Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Okay. This is what I spent the entire day on yesterday. The face up for my new Landoudou doll – purchased so Ruby can have a sister. The rule here is: if I buy another doll that is not a Blythe, eventually she has to have a sister. See: Wren/Lily and Jessie/Audrey.

And now, Ruby and Gilly.

I worked on this like a madwoman – all day long. I didn’t shower until 4 pm. Don, bless him, was a great source of support. I often stopped to get his opinion. This was HARD. Her face is so tiny compared to the Little Keiko dolls. I felt very clumsy and had to redo the mouth a few times. She’s not perfect, but I’m pleased with the way she turned out.

As is often the case with me, I finish a creation one day and when I look at it first thing the next morning, I don’t like it. Then I drink some coffee and, in this case, redress the doll and take better photos, and I’m happy again.

She is named Gilly for a reason. In one of the gothic mysteries I read as a teen, there was a character named Gillyflower, or Gilly. And she was ethereal and almost otherwordly. I believe she had white blonde hair. I remember her all these years later and her name came immediately to mind. Pronounced (I looked it up) as Jilly. (I know there was a Gilly in Thornyhold, by Mary Stewart, but that isn’t the book I’m thinking of.)

Found it: she is a character in Mistress of Mellyn  by Victoria Holt.

When I ordered the head, I had the option of two wigs. One was much like the one I have for Ruby, so I went with the blonde wig. When I opened the box, the net that had been on it had created a mark/crease in the hair, so I spritzed it with distilled water and let it dry. The I lightly brushed it out. I like the result. I also chose the green/blue eyes, though I do have darker eyes in my stash.

The girls:

I’m very happy with her. It’s a learning process and I doubt I’ll do a whole lot more face ups. You never know. These Landoudou dolls are awfully adorable, and I like the idea of having a group of them. The heads are very inexpensive and the wigs are beautifully made. I just have to supply the body and do the face up.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

We had lots of rain on Wednesday and Thursday. Very welcome, of course. Wednesday morning, we spent time dealing with leaves in the gutters and cleaning off the roof because we knew rain was on the way. I am going to have to nudge Don to start raking leaves this week because they are everywhere! He likes raking. I do not.

It’s always surprising how quickly the seasons change. Too quickly in some ways, though I love autumn. We live on property that is filled with trees, at least a hundred – maybe more. For the most part, we just let the leaves fall and stay where they are. But we do clean up the front lawn and the corral area. I leave them in the garden beds as they protect the plants and provide shelter for all sorts of critters.

I’ll be mowing this weekend, but not today. It’s still too wet out there.

Yesterday, around mid-morning, Don went outside. He was going to run to the grocery store. As he looked across the yard to the shed area, he noticed that some trash bags were ‘loose’ – the trash can had been toppled. He immediately assumed it was the work of raccoons. As he walked the few feet to our car, he realized there was a bear going through our trash! The bear was nudging bags with his head, trying to figure out if there was anything worth eating. Needless to say, Don was staying very still. Then, in the blink of an eye, the bear disappeared. Don couldn’t believe how quickly he left and that he could completely disappear. These sightings are so rare and they’re really magical. I was upstairs after having taking a shower, and I missed the whole thing. Don didn’t have any time to alert me and he sure wasn’t going to make any noise.

I wonder if some of the previous visits that we attributed to raccoons were really bears?

This package finally arrived from China. It’s a doll head, a wig, and eyes. The doll head matches Ruby’s, which is why she is trying to see inside the box.

What a saga this was! I pre-ordered the head about 7 months ago, and when it was finally ready to ship in August, the creator suggested we wait until after September 3rd because there was going to be some sort of military parade in Beijing and the post office there said customs approval might be especially tough during this period. I was busy coaching the play, so I agreed. She had already wrapped it as a gift with a charming personal note in English. That was her brilliant idea. Then, when we reached September 3rd, we were both concerned about tariffs and China was no longer shipping small packages to the US. So she found a forwarding company and they shipped it to America. It landed on the west coast and Fed Ex delivered it. The box had a Singapore airlines sticker on it, so I assume it was forwarded to Singapore.

To save money, I decided to do the faceup. This one will be tricky, because it’s much smaller in size than the Little Keiko heads I previously painted. I suppose I’ll be starting in on this project on the weekend. Wish me luck!

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

It’s not sunny today because it’s raining. That is exciting news for our drought-stricken area. It rained overnight and we’ll have a few more showers today with thunderstorms tomorrow.

We are now vaccinated for the flu and Covid. The druggist who gave us the shots was very nice, but they hurt! He didn’t have the lightest touch. Our arms are sore and Don, as expected, had a much stronger reaction than I did. He felt achey, not unlike flu symptoms, and was generally miserable yesterday. I didn’t have any reaction other than to wake up way too early yesterday morning, which is probably completely unrelated to the shots. So I felt very sleep deprived, but Don felt truly miserable. He’s much better today. Glad that’s done with!

Since one of our favorite things to do is walk up and down the aisles of a drugstore together (I know…it’s wierd) we did just that after we got our shots. By the way, there’s an episode of King of Queens  where they go to the drugstore on a Saturday night just to walk up and down the aisles because that’s their favorite thing to do.

Then we drove across the street to the grocery store and picked up a few things. Then…we got old-fashioned donuts at Dunkin Donuts. That was our little Monday morning date. Shots, Walgreen’s, the grocery store, and donuts. It doesn’t take much to make us happy.

I returned Katabasis  to the library yesterday and am now reading The Hallmarked Man. Katabasis  was wonderful. Beautifully written. I didn’t want it to end. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Anyway, I drove to the library, then realized the gas level was very low, so I continued on to the gas station, then I decided to run to the store because Don was just about to run out of his coffee. I only bring this up because we only have one car now, which is mine, I’ve been having a little battle with Don about when to fill the gas tank. He lets it get very low – waits for light to come on. I do not. My dad taught us to add gas as soon as it was down to a quarter of a tank. In the good old days when gas was much cheaper, he refilled when it was down to half a tank. So…I’ve told Don to never let it get lower than a quarter of a tank.

But he does. And then I get ticked off. Especially when I’m the one who has to run to the gas station.

Not a big deal, of course. But, depending on the day, either mildly or very irritating.

Okay. Enough of the mundane.

Sorry I didn’t respond to comments on Monday – too busy, too tired.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.