Tuesday 22 February 2011

A Doll-Shaped Heart

New post today :-)

The fashion dolls: Sindy



If I am honest, sweetie~pies, I really prefer the Sindy dolls to Barbie ~ well, I like them more than the modern Barbies at any rate. And I only like the older Sindys, not the later moulds with the smaller faces ~ they are nowhere near as attractive, in my opinion, more like wannabe Barbies ;-)

In the photo above, starting with the little lady in the long knitted dress, these blonde bombshells are: Rosalind, Margot, Helena, Miriam and Trudie. Just in case you were wondering, each member of my dolly family has a name :-)



More blondes! Starting with the dolly in the long pink gown we have: Veronica, Valerie, Shirley and Peggy.

You will have to excuse the motley assortment of clothing that the girls are wearing! One of my Flickr friends suggested dressing all the dolls to help me decide whether they were inspiring enough to keep ~ and I rather just grabbed the first item which came to hand from the bag of jumbled up clothes.....which is another job waiting on my 'sorting out' list LOL



This collection of ash-blonde Sindys is rather nice ~ even if I do say so myself. Admittedly, almost all of the Sindys are still awaiting a session in the dolly spa but their beauty still shines through for me.

Beginning with the pretty girl in the long which gown we have: Esme, Gayle, Joyce, Adele and Barbara.



And these lovlies are the dark-haired girls ~ obviously! Starting with the sweetie in the long blue gown we have: Harriet, Louise, Lindsey, Georgina and Caroline.

I guess by many collector's standards, my little group isn't terribly large but it certainly seems big enough to me! I am endeavouring not to add any more dolls to any of my smaller fashion doll 'families' ~ I have others besides the Sindys ~ as I haven't yet found space to display them. The poor little things have all been carefully packed away in cardboard prisons for the time being *sigh*

Still, I know where I would like to eventually put them and I also have what I think will be an ideal piece of furniture to display them in ~ after it has had a coat or two of paint, at any rate! ~ so they won't be imprisoned for ever :-)

Sunday 20 February 2011

Prayer for World Peace




We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere, for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation, intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping, training for entertainment, abusive pet owners, and all other forms of exploitation such as overloading and overworking pack animals, bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty, whether to humans or other animals, for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving;that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace ~ dr jane goodall

Saturday 19 February 2011

Project Ruthless Dolly Sort-Out: Elimination Round One!



Well, sweetie~pies, I finally pulled up my socks and got on with the mega sorting out of my fashion doll collection. I truly hadn't realised quite how many I had gathered together ~ you just don't seem to notice too much when they arrive, are examined and then placed into a cardboard prison! It was rather daunting, to be honest ~ so many little plastic girlies to look through and decide the fates of. But oh my loves ~ the power I had in my hot little hands over who got to go back in the cardboard prisons (on a temporary basis, I hasten to add!) and who is found a new home ;-)



Do you like my sorting system, my loves *giggle* The big box for the keepers, the shallow one for the can't-quite-make-up-my-mind dolls and the remaining box for those to be found new homes. I like to keep things simple LOL



And this, sweetie~pies, is what I ended up with after elimnation round one. Rather a lot in the can't-make-up-my-mind pile, eh? But not as many as the keepers pile, which had to be expanded to a second box :-D



The photos above and below are of the dolls in the can't-make-up-my-mind box.....



.....there were quite a few to ponder over, as you can see.



But I got there in the end, my loves, and whittled the group down to this little bunch. Ruthless, I am, ruthless!

Of course, this is only the fashion doll brigade ~ I have other dollys to sort out, too, you know.....

A Doll-Shaped Heart

New post today :-)

Friday 18 February 2011

My head is full of dolls and waves!



Have you been wondering what I've been up to this week to keep me so quiet, sweetie~pies?? Well, here is the answer: I've been playing with my fashion dolls ;-) Actually, when I say playing what I really mean is that I finally girded my loins and got on with the task of sorting them out. Oh my loves ~ the power I had in my hot little hands over who gets to stay and who is found a new home! hehehehe

The photo above is of all the little darlings once they had been released from their cardboard prisons. Quite a few to make decisions about, no??



But, my loves, I had a system.....of sorts ;-) One box for the keepers, another for the can't-quite-make-up-my-mind pile and a third for those to be re-homed *giggle* Good system, eh!



And this, sweetie~pies, is what I ended up with after Project Ruthless Dolly Sort-Out: Round One :-D The two boxes ~ of course ;-) ~ are those I was inclined to keep, the dolls in the middle were the can't-make-up-my-mind pile and the remaining box was for the definitely-to-be-rehomed group.
I shall be continuing the saga ~ oh yes, my loves, I am still sorting and deciding! ~ over at A Doll~Shaped Heart in due course :-)




I shall be telling you about this recently-delivered package over there, too, but just had to share this photo with you all on here! No wonder I have a 'reputation' at the local sorting office.....



I also found time for a little hair experimentation. This is the result of eight braids, slept in overnight. I can't manage to braid more than eight lengths on my own hair as it makes my back and shoulders ache too much. My hair has a natural kink to it, rather than being wavy, and it rather likes to do its own thing LOL That's why I tend to braid it into submission ;-) I was hoping to show you how much it has grown, my loves, but I was standing too close to the mirror! Suffice to say that my hair is now the longest it has ever been in my whole life ~ and I'm a happy bunny :-)

A Doll-Shaped Heart

New post today :-)

The occasional poem


image from The Graphics Fairy


Dolls

She said: "I am too old to play
With dolls," and put them all away,
Into a box, one rainy day.

I think she must have felt some pain,
She looked so long into the rain,
Then sighed: "I'll bring you out again;

"For I'll have little children too,
With sunny hair and eyes of blue
And they will play and play with you.

"And now good-bye, my pretty dears;
There in the dark for years and years,
Dream of your little mother's tears."

Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Side by side in the coffer there.

Time went by; one day she kneeled
By a wooden Cross in Flanders Field,
And wept for the One the earth concealed;

And made a vow she would never wed,
But always be true to the deathless dead,
Until the span of her life be sped.

More years went on and they made her wise
By sickness and pain and sacrifice,
With greying tresses and tired eyes.

And then one evening of weary rain,
She opened the old oak box again,
And her heart was clutched with an ancient pain

For there in the quiet dark they lay,
Just as they were when she put them away...
O but it seemed like yesterday!

Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Ever so hopefully waiting there.

But she looked at them through her blinding tears,
And she said: "You've been patient, my pretty dears;
You've waited and waited all these years.

"I've broken a promise I made so true;
But my heart, my darlings, is broken too:
No little Mothers have I for you.

"My hands are withered, my hair is grey;
Yet just for a moment I'll try to play
With you as I did that long dead day...

"Ah no, I cannot. I try in vain . . .
I stare and I stare into the rain . . .
I'll put you back in your box again.

"Bless you, darlings, perhaps one day,
Some little Mother will find you and play,
And once again you'll be glad and gay.

"But when in the friendly dark I lie,
No one will ever love you as I . . . .
My little children . . . good-bye . . . good-bye."

Robert William Service
(16th January 1874 – 11th September 1958)

Thursday 17 February 2011

A little touch of Spring



Don't you just love spring, sweetie~pies? I'm always so happy when I see the daffodils for sale at Tesco ~ it's lovely to be able to buy them with my weekly shopping and this week there was 100% extra free! The plants on my kitchen windowsill are looking very happy, too :-)



Happy, bright, cheerful daffodils sharing a vase with one of the bunches of carnations Adrian bought me at the weekend :-)

The Thursday Poem


Young Woman Reading by a Window by Delphin Enjolras


The Lesson

'Your father's gone', my bald headmaster said,
His shiny dome and brown tobacco jar
Splintered at one in tears. It wasn't grief.
I cried for knowledge which was bitterer
Than any gried. For there and then I knew
That grief has uses - that a father dead
Can bind the bully's fist for a week or two;
And then I cried for shame, then for relief.

I was a month past ten when I learnt this:
I still remember how the noise was stilled
In school-assembly when my grief came in.
Some goldfish in a bowl quietly sculled
Around their shining prison on its shelf.
They were indifferent. All the other eyes
Were turned towards me. Somewhere in myself
Pride, like a goldfish, flashed a sudden fin.

Edward Lucie-Smith
(27th February 1933 - )

from the book: Poem for the Day One

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Prayer for World Peace



No, I haven't got ahead of myself my loves! I just thought that since there have been one or two comments recently about the prayer I post each Sunday, I would briefly mention why I post it :-)

A few years back I came across a blog writer who posted a weekly 'prayer for world peace' which I thought was a wonderful idea so I decided to do likewise. I searched for an appropriate picture for the weekly prayer and came across this beautiful dove, which was just perfect for what I wanted.

For a long time I would search online for an appropriate prayer each week until one day I came across the one I now post every Sunday. As soon as I read what Jane Goodall had written, I just knew that I would never find a prayer which encompasses so completely what 'peace' means to me. I was also struck by how Dr Goodall's prayer is not 'religion-specific', which I felt was important. I wanted my readers to be able to reflect upon the words without ~ perhaps ~ being put off by a religious bias which they may not share. (Regular readers will be all too aware of my own spiritual struggles!).

And that, sweetie~pies, is how I came to post my weekly Prayer for World Peace. It is something that I shall continue to do until the day I stop blogging and hopefully this little drop in the ocean of world-wide prayers will one day contribute to lasting peace throughout our beautiful planet.....

A Doll-Shaped Heart

New post today :-)

The teddies


In my post yesterday introducing you to Jane, I briefly mentioned the two teddies I have had since I was a baby. Well, sweetie~pies, here they are: Arthur and Fred :-) As you can see, they are both 'well-loved' and in recent years, I had to re-stuff the pair of them; Arthur (the white teddy) closely resembled some poor creature one might see on the road having been run over by a truck, whilst poor Fred had become flat in the opposite direction i.e. from side-to-side as opposed to back-to-front! Both the teddies lost their eyes at some stage in my childhood, although I did give Arthur a new pair ~ quite why I thought white eyes would be a good idea escapes me LOL

'Tis a funny thing about 'ole Fred, my loves ~ I can't remember him as anything other than squished! When I was a child, both teddies were included in my games with all my dolls and poor Fred was always the 'disabled child' since he couldn't sit upright and his head flopped to one side. When I re-stuffed him a few years back, I discovered that he was filled with some kind of nasty, dusty, woody straw-like stuffing ~ most peculier for a small child's toy! Arthur, on the other hand, was filled with the old-fashioned kapok stuffing. Now they are both nicely plumped out with modern stuffing ;-) Mind you, Fred's head still keep flopping to one side! One of these day, I will give him a new pair of button eyes, too :-)



Arthur and Fred both spend their days relaxing on Adrian and my bed, guarding my brooch cushion LOL One day I will get round to making them some clothes to help protect their threadbare fur ~ they're not looking too bad for being 50 years old, though :-)


Here, my loves, is a photo of Arthur in his glory days ~ with your's truly, of course. I don't have any photos of Fred when he was young, which is a shame as I can't remember what he must have originally looked like. They are both still very much loved members of my family and I would never willingly part with them :-)

Monday 14 February 2011

A Doll-Shaped Heart

New post today :-)

Baby Jane



This little lady, sweetie~pies, is a very special dolly indeed. I have had Jane since I was about two years old, so she and I have been companions for around 48 years now :-)

Poor Jane suffered from my tender ministrations somewhat during my childhood, so she no longer has eyelashes, nor her two little front teeth and I bit off one of her fingers ~ oh, the shame of it! Mind you, I did try to make amends on the finger front when I was older ~ I sewed over the hole ;-) Jane is quite large, about 23" tall, and wears size 0-3 months baby clothes so it's really easy to find pretty dresses for her to wear ~ and, my loves, it's the perfect excuse to still buy baby clothes!

She lives upstairs on a chair in Adrian's and my bedroom, along with two teddies I have had since I was a baby (so they are even older than Jane ~ I will introduce you to the boys another day).



I have always thought that Jane was quite realistic for a child's doll. She has lovely 'folds and creases' like a real baby would :-)



Here are some photos of Jane modelling a few of her clothes ~ real baby clothes, of course ;-)

This Mexican dress is lovely but sadly it is too large for Jane (and too small for a larger doll that I will be introducing soon!). Still, Jane likes to play in it :-)



This is such a pretty pink velvet dress ~ and Jane loves it, too :-)



A dear friend sent me some baby clothes for Jane ~ here she is in a cosy body suit...



...and here in a matching jacket and pair of trousers. I will have to take in the waist of the trousers at some point as they ~ of course! ~ have been made to accommodate a nappy LOL Jane doesn't wear nappies so the trousers are a tad too large, my loves!



And here she is carefully balancing on one leg to show off the booties which 'Auntie Irene' also sent :-)



As I already said, Jane spends much of her time on a chair in Adrian's and my bedroom, playing with her two little teddies. Soon, though, she will have a companion ~ more about that another day, sweetie~pies ;-)



And finally, here is Jane showing off her own cupboard of clothes :-) I haven't told her yet that she will soon be sharing her wardrobe with a sister.....

Ooooh, it's Valentine's Day!



Happy Valentine's Day, my loves ~ sending you lots of (((hugs))) and kisses!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Prayer for World Peace




We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere, for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation, intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping, training for entertainment, abusive pet owners, and all other forms of exploitation such as overloading and overworking pack animals, bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty, whether to humans or other animals, for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace ~ dr jane goodall

Saturday 12 February 2011

A morning in the life of my pooch!



"Are you busy Mum? I'd be only too happy to help.....



.....but unfortunately I have some personal things to attend to.....



.....oooh, my goodness, this leg needs a good nibbling.....



.....that's better, all clean now.....



.....hey, look Mum ~ I can lick my nose!.....


.....my word, I'm exhausted now ~ must have a little nap....."

Thursday 10 February 2011

What a difference a day makes!



Tuesday was a really lovely day and it turned out nice yesterday in the end, but today we are back to dull, grey, wet and gloomy weather. Oh well, sweetie~pies, I'm sure that spring is just around the corner :-)

I let the big girls out and all three decided to dust-bathe in the same somewhat small area! I don't know what gets into their little chicken heads at times, really I don't LOL



Mind you all thoughts of dust-bathing were swiftly banished from their minds when they spotted me walking from the feed store, carrying the blue tub which the dried mealworms are kept in ;-) They all rushed over to me, getting tangled up in my feet in the process! Boy oh boy do my girls love mealworms ~ the big girls and the two little bantams go mad for them :-)



See this spinky-spider my loves? Well I was such a brave person the other day as I actually managed to sit at the computer whilst Mr Spinky-Spider was sitting on the ceiling! I must confess, though, that I did have to keep turning round to check on where he was LOL By the time Adrian got home that evening, Mr Spinky-Spider had disappeared so now I don't know where he is, which is a tad disconcerting *eeeeek*



Ooooh, that's better isn't it my loves ~ a sweet photo of my precious pooch warming her back in the sun :-) That should banish all thoughts of creepy spinkies, eh ;-)



And here she is again ~ on a different day in the same spot. She was starting to nod off to sleep, bless her little cotton socks, until your's truly stood in her beam of sunlight to take yet another photo ~ naughty Mummy!

The Thursday Poem


Young Woman Reading by a Window by Delphin Enjolras


To My Mother

Most near, most dear, most loved and most far,
Under the window where I often found her
Sitting as huge as Asia, seismic with laughter,
Gin and chicken helpless in her Irish hand,
Irresistible as Rabelais, but most tender for
The lame dogs and hurt birds that surround her, -
She is a procession no one can follow after
But be like a little dog following a brass band.

She will not glance up at the bomber, or condescend
To drop her gin and scuttle to a cellar,
But lean on the mahogany table like a mountain
Whom only faith can move, and so I send
O all my faith, and all my love to tell her
That she will move from mourning to morning.

George Barker
(26th February 1913 - 27th October 1991)

from the book: Poem for the Day One

Monday 7 February 2011

In praise of Germolene!




As you already know, my loves, I am what can only be described as a large lady ~ well, let's be frank I am an extremely large lady! As such, from time-to-time I suffer with sore areas of skin which tends to be worse in the hotter summer months. Recently I have had another bout of sore skin flare-ups, which I think have been triggered by the hot flushes I seem to be getting more frequently as time goes by *sigh* So out came my usual remedy ~ Savlon cream. This time, though, it just wasn't making any difference so I turned to plan B ~ Sudocrem. This is much thicker and stickier than Savlon and usually does the trick when the latter fails. But no, even my trusty Sudocrem let me down and I just seemed to be getting more and more sore.
I was fast approaching the point where I thought perhaps I should go and see my GP when I suddenly remembered Germolene. Do any of you remember this stuff, sweetie~pies? When I was a child it was the antiseptic cream of choice, it seemed! I recall that it came in a round tin, had an extremely strong smell ~ you know, the sort of aroma which made you think that it must surely be good stuff! ~ and was the most lurid shade of pink :-D
So in a last-ditch effort to stave off the somewhat embarrasing visit to my GP, I bought some to try. These days it comes in a tube, my loves, the smell doesn't seem quite as pungent as I recall from my childhood and it is now a rather pretty shade of pink LOL And, joy of joys, it has worked ~ in only a matter of a couple of days, my sore patches have all but disappeared! My skin felt soothed as soon as I somewhat gingerly spread the Germolene over and the scent was strangely reassuring.



Don't you just love it when something is every bit as good as you remember from your childhood ;-)

Sunday 6 February 2011

Hold on to your hats, folks.....



.....I've created another new blog ~ A Doll~Shaped Heart!

No, my loves, I haven't gone bonkers ~ in fact, I believe I've done an eminently sensible thing in starting a new blog just for my dolly family ;-) I was trying to get back to sleep in the wee small hours this morning when it dawned (hahaha!) on me that it would be a jolly good idea for the dollys to have their own special place on the 'net. When I first started Lavender and Pearls (or to be more precise my previous blog, Violet Cottage), the doll addiction hadn't yet gotten hold of me so I just whittered on about all sorts of things. Of course I do still do that, don't I sweetie~pies, but those dolls have really crept in and at times even I have had more than a passing thought that they were starting to take over at times! Hence my new blog ;-)

It also has to be said that I've been wanting to sort of catalogue my dolls for quite some time, and A Doll~Shaped Heart will be the ideal place to do this. Even dollys must submit to the need for organised records and lists, I'm afraid! Of course, once the whispers about Hazelton ~ a miniature town had started to spread, it was only a matter of time before the dolls started to drop hints about a blog of their own, too :-) So all-in-all, I do believe this is a win-win situation, my loves!

I expect, my loves, that there will be a certain amount of overlap between the two new blogs and this one at times, especially since I really want to start 'making and creating', but the plan is to keep other dolly and miniature stuff in their own homes now the majority of the time :-)

I'm not planning on starting any more blogs.....honestly.....well, not any time soon at any rate ;-D