An Aries (Who Knows Some Stuff)
Current Photo Friday theme: Seasons
November 1979, Alabama
These leaves are why we often call the season “Fall” instead of “Autumn.” (I think my nephews were “acting” like my parked car had hit them, and my nieces were making the leaves go airborne for effect. My four little stars.)
I had a post planned for today, and when I ran errands, I was even in a location where I could have gotten what I needed to complete the post. AND I FORGOT. It’s because I was happy about something I unexpectedly found there and let myself get distracted.
However, I picked up some fabric, too, because even though the writing will now move forward on the Neverending Saga, I always want a “thinking” activity between bouts of writing. Sometimes it’s coloring or painting, sometimes it’s writing other things (songs or poetry), and sometimes, like with the quilt mending I completed earlier this month, it can be sewing.
I already had some prints I wanted to use to make shirts and other apparel for Mattel Ken etc. dolls that I thought could work for the decade I’ve been writing.
Since not all my characters are groovy or trendy, I also picked up some solid cottons today for other shirts. These will all need to be washed and ironed before I can use them.
I cut out the first shirt, determined to follow the instructions, because back when I was sewing a lot, shirts were often a challenge (shown here: the fabric I chose, shirt front panels and collar, shirt back with yoke, and sleeves with cuffs).
Isn’t it ironic? Ken looks like the iron is holding him up (in a criminal way). But really, the wee ironing board I borrowed from Tim is doing that (in a helping him stand way). The shirt back is done, the collar’s attached, and now I need to sew in the sleeves and add their cuffs, finish the front, hem everything, and sew on snaps and (decorative) buttons. Tomorrow’s soon enough for all that.
This doll really does represent one of the characters in the saga. Not one of my favorites, but an important part of the story nonetheless. Playing with dolls: fueling my imagination since I was nine years old.
ETA: Here’s the finished shirt.
I got four of these coloring books, one each for the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I decided to start by choosing something from the 60s. I like the books with one caveat. The paper is thin, which means the descriptive text on the backs of a coloring page (which usually relates to the next coloring page in the book) bleeds through. Drawings bleed through to the descriptions, too.
You can see what I mean in this description of the page I’m sharing today.
Still, she’s lovely, even with reversed words showing across her throat, and I hope I did her justice. The colors are a little more vivid than they appear in this artifical light.
My mother loved this song, and I don’t have access to my 45s at the moment, but I feel like I still have our copy from when it was released. I swear there’s a girl in this user-created video who’s a character in the Neverending Saga. Though none of the books are set in San Francisco, the city is mentioned often and it casts a long shadow over some of the characters’ lives.
ETA: Today is my father’s birthdate, and I miss him so much. He’d be 109 if he were alive, and he’d probably tell me to get the heck out of Texas. Not sure Alabama would be any friendlier to an old hippie wannabe like me. These are not my times…not because I’m living in the past. But I’m out of sync with so much of the culture and the politics.
I’ve been working on the dog quilt today while I listened to my Jimmy Buffett iTunes collection after a bit of errand running and bill paying. I think I began trying to repair/mend/enhance this quilt around August 18, and with luck, it’ll be finished Wednesday morning. It cracks me up that I’m doing this for a quilt the dogs use so they can get on the office sofa. As much time, energy, and even a little blood that I’ve put into it, you’d think it’s a family heirloom and not some cheap quilt I bought many years ago at Garden Ridge Pottery or a similar store.
While I was thinking about that this afternoon, I remembered a post that showed up in my feed on Instagram the other day.
Some of the answers were wonderful. “My grandfather was a carpenter. I have his hammer!” “I have an old prayer book in ancient Aramaic that belonged to my grandfather.” “I have the lantern used by my great GREAT grandmother when she was a slave. It is cherished by my family and protected.” “I have my grandmother’s bread board and sugar spoon I use daily.” At last look, there were 3,890 answers (I didn’t read them all!).
I do have photographs of all my grandparents, possibly some great-grandparents and other ancestors.
I remembered immediately some things I have from my paternal grandparents.
This bell and slate belonged to my father’s father. The ring, which isn’t gold, maybe another metal dipped in brass, was in a trunk that belonged to my father’s mother and held some of her things. That grandmother died when my father was around 19, so we never knew her. But when my grandfather died in the mid-1960s, the trunk was given to my sister. She still has it and some of the things that were in it. Maybe because I didn’t get a trunk, she let me take the ring.
My mother was the youngest of twelve children. Her mother died when my brother was two, and her father died when David was ten, Debby was seven, and I was two. We lived in Colorado then, and she couldn’t afford to go home to her father’s funeral (Debby remembers this broke Mother’s heart). Mother would have been twelfth in line and possibly not even present to get many mementos of things that had belonged to her parents. I think David and Debby may have some dishes, but I can’t be sure of that.
When I took pictures of the above items today, I racked my brain for anything I might have that had belonged to my maternal grandparents. I began writing this post thinking I had nothing. Maybe my mother nudged me, because I finally remembered that I do, in fact, have something that belonged to her mother.
This is my grandmother’s wooden butter mold. Butter molds were used to shape and mark churned butter before it hardened.
This is the stamp, probably hand-carved, that marked the butter. I know it was my grandmother’s, but it’s possible it was even my great-grandmother’s, as these molds began being used in the U.S. in the nineteenth century. I’m so glad I remembered it was in a glass-front cabinet in my dining room.
Do you have anything that belonged to your grandparents or great-grandparents?
By the way, all those items were photographed on that dog quilt. =)
But I do have these now. It was surprisingly difficult to get Barbie (sold out everywhere), though I did see a couple of Kens locally and snagged one.
Sometime after school starts back (August 28 in Houston), a few of us will take in a matinee of the Barbie movie. I’m not impatient about it, and these are different times (I’m OLDER! more crowd-averse!) from when I dug taking in the opening night of the last few movies in the Twilight franchise. Watching the Twi-hards react was part of the fun–not to mock them. Joy and enthusiasm make me happy.
I’ll just keep avoiding spoilers and discussions so I can experience my own joy and enthusiasm. Barbie isn’t a trend for me. Barbie’s been a part of my happiness and creative life since I was NINE. That’s a long effin time ago!
Just found out: Today is Blogger Day! Still here and rambling on since 2004. =)
Recently, a Beach Boys-related account I follow on Instagram posted this commercial from 1987/88:
In late 1987, I was enjoying my job as a tech writer/editor and planning a wedding. I don’t think I owned a TV, nor was I Barbie shopping, so this mash-up of two of my favorite things (Beach Boys and Barbie) passed me by until I saw the Instagram post that immediately sent me scouring online sellers. This arrived late last week.
It’s not often a Barbie in an opened box comes with all the accessories, but this one miraculously did. For example:
Barbie’s sun visor and “flying disk” (probably couldn’t use the Frisbee® trademarked name) were still in their unopened plastic wrapper. They came with instructions for how to apply “labels” to both. And yes, the labels were also there.
In the same sealed package that held Barbie’s beach bag, hairbrush, socks, sneakers, and sunglasses.
The box also contained the original additional materials: a way to join the Barbie fan club, the World of Fashion that catalogs other Barbie accessories for sale, a disclaimer about Barbie’s earrings being unsuitable for small children, and a Barbie comic book sharing “The Treasure Map” adventure of Barbie and some of her friends!
This was already quite a wonderful find, but that it included the playable (at 33 1/3 speed) record (with some extra Barbie punch-out photos) was fantastic! The song probably featured no Beach Boys other than founder Brian Wilson singing all the parts (and doubtless playing most of the instruments, too), and Brian’s writing credits were shared with his manipulative, controlling therapist of that time and the therapist’s fiancee (later, wife). There’s a lot of history packed into that little record. I haven’t tried to play mine because I don’t want to risk damaging it.
Here’s a look at those treacherous earrings. I’ll get the rubber bands out of her hair (those things harden and eventually crumble, and I use less harmful plastic bands–they may weaken over time, but they don’t damage/stain the doll’s hair).
This provides a look at Barbie’s pink camera, still strapped around her arm. The cellophane tape that secured things inside the box, like the camera, has long since lost any adhesive quality, so it’s amazing this camera never fell out and was lost (since the top of the box had been opened). Somebody kept this on a shelf for a long time.
Other dolls were sold in the California Dream line, and here are some fun facts about them. (No reason to discuss the well-known Ken; and I have several similar to this one from 1981 and 1991.)
California Dream marked the debut of Teresa, Barbie’s Latina friend. Teresa still continues to be one of Barbie’s most-often recurring friends and has been represented by more Mattel “friend” dolls than any other except Christie (also shown here), Barbie’s African American friend who was introduced in 1968 and after many versions, was discontinued in 2005/06. In February of this year, Mattel produced a 55th anniversary Christie. I have at least seven Teresa dolls and many AA/Black dolls (Ashi, Shana, Nichelle, Nikki, and Barbie), and my Christie dolls are 1981’s Sunsational Malibu Christie and 1992’s Glitter Beach Christie.
Barbie’s longtime best friend Midge, seated, first appeared in 1963 and hung around until 1967, then re-emerged in 1988 with the California Dream Midge shown here. Midge later married Alan and began having children in the controversial “Happy Family” line. In 2013, Midge appeared again as a teenager who moved to Malibu on the webseries Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, the whole “Happy Family” line possibly one of the first toy products to be “cancelled” over consumer protests. 😉 I have at least six Midge dolls, but the only Happy Family dolls I own are Midge’s parents, called only “Grandma” and “Grandpa.”
Current Photo Friday theme: Vintage
Barbie: 1960, ’61, ’61, ’61, ’65, ’66
Ken: 1961, ’62, ’61, ’62, ’61, ’61, ’61
Life in plastic: It’s fantastic. Couldn’t be a better day to share these vintage dolls. Let me know if you see Barbie, the movie.
One of our nieces took this crosswalk recently. That’s my girl!
June 25 is Global Beatles Day. Does anyone doubt that for me, every day is Beatles day for one reason or another?
Maybe you had one by birth or by nurture as a stepdad, surrogate dad, adopted dad, mentor dad, dad-in-law, or a friend’s dad, today I celebrate those you’ve loved who’ve loved you. A few photos to recognize this day.
An early photo of Daddy and me.
Tom was one month old in this photo of his dad and him.
Happy anniversary today to Tom! He’s been the best dog dad through thirty-five years to:
Eva, Delta, Jack, and Anime.
Guinness and Margot.
Stevie and Pete.
Today, I pay tribute to the typewriter, with this wee one photographed next to a nickel so you can see that it’s Barbie-sized.
In fact, I used it once for a Photo Friday shot in October 2011.
It’s possible my first experience with a typewriter was going to work some nights with my father at the ROTC building where he taught military history in South Carolina. I’ve probably mentioned before that most of the equipment that had him there during off-hours was in the basement. I was in fourth or fifth grade, and those were pre-available copier days, so there were mimeograph machines, that used stencils, and ditto machines (properly called “spirit duplicators”), the machines that print purple and everybody sniffed the “spirits” (ink) when they were fresh off the machine.
Daddy would set me up at a desk with a manual typewriter. Who knows what missives I was composing, but it kept me occupied, other than the times I requested his assistance in stomping on the palmetto bugs that crossed my sight line. South Carolina is The Palmetto State, after all, and it’s the favored tree of those females-can-fly, males-are-dumb bugs otherwise known as tree roaches, often featured in stories on this blog.
I do enjoy looking at the keys on the tiny typewriter (it’s a pencil sharpener) because the letters have no similarity to an actual typewriter. Or so I thought until I began coloring this vintage typewriter from a recently-acquired coloring book.
When I began researching vintage typewriters, I found many versions that differed from modern typewriter key placement. It blew my mind. I filled in the letters on this drawing using some of those vintage keys and some modern ones, making it one of a kind.