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.

What is this? Two beautiful, sunny, relatively humidity-free days in a row?? I don’t know how to respond to this. I did do a lot of mowing yesterday with our very hard to maneuver lawnmower so I’m very sore today. I mowed the lilac side of the front lawn and then, because I was pumped up, I tackled the back forty, which , in retrospect, was too much. But we had been told that rain was on the way for Monday, so I was trying to finish off all the mowing before another deluge came. Later in the day, after I mowed, the forecast changed to no rain. Spoiler alert: we’re now back to scattered thunderstorms for Monday.

Anyway, I am very grateful for these two days so I won’t complain about possible rain tomorrow.

Favorite time of summer because everything – the hydrangeas, the balloon flowers, the rose of sharon, coneflowers, and brown-eyed susans – is in bloom. It’s really gorgeous out there.

On to something different: I recently bought a reproduction Barbie, Busy Gal Barbie.

Reader Vicki is a big collector of Barbies. Vicki, what do you think?

She comes with a hat as well, but I took it off for the time being, and a portfolio of fashion designer drawings.

With a Blythe IG account, I often come across the accounts of doll collectors who collect Barbies and other types of dolls. I’m fascinated by what people collect, always have been, so I read all of that with great interest. I’ve chatted with Vicki about it on this blog and I finally decided to search for a Barbie that looks like the Barbies that were around when I was a girl. I like their more sophisticated look.

I missed out on this particular style of Barbie when I was a kid. When Barbie first emerged on the scene I was a bit too young for her. Or course, every birthday or Christmas after that, I kept asking for one, and eventually received a platinum bubble-cut Barbie. I think I also had a Skipper and maybe a Midge? I wasn’t interested in Ken at all, perhaps because he didn’t look believable to me – I don’t think Mattel ever designed a Ken that really equalled Barbie. (But that was just my opinion.) I’ve written before about endless hours of playing with Barbies with my childhood friend, Kay – who reads this blog. (Her parents were my godparents and gave me my very first egg cup.) We decorated the inside of our Barbie cases, using wallpaper samples that Edith, my godmother, had on hand. We made hanging lights with a dixie cup and pipe cleaner.

Mom told me that she would listen to us playing in the basement and had to force herself not to intervene because I, being 3 years older than Kay, was always telling her what her Barbie had to do and say. (Ever the controlling director!) I know I have an old picture of Kay and I playing with our Barbies on our front porch. I’ll have to look for it again. My dad took it with his new Polaroid camera, so it’s in black and white.

I’m not about to collect Barbies, but I would like to get a reproduction bubble cut Barbie and I’ve got my eye on a brown-haired girl. But that’s it. I just like having her around because she was such a huge part of my childhood. Childhood things are comforting these days.

What happened to my doll? I have no idea but I suspect my sisters played with her and inherited the clothes our grandmother made for her. And, knowing my mother, I also suspect Barbie got tossed out at one point, when Mom had had her fill of our old toys filling up space in our very small house.

Did you have a Barbie?

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.