Riverside Lodge

Riverside Lodge

Sunday, 5 November 2017

Lucky Day

Good day to you! My name is Ralfie Hazelnut and you may know me from previous entries on this blog. I am friends with Jemima Periwinkle and a Biwubear named Fudge. Today I would like to tell you a story about my sister Rona and me, but first have a look at this.

One day, Nina invited Rona and me (and Rosi, the teddy bear) to look out of her window, because there was something interesting going on in a tree. 

We saw a furry red tail sitting on a branch. (Shame I haven't grown mine yet. Momma says I'm still little and if I eat up my oatmeal every morning I'm sure to grow one too.) 

'Course it wasn't just a tail sitting on that branch, it was an entire squirrel. A really big one. With ears and all. You can see them here sticking up over the branches. They were round, just like Rona's and mine.

The giant squirrel was crunching on some yummy hazelnuts of which there were A LOT that day.

And it just couldn't get enough.

Which is why it simply went on eating, even after falling off of the tree branch!! Rona and me laughed so hard and we were also a little envious of this awesome eating tecnique, though I'm sure my Momma would never approve of it!  

Back inside the house, Nina had taken out her beautiful autumn wreath and decorated it similar to last year. 

She said it looked like keeping a tiny piece of forest on top of the living room table. Fox seemed happy to have acorn fairy's company, I think.

And last but not least, have a look at Nina's collection of squirrel items. Rona and I offered to pose for this photograph, too!

Nina made this jar filled with things from the forest. She simply took two laaaarge mushrooms, some sand and stones, pieces of wood, some leaves and berries and filled it all into a jar. Have you spotted the jar's green inhabitant? 🐸

Now, back to my story! 

Rona and I were walking through the park. It was my lucky day, because Rona hadn't spent an afternoon with me in a looong time. She's usually busy studying or practicing the piano or meeting with her friends.

We had been to the playground where we had first played ball and then tag and then pirates on a ship. I thought we were going back home when Rona suddenly said:

"Ralfie? Would you like to have a snack?" 

"Huh?" I asked. I didn't know what she meant. We hadn't packed anything for a picnic.

Rona retrieved something from the pocket in her dress and showed it to me.
"I just remembered I've got these two coupons for the Vintage Snoopy Café! Maybe we can get two for one, or a drink on the house or something!" she said all excited. 
"Wowie!" I told her, thinking of whatever sweet and delicious might be waiting for us there. "Sure Rona, let's go!"

"We have to call Mom and Dad first and ask if it's okay. I told Momma we'd be back by four thirty," Rona explained as she walked toward the red telephone booth. I was kind of distracted watching the little critters that were scuttling around between the orange leaves.

"Rona?" I murmured while she was on the phone with our Momma, "ask her if we're allowed to order cookies. Or pie." 

Rona did what I asked, then listened into the phone and said "Uh-huh... Uh-huh! Okay, thanks!"

"It's our lucky day, Ralfie!" Rona laughed. "Momma said we can go if we're home by six and that we can have ANYTHING we like!"


When we entered the Snoopy Café there was a free table next to a shelf. It had a green plant on it, cut into the shape of Snoopy's head. 

"I'll take the chair and you can sit on the bench, Ralfie," Rona said.

"Welcome to the Snoopy Café!" said the friendly waitress.

Rona helped me onto the bench. (My legs are kind of short, you know. Momma says I'm still little and if I eat up my hazelnut casserole I will grow to be very tall and strong.)

"Look Rona," I said, as we were checking out the interior of the café. 
"Is that a gift basket?" 
"I think so," Rona answered. 
It was filled with a bunch of goodies from the store. 

"I'd sure love to have one of those..." I said.

Then the waitress came and we made our order. 

"Did you kids know that it's Snoopy's visiting day? He comes once a month to talk to customers and sign autographs. He's on his way here now."

"Wowie!!" I said for at least the millionth time that day and dashed back and forth on the bench 'cause I was so happy. 

"I can't believe our luck, Ralfie! Now we can meet Snoopy in person."

And we were even luckier than we thought, because Snoopy didn't come alone. He brought his good friend Woodstock. At first Rona and I were a little tongue-tied, 'cause how are you supposed to keep your cool when you actually get to meet two CELEBRITIES?? 

But Mr Snoopy and Woodstock were really friendly and easy-going and it didn't take us long to feel like we had known each other for a long time. I was sitting next to them on the bench as the waitress brought us our drinks.

I let Mr Snoopy sip on my fruit tea, while Rona had her sweet cocoa and Woodstock sat on the table telling dog jokes. 

I don't know anything about running a business and decided to concentrate on my snoopylicious pie as Woodstock and Mr Snoopy discussed weird stuff like "proceeds" and "budgets" and "taxes". 

Mmmmh, my chocolate pie was reeeaaally good!!

After Mr Snoopy and Woodstock had left and Rona and me had eaten up, more and more people were leaving the café to go home. Rona suddenly jumped up from her chair and cried, "Oopsie! I absolutely, totally forgot about the coupons!! I wonder whether we can still use them now, after we've already ordered. I'll go and ask."  

"Okay," I said.

"I totally forgot I had these coupons. Can we still get a drink for free or something?"

"Let me see," the waitress said. "Oh no, these aren't coupons, I'm sorry." 
"Oh..." said Rona and she was really very disappointed.

But the waitress wasn't finished. "Those are two raffle tickets and the number on the black one means you've won our main prize!"

"Whaaaaat?? I think it's our lucky day!" Rona squealed.

And it really was, because Rona won the awesome gift basket and promised she would share the contents with me.



  1. Oh Nina, what a lovely story! And those fantastic photos of the "giant" squirrel crunching his hazelnuts are absolutely funny. I must read and translate this post to my young great grandchildren.
    Hugs, Drora

    1. I hope your great grandchildren will enjoy my post! Your comment made me very happy, Drora, thank you! :)

  2. Nice story and beautiful scenes.

  3. Amazing story Nina! I loved the bit when Ralfie was talking about his tail and how it would grow if he ate all his oatmeal, what a great idea! The Snoopy cafe looks great! Rona and Ralfie were so lucky to meet the famous celebrities Snoopy and Woodstock! I loved this post, thank you!

    1. Your wonderful comment made my day, Emily!

  4. Such sweet displays and stories. Love how little Ralfie is being encouraged to eat all of his meals. What a wonderfully exciting day

    1. Many thanks, Sarah! Yes, Ralfie is always encouraged to eat up and he tries his best to do so, as he really wants to grow a tail as bushy as Rona's.

  5. Tjaaaaaa... eigentlich hatte ich schon heute Nachmittag kundgetan, wie wunderbar ich diesen Post finde... wie begeistert ich als Comic-Fan im Allgemeinen und von Schulz im Besonderen von diesem Snoopy-Café bin (der Woodstock-Stuhl!!! Hammer!!!)... dass ich vermute, dass Mutter Hazelnut einen einschlägigen Bestseller (100 Tipps und Tricks, damit Kinder gesundes Essen toll finden) auswendig gelernt hat... dass Euer Nussdieb oberniedlich ist... und noch einiges mehr... aber irgendwie hatte ich den Eindruck, dass mein Kommentar nicht angenommen wurde. Also, falls Du nun zwei Kommentare von mir hast, weißt Du warum... und falls das der Einzige ist, habe ich wenigstens kundgetan, wie sehr mir dieser Post gefallen hat... vor allem auch der freundliche Umgang von großem zu kleinem Geschwisterkind... ich wünschte, da würde sich mal ein gewisser Jemand (ich nenne aber keine Namen) ein Beispiel nehmen...

    Liebe Grüße

    1. Birgit,

      Vielen Dank für Deinen tollen Kommentar! Wie bin ich froh, dass Du nochmals geschrieben hast, denn das war soweit der einzige Kommentar, der bei mir ankam!!

      Ich bin auch sehr froh darüber, dass Rona so lieb zu dem kleinen Ralfie ist. Und der liebe Ralfie wohl auch. Und der Weihnachtsmann noch viel mehr, weil er sich wenigstens bei den Zweien keine Gedanken zu machen braucht, ob sie ihre Geschenke kriegen, oder nicht...

      Wie toll, dass Du ebenfalls ein Snoopy-Fan bist!! :) Snoopy ist eindeutig "the best dog in the world"! Und der Stuhl ist wirklich der Hammer, der hat mir auch an dem ganzen Set mit am Besten gefallen. :)

  6. Hi Nina! That´s a lovely story . The first part about the real squirrel eating hazelnuts is great. The autumn wreath and jar are so beautiful!. Your squirrel items are adorable too. They make lovely autumn displays.
    I really enjoyed the second part of the story at the Snoopy Café. What a cozy place! It looks amazing!The cups, the posters, the furniture...everything is so cute!
    I loved the ending of the story. Rona and Alfie were indeed very lucky!
    Good luck to you too. Have a nice week!

    1. Hello Cutata, thank you for commenting on the autumn wreath and jar!!

      The Snoopy Café is turning into a favourite spot for many Sylvanians in Riverside.

      Rona and Ralfie have fond memories of their visit and use the items from the gift basket everyday.