Happy stuff yesterday, then.

Yesterday I suddenly realized it was time to move the antique dolls to a new good home. 

They date front probably the 1930s. One's a baby doll, with an imprint on the back of her neck indicating  that vintage. Fully dressed in original clothes complete with cotton stockings. Her first little owner gave her the necklace and the knitter jacket and hat.

The sassy lady in the green dtess is a 1930s fad, the bed doll. Often women and teenage girls liked them as home decor rather than toys.

I'd noticed this morning, on the floor,  a little hand! And a bandaid on the porcelain doll's wrist. A quiet repair by a cleaner, maybe? I wondered if it had been glued years ago and finally fell off again. They'd be nice enough to try a temp repair.

Anyway the fact I hadn't even noticed told me it was time.

So i put up a Freecycle post, which yielded, as you might expect, a bunch of requests. I'd specified that I needed day and time of planned pickup in the first response. This is to head off people who want a penpal email correspondence. 

So that eliminated people asking are they still available. Or saying I can come any time. Or saying reproachfully how can you just give them away.

But one lady said they were precious and she would love to take care of them,  gave three specific times and days, very organized and serious. I thought she'd be the right person. She turned out to be just that.

 She e-mailed me after pickup, from right outside, it turned out to ask if I still had a shoe, in the picture but not on the doll. I found a upstairs on the rocker. She must have kicked it off when I picked her up.

So I went to tape it, in an envelope to the door in case the taker needed to come back. Abd there she was, hovering in hopes! Too polite to just ring the  doorbell! So we had a nice chat and she said maybe this doll's Cinderella! She was so happy, perfect match. 

I told her the history -- cane to me from a friend clearing her mother's house after her death in her 90s, found them packed away. The daughter never saw then before. Imagine, her mother never even showed her.

 She was sad about it and asked would I take them. So I did, years ago. The porcelain doll needs repair -- eyes out, but in the box was a little bag with the eye parts and mechanism, now passed on, with the hand, to the new happy home with Darlene. Joy abounds.

This new vacancy created some ructions amongst the downstairs knitted crew of Dollivers, tiny Queen of England in blue, of course,  and the red-haired firebrand young politician, my mother's hero, Ellen Wilkinson, and the Dolliver Kennels dogs.  Also budgetigars.

I made all these long ago and the Dollivers had their own following on Field and Fen on their photoshoot adventures. They've been quieter recently, tired out from touring.

Anyway the new tenant of the upstairs rocket is the bear I knitted those boots for, one day with a bit of scrap yarn and a need to make.

The Dollivers were delighted their noisy downstairs neighbor had moved out and they're now planning to evict the other bears, which came from a friend. We'll see. Boot Bear is glad to get away from the noisy Dolliver Kennels dogs, so all's well.

And I had a happy email from the boss of the Handweavers Guild of America, about the inclusiveness of  Textiles and Tea.

I don't think she'd mind if you read it

I told you they were good people.

And the misery gripping my shoulder is starting to loosen its grip, yay. No need for pain help for a couple of days now, so I'm more cheerful there too. 

That and a visit from little granddaughter next door in search of her tennis ball lost in the pachysandra, which we found.

Then last night's brilliant track event, at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games  see it on YouTube, 

Eilish McColgan, her Mom in the stands, winner of this event in her own track days, tears it up for Scotland.

All good. We need all this.

Happy day everyone, tear it up!

Storm passed safely, dolls in disarray

The storm was less dramatic than feared, minor flooding, son home from work before it got under way. All's well. But it's good I brought in the ficus. The storm would have battered her 

For non US readers, the title refers to the NYT (newspaper) every time the Democrats start doing good things, screaming headlines:  Dems in Disarray!

Meanwhile the moving caused a few attendant changes. There's not much choice of where to put furniture in this engineered space, without blocking your own path. So all my attempts result in minor effects.

I did move a couple of things, including the doll colony, which now looks like the shore in summer, an extrovert's delight. 

The Dollivers insisted that the bears be downstairs, in account of the noise. The bears thumped about and shouted what noise? We're good neighbors, we are. And what about them there dogs, barking and running and jumping? But the Dollivers won, as the handmade people do.

The bears' table is now a plant stand

Meanwhile in the space the Dollivers vacated, gracious living seems to be under way. 

This is looking more like a sociological study than home decor. All art is political.

See Forty Eight and Counting!

At year 48

Click there, for anyone wanting to see a wedding reception pic, also some repetitive blogging, just skip that if you've heard enough! It does amplify our rollercoaster relationship.  And there's a picture of us older.  This post was written just a few months before Handsome Partner died, on our son's birthday.  At that time we thought we still had years to go.

These last few days have been a whirl.  Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, Shrove Tuesday and wedding anniversary.  I don't know if I can handle the excitement around here!

 Here's the makings of pancakes for breakfast, complete with lemon juice and sugar

And here's breakfast.

One of my friends who likes seasonal decorating makes felt shamrocks to hang up. Now I'm thinking of a shamrock mobile in anticipation of St Patrick's Day, which I don't really celebrate, but I've nothing against shamrocks.  Meanwhile, here's a flock of birds to celebrate the return to the feeders. 

Each one has one white side, one black side, and they change with a breath of air. Here they're installed above a lamp, over the Dollivers and their dogs, and maybe a bit of heat will happen to move the air. There's usually hot air around the Dollivers. 

 

If you're new to this blog, check the labels on the rightmost column for Dolliver references, and enjoy browsing. It's a group of five character  dolls I knitted long ago, and costumed for various celebrations, who took on a life of their own, but are in abeyance just at the moment. Resting from their engagements.

And yesterday, when I opened the bedroom window earlier to breathe in the air, I heard a cardinal fluting away.  The birds seem to believe Spring will get here soon.

Every morning I open the window as soon as I wake up, to breathe in and smell the air and see what's up out there this morning.  It sets up the day. Today smells less cold and more damp.

Thanksgiving stage is set

 Thanksgiving has happened chez Boud.  And a lovely one it was.  We had a crowd, see below

*The complete turnout of Dollivers, left to right Blondie Firstborn, Dreads, NameMe, Call me Michelle, and Bette Davis.  With the complete Dolliver Kennels in their train. Left to right Shaggy Dog, see other pix for better views, Red Setter, Whippet and Wire Haired Terrier. Blondie Firstborn with Yellow Parakeet, NameMe with Turquoise Parakeet, Call me Michelle with Blue Parakeet.

Here's the table, set for action

And after asiago cheese and breadsticks, and a toast to us and Thanksgiving in the pomegranate juice cocktail,  Handsome Son off in the kitchen, starting to organize this

Is this not a sight to gladden the heart?  Piping hot, served to me without my lifting a finger.  What a treat. 

We finished up with the Victory Cookie and pots, plural, of tea. The VC started as eight pieces, and after eating and sending home with Handsome Son, now is two lonely pieces waiting for me to take care of them, not too hard, I think.

This was the most relaxing holiday I think I ever had.  The cheese and cracker starters were lovely, just chatting and munching, no concern about  things in and on the oven, timing them, watching the clock, just enjoying.  Handsome Son had everything organized, declined my offers of help.

Both very happy about various political outcomes and feeling much better about everything, especially the prospect of a vaccine not too long hence.

Lovely time.

*The Dollivers knitted and named by me, adapted from Knitted Babes, by Claire Garland, aka dotpebbles on line, likewise the parakeets, her pattern, my adaptation. The Dollivers have many outfits, mostly designed by me.  Knitted dresses and Bette Davis' hat from patterns in Knitted Babes.  Straw hats by me.

 The dogs are from the Knit Your Own Dog book, by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne.  The polar bear you saw a few weeks ago is from their Knit Your Own Zoo book.  Great fun. 

As is a lot of life at the moment!  

And here's what also happened: Handsome Son said he thinks this is how we will do holidays going forward.  Fine by me.

Happy Easter, happy spring, looking forward to better times Dolliver style

As usual it falls to us Dollivers to take care of everything around here. So we organized a seasonal display, brought out the animals we could trust not to wreck the joint, the Dolliver Dogs playing outside.

And here we are. Complete with kitten, cats,  our flock of parakeets, various eggs including ones Boud blows and decorates each year, not this year though, and porcelain ones and the little cockatiel eggs (from long-departed Emily Hope) in the teacup, the Easter Bunny, and whoever else we could conscript.

We are wearing old dresses. Old. Wearing out, they are. But we aren't complaining. Wouldn't be in the siege spirit. We're just saying it's time for new outfits.

 Where were we? Oh, right, happy Easter if you celebrate it, happy new beginnings if you don't, in fact that's a good hope for all of us right now.

Boud thanks us for stepping up, which we did with all the grace we're known for. She suggested that line, but we're not sure about the spirit in which she said it..

Ed. Note:

Speaking of grace, my son was very touched by a message from a friend of mine today, thanking him for faithfully working at the supermarket all through this siege, masked, gloved, worried and still working.

  Despite mobs of customers, many not understanding distancing, the ever present concern about infection, colleagues going down with covid-19.

 It used to be a peaceful job, suddenly an only modestly paid front-line position. Please thank your grocery workers. We often don't notice them much, and only now realize how vital their work is. Heroes also work to feed us.

It feels feeble to be staying home out of the way, but,  for some of us it's the most valuable thing we can do. My little family represents both ends of the spectrum right now.

But this too shall pass. Life isn't interrupted. This is all part of it. Shakuhachi.

Masks, you say? The Dollivers are on it.

To be exact they're on to finding fashionable masks for themselves,then  telling me how to wash the stuff I need in  order to make a couple for myself.

Here are (l)  Bette Davis, drama queen really getting into the first responder part, and (r) NameMe, dragooned by the other Ds who all got a headache listening to Bette rehearsing. They think she's not taking it seriously enough. NameMe is used to wrangling the Dolliver Kennels, so the others figured she could handle Bette.

They're just checking the cotton and silk and some interfacing into the laundry. I heard that it's good to include nonwoven material, such as interfacing, because it's less permeable than cotton. I've tried breathing through these fabrics and it seems possible.

I did a search to find materials, including those bendy things we used to call pipe cleaners and I don't know what they are now, elastic, ribbons and tape, and found most of the makings in the bag of dollmaking gear. No further shopping required.

Art has its side benefits. I made my own hand sanitizer from materials I had in the studio for other purposes, all of which had gone from the shops.

Not that I'm going anywhere, in a mask, but just in case there's an urgent dash for olive oil or some such basic requirement.

Considering I have neighbors anxious to shop for me, I'm not under pressure to get out. Postponed the shingles second shot, figuring this is no time to be under the weather, and I've got till July.  Postponed my auto formalities, extra two months added by motor vehicle agency anyway.

So I get to stay home, message my friends and keep out of the way of people doing the work for us all.

And hope we all stay well and find a little something to enjoy every day.  I'm doing my bit there.

The Importance of Being Dolliver

Good morning! Dollivers checking in after a hiatus during which Boud totally failed to provide new outfits, but oh well.

 For today's appearance we had to make do with last year's Spring togs. And last year's pic. But it did include hats, we like our hats.

New Year's silk outfits, complete with pink champagne, well, something sparkling. We've been wearing them ever since. Until finally we got to today's gear.

Every Easter,  Boud paints eggs she's blown, all different every year, just a few for special local friends.  This year may be a question, she always says we'll see when we ask. But we bet she does it. We'll break her down.

Meanwhile we're assisting with the daily music. She's singing along with the Cambridge Singers on YouTube, and we're looking for Coldplay or something.

Anyway, whatever works for you, do that, we say. And we're rummaging through our wardrobe basket for Future Appearances.

The Return of the Dollivers

New readers: these are character dolls I knitted and dressed, many outfits for many adventures, and did photoshoots with innocent bystanders, mostly very amused about the whole thing.  They've been on hiatus a while, mainly lying about and bickering.

They had their own blog following and maybe it's time to revive their shenanigans. If you want to see past adventures, check the right hand column for mentions and you'll find they've been around. Meanwhile here they are, loafing.

Left to right NameMe, Call me Michelle, Dreads, Blondie Firstborn, Bette Davis. Of course Blondie got the only fascinator, which caused a near mutiny among the crew. No, Michelle, not J. Crew.

And further down the shelves, tiny dolls mostly gifts

The rightmost is Canadian Doll, created by Dogonart. Look at her expression: stuck here with wooden folk art people, really!
Some of them are complaining that they got a terrible seat, right behind a pillar.

And Dogs on Beds. I knitted these from the Knit your own Dog book, species-accurate.

 Left to right, wire haired terrier, Irish setter, whippet, and mix.

They're from the Dolliver Kennels, under the supervision and training of NameMe. The shaggy dog is my original, not trainable and of dubious lineage.

So look out, reader beware, this is a bunch of characters I struggle to keep up with.

Thanksgiving 2016, Dollivers and musings

This year, since Handsome Son is working, Thanksgiving chez Boud and Dollivers, is moved to his day off, Saturday.  So, since for the twelve years I had the petcare service with never a holiday celebrated on the actual day, and he good humoredly handled it, year after year, it's my turn to be cool with celebrating on a different day.

So today is all about loafing and walking and watching Partners in Crime

 a very good production, with great twenties scenes, and cars, and clothes, and slang, and it's just totally spiffing, old bean!  highly recommended, too.

Also the entire crew, Dollivers, still in suffrage outfits, bears, Elton, still in stolen sweater, you'll notice the nude bear in the hat, it's his sweater, and the Tinies, and Greensleeves, and the entire Dolliver Kennels, all arrayed in comfort on the spare room bed, wish us all a good Thanksgiving.  They will return on Saturday with suitable songs and shenanigans, just resting up for now.  

New Big Doll has taken over the rocking chair in the bedroom, ejecting one of the bears, now in residence on the bed. She considers them waiting in line for an audience in her presence. Sitting squarely on the dolls' rocker, tiny feet crossed, one hand on the arm of the chair, she reminds me strongly of Queen Victoria. Well, Mr Disraeli, should we send a gunboat then?

And the bed doll considers herself no part of the toy world at all, and declined to make an appearance in this post.

Spending a rare holiday alone is also a great chance to make more of my million stars, and to muse on various and pointless things.
Things such as what's the world divided into.

Two sorts of people, makers and shoppers
Two sorts of people, madly gregarious and happy for a day solo
Two sorts of people, Dollivers and nonDollivers, poor things, guess who inserted this one
Two sorts of people, players of music and nonplayers
Two sorts of people, shouters and listeners
Two sorts of people, cooks and diners
Two sorts of people, gardeners and arrangers of garden furniture
Two sorts of people, home painters and hirers of contractors
Two sorts of people, smart and dumb

And if you print and cut all these out,  and shuffle them around a bit, you'll notice that all of us are any of these at any given time!  Except that the nonDollivers are stuck with it, but the Ds feel that's about right.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it today, and Happy Thursday if it's a regular working day for you, having sensibly got it all done and out of the way weeks ago.

Espe Brown, Knives, Procrastination and Dollivers

The title is a bit shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings, to mangle a quotation. But it all makes sense, stay with me.

The decision to frame all the planets in the planet suite, as explained in http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com
led inevitably to several other conclusions.  One is that I need to take a little break from headlong work in the studio, just to digest what's been happening in a very productive period, and to find my feet for the next pieces that need to happen.  This is while awaiting the frames on order and on their way.

So that meant learning to procrastinate a bit.  I'm not very good at this mostly, except where knives are  concerned.  I got into considering knives via Quinn, owing to a reference in her blog to Edward Espe Brown, a Zen priest and food person.  Not that I'm blaming anyone.  I'm just saying.

I do look on food as a meditative experience, and cooking as a process, not just a way of getting meals made.  So my attempt to just be, and to read a meditation/cookbook and kick back, seemed just about right for now.

So I checked out this book,  nice little essays interspersed with recipes some of which I already make, thought I'd invented, heh, nothing new etc.  But as I read, I realized after reading his chat about knives and sharpening and why you should, how can I do the process with blunt tools?   I thought, oh well.  No use just thinking about sharpening, I should just do it.  My kitchen knives are as blunt as anything. Not very Zen.

But Inner Self insisted that it's too much to do,there are tons of knives in that drawer, can't manage, sharpener too noisy, special snowflake and so on.  Outer Self said, oh shut up and check.  How many knives to you actually use?  welllll, chef's knife, one, poultry knife, one, paring one, breadknife one.  Whereupon Outer Self pointed out that means sharpening TWO knives.  Two.  The parer is sharp, the breadknife doesn't need sharpening. All the others can go to goodwill, never used.

So Inner Self heaved a sigh, got out the sharpener and in about four minutes give or take, the knives are sharpened, put where they won't bang into anything, the drawer is sorted, and there's a batch of knives to give away.

This is all your doing, Quinn, you and Brown.  The Dollivers were happy to pose with the book, far away from all the knives flashing about in the kitchen.  Anything for a quiet life.

However, learning to procrastinate has now been put off for a while..but the Ds probably have a few plans afoot regarding Valentine outfits, or maybe jewelry.

Herbs Ahoy! The Dollivers display their catch

So today, since I still have pesto galore from last year, still good and still usable, in the freezer, no need to make more, I decided to pick and freeze herbs as they are.  I left them on the stems, since I often want to just lay stems on top of roasting vegetables, and anyway I can always chop and process them when I'm using them.

The Dollivers claim to have done all the gardening and harvesting and picking and wrapping and labeling and so on, and here they are, sitting on the little chest freezer newly installed in the kitchen and filling up rapidly, panting and holding their scissors and tape and pen.

I picked basil, sage, rosemary, tarragon, oregano, peppermint, thyme, chives, parsley, and probably other herbs that escape me for the moment.  Then I wrapped them in ziplocs, tightly, rolled each labeled one in a rubber band -- this is proving a great way of freezing so as to retrieve items -- and arranged the lot in a kind of cylinder so one band holds all the bags, and you just turn it to find the herb needed.  

Not alphabetically, since my ocd doesn't run that far!  I pretty much picked as I remembered where the herbs were, and bagged them the same way.  But I did write the labels on scotch tape and stuck that on instead of labeling the bag directly.  I have too many containers with so many crossings out as they're re-used that it's hard to tell if I'm opening squash or shredded zucchini or apple dice.  This way I can take off the label when it no longer applies. Gosh, I'm clever.

Anyway, the Dollivers are proud of their expertise and made Greensleeves stay back in charge of the dogs in the D Kennels, since dogs are banned by them from freezer prep.  G. was perfectly happy for a quiet afternoon for once, with just bears downstairs and dogs barking.  And the Ds left their hats behind, so she's been trying on, but don't mention it to them.  Elton also took the afternoon to practice a few chords and changes.  I suspect he couldn't think of any songs that fitted with the freezing of the herbs.

Spring Equinox, Gardeners Ready..

Today being the Spring Equinox, at least as of this evening, the Dollivers and Greensleeves and a couple of dogs figured that the first day of Spring was planting time.  And after all, Boud had already prepared planters for seeding.

So, all togged up in spring dresses and with tools ready, the dogs eager to dig up whatever they planted, they were all dismayed to find we are in the midst of a snowstorm. 

After establishing that it wouldn't be possible to plant their Flower Carpet Bringing Butterflies and Hummingbirds, they turned their backs on the whole idea.  

Elton had already decided on his program, though, and refused to postpone it.  

So he played out their high dudgeon with Spring is In the Air, The Farmer in the Dell (bad idea, it caused ructions among the Dollivers as they fought over who was the Big Cheese in the song), and Oh What  a Beautiful Morning. Ever the optimist, despite experience.   You'll notice he had not abandoned his winter sweater and hat, though, spring or no spring.

GROW YOUR BLOG DAY 2015

Welcome to new readers, and thank you for coming back, regular readers and commenters.  See the button to your right, which takes you to the blog of the fearless leader of this annual event, Vicki, of Two Bags Full, whose idea is to introduce blogs to new readers and readers to blogs they might never have found before.

Meanwhile, back here, this blog is what you might call wide ranging, from stories of my houseplants and the adventures of being the neighborhood Plant Clinic Lady, not a job I applied for

To book reviews and why I liked or didn't what I'm currently involved in reading

To food and the adventures I have in the kitchen, creating and improvising all kinds of dishes, particularly with vegetables from my farmshare, and the occasional recipe review from other people's books

To the resident pets, Marigold the Burmese and Duncan, the Big Black Cat, and, watch this space, there may be a new resident chez Boud before too long, a singing one..

 Marigold here suspiciously checking on a mouse I knitted from yarn I'd spun

 And Duncan assisting with stick weaving

To all kinds of crafty and home decorish ideas usually low or no-budget ones

 No cost rearrangement to free up counter space

 No cost arrangement to provide myself with lower counter space to accommodate my lack of inches.

To my local walks in a beautiful region

Local events get in here, too, here the Italian American festival of 2014, best food evah

and last but they would say far from least, to the life and times of the Dollivers, my five character dolls, Blondie Firstborn, Dreads, Call Me Michelle, Bette Davis and NameMe, who have adventures in Field and Fen, get about all over the place, pose everywhere, and have their traveling accompanist, pianist Elton, who creates popup concerts on request.

They have an extensive wardrobe, thanks to their endless demands on Boud to create outfits, knitted, crocheted, stitched and draped, for every new venture

  
Serious weight training, left to right NameMe, Dreads, Call Me Michelle, Bette Davis, Blondie Firstborn

 Birdwatching at Cape May

 Doctor's office visit

  
2014 Westminster Dog Show at home, with Dog Wrangler Name Me dolled up to show her kennel, see the Westminster winner at her feet, from the Dolliver Kennels

NameMe is active in the kitchen, too, here making pasta from scratch

 She left the resident agility mixed breed in charge of the Easter eggs

 Pianist Elton leads a singalong

Friend in both art and music, Stefi accompanies the singers dressed in their best black

 And here the assembled company welcomes back the Chilean miners to safety, wearing sympathy hard hats

They love a wedding, note the fascinator worn by Bette Davis


This blog also comes with a little gift to be drawn at random from your comments on this blogpost.  To see it, scroll back a post or two..how cunning I am, forcing you to read more..but be aware that you don't need to sign up as a follower, though I'd love you if you did, and that you don't need a blog in order to be in the drawing for the little giftie.  

All you need do is put a comment in here.  Drawing will be on February 15th, when I'll announce the lucky winner and request an address to ship to.

And thank you so much for stopping by today, please browse here and enjoy the fun.