Happy Easter!

  An early Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it.

It was still chilly today, but the rain has stopped and my flowers are coming up.

The mystery flower that turned out to be a Japanese Lily or something. I separated the bulb last year and replanted them on our bunny Jerome's grave. This year about six have come up.

The daffodils in the side yard are proliferating.

And the daffodils at the side  of the house are going crazy.

 And the dogwood tree is starting to bud.
 

Tammy World and I are setting off for Texas tomorrow.

 

We'll be back soon.

Where Did All Those People Come From? Where Am I Going? And Will it Rain While I'm There?

  My page views hit an all time high on Wednesday. I don't know what the occasion was, but I'm pretty flabbergasted by the numbers. It's a little strange,because since I have been feeling so bad I haven't posted a lot lately. I have plenty of Goodwill finds still to share with you, but I just haven't felt good enough to do much crawling around on the ground. (The light in here isn't very good. I really prefer natural light and surroundings,so I like to take most of my photos outside.) Besides that, it has been either too cold, too snowy,or too rainy to do outdoor photography anyway. Hopefully I will feel better after the endocrinologist checks me over and starts to fix me. It's still almost three weeks until I see him though.
  I went with my friend Lori for her heart ablation last week. Hopefully it worked this time and she won't have any more trouble. I had little sleep the night before and got up extra early, so I was zonked that night and felt awful for the next two days. My heart has been acting funny again too. I have my trip to Texas to see my friend Lisa coming up in a couple of days. I hope I manage to feel all right while I'm there.
  It's been nothing but rain, rain, rain here the last week or so. You might think I'll escape that going to Texas,but every time I go somewhere,it rains. The first time I went to England they had 'the rainiest Spring in recent memory',and the rainiest April in 50 years,or something like that. One of the previous times I went to see Lisa,Texas was having a drought. As I left for the airport to go home,the skies opened,and there was flash flooding. It always rains everywhere I go. I'm like that old Crowded House song:Always Take the Weather With You". I do,and it's all rain.

My Birthday Goodies

  My birthday was last Saturday.I had a great day. All my kids were here, which is what makes any day for me. Ken took the day off too, so we were all together. I also got some great gifts! I thought I'd share them with you. First of all,Ivy got me some pumpkin spice Jelly Belly candies,(I love pumpkin spice stuff!), and a new purselette:

I have more candy left than this! It's juts an example!

Emma got me one like this a while back, and it desperately needs a wash by now. So now I have a change of purse for when the other is in the wash.( I was going to use the pig one Emma got me for Christmas, but the opening was too small to get my credit card,license,etc. in.) I hate carrying a purse, so these little change purse type purses are great and fit in my pocket.
Fuzzy brought me a sampler box of fruit teas.

 He also brought his friend Braxton,who brought me...You won't believe what he brought me. Braxton's mom works in a funeral home. (Are you scared where I'm going here?) She brings him 'stuff' sometimes. He gave me a clear plastic half circle thing with holes. It's a thing they put in corpses's eyes to give them an eye shape. He also gave me a wire thing they use to pull a corpse's mouth shut! Ug! I'm sure he just had them in his pocket and gave them to me as a joke, but Fuzz suggested I put handles on the eyeball thing and make a dollhouse colander!
Emma got me this Planet of the Apes board game.

You may have gathered from the title of the blog, if not from previous posts, that Planet of the Apes is one of my favourite things,and has been since I was a kid. Ken always loved it too, and loves Monopoly and collects different versions. So for his birthday Emma bought him the Planet of the Apes Monopoly.The theory was that if she gave it to him maybe he could get me to play Monopoly with him. I hate Monopoly,so under normal circumstances I won't do it. I hate things I can never win.
Emma also got me this Planet of the Apes Funko Dorbz figure.

And she gave me this Rugrats Chuckie Pop Vinyl doll.

She also got me these Mr Kiplings Cherry Bakewell Tarts. Mmmm!

She also topped off the cost of my trip to San Antonio,which I'm taking at the end of the month. I debated going because I was saving the money to try to go to England with Ken and Emma. But I have less than half enough, and it looked like I was never going to have enough in time to go with them,since they were supposed to be going at the end of April. My friend Lisa, in San Antonio wanted me to come and see her, and go with her to see John Cleese,who's doing a question and answer at a showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I debated. Lisa offered to treat me to the Cleese ticket. Lisa is one of my best friends,and I haven't seen her since 1994. There was lots of incentive.I finally figured that there was no way I was going to have the money to go to England in time anyway, and whatever I did I would feel like crap about. (I would torture myself about whether I should go or not. I would feel I missed out on seeing Lisa,and then still not be able to go to England. I'm good at that sort of thing.) So I was still worried about spending so much money,and Emma and Lisa both offered to top up the amount I felt I could spend. Lisa was already providing the Cleese ticket,so there was no way I was going to let her do that. Finally I accepted Emma's offer as part of my birthday. So I am going to see Lisa.
  I said Lisa is one of my best friends. What might be strange to some people is, this will only be the fourth time I have ever seen her! Back in the days waayyy before the internet,people used to have 'pen pals'. Lisa and I both belonged to the Split Enz fan club. The club was based in Australia, so they used to send packages of stamped club newsletters to one person in America,and have them mail them out individually, because the postage was cheaper that way. Since there was nobody around who shared that interest with me, I wrote my name and address on the newsletters I sent out once, hoping I'd get a penpal out of it. Lisa was one of the people whose newsletter I sent out. We started writing and discovered we shared a lot more interests. (A big interest for both of us was Monty Python,which makes it fitting that our reunion started life because of a John Cleese appearance.) Lisa and I shared many phone calls and very long letters over the years. I finally went to see her in 1988. Ken and I went to see Lisa the summer after we got married,in 1990, and again with Emma when she was three. We haven't managed to get all the way to Texas since. So I'm pretty excited to see Lisa again.
  And now the goodies Ken got me. He got me this umbrella.

He got it out of my Ebay watching. It was supposed to be a solid coloured 1/6 scale umbrella. It's not.

He also got me this headless body.

"Where's my head?!"

I had it in my Ebay watching,to go with the really good Sean Connery as Indiana Jones' dad head that was also in my watching.

It has really good articulation.

And it came with three extra hands and a pair of thigh muscles.

The head was sold,so I'll have to find another one. As I did with my Hot Toys Michael Caine head,I can get the doll much cheaper if I buy just the head, and a cheaper posable body.
He got me another box of Russell Stover candy. I love this stuff...too much.

Ken also treated me to a ticket to go see Martin Short and Steve Martin in May. I really wanted to see them. I keep pointing out that I really regret not going to see Harvey Korman and Tim Conway when they came to the theatre here in town,and shortly after that Harvey Korman died. Martin and Martin aren't getting any younger. How many more things like this are they going to do? So, yay! I'm going!
And whoo hoo! I got a new bicycle!

It was another thing in my Ebay watching. It came in this box. I guess there's also a black one, but the red one is prominent to show you that's the one you got. I love realistic miniature bicycles. The really nice one I have,(Which you may have seen HERE.) was damaged when I got it, and it has fallen apart.

'Smoking set'? I didn't even notice this when I opened the box.

'Warning! This is not a toy!' That's just because of small parts, right?

The bike looks like the perfect size for Tammy World.
 

And it's perfect for her,since she's my doppelganger, because when I got my first bike,it was a smallish one,like this is for her,and it was red. I picked it out at a Western Auto store. My dad tried to talk me out of it because he said it would be too small for me almost right away. I insisted that I needed a smaller bicycle because since I didn't know how to ride a bicycle, (even though I was 9 years old.I just hadn't had a bicycle yet, and my sister had gotten rid of hers. My mom had one, but I didn't know how to ride,so...),the thought of riding a big bicycle scared me.

It even has a kick stand,but the light doesn't really work.

Dad was right though. I learned to ride in no time and before the summer was over I was living on Mom's bike. I had to get a bigger bike.

I don't do hand brakes though. I tend to panic when I try to stop, and pedaling backwards doesn't stop me! I'll stick to foot brakes. This bike,like some others I have that look a bit less realistic, has hand brakes. Unlike the others though, it doesn't have real working brake cables.

There is one problem. It looks like it fits Tammy World really well, until she actually sits on it. It looks too small, and her body doesn't conform to the twists and positions it needs to,to fit realistically on the bike.

Awkward. She has to lean over at a strange angle to hold the handlebars. Although, it's realistic for my feet to not be able to touch the ground when sitting on the seat. They still don't on a standard adult bike.

The bike has real moving pedals. It says 'antique bike 1889'. This doesn't look like a bike from 1889.

But it says 1889 on both sides.

It has a satchel,with 'real' buckles. For some reason it says 'Ok'. The buckles really unbuckle and the satchel can be opened..

The satchel is removable and clips loosely onto the rack on the back of the bike.
 

The satchel was confusing us. It has a strange hole in the top and bottom. When you unbuckle it,you find that there is a strange metal thing inside. What is the thing? Remember that weird thing written on the box, 'smoker set'?

The satchel holds a removable lighter!

That was weird. There was nothing said about that in the auction.

"I'm too young to be playing with a lighter!"

So I love this bike. It's a weird size though,as I said. Maybe if Tammy World had a more articulated body she could sit on it more realistically.

"Are you saying there;s something wrong with me?!"

                                                     
She does look good with it though!

  See you again soon with some Goodwill finds!

Robbed Again! A Tale of Copyright Infringement

  Remember a few posts back when I was complaining about people stealing my photos,and using them on their own blog,or offering them for download, etc.? Well last night I found something else that really set me off. I found an auction on Ebay. The seller was offering a 1/6 scale 'portrait package' of Ricky doll pictures...MY pictures! It's bad enough when somebody steals your photos for their blog or something where they aren't directly making money from it. But when somebody is selling a product they made using your work,that's worse.

This is one of the photos she used.

  I sent her a message:
 "Hello,I have just seen your auction for this miniature picture pack,the contents of which are ALL MY PHOTOGRAPHS. These photos are ALL from my blog,Planet of the Dolls,and are subject to the copyright mentioned on the blog's Home page. I have also posted some of these photos on Flickr. Please remove this auction and any others selling products made from my photographs. Cease to sell any products made from any of my photographs. I spend a great deal of time and effort photographing dolls for my blog. These photos are for my use only. I didn't do the work for you to make money from it. If the auction is not removed I will be reporting your actions to Ebay."
 

She used this one too.

  Today I had gotten two messages from her. She scolded me for not being 'nicer',because she is 'old' and 'disabled' and that this is how she 'pays her bills'.  So now I'm supposed to feel guilty for complaining. For one thing,I don't know anything about her,except that she stole my work. I have no idea of her situation. For another thing,that's no excuse for stealing. She also said,

I don't even know what a blog is. All I do is google Kelly, Ricky, Barbie, pics and copy from there. If there is a blog somewhere that these pictures came from how would I know?

Well they have to come from somewhere. They didn't just appear already taken. Admittedly,if you see something that has been pinned on Pinterest there isn't always a trail to the original posting. But I tried to explain to her that just because something shows up on Google that doesn't mean it's public domain and can be used freely. It only means it was posted online somewhere. She has an online store and sells on Ebay.She obviously knows something about using the internet. Here's the message I sent back to her first response to my complaint:
    "You could have checked the source of the photos. Apart from that, you knew they weren't your own work,so you had to know you had no right to use them. Just because something shows up on the internet doesn't make it fair game. That's something a lot of people need to realize. Someone put time and effort into that work. I don't have nearly as much of a problem when someone is using one of my photos of a boxed doll strictly for reference purposes. When someone is using an artistic photo and/or using them to make money, however,that's another thing. Also,I make and sell miniatures myself,and might want to use my own photos at some point."

Another photo she stole.

 And here is the answer to her second message:

"Try to see it from my side as well as your own. I don't know anything about you. I don't know your situation. (And your situation doesn't allow you to steal from others. That may seem harsh, but it is 'stealing'.) All I know is that once again someone has stolen my work. I have seen my photos stolen and being used on other people's blogs,being offered for download on sites,etc.I have contacted them all and asked for them to stop using my work, and haven't even received a response. This was one more instance of others stealing my work,(and I do put a lot of work into my photos.The ones you used were from a year where I posted a different doll EVERY DAY. That's a lot of photos and a lot of work.),and this time the culprit was using them for their own profit. I was very angry. You have to realize that all those photos out there didn't just pop into existence. Someone put time and effort, into those photos,and in the case of some people's photos,a lot of money/work has gone into props and settings. Just because a photo is on the internet doesn't mean it's public domain and can be used freely. It just means it's been posted online somewhere. (You can Google anything and it will come up. That doesn't imply any rights to use it.) I have discussed this with many others who post online, and a lot of them have also had their photos stolen and they are angry too. A lot of people have resorted to watermarking or labeling their photos,only to have the thieves cut the photo off above the mark. Photography is an art form. You wouldn't use someone else's drawing, painting,or writing.What if someone broke into your house, stole a box of your hand made miniatures, and you found them online being sold by someone else? Look at it that way. It's the same thing."

  To top it off,she also put me in my place by telling me, "For your information,not one of these sold."   In other words,my photos aren't so hot because she didn't even sell any. That's nerve. Good. They weren't yours to sell anyway.

Here's one she didn't actually use!

  By the way, you can see Ricky's original post,including these photos and more,HERE.

Breyers Classic Pet Groomer

  I'm working on a post on my birthday goodies. Until then I thought I'd show you this little lady I got for 50 cents at my favourite Goodwill the other week.

 She has a translucent 'skin',but kind of intense eyes.
 

She's a Breyers lady.
 

She originally came in a Breyers Classics set 'Pet Groomer',which came with a  Corgi dog, Siamese cat, palomino foal, shampoo bottle, bucket and a water trough.
 

She can be used with a small Breyers horse,so she has some good articulation for sitting on the horse.

She's described as being 6" tall,but I measured her at 6 1/2" tall. She's slightly tall for my dollhouse, but she has gone to live there for the time being anyway.

Her shirt and jeans are nice, but her shoes are really cheap and thin. The toes were caving in and they were moving around and sitting on her feet at weird angles. I might just steal her clothes for a doll I already have and redonate her. I kind of like her though.