First, the really good news. Our friend Adrian, who is suffering from heart failure, was officially approved for a heart transplant. He’s in a hospital in Los Angeles, and all candidates for a heart transplant have to go through days and days of testing, after which the data is gathered and analyzed. The final step is to present it to a committee/group of experts (I think there around 40 of them) who then decide whether to approve the transplant. Adrian was approved. I don’t know where he is in the queue, but I do know there are people ahead of him.

Lots of prayers going on around here.

And now to my fun world:

Lucy is modeling new suspender pants from one of my favorite customizers and designers – Dakawaii Dolls. Naoka lives in Japan. I love, love, love her dolls but, unless someone puts a stack of money in my hands, I can’t afford them. They’re exquisitely done and in a style that no one else has. She put this pair of pants up for sale on Etsy and I decided to buy them. And I don’t know how she does it, but she doesn’t charge for shipping and the package arrives very quickly. Naoka’s clothing style is sort of slouchy and casual. My only other piece of her clothing is that gray, hooded coat that I love so much.

Lucy is the perfect girl for this kind of look. Isn’t she cute in this?

Do you know that when Lucy arrived in the mail, her head was not connected to her body? I’m not kidding you. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I wrote to her customizer immediately and she was shocked. She even showed me photos of her in the box that she had taken right before she sent her out in the mail. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to get the head back on and her neck joint was one I wasn’t familiar with. In fact, I hadn’t changed any neck joints yet, nor had I opened a head. I worked and worked on it, screamed more than a few times, and finally got it attached, though it was always a bit wobbly. Eventually, when I started replacing neck joints on some other girls, I changed Lucy’s out, as well. It works so much better now.

Back to the unattached head. I have to believe that it was opened up in customs. Did they think she was filled with contraband of some kind? There’s no way it just came apart, as the head was screwed shut. I think they took her apart and then didn’t know how to put her back together again. Definitely the strangest thing that’s happened in this hobby. Lucy hails from Ukraine.

I changed Imogen into overalls and thought it just might be the time for a small group photo.

They look like they’re about to get into some mischief. Imogen, especially, looks guilty. And that Bertie, with his little beret! What is he thinking?

Backstage:

I use a few different methods to prop up the girls, but a good old-fashioned wooden skewer works best on the wood floors and picnic table on the porch – also on our little stretch of sidewalk. I insert the pointed end into the crack between the planks. Best of all, I’ve had a bag of these skewers in my kitchen drawer for years, so it’s free. For more complicated poses, I use some implements made for Blythes. Next time I use one, I’ll show it to you.

I’ll slowly be redressing all of the dolls over the next several days, so you’ll get more photos.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.