Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mrs. Maisel and Klimt

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I finished this a couple of days ago. It’s truly the most beautiful puzzle I’ve ever worked on. It was hard, yet at the same time, it was pure pleasure. I’m a huge fan of Klimt. This is Lady with a Fan.

This was one of the puzzles I got when Galaxy Puzzles went out of business – made in Austria. Now, I want to find more Klimt puzzles, as well as a book about Klimt.

We watched the finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  last night. Brilliant on every level. This may be my favorite series ever. The concept, the incredibly talented cast, the brilliant design which is so much a part of the show, the locations in NYC, the writing, the writing, the writing. Without writers, we have nothing. Support that strike. It looks like the actors will soon follow.

This last season has been put together like a jigsaw puzzle, a mosaic. Each piece is carefully placed, leading to something else, which leads us back in time or forward in time – in the end, everything answered. We have been stunned by its brilliance throughout the series, but never more strongly than this season.

There are not enough superlatives. I can never use enough. We stayed up much too late talking about the final episode, just as we did last week with the penultimate episode.

We are going to watch the whole series again. Once a week, a night will be reserved for Maisel. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.

Thank you to Amy Sherman Palladino and Daniel Palladino, who are the creators of this jewel.

Side note: the best music/soundtrack ever. Time after time, some obscure song I already loved appeared during an episode. Apparently, Daniel Palladino has a vast collection of what would be now called vintage vinyl – a huge amount of musical theater, lots of artists in the Great American Songbook. I don’t want to give anything away but last night there was an homage to well known and beloved artist who appeared on Broadway in a certain show (one that both Don and I have performed in) and the final scene is another homage that not everyone will get, but we did – immediately,

Anyway, I can’t get it out of my head this morning. What a gift it’s been.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Storage for Little Things

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Reader Leora asked how I organize the clothes for the girls. Let’s just say that I loosely organize their clothes.

Thanks to my generous husband, I have two decorative suitcases that I use. They’re really his, but when he heard me complain that I was running out of storage space, he promptly donated them to the cause. First, he gave me the red suitcase, and then later – as more and more things needed storage – the brown one. Let me also take a moment to express my thanks for a husband who not only tolerates the dolls and all their stuff, but actually likes them. A lot. The den, which is already crowded, has now become the home for the shelves displaying the girls and their suitcases. (We already had a sofa and a chair, several tables, two dollhouses, bookshelves, a stand for the television, and a china cabinet in here when the first of the girls arrived.)

The red suitcase interior:

Let me say that this can get messy quite quickly. It needs a bit of sorting, but this is the basic configuration. Pants, overalls, etc, in the upper left hand corner. Directly below, coats and jackets. Next to the coats – sweaters. Above the sweaters – tops and t-shirts. To the right – dresses. Below the dresses – skirts. And to the right – more dresses. But as I look at this, I see a dress among the sweaters and that will not do! So I’ll probably do a bit of straightening up today.

The brown suitcase: On the left – clothes for the BJD dolls (Wren and Lily) Below them – three stands, which are used for displaying the dolls when taking photographs. (I also use wooden skewers – in fact, I use them the most.) Above them – a stray deer hat meant for the Blythe girls. Above that – all of the Christmas sweaters. Interspersed among all these things are various boxes, mostly from shoe sources, which I’m sure I could throw out at this point. You’ll also see tights, tote bags and handbags, ribbons for their hair, a ziplock full of socks, and a the tin that my Fossil watch came in, which holds…

Shoes and boots. This isn’t large enough to hold all of the footwear. Fortunately, at any given time, the dolls are wearing 17 additional pairs of shoes/boots, so I don’t have to invest in a bigger container.

I also have three little cases that hold things like extra hands for the girls, eye chips, the tortoise shell glasses, a couple of wigs, and hats, hats, hats.

None of this is ideal, but I already have an office full of dollhouses and art supplies and I share it with my husband who has a LOT of guitars and amps. So I really can’t use that space at the moment. This seems to work nicely. I have the big suitcases right in front of the china cabinet. The little gold cases sit on top of a pile of books over in the corner.

I also have that charming cabinet for the girls that I got in an antique shop. I have yet to fill it with anything, but I’m going to add a clothes rod and put some accessories in the two drawers.

Yesterday, I gathered up my courage and unbraided Nina’s hair. Would she still have curls? Would I hate it and have to re-braid it?

The answer:

Oh my god! It’s gorgeous! She’s stunning. I’m going to trim the length just a bit – already started – but I love, love, love this. I can also pull the sides back and clasp them at the back of the head, have long braids, etc. Lots of possibilities. It’s made of mohair and it’s incredibly soft.

Nina came with a taller body – an OB 24, rather than the OB 22 a lot of my girls have. That means she’s 2 centimeters taller. Since she’s taller, I couldn’t fit her on a shelf, so I had to reconfigure the shelves. I’ll finish that up today and take some photos.

Sorry – an all Blythe related post today.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

Beauty and Birds

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Despite very little sleep, I pressed on yesterday. Did some yanking of poison ivy, which seems to be worse than ever this year. I wear an old flannel shirt for this, as well as special gloves, and I use a pruner that is only for poison ivy. It’s all kept in a box in the former kitchen island.

Then I mowed 2/3 of the front lawn. Don mowed the rest, as well as the secret garden.

It felt good to do something, rather than just sit here moaning about how tired I was. (Though I did a bit of that, too.)

Later in the day, we sat on the glider and listened to all of the birds singing. I love the amount of bird sound at this time of year. And, we looked at our property and gave thanks for it. Almost nothing makes me happier than sitting on the glider, holding my husband’s hand, and gazing at our pretty porch, the big maple, and the green grass and trees off in the distance.

I did sleep in a bit this morning, which is a rarity. So I’m feeling better today.

Today? A day of rest. Don’s lower back is sore. I’ve encouraged him to rest for the next couple of days.

I gave up on the science fiction book I was reading. It was a very interesting premise, but it was too long and science fiction really isn’t my thing. Plus, the writing was clumsy. Now, I’m reading Night Hawks  by Elly Griffith, which I started right before I moved to Brooklyn to work on the movie. I was so busy that I never got back to it and it’s been sitting here in the den on my TBR pile. Since I’d only read about 20 pages, I didn’t have to get reacquainted with the plot.

Speaking of hawks and birds of prey. I know there’s another robin couple on our property tending to their nest. I’m not sure where the nest is, but it’s definitely somewhere closer to our porch. Right before dinner last night, I heard the warning cheep that a robin makes when there is a threat. We’re quite familiar with it around here. I looked out at the big maple and there he was sitting on a branch, facing the road. A steady barrage of cheep and then a tut-tut-tut which involved the tail feathers. I was watching the robin rather than the road, but I suddenly sensed  the flight of a big bird with some white feathers as it took off over my neighbor’s house. Don assumes it was sitting on the wire across the street that stretched between phone poles. I only sensed it for a brief second, so I don’t know what kind of bird it was. That robin was relentless. It didn’t stop the warnings until the other bird left. Then our feisty little robin flew down to a lower branch to make sure the enemy had left.

Truly amazing.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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