time) on a round trip to the museum.

The Indianapolis Children's Museum has one Thorne room that I've never seen. If I'm missing at one of the panels at Bouchercon this fall, you'll know where to find me!








The Thorne Miniature Rooms enable one to glimpse elements of European interiors from the late 13th century to the 1930s and American furnishings from the 17th century to the 1930s. Painstakingly constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot, these fascinating models were conceived by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago and constructed between 1932 and 1940 by master craftsmen according to her specifications.