Yay, brownies!
Just don't give them clothes to thank them....
Hurrah for helpful denizens, and reappearing faucets, and working hearths!
When other mothers might have referenced starving children in Africa, my mother brought chimney boys down on my thoughtless head. I still feel guity about them to this day. Children nowadays don't know they're born, as we say in this neck of the woods, and thank goodness for it.
What? I thought all chimney sweepers looked like Dick Van Dyke and sang "Chim chiminey."
How lovely of the brownies to give you the faucet back. They must be happy with you.
Well if that isn't that the rat's behind! That kitchen hearth is going to be a really special place, when it's finished 
It certainly would appear that the local, other-dimensional inhabitants of your area approve (and encourage!).
ANNE! I just found your blog because my mom gets Pittsburgh magazine and read it way after the fact and then said, "Wasn't Anne Brannen one of your dissertation advisors?" Uh, yeah, and her dear husband too! So, via the article about Pittsburgh bloggers and then searching around to find you, I eventually located your wonderful blog and have been catching up.
Bear's Retreat just sounds wonderful. I'm glad you still have the bees, which I remember from a visit to your house long before Bear's Retreat.
I too would want skinny urchins to clean my chimney, but what can I say; we Victorians have to stick together.
I can't believe your dear boy is so big now as I remember when he was born (kids hate when you say that, don't they?)! Our Andy is 5 now and just so much fun.
Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and lots of faerie friends for 2007,
Janet of the George MacDonald Fan Club Fame!
You are a wise caretaker of Bear's Retreat. The brownies seem to be understanding this. Plus, I suspect that they are quite pleased by the kittens. Brownies and Siamese cats get along splendidly, I know!
Never neglect the unseen!
Wow. You do have some extremely understanding -- and capable -- brownies. Do you suppose they have any cousins who would like to live in a 1950s tract house?
The suburbs of Seattle got hit by wind last night, so I blogged it.
I believe that faeries or house brownies accompany the occupant. Our home is but 17 years old, yet we have a mischievous presence who abducts car keys. They are always returned and put in a prominent place; the kitchen counter, the laundry room floor, but after absences of up to six months. So Cordelia can have some brownies if she wishes; she just has to believe that they can be fun.
A truly old home can benefit from a flue shot or a hearth transplant.
It's nice they gave your faucet back. I can only assume, when these things happen, that there must have been a very good reason to take the faucet away for awhile. How exciting to get a fireplace in your kitchen! And I love the pic of Bear's Retreat.
Anne, thought you might enjoy this book on the Texas Gulag as it has a section on A J Walker.
Hmmm, could you pass along the successful flue installer info? We similarly have a 210-year-old chimney, on the east side of Pittsburgh (the Fullerton Inn, North Huntingdon): the previous owners (who moved across the street into a log house) said "sure, you can use the chimneys", the flue guy said "no, I'd recommend against that", and the annual rock-falls of creosote boulders seem to lend credence to the flue guy's suggestion. 
Commenting by HaloScan
