Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Nephews, Books, and Dolls

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It’s so brisk and cool out there this morning! I have a sweater on….what????  Our transition to Autumn weather was rather abrupt, but I’m fully on board. And the light is gradually changing to that beautiful golden light that I love so much.

Yes, if you missed it, my nephew passed the bar exam in Florida, so he is officially a lawyer. In August, he started working for the Pinellas County District Attorney’s office. Everyone who took this year’s exam commented on how hard it was – harder than usual, according to those who had taken it more than once. I’m so proud of him and all he has accomplished after having gone through a harrowing time when he was a teenager. My sister was there at his side through all of it, of course.

Monday was also the day in which Z was having surgery. (He’s fine, all is well. I’ll leave any details for Mere to discuss.) So, as Mere was driving him to the hospital, the phone rang and it was son #2 saying he’d passed the bar. Talk about an emotional day!

One of the books I’d been waiting for is now at my local library branch, so I’m headed over there later today. It’s the newest in “The Girl with… ” series – The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons.  I finished Yellowface  yesterday morning (loved it) so I’m ready for a new read.

Time for a couple of dolly photos:

Nina in her back-to-school outfit. Her body is a bit taller than the bodies of the other girls and her legs seem so long! I love the veins that the customizer painted on her forehead and eyelids.

And a Gene Marshall doll I managed to snag on eBay for next-to-nothing:

This doll is called Iced Coffee. I’ve loved it since I first discovered these dolls. But what I love even more are the great hair rolls and the SNOOD! Oh my goodness, I’ve always loved snoods. My hair, unfortunately, is too fine/thin for any kind of snood, so I’ll live vicariously through this doll. (She comes with the snood, necklace and a matching bracelet, earrings, and that brooch pinned at her waist.

If only we all had Gene’s impossibly small waist.

I know there are Gene collectors who dress and redress their dolls, even making clothes for them (and some of them are exquisite.) But I like them as they are and keep them in the outfits designed for that specific doll. Of course, there are lots of Gene outfits that were sold separately, so I suspect the way to deal with that is to buy one nude Gene doll and use that doll for modeling other outfits. I’ve learned a lot about this from my friend, Doug, who was one of the three original clothing designers for Gene Marshall. He has such fascinating stories to tell!

My Blythes are the dolls I play with and redress, because they’re so gosh darned cute.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

 

What Are You Reading?

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It rained all night and it’s raining this morning. We tend to go to bed and wake up early, so it’s still dark as we rise and stumble through turning the lights on and making the coffee. In the spring and summer, I love the fact that there is bird song and light when we first wake up. In the autumn and winter, I love rising in the darkness as there’s something beautifully cozy about it. As I start writing this post, the dark is just beginning to fade away.

It all comes down to nesting, I think. Hibernating. Shutting the world out.

That’s something we talked about this morning – being careful about what we let in on a daily basis. Protecting our little world here as we move forward. We’re going to make a concentrated effort to avoid the things we can’t control, to shut out the noise of endless ‘news.’ It’s taking a toll on both of us and we must protect the quality of our life. It’s entirely up to us.

I’ve written about this before. But sometimes it gets away from us and we’re overwhelmed once again.

I do think I had some sort of reaction to the vaccines – most likely the RSV vaccine which is new. It went on for a few days and that, combined with sinus trouble from the sudden change in the weather, made for a lethargic and slightly achy me.  I slept a lot. Hopefully, all of that is over now. We’ll get our Covid vaccination in October.

I’m reading Yellowface  by R. F. Kuang. She wrote Babel, which was one of my favorite reads this year. She is a gifted and inventive writer. I have more books on my hold list in the library system and I’m hoping a couple of those arrive at my library branch in the next few days. I also pulled out a newer biography of George Gershwin that I purchased last year – Summertime. I’ve read several bios about that brilliant man who is one of my favorite composers – but an in depth conversation with Don last year about my love for his music led to the discovery of this relatively new book, published in 2019. I sometimes like to read both fiction and nonfiction at the same time.

I suppose I’m missing reading two books at once, as I did all year long until I finished War and Peace.

So, our question for this Monday: What are you reading?

UPDATE: My nephew (Mere’s middle son) passed his bar exam!!!!!!!!!

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Vaccines, Finishing War & Peace, and the Girls

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First of all, we got both our RSV and flu vaccinations yesterday. I was checking the availability of appointments at our local pharmacy and there were slots available in the afternoon. We were just planning on getting the RSV, but the pharmacist encouraged us to get the flu shot at the same time.

So we did. He was a nice guy but not the gentlest in terms of inserting the needle. Ah well. I felt a little funky in the afternoon and wondered if it was a reaction, but thinking back on it, I just think it was my sinuses/allergies. If it was a reaction, it was incredibly short and no big deal. Today, I feel fine – except for the fact that Don woke me up with a big snore at 4:15 am and that was it for sleeping. By the way, the snoring issue is much better as Don found something to insert in the nose to keep the nostrils open. This morning’s snore was a rarity.

Anyway – Covid next month and then we’re good to go.

Done; with one caveat – I didn’t finish the Epilogue. It was about ten chapters long, very dry, and was basically Tolstoy’s musings on historians, the path of history, etc., etc. By the time I was halfway through, I finally realized that I had indeed read the entire novel, plus many pages of the epilogue which were making my eyes glaze over, so I was allowed to stop.

It was a gift, this readalong. I don’t think I would have attempted it otherwise. I’ve read several novels that were over a thousand pages, so it’s not the length, necessarily. It was Tolstoy’s WAR AND PEACE and everything it symbolized that would have held me back and maybe the thought that it would be boring, as well. Of course, it was anything but that. An incredible, beautifully written book by a master.

I spent the afternoon on Wednesday redressing all of the girls. I was dealing with a little anxiety. I’ve found that grabbing one of the girls when I’m stressed helps to ground me, if that makes sense. I fell in love with them all over again. I thought it was high time to remove their summer ensembles and get them ready for fall and the start of school.

Here is group one. I’ll share more pictures tomorrow.

Holly, Zoe, and Katie.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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