Ken in rehab

   Just letting everyone know that Ken is in the rehab hospital, and making progress. Please continue your prayers, good wishes, positive thoughts and good vibes on his behalf. It will be tough, but we will get Ken better. Today he had electro--stimulus therapy, or whatever the name is. He stood on his left leg too, and he said it felt good to stand on his own. I have been staying at the hospital, and then the rehab hospital with him, and I have to get back there. Continued updates on the blog's Facebook page, which you'll find a link to on this page somewhere.

  It's safe to say that my days of buying dolls are over. I have too much stuff, and we may have to downsize to a one story house, for Ken. Also, we will now be on Ken's disability income, so dolls are not in the budget. When things get more back to normal, I still have plenty of dolls to show you, and you will be able to buy them too! I am putting the sales page back up, but only the dolls that I can easily locate. The others will go back on eventually, as they are taken out of storage. Please buy something if you are so inclined. Ken hasn't been working for about three weeks, and we haven't been approved for any disability or anything yet.

Update on Ken

  Thanks to everyone for the good wishes for Ken. Please continue all the prayers, good wishes, positive vibes, or whatever else you believe in. He is doing well. He has been moved to a rehabilitation facility and is making progress. He is expected to be there for three weeks. I have been staying in the hospital with him, and I'll be staying at the rehab with him too. So you won't hear from me for a while.

Ken in Hospital

   Just to say that I don't know when I'll be back. Ken is stable and improving, but he is in the hospital after several strokes. Regular updates on the blog's Facebook page. 

Nature, Animals, (Including One Amazing Spot!), Bakery Goodies, and a Few Dolls

  Ken and I have been going off for our Fun Day lately, and trying to enjoy some nature.

  We visited this park a few weeks ago. 

  The idea was to let Ken cook out while enjoying the beauty of nature. Of course, by the time we got to the area where the park was, and stopped and grabbed some food for the picnic, as we were going from the store to the car, it began to POUR rain. So Ken couldn't cook out. Luckily I had bought things that didn't need cooling, like pasta salad, cheese, and cooked eggs with peppercinis, and Ken had bought potato salad. So we shared and survived, eating at the park from the relative dryness of our car. We had stopped at the Amish bakery that morning, so we even had dessert.

Finally got that nasty beard off Ken's face!

   The pictures above are from the gorge overlook. By the time we could look, Ken couldn't be bothered to get out of the car. I hobbled down myself and looked. 

  We went back last week to because we had seen some berries growing the week before. We wanted to see if they were ripe. We thought they were black raspberries, which Emma LOVES. And black raspberries are hard to find in stores and really expensive. The frozen ones I bought for Emma's bridal shower cake last summer cost $40! So we went to the park again, and a lot of them had ripened.

   It was really hot. The car air conditioner isn't working, so i wore my sun hat tightly on my head so we could have the windows down and I wouldn't be blinded by flying hair.

Tammy World wore her sun hat too.

My left arm got sunburned. (Don't ask me how I only sunburned one arm.) We had to beware of the poison ivy, which was everywhere, and the thorns, which were mostly in my arms.  But we picked a bunch of berries. More on that in a minute.

Tammy wanted to help. "But you didn't bring a basket."

"Not a problem."

   We still haven't taken the walk down to the other overlook point, because our leg/ankles/backs haven't been up to it! On this day my leg and feet were really bad by the time we finished picking berries and eating. Ken wasn't doing too great, but he did hobble over to the overlook point I had gone to the week before. Hopefully, if we go again, we'll both be in a fit state to walk down to the other point.  While we were in the park we saw a bunch of groundhogs, out eating in the grass. I saw a couple of chipmunks run across the road at different spots. Two little spotted fawns came out of the grass at the edge of the road through the park. They seemed to be alone. Then their mother stuck her head out and rounded them up and back into the bushes. Later, as we were leaving two more little fawns came out at a different spot, and then jumped back in. Probably the same misbehaving kids! As we were leaving, down the 2 mile road to the gorge overlook where we had been, I saw a deer up on the slope next to us. She started to run, and I was driving slowly, as the rules say. We traveled together until the deer, who had been going gradually higher and higher on the slope, disappeared over the top.  

  But the best thing happened on the way to Emma's to drop off the berries. Not only did we see a lot of deer, including this one that crossed the road ahead of us as we entered the edge of a tiny town. When we got up to where it had crossed, it was just standing in somebody's yard, eating.

But before that we saw the best thing ever. We were driving along on a country road. I saw something at the side of the road that looked strange. There were no cars behind me, so I slowed down. As we got very close I saw what it was, and started yelling, "Bald eagle! Bald eagle! Bald eagle! Bald eagle!" The bald eagle was at the edge of the road, eating a dead deer. It didn't take off until we were quite close. Then it lifted and flew off, across a field. I could see it's white tail very clearly. It flew across the field and landed on top of a dead tree. It was so cool!!! 

  I only had my phone, and it doesn't zoom in very well. It all happened so fast, I couldn't get a picture until it was on top of the tree. That made my day though!!

   So we dropped half of the berries off with Emma. She said they were blackberries. I have to admit, we tasted some as we were picking them, and some of them tasted like black raspberries, and some, the bigger ones, didn't. I assumed there were just two kinds of berries growing close together. 

  So, since Emma didn't approve the berries, we went this week to another park, where some ladies had told me years ago that that is where they pick black raspberries. But first we stopped at the bakery and got our cream filled thingies again. They are filled with real cream, which you don't get any more. Then we went to the Amish bin store for 25 cent day. It's a weird place for a bin store. It's in the country, back a gravel road. This is what was right behind where I parked.

  My phone camera didn't capture it, but the light hit that section of the field where the curved furrows are, making it lighter than the rest of the field, and all the colour was so bright and crisp.. All it needed was a yellow brick road.

  After that we went to the other park, and Ken cooked out in the light rain that kept coming and going. There were berries. We both tasted them, and agreed they tasted like black raspberries. Of course, we delivered them to Emma, and she later sent me a message and said they were also blackberries.

  After we left Emma's we went to a nearby town and had ice cream at the Indian ice cream place. (So, I guess we had kulfi, not ice cream.)

Ken had pistachio and mango, with something else in between. I forget what it was.

Falooda and another one I had almost eaten all of by this point.

   From there we went to a small antique mall. I was determined to keep walking and get some exercise, because lately I have had so much pain and problem with my leg, knee, back, and feet, that I feel like I am fading away. When I'm home I do very little most of the time, because the pain is too much. I mowed the grass and spent the next two days letting my leg stop hurting beyond belief and start working properly again. If I'm home and I start hurting, I give in, and sit down, or lay down, depending on how bad my back hurts. I have been actually getting a little scared lately that I'll soon not be able to do anything. As I told Ken, in the antique place, the anticipation of what might be around the corner helps keep me going longer than I might otherwise. So I hobbled around the small antique mall.    After leaving there we went back through Emma's town on the way home, and stopped at another small antique mall. I did see a couple of things that might interest all of you. One was this doll.

  The tag says it's a 1966 Cintage P.M. Sales Peter Pan doll. The doll looks right, from what I see online, but not that outfit. I think that's homemade. The doll also reminds me of  a couple of dolls I posted a few years ago. That eye make-up is familiar. 

  I liked this doll, but I was good and left he there.

  In case you're wondering, she was $10/

  When we got home I was hurting so badly that I didn't know if I was going to make it through my shower. I took the next day to let the pain subside. I can't keep doing this though. I hope this leg thing changes soon. It's been on and off for years now, and it's only becoming more of a problem. The thing is, it can disappear just as quickly as it came.

  See you soon.

  

  

My 2000th post! Notes on Why to, (and Not To) Collect, and Happy 4th!

   Happy 4th of July!

   Yes. This is my 2000th post! I can't believe I've done that many, but then, it has been a little over 11 years since I started this blog. The original reason I started it was to have contact with other people who might share my excitement over a particularly good find, because nobody around here did. I found that it was fun because I got to write, which I've always done, do some photography, which I've also done for ages, and generally be creative. I keep getting suggestions that I should start a YouTube channel for the blog too, but my answer to that is always the same: I don't want to be looked at! Of course, there's always the method that people like My Froggy Stuff use, where just the hands are shown. I bite my fingernails, so that is pretty much off the table too.

  In any case, let's talk about collecting.

  Why collect? 

1. "I need it." 

  Are we talking about dolls here, or something else? Because if you 'need' it or not almost depends on what you're collecting. If you're collecting dolls, no you don't. Get over it. You don't 'need' them. If there's a disaster, you can't eat them, use them for shelter, or wear them. Then why collect them? We'll get to that. Most things that are 'collected', as in, rounded up and kept, aren't collected because you need them. I do have to say that when people 'collect' various bits and pieces for some future use, that's more of a 'need'. If I find a particular piece of discount art supply, found item, or interesting thrown away item, and I think I can use that later, and save myself having to buy something then, I 'needed' that. It will be useful, and save me money later. That's not collecting though. That's stocking.

2. I am a completist.

  You start by buying something you love. But then, there are other editions of that thing, or other things that go with it. You don't really care for them, but you have to have everything connected with the original thing. Well don't. That is sort of connected with the Number 1 listed below. Also, it can lead to number two under the second heading. Only buy what you love, and leave it at that. I was that way as a kid. If I bought one thing in a series, I had to get it all, because I am obsessive compulsive. Not having everything bothered me. It went together, so I should get all the things. I try to be better about that now. Again, see below.

3. "I want it."

  Well why do you want it?  Is it because everybody is buying it? Is it because it's a status symbol? Is it because it's fashionable, but not really your thing? Or is it because you really love it? That last answer is the only reason to have anything. I have watched things on YouTube recently where somebody is decorating their house or room, or, as it's referred to these days, their 'space'. (I swear, if I hear one more person talk about their 'space', and not their house, or their 'window treatments', and not their curtains, my head is going to explode.) They just go out and buy a bunch of random things because they are fashionable 'decor', or because they fit their 'colour palette'. The worst thing they do this with, is BOOKS. They have no intention of ever reading the books. They may not even know what books they bought. They just buy them to decorate with! They buy them for the colour, because it matches the rest of the random crap they're decorating with, or the general look of the spine. Try reading the books for a change. I may have a lot of unrelated stuff on shelves throughout my house, but it all means something to me. Fuzz made that clay monster mug in art class. Those are my and Ken's baby cups. Ken bought me those Smiskis. Ivy made that ceramic box. Emma bought me that planter. I've had that glow in the dark lion, a gift from my cousin,  most of my life.  I got that ceramic pig lady on my first trip to England. My grandma gave me that antique picture in the metal frame when I was a kid. Mom bought me that carousel music box. Unsentimental Niece bought me that water globe. My sister painted that picture. They may not all match a colour scheme, but when I look at them, they bring back happy memories, or make me think of people I love. My books are ones I love, on subjects I'm interested in. And I read the books.

  4. I love it.

  Okay. Now we're talking. This is the only good reason for people to 'collect'. If you love something, and you want it around, that's a reason. Things that make you happy, or, as Marie Kondo would say, 'bring you joy', are things worth having around, or collecting. That's a short, simple explanation, but it doesn't need to be any longer. This goes with what I was saying in number 1. If it makes you happy, gives you pleasure to have around, it's worth it.

Why not collect?

1. You are only doing it because it's the in thing.

  I remember when Beanie Babies were the thing. I knew people who didn't really like them, but bought them for an 'investment'. I knew people whose kids weren't really into them, but bought them for their kids because they were the toy of the moment. Here's the thing: Don't buy things for investment unless you like them too, because you might just get stuck with them. At the height of Beanie Baby mania, Ken and I, as doll and toy dealers at the time, couldn't understand why anybody thought they would hold their value. To hold value, a thing must stay, or become scarce. Examples include toys that break, or have small parts or accessories that can get lost or broken, and toys that are produced in small numbers. Beanie Babies had no breakable parts. They had no accessories, which due to their size are often easily lost or broken, and often, worth more than the toys they went to. And lastly, Beanies were produced in the skadrillions. I guess there were a few that were produced in small quantities, but not many. I've been to yard sales where people have tubs and tubs full of Beanie Babies they are trying to get rid of. Some people still think they are going to get big money for them, even at yard sales. Some people put a dollar each on them and still can't get rid of them. Thrift stores have the same problem.  So if you're buying something, make sure you love it.

2. Because you have enough now.

  Collecting is fine, as long as you know when to stop. I probably don't. I need to get rid of things, but I'm starting with things I didn't want in the first place. The sales page is getting a makeover. Please stop by when I get it back up, and buy something. Make it something you love! Remember the rules! But buy something, will you? Help me unload. I have too much stuff.

3. Because you have no one to leave it to.

  Sorry. Not a good enough reason. Especially if you are all alone. I have talked to people who are stopping collecting the things they love, or are getting rid of them, because they are getting old, and  their family has no interest in what they collect, or because they have no one to leave the stuff to. Some people say they are getting rid of their things before they die, because their family will just throw the stuff away. Not good reasons. Keep it. Enjoy it while you are here. Just make sure that you have made provisions in your will for what will happen to your things when you are gone. Leave them to a museum that houses that type of thing, but make sure you specify which things are to go to the museum. Leave instructions for your things to be auctioned, specifying which things are to be auctioned, and who or what gets the profits, (your kids, a charity you have chosen, etc.), and provide information as to who is to auction them. Some people say they are getting rid of the things now so the things aren't a burden on their family when they are gone. That's a better reason. But if you specify in your will for an auction company to come in and take care of that for them, then you should still be able to enjoy your things as long as you can. Once again, specify which things are to be auctioned, and which things you are leaving to specific people.

  Nobody can say why some people collect one thing and some people collect another. Everybody has their thing, as I always say, that thing that for some unknown reason hit them just right, and makes .them happy. And when that thing hits you, whatever it is, you might start collecting it.