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found an ebay auction for these three....
the seller labels them "Dollywood Defense Dolls" and references an article in the November 1995 issue of Doll Reader magazine written by Patsy Moyer. I'll have to swing by my favourite second-hand book shop this weekend and see if they have that issue moldering in their basement.
if you're a kid.
or an adult who still feels like a kid!
(drum roll please!)
The Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Play in Rochester New York!!
we spent a lovely day there, accompanied by our fair lady Cass.
the new butterfly room...
a gi-normous moth...
behind the window is the chrysylis incubator room.
the delicate creatures love our lady Cass.
on to the doll collection rooms...
I love seeing the toys I used to play with in a museum...
there are also lots doll houses, mechanical toys, trains, Barbies, trinkets of all sorts.
this looks like it was home made... it is covered with snipped and arranged match sticks...
there are also tableaux of everyday life (kitchens, clothes, food, etc, too much to mention!) there is even a styrofoam McDonald's coffee cup in there!
The Strong Museum also houses the "National Toy Hall of Fame" and honored along with the Legos, Lincoln Logs, Play Doh and Barbies, was the Card Board Box! yup... the lowly card board box.
there is also a full size, kid size grocery store. Loo and Cass spent an hour busily working behind the bakery counter
then we went exploring the many other hands-on science rooms.... (crazy crooked optical allusion room)
then, exhausted, we stopped for a refreshing beverage in the boxcar Skyline diner....
I just discovered 'bloglines' and I don't know how I ever managed to survive without it! yipee! so much easier to keep track of all my favourites.
spent all day creating scenarios and photographing my dollies for etsy listing. great fun. (especially for Sally and Kiwi-the-kitty who insisted on helping)
yesterday I found the couch I have been looking for for YEARS. a perfect specimen of late 1940's domestic bliss... no stains or smells or fading or tattiness of any kind for only $20!! of course it weighs a ton, so thankfully I have a husband that does not mind hauling heavy whim purchases of mine up a long flight of stairs. everyone is happy.
Kiwi's side...
Sally's side...
(see? they're getting along very well)
also yesterday went to another of our favourite second hand bookshops. bought collected Grimms' tales, H.C. Anderson's tales, Palmer Cox Brownie book. and found tucked high on a shelf this dazzling old doll stove. I covet... but, it needs to wait until next payday. hopefully no one else will nab it 'til then.
hibernating.
a few weeks ago when it was -12F, and the pile of snow at the end of my driveway was well over my head, and I was complaining and cursing bitterly, I comforted myself with this thought...
"at least it's not 95 degrees"
and then I thought, if I had to choose between spending the rest of my life in 0 degree weather or 90 degree weather, which would I choose?
0 degree. no hesitation.
and that's the kind of girl I am!
and because I don't have any other photos to post, here is one of Bob (left) on a nice, hot July 10, 1962. what you see is what you get... he's pretty much the same to this day.
already well into the new year and I have yet to declare my resolutions.
1. finish sprucing the 8 dolls I have kicking around; new hair, new eyes, new dresses, embroidered shoes. (the 4 pictured are done and waiting). list them on etsy. redesign the etsy shop banner. start the new doll and bear project that's been looming in the corners of my thoughts. redesign my blog. continue to work on my sewing skills.
2. finish the web design project I am currently working on. rustle up a new web design project to work on.
3. grow out my bangs.
4. do not undervalue or underestimate my creativity or skills.
there! those are pretty good.
oh, 5. blog more often.
I blame Loo for my blogging absence. really... it's his fault. after homework and bassoon practice he spends the evenings playing runescape with his (girl)friend while chatting to her on the phone. computer hog! although it pains me to admit this (Mac snob that I am), I am thinking of getting him a second-hand PC laptop for his birthday so I can get access to my beloved Mac back.
I have also been thinking of starting a second blog where I post scans of my old photo collection. but who am I kidding.
a while back, Bex over at 'Poppy an Mei Days' passed me the 'Community Blogger Award' (which made me cry). due to my lame-ness, I procrastinated passing it on! I intended to pass the Award on to Linda at 'Pottering,' but I just stopped by her blog and there is a "goodbye" post! *sniff* I hope she reconsiders. I would also like to pass it on to Amanda at 'Zinka Dinka Doo.' she seems like a warm and wonderful person and her blog always makes me feel good. and Claire at 'Ethel loves Fred' who is sparkly and wonderful. she makes me smile. (for some reason I am unable to leave comments on her blog). anyway, I pass the Award on, just give me a bit to figure this all out.
all three of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner last night... tasted a bit of the traditional lentil soup, ate too much good food, came home and zonked out. Loo woke me up at 11:50 pm so I could properly count down the last of 2007 and experience the splendor of a brand new 2008. yippee!!
I have been off work for almost 2 weeks now, and I am itching to get back... I have managed to get a bit of sewing done, but most of my time has been spent sitting around staring into space... or watching "Gomer Pile."
when I was in school, my painting professor, Jerome Witkin, would tell us that the amount of time you think about a project is just as important as the amount of time you work on a project. of course, when you're 21 years old, that becomes an instant lame excuse... "but professor, I did work on the assignment... I thought about it all last week!" but, now that I am older, I understand better. a lot of creative work can get accomplished in your head. (btw, Jerome Witkin, and his brother Joel Peter, are brilliant brilliant artists) I don't do much fine art anymore. maybe later in my life I will have the time to devote the hours of undivided attention it requires of me, but now, sewing fills the creative need, and it accommodates being interrupted every 15 minutes for whatever family 'emergency' is at hand.
so, new dresses... I was flipping through the French Marie Claire Home magazine at the book store and time and again my attention was drawn to the color schemes... particularly lots of black with a dash color. I decided to try it out with the vintage 30s dress pattern.
new technique for applying eyes (embroidered felt circles).
new technique for applying hair, not something anyone but me will notice.
new 'princess amadala' hairstyle attempts.
new pattern for shoes, which I haven't tried yet, but I am thinking about it.
I don't know why I haven't posted any photos of our tree... I like it when others do, but ours doesn't seem all that interesting! but I do have a good story...
one summer, when Loo was 3, he and I spent a day driving around out in the country searching for garage sales (any excuse to get out of the house). we stopped by one run by an old woman, and I noticed that underneath the display tables, she had two large boxes FILLED with old Shiny Brite ornaments. easily 200 glass bulbs, just thrown into the boxes tangled with lights and cheap tinsel. $5 for all of it. of course I snapped them up, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why I would want them! junk, she said.
I love this little bear statue I got as a Christmas present. he holds his own...
I am not religious at all. more accurately, I'm atheist. but I love religious art and tradition. the beautiful part of religions... not the dogma.
Loo and I had a funny little conversation right before Christmas... he was sort of asking permission to still believe in Santa Claus, even though most of his friends don't. I told him that, with certain matters, your beliefs are your own. there are people who believe in ghosts or spirits or angels or God or Santa Claus, and some who don't, but that doesn't make either wrong.
there is something to be said for magical thinking.
why do parents instill the belief of Santa Claus in their children and then, at a certain age, tear it down? is it some sort of rite of passage into adulthood? and what sort of adult does it make us? I ask this because I have been given grief for my views on Santa Claus. I believe in him, not in the literal sense, but in a larger sense. the myths and legends have been around for a long time and say a lot about us as humans.
whew, sorry there. see? I have spend to much time thinking.
Sally, snug as a bug...
