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.
Love the snood! It’s the first thing I noticed.
Oh for a snood and enough hair to fill one!
Stay safe, Shanna.
that’s great news about two of your nephews, one passing the bar and not-so-little z’s surgery going well! :)
our weather right now is as you described your own (plus an inch of rain last night) and i love it, am ready, am grateful! enjoy every bit!
the dolls are lovely. and how fun that a childhood friend of yours designed clothes for the gene dolls (and you can learn more of their history, stories)! what are the odds of that?!?
here? well … i am not going to get to hear gino vannelli tomorrow night. easy decision because someone in my family still has a health issue, plus covid is surging and i can’t afford to and won’t risk having to isolate for a week or more … but i cried when i called the event center and gave up my tickets … been wanting to hear gino sing in person for 47 years. maybe in the future (?), but my family comes first.
grocery shopping this afternoon. also picking up new glasses. the vision in my eyes are significantly different from each other so the lenses alone are over $475 (ouch). going to balance that with time spent knitting, reading, maybe writing (working on three children’s books) and definitely with family. :)
hope you, don and everyone else have a good, easy day and stay safe!
kathy
Doug is actually a college friend of mine – we met when I was 17.
I am so sorry about Gino Vanelli, Kathy. I know how much you were looking forward to the concert. Darn it!
Treat yourself to something, you deserve it.
Stay safe.
thanks very much, claudia.
for years i’ve searched, without success, both online and in the occasional used-book store for a copy of gino’s book, “stardust in the sand”. and i’d heard that he self-published a book of poetry. either one would be a wonderful treat, but are hard to find. for now my new expensive glasses will have to do. that and the belief that things get better and the hope that gino will keep touring.
thanks again.
hope you and don are having a nice day!
kathy
xo
…kathy, I’d thought of you on the 21st, remembering the Gino concert and wondering if you’d have been able to attend; so sorry that it didn’t happen but you made all the right decisions; I was at one of my doctor’s on Thurs and it’s a large 6-story medical complex in a larger city; two hours before my appointment I got an automated call at home that I would be denied entrance if I wasn’t wearing a mask; when I arrived, I noticed that the building didn’t have human guards (yet) but there were many more handwashing stations and roped-off areas to guide foot traffic, restrictions on how many people could be in an elevator due to the virus uptick, all of the medical staff and front-desk workers on my doctor’s floor were masked; I think the mitigations-rules are coming back; a shame to think it’s possibly going to be another virus-ridden fall/winter but I guess it is; I hope your family member with the health issue improves soon; and I congratulate you for drafting some children’s books; that’s amazing; good for you; keep writing (as they say, write on!)…
thank you so much, vicki. :)
i hope your appointment went well, that all is good for you, your husband and pup, that you make time every day for fun and get to the ocean every chance you get!
like everyone else, i don’t want to wear a mask anymore and am tired at the thought of more restrictions, but given the rise in covid cases, am also glad to see more restrictions in place … like at your appointment. who knows what the actual numbers are anyway, given that many people just don’t care or test or report any positive results …?!? ugh!
thanks for your well-wishes for my family. very much appreciated.
i was sad to miss gino, but made the right choice. no doubt about that. maybe in the future …
i appreciate the writing encouragement, too. these books are a stretch for me … fiction, for young children, and two of them are trying to be silly. slowly keeping after them.
how’s your writing? how are you?
keep taking good care. hope you have a nice, easy, safe day ahead.
hugs (if okay) and prayers,
kathy
I still have the gift of having been given my own column in the local small-town newspaper and it’s been a fun endeavor in 2023 … I’ve written down several stories and it’s been cathartic … but I’ve decided to end it at year-end. It’s a lot of work for me and I’ve gotten positive feedback but as silly as it sounds for being a retiree, I don’t feel I have the time for it although I suppose it’s problems in how I manage my time. Ever since I’ve had a retired husband at home all day, I find we are just ‘busy’ with stuff all the time and I’ve been unsuccessful in carving out my own Vicki-time, so I usually write when the house is quiet in the wee hours (after he goes to bed) but I can’t keep doing it because I need my sleep; I get too tired now at this age. I have newfound respect for legit/published authors who can do this all the time! If you’re really gonna write, in my findings, you’ve gotta make it a job, like go somewhere for eight hours per day and write/research like crazy without interruption. There are exceptions; some people can write anywhere. But I just can’t. I need a certain environment for writing that I simply don’t have at this stage in my life. Sounds like an excuse; if you want something badly enough, you can figure out a way. Maybe I just don’t want it badly enough anymore!
hej, vicki … you are such a friendly, warm-hearted person, detail-oriented and thoughtful. that comes through loud and clear in what you share here at mhc so i have no doubt your writings, your column are the gift to others and will certainly be missed when you stop that writing!! but i am glad if that decision means you will have more vicki-time to do exactly what you want.
i’d love to hear more about your column … how it came to be, topics, frequency, etc. … if you want to share.
i relate about being busy, even in retirement (been almost 17 months for me now … time is flying) and don’t find what you wrote to be silly at all. not every day, but i grab a few minutes here and there to knit or read, paint/sketch, but it’s only a few as i am gone so much. wouldn’t trade that because i’m with my family. and i just accept progress will be slow. thankfully with writing, it is always close to the surface (for being a dream, a goal since childhood … though the types of writing and subjects have changed) and i can quickly scribble a few ideas even on my phone. and my books are fiction, hopefully funny and don’t require research. what i do need, though, to focus on writing or to read a book is quiet … no radio, no tv, etc. nothing … so you can (especially as an author) understand why these projects take a while. :)
well, i see it is late so i best send this.
hope you are having a nice night and have a great weekend ahead. stay safe.
kathy
Congrats to your nephew on passing the bar. That’s quite an accomplishment. And happy news about Z. I remember you dropped the Little….he’s growing up.
Oh yes…to have a waist like Gene’s, only in my dreams. I do love a snood…so stylish. And while my hair was long during college and for about 10 years after, I never thought of doing that. Guess it wasn’t in style then.
Enjoy your day! ;)
Yes, “Little” doesn’t seem right for a 12 year old whose voice has changed.
No, I don’t think snoods have been officially in style since the 40s. I bet some celebrities wear snoods every once in a while.
Stay safe, Donnamae.
Congratulations to your nephew for passing the bar. It is indeed difficult.
Our niece passed the bar in New York and ca. she is in New York now with a prominent law firm with a salary my husband and I could never dream of., after only three years. Her plan is to move back to Ca eventually.
She graduated from Cornell so that is how she ended up in New York. There was a segment this am on NPR about public defenders and how they were saying their work load is impossible. Impossible to give the the amount of time needed to each client. That is the world. If you have money they have time. I truly wish the best for your nephew.
My nephew’s longtime girlfriend – they will eventually marry – is also in law school and she will graduate next year. She’s brilliant. They’ll have a nice income when they’re both working.
Stay safe, Linda.
Isn’t it wonderful to hear of young people who are high-achievers and starting out their adult life right! I had a short talk with one of my doctors today who has four kids, three in college but one still in high school. Two of the college kids are in medical school (one at Johns Hopkins). And what was nice is that he said, “Yes, I’m proud of them for going the distance, but what’s really great is that they’re just terrific young adults who’ve been nothing but a joy; just good kids all around.” He didn’t say it like he was puffed up, like it was due to him and his wife or anything (good parenting!); rather, just an honest assessment. I felt glad for him. And hopeful for the rest of us.
I’d venture to say the everything honorable and good about my nephews is due to my sister’s devoted and excellent parenting.
xo
Congratulations to your sister and her sons! Good news seems extra good lately. Iced coffee is one of my favorite outfits and I too love snoods I hope that your autumn. Like week is a good one.
Thanks so very much, Nora.
Stay safe!
I’m just wondering when you will be building a doll house for the Blythe girls! I suspect it would need to be a custom job, and probably you’d never have enough room but I have a vision of one!
And I love the Gene doll. I can see why you don’t want to change their clothes — they’re just perfect as is. The snood made me smile. The first time I ever heard that word was in ‘White Christmas” where Bing Crosby says asks Danny Kaye if he his something “in his snood”. And i had no idea what that was for the longest time! Last winter I was watching it with Rick and he said “What’s a snood?” I felt rather chuffed that I had an answer!
NEVER! I can’t even get going on the Beacon Hill. I stare at it every day and do absolutely nothing.
I guess I knew about snoods from my years as an actress and my many friends in costume design. Either that or my fascination with old movies. One of those things.
Glad you were able to tell Rick what exactly a snood is!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
We briefly had sweater weather too. Now we’re back in the high seventies and humid. The leaves are turning at a regular pace though no matter the temp.
That Gene Marshall doll is the sexiest thing. Snoods were one of the more romantic accessories of the late thirties and forties, IMO.
So warm now the windows are open and we’re listening to the cricket symphony. Something we’ll long for in January.
Take care,
Kay
I agree with you about snoods, Kay.
I love the sound of crickets! One or two of them have found their way inside the house in the past…always impossible to find.
Stay safe.
You’re right. Nina is so gosh darn cute. I love her little boots. Congratulations to your nephew. Hope little Buddy’s surgery went well. Your new Gene Marshall doll is lovely. Very high fashion. I like snoods too. The first one I ever really noticed was the one Scarlet wore in one of the scenes from Gone With the Wind. Enjoy this cooler weather. It’s great for sleeping. Hugs, Elaine
Bring back the snood!
Stay safe, Elaine.
Awesome news about your nephew! It’s so wonderful to see our young family members doing so well. Fall is here but now my allergies are awful once again. Seems like I can’t win. oh no, feeling sorry for myself. I’ll stop that and count my Blessings.
Mine have gone haywire with the extreme change in the weather. I sympathize!
Stay safe, Linda.
I love the Gene Marshall doll; it is AWESOME and makes me want to start a new collection, lol. I have a real thing for the end of the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s – those are the eras that I retro decorate by and collect items from those eras. I read anything I can get my hands on about the Homefront during WW2 (US, Canada and especially Great Britain) – I loved reading Nella Last’s diaries and I have a HUGE library of books about WW2 homefront, rationing, victory gardens, make do and mend, etc. Oh and wonderful news about your nephew passing the FL bar!! Dawn P. Albany, GA
Thank you so much, Dawn!
Stay safe.
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of these dolls. Wouldn’t you know, I’d here of it here first, from knowledgeable collector Claudia! Iced Coffee: Gorgeous. The snood I noticed before I ever read the post. Wonderful! There was a time when Mom would crochet a snood and we’d actually wear them in high school with a crocheted vest to match; was apparently quite hippie-esque; of course we all had long, long hair; was like 1969-70 I think. I can remember making a low bun and I had a bun snood, too. Then, we graduated to cotton kerchiefs with big hoop earrings and of course slouch jeans and worn tees which in my case had belonged to my brother. My goodness.
I hadn’t ever heard of them until a few months back. Never! I guess dolls were not on my radar when they were being manufactured. I remember the crocheted vests for sure. My mom made one for me. But if there were snoods in my neighborhood, I never saw one.
Stay safe, Vicki.
See what happens when I’m writing at 2:40 am PST? Unless the computer did it, I wrote ‘here’ instead of ‘hear’? Scary!
Claudia, help me remember, how many Gene dolls do you now have for your mini collection? I feel like you have three?
I’m actually going to leave right now to see if I can find something to read about them. My gosh, it is so TOTALLY our moms’ era! And I venture to say they’re far more stylish than even the most-stylish of my reproduction Barbies but of course you can’t compare 1940s to 1960s, so it’s really not fair for me to make that kind of assessment. I guess I’d say Barbie was stylish but Gene dolls seem to be consistently glam/sophisticated. Absolute sophistication.
I think I have 7 dolls, I just haven’t shown them all to you. I’ll try to remedy that this week. They’re relatively inexpensive, so an affordable treat. Nevertheless, I have more than enough at the moment and there isn’t a lot of display space available.
Genes are incredibly sophisticated and the detail in the clothing is amazing.
xo