It rained yesterday. Then it turned to snow, and then, later in the day, it turned to rain.

Just plain yucky, though I will say that we enjoyed seeing the snow fall.

And now – pinch me – I think we have no rain in the forecast for about 8 or 9 days.

January in the Northeast should involve snow and lots of it. Maybe we’ll get walloped in February and March, but we’re almost at the end of January and there’s only been one significant snowfall and even that didn’t last long because the temperature warmed up quickly.

Let’s see, yesterday I took care of some chores, went to a zoom meeting, and did this:

Yes, that’s Shirley under there. She’s made of composition (made out of sawdust, cornstarch, resin, and wood pulp) and if you get composition wet, the doll will be ruined. So Shirley was covered in dish towels while I inspected the stitching on the wig so that I could decide where the curls should be. Her mohair wasn’t in very good shape to begin with, so my fingers are crossed. Will it be a bit better than it was? I’m not sure. I curled her hair years ago, but I didn’t use any water. This time, I did, per the YouTube tutorial that I followed. I also used those end papers that were a part of every permanent. It took me a couple of hours to put all the rollers in.

She’s sitting on the kitchen table. I offered to move her upstairs but Don is fine with her being there in her basket. I should leave the curlers in for at least two days. I may do three.

Then I have to figure out how to clean up her face and fill the hole in the composition near the corner of her eye. She also has some cracks in the composition on her legs but they don’t look too bad, so I’ll leave them alone. I found a product online (on eBay) that is made specifically for composition repairs and it’s very inexpensive, so I’ll be ordering some of that. The dress she’s wearing is one I ordered about 15 years ago from a dressmaker. It’s a repro of one of the dresses Shirley wore in the movies. But it doesn’t fit as well as I’d like. The one that was original to the doll was in horrible shape, so I had to let it go.

My mom would be shaking her head, wondering why I am doing this. Since she wasn’t all that fond of this Shirley made in Canada, she would say “Don’t waste your time!” But I’ve left her on top of the pink cabinet in the office for a long time and she needs some TLC.

We had a great FaceTime chat with Zachary the other day. His voice is quite deep now and he was very chatty. He’s so, so intelligent! He amazes me. He was fitted out for an EEG and had to keep that rigging on for 48 hours. (He’s had some seizures in the past and the doctor is trying to get to the bottom of them.)

Then Mere and I continued to chat and got caught up on things. A lovely surprise.

Another Etsy sale over the weekend, so I have to do some packing today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Mowing. Yesterday, we mowed the corral, the back forty, the upper part of the front lawn, and the secret garden.

For the first time this summer, we’ve had 5 dry days in a row, giving us enough time for the ground to dry out and to mow every part of the property. For most of the summer, we had to mow a bit here, wait a week, then mow another section, etc. We were tired after this mowing extravaganza, but we are so happy to know we do not have to mow anything for a while.

Sad, but true: this is a highlight of our summer. And, as I said the other day, we’re strong!

On Monday a postal delivery van drove up the driveway and a guy emerged holding a box (which looked suspiciously like a doll box.) I hadn’t ordered anything at all, so I had absolutely no idea what this was. It was addressed to me. After examining the box more closely, I saw my friend Doug’s return address. You remember Doug? My friend of more than 50 years from our days at Eastern Michigan University studying drama? He is the one who designed several of the Gene Marshall ensembles. In addition, he’s has designed his own line of dolls – more than one. His most recent line is called the 1470 Collection; porcelain dolls that echo those of the 1920s.

Sure enough, the box said ‘1470 Collection.’

I couldn’t believe he sent me a doll! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!

Here she is. Mary, Silver Siren.

Oh my goodness! I’ve never had a porcelain doll, so the weight of the doll was a surprise. These dolls are inspired by dolls made by Simon and Halbig, and Cuno and Dressel – companies that were designing porcelain dolls between 1912 and 1925 or so. They often had porcelain heads and composition bodies. This girl is entirely porcelain, strung with elastic, with glass eyes and pierced ears. She’s 14½ inches tall, jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.

He also included 3 more outfits as well as shoes, and a hat.

Needless to say, I was stunned. The more I look at her, the more beautiful she is. She’s exquisite.

I kept saying to Don that she was heavy and I was going to have to find a stand for her. Then I read her description again yesterday and read “comes with stand.” Duh. I know better! I didn’t even think to look more closely at the box. Sure enough, there was the stand, hidden under some cardboard.

She is now upstairs on my desk.

Doug and I are going to talk on the phone this morning and I can’t wait to hear more about this exquisite line of dolls.

When I thanked him (via email because I didn’t want to call and disturb him late in the day) he simply said “I wanted you to have her.”

I am blessed.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.