Doll-A-Day, Day 6: Pepper

  Here we are, almost a week into this thing, and I haven't given up yet, nor has my head exploded.Today's doll is Pepper, made by Ideal.

 Pepper was produced in the 60's as the little sister to Ideal's Tammy doll. (Tammy was produced to compete with Barbie, but was much less voluptuous and much more 'wholesome'.)

 Pepper took several forms during her run. This is standard Pepper, but she was also produced in a long hair version, and a 'Posin' Pepper' had bendble legs. The legs were more like Penny Bright, with bendy rubber legs, as opposed to Barbie and Skipper's 'click' type bend legs.

There was also an orangy red head, but she tends to be more expensive. One of these days I hope to get one.

  This Pepper has great full, fluffy hair.

  The outfit is called Miss Gadabout. It's supposed to have white gloves, a straw hat, and shoes, plus other non clothing accessories. I still need those, but I have the blouse,skirt, and jacket.

 

  That's the doll for today.

The story behind a story

  I have always loved miniature versions of real things.I can remember begging my mom for one of her metal bobbins (They were all metal in those days.) because it looked like a miniature film reel. I don't know what I would have done with it. (She would never give me one.) I might have just kept it because it was a cool miniature, or I might have come up with some movie scenario to play just to use it. To this day when I look at a bobbin I see a film reel. That has come in handy when dealing with dolls and miniature scenes and things. I look at something and see something else in it, something else I can use it for. It's the miniaturists equivalent of seeing things in cloud shapes. (I do that too.)
  So, my favourite parts of the old Barbie Bazarr magazine were the 1/6 scale dioramas they included, usually at Christmas time, and the column "Small Talk", which was all about finding things originally meant for something else that you could use in miniature settings. My kids talked me into having my own Barbie scale dollhouse when they were little because I loved to find things for their doll houses---and then annoyed them by rearranging their doll houses the way I thought they should be. I loved playing with the miniatures!
  That brings me to the reason for this post. Since I love doing the miniature scenes and things so much I thought I might do some photo stories. I have had this thought for a while, but I keep putting it off. I keep saying I don't have time, or I can't decide on a cast, or I'm not sure my sense of humour is going to suit my "audience". Ken keeps pushing me to do them, assuring me that I'll do fine.It would be a nice outlet for various things.I've always written stories. When I was too young to read or write I did picture stories. I sat down every morning and did a new story in a continuing line of stories about some characters I made up. I wrote stories all through school. I thought of becoming a screen writer because I always saw the stories like movies in my head. When the kids were little I wrote stories for them. (I even made them a movie once, using their favourite dolls as characters.They loved it.After Fuzzy the Doll packed the car {with: a fireplace (in case it got cold), a mailbox (in case he got some mail while he was gone),a snowman (for no apparent reason), and another car (just in case)}, and his suitcase {with his best friend.},Emma and Fuzzy the Dolls went camping,were chased by dinosaurs, abducted by aliens, questioned by Mulder and Scully from X-Files,and hunted by apes on horseback.You know I had to fit that in there somewhere.) Our playing allowed me to make up stories and dialogue.I still write a story now and then. But now that the kids are older I have less and less outlet for my imagination.It has to go somewhere! So I suppose I will do some photo stories. What's the worst that could happen?
  That brings me to the characters. Originally I just thought of one story. I was going to use my vintage Barbie and family dolls. Then I couldn't decide if I should use them or the dolls the kids and I had played with when they were little. The play dolls already had personalities. Story ideas came out based on their personalities, making them easier to come up with. But would anybody be interested? At least with the vintage dolls there was something interesting to look at if you didn't like the stories. But would anybody want to look at a bunch of fairly recent dolls doing stuff? Well, people do. I do. Ok. The play dolls it is.
  But then that takes some introduction, or at least explanation. Where did these 'people' come from? First of all,the name of the characters.They ended up with the last name 'World' because of this doll.

She started life as a Kaybee Toys exclusive.

I can only describe that dress as Asian Old West Dance Hall Girl.  

   Anyway, I debated opening her. After all, I'm a grown up. But of course I couldn't resist. As I didn't have many current Barbie type dolls at the time, she was recruited to be the model when Emma and I were making doll clothes. She looked great in everything we put on her. Eventually we started referring to her as "The Most Beautiful Doll in the World".
  The next thing was my love for the When I Read I Dream dolls. There were four,each based on a book character: Heidi,Jo from Little Women,Anne of Green Gables, and Fern from Charlotte's Web. Eventually I had them all. For a long time they just stood on a table in the living room.

  I had made the kids dolls of themselves when they were very small. Emma was 6 and Fuzzy was 2.These became their favourite playthings.They went everywhere and did everything with us. I happened to say that if someone made a doll of me when I was little they would probably want to use Fern, because she has red hair in a ponytail  and bangs,like I used to wear when I was a kid.

  After that they started referring to Fern as Tammy the Doll. (Like Emma the Doll and Fuzzy the Doll, that I had made for them.) Then Emma started insisting that I had to bring dolls to play too. I had to bring my dolls, and not just play with hers. It wasn't a selfish thing. She just though I should play with my dolls. So I started bringing 'Tammy' to play. Eventually Tammy needed a Mom. We automatically thought of The Most Beautiful Doll in the World. She had to have a name though. We couldn't keep calling her that. For one thing it's too long. But from that came her name: Dolly World. I thought it was funny. (See what I mean about that sense of humour not appealing to everyone...) When Tammy needed a Dad I dug out a Cinderella Prince Charming that I had bought for myself when Emma was tiny. I just liked him. Since his last name had to be World, what else could his first name be but...Wally.
  After that, every time I got a doll, it just seemed like they should be related to the Worlds. Well, until my kids said,"That's enough! Not every kid can belong to the Worlds! They have too many kids!" So the World family ended up being a bit large.They're like the Doll Duggers!

  
  I may have to have some of the kids not appear in the stories, like on old situation comedies when characters would suddenly disappear after a season or two and just never be mentioned again. Like Richie Cunningham's older brother on Happy Days and the oldest son on My Three Sons. Both went off to college and were never mentioned again. Or the little sister on Family Matters. Only the World kids will still be members of the family. (Can't tamper with my kids' childhoods!) We just won't see them...or talk about them.
  Members I know I will use are Tammy's identical twin brothers Todd (Identified by his hat.), and Simon.

  Todd's a bit of a trouble maker. Simon is a smart, well behaved kid. I'll also use Tammy's girly girl sister Jo, and her rambunctious little brother Gareth.

    Tammy is sort of based on me as a kid,but I would never have said some of the smart remarks Tammy said to the teacher of Doll School when the kids and I were playing! Like me when I was a kid, she's a bit of a tomboy but still  likes pretty old fashioned things, has a big mouth, and loves The Beatles and Planet of the Apes. (I need to redo their whole house, but Tammy does have a Beatles poster and a Law Giver statue in her room.) Dolly has some of my mom and some of me,and some of what I guess I would like to have been like. Since I have always been a frustrated writer I made Dolly a successful writer of children's books. Gareth is based on sort of a combination of me and my son, whose real name is Gareth. He likes to draw and paint, so he has a child's easel in his room, and a desk. He's a bit short for the age I wanted him to be, but he matched Fuzzy the Doll, who is a Tommy. (I originally wanted to make Fuzzy's doll from a vintage Todd, but they were too expensive. It ended up being a good thing though, because there's no way a bendy rubber Todd would have survived all the stuff Fuzzy put him through. He may have been a doll, but he played like an action figure!) Gareth originally had a regular Tommy/Kelly body and Bunsen Burnie Kiddle's head. Later I changed him to a bendy knee Kelly body.He's wearing my favourite outfit for him, which I stole from Gap Kelly.I had been wanting that outfit for ages, (I used to dress real Fuzzy like that when he was little!His 'hook up pants', as he called them,were his favourite clothes.) but didn't want to pay Ebay prices for it. Then I found Gap Kelly at a garage sale for 10 cents!
  I debated on using Jo's fraternal twin Anne...

...and the youngest World's, Betsy,(the brunette) and Rosie, who are also fraternal twins.

   I know a tendency toward having twins is passed down from mothers who have a genetically linked tendency to 'hyperovulating', or releasing more than one egg at a time, but this is doll world and this family  gets it from the dad. Mr World has a twin brother.Also, the tendency for identical twins,(who look alike and are always the same sex), called Monozygotic, which is one egg dividing and forming two embryos, is unrelated to the tendency toward fraternal twins, (who look no more alike than regular siblings and may be two different sexes) or Disygotic,which is two eggs being released at the same time.Disygotic twins also have no known genetic link, so just because someone has identical twins doesn't mean they would be more likely to produce fraternal twins.There. At least this has been educational. There's a connection to my husband Ken with the twins, because he was a twin himself.
  See what I mean?! Too many kids! But it gave me the opportunity to use more of my miniatures to decorate all those bedrooms!
   There are also two older daughters.Kenzie is a college student with a boyfriend named Milo.

  The other daughter, Tina is married to Roger,the local mail man and has two kids.

   Roger 'delivered' the doll Christmas, Easter, and Valentine cards when my kids were younger.
   Then there is Dolly's mom.

   I have always meant to finish a sculpt I did ages ago that the kids always said looks like my dad, to be Dolly's dad.
    I noticed at one point that one of the miniature skateboards in Todd and Simon's room was made by 'World Industries', so it was decided right then that Wally runs a toy company called World Industries. 
  Other families eventually developed. I found a cool 40th Anniversary Ken doll at Salvation Army one day.  Later he got a wife,a son,Harry, and three daughters: Vanessa,Heidi,...and the other kid. They even have a dog named Sherlock.

    I don't think he and his wife have ever had first names! I suppose if they're going to be in stories they'll have to have some.Their last name came about because the son was a Harry Potter doll, but I couldn't call him that because Emma already had one! Deja vu! That's what my sister used to do to me! So his name is Harry...Rettop. It's Potter backwards, alright?! You can pronounce it 'Rett-up' if you want to make it sound like a real name, but around here we call them the 'Re-tops'.Mr. Rettop designs toys at World Industries and is Wally's best friend.His wife is a former model and a bit full of herself.
  By the way, the 'photography studio' love seat in the pictures is one I made. It will be going on Ebay next week. It's more of a hot pink or fuchsia velvet than it looks in the pictures. It has a button back detailing and a soft, squashy seat so that it looks natural when a doll sits on it.(One of my pet peeves is doll furniture that is so hard the dolls don't even make a smoosh in it when they sit down.) I'll mention it again when it goes on.
  So there you go. You'll be seeing the story in the next couple of days.You have been warned!
 



  

Happy Beatles Birthdays Part 2

    Finally, here is the second half of my Beatles dolls and figures review!(See the first part HERE.) It's been a while, but since there was going to be a gap anyway I thought I might as well make this one a Beatles birthday post too. Today would have been John Lennon's 73rd birthday. It's also Sean Lennon's 38th birthday. (And although it's not a Beatles birthday, it would also have been the 69th birthday of John Entwistle, bassist for The Who, one of my other favourite bands.)
  I have a couple of my doll sets in rather unaccessable boxes at the moment, so maybe I'll get to the Sgt. Pepper Applause dolls by February and do a part 3 for what would have been  George's 71st birthday.(See that post by clicking the link.)
   There is another set made by Applause that are slightly shorter than the Forever and Pepper dolls. The shorter dolls wear the gray collarless suits. They came in a box made to look like a stage, and they also have instruments.The faces look the same as the Forever dolls. I never even saw those in the stores and I don't own any. I wouldn't mind having a set though.   There's a new set of Yellow Submarine 'rag dolls' out now that would make a nice continuation of a collection of the Applause dolls. I haven't seen them in person, but they are for sale on The Fest for Beatles Fans page. (Used to be Beatlesfest.) One of these days if  I come across them at a cheap enough price...
  There is another set of vinyl dolls made by Hamilton in the early 90's.They are about 9 1/2" tall, and the set comes with bases, microphones for John and Paul, and Ringo's entire drum kit. I have these, but, like the Sgt. Pepper dolls, they are in hibernation right now, all but Paul.  Paul has need of some medical assistance at the moment, as his arm keeps falling off. This seems to be one of the problems with this set. The arms are only glued on and the glue has dried out over time. Paul is a multiple amputee, but it's all been the same arm...over and over again. The arms pop back on, but they should be reglued. The resemblances to the actual Beatles are pretty good though, and the little instruments look good. Ringo's body seems a bit concave. There is one other problem with this set. The legs turn red. Not a dark red, but it looks as though the legs were made of red vinyl and eventually it shows through the paint. In my set it was George's legs that turned red. 

I still think this set is worth having though. The likenesses and the little drum kit override George's legs and Ringo's body (Sorry guys.)
   This item isn't a doll or a figure, but it's doll related. 

  The Ya Ya Ya sweatshirt was made by Ideal in the 60's for their Tammy doll. It isn't licensed by Seltaeb,(the Beatles' licensing company.),but it's so obviously meant to be The Beatles. 

It came in a package by itself, and came in various colours, including white and mustardy yellow. It's just about the most valuable piece of Tammy clothing I think, because it's sought after by both Tammy and Beatles collectors. I've seen one sell for as high as $75! It's crazy! I got mine online for much less. It was in a bunch of Barbie related stuff that didn't even list it. Luckily I spotted it in the photos though. 

Tammy looks a little wary of Hamilton Paul, but she needn't fear him. To use one of Ken's old English jokes, "He's 'armless." (HARMLESS, that is. Use the Accent.)

  There is also this set, which technically are not dolls or figures. 

The glue dries out on ornaments too easily. One of my drums has jumped ship.

They did get the stances down pretty well.

   They are Christmas ornaments made by Hallmark  in 1994. They aren't very good likenesses, although they have John and George's,(especially George's), stances down pretty well. Unfortunately George's accurate stance makes it nearly impossible to keep the figure standing up! (Wonder how the real George did it...) He does tend to fall over and I have to resort to leaning him against the drum riser. Even that doesn't work that well. Of course, they are meant to hang on the Christmas tree, not stand, but I like mine out all the time. They stand on our piano (which none of us can actually play.) since they are musical guys. (I wonder how they feel about being accompanied there by The Three Stooges, playing a violin, the spoons, and an upright bass. Well, at least Larry did actually play the violin and the piano. Go Larry! He was one up on us. At least he could actually play the piano.) 
 

John: Being a musician makes it so easy to get chicks. Larry: It does?

  Again, I love the little instruments. I also like the fact that the instruments are separate pieces, and not part of the body mold. Unfortunately one of my kids, or maybe our cat, (Kitten off the keys.) broke one of Ringo's delicate little drumsticks off. Ringo also recently suffered a decapitation when the glue holding his head on dried out from age. Don't worry. As you can see he has gotten himself together.
   And while we're talking about ornaments, I also have the Hallmark Yellow Submarine ornament.

 And while I passed up the Hallmark mini lunchbox ornaments, (I think Hallmark made a dome top Yellow Sub and the early rectangular box.), last year I got both of the non Hallmark mini lunchboxes.

  

  I saw them first at a fancy ornament store in a mall and balked at the $6 price. I held out and found them at Walgreen's for a couple of dollars. There is a Please Please Me lunch box out this year, so I'm already on the lookout.
   I got really excited last year when I saw that there was a mini Beatles record player ornament, which was a replica of an actual Beatles record player from the 60's. It was made by Kurt Adler, and was just the right size to use with Barbie sized dolls. Then I got a good look at it and was VERY disappointed. The paint job wasn't very good and it was molded all in one piece. I passed it up. I was hoping the company that made the really good light up, music playing, mini record player ornaments last year, (They had Elvis, Marilyn Monroe--but not her voice! Boo!---Peanuts, Rudolph, and Disney Princesses.), would make a Beatles record player this year. But it looks like they have given the licensing to Kurt Adler for a while. This year is a Beatles record case, (to go with last year's record player I guess.) It looks a bit better than the record player, but it's also molded one piece resin. That's disappointing. It would look good from a distance in a display I suppose, as it's fairly 1/6 scale. I just wish it would open and have a separate latch instead of being molded. That's me though. I like realism in my miniatures. Maybe I'll have to make one myself.
  As I said in the first half of this post, I love the cartoon Beatles and my husband got me this ornament made by Carlton Heirloom. 

  I have no idea why they are yellow, and I think it should have played music, but other than that I love it. It's from a few years ago. Heirloom also made a Yellow Submarine ornament in a similar style, but as I said before, Yellow Submarine isn't my favourite Beatles thing, so with budget restrictions I let that one go.
  There were a series of Beatles cars ornaments last year too. If I were rich I would have them all, but I'm not. The Kubrick figures are pretty cool. They are sort of like large Lego people, only with detailed heads. The bodies are still squarish though. I might think about obtaining some of those someday.  There are loads of other Beatles figures, dolls, toys, ornaments etc. There is no way I am ever going to own all of them.

   To conclude, here I am with my favourite Beatles figure, and a fine one it is.

1986. I'm a bit stunned. I had just been thrown at Paul. I don't think he was happy about it. For the story behind the picture you can go HERE.  

 It's an old picture. My figure was finer then too...    

Why 'Planet of the Dolls'?

  Ok, so you love your dolls. But do you sometimes feel a little overwhelmed? This blog is called Planet of the Dolls because, yes, it's a play on Planet of the Apes, which is one of my obsessions, (Yeah, I'm a science fiction nerd.), but also because sometimes it feels that way.My house, I mean. I love the movies "Magic", and "Dead of Night", which both have ventiloquist dummies that 'take over' their 'masters', and although I never liked the "Child's Play" (Chucky) movies, I did enjoy "Trilogy of Terror", with Karen Black being attacked and (Spoiler) eventually possessed by a Zuni warrior doll. In this house we have always said that those type of movies should be the most terrifying for us, because there are so many dolls in this house that if they came to life there would be no way we would come out alive. It would be like a plague of locusts or something! Kind of like the scene in "Small Soldiers" where they are fighting the Barbie type dolls that have been brought to life by the soldiers.
  Every now and then I look through my stuff and see what I can possibly live without, in an effort to thin the crowd. When I do this though, I usually end up weeding out very few dolls. I find myself using arguments like, "Well, these two aren't exactly the same." or "This one is so small, it really won't make much of a difference anyway." I recently went through about 4 boxes, (They were small boxes.), of Barbie sized and Kelly sized dolls to see what I could get rid of. Well, I ended up eliminating about 2 Barbie sized and three Kellys. Pathetic.  I've heard of the 'when a new one comes in and old one must go out' rule of doll collecting. I have a hard time with that one. Everything I have I got because I really like it.I rarely change my mind. That's why I have things I've had since I was a kid. I liked them then, I like them now. That's why Ken's fairly safe. I liked him enough to marry him in the first place, so he's not going anywhere.Now recently we made the buy of the century at an auction. I ended up keeping dolls that I hadn't even seen before, let alone been after for ages. These I question, and I may eventually send some of them packing. For now though, I have a Flirty Christina, a weird looking Ratti doll with freckles, teeth, and a somewhat creepy grin, and some others that I might not have even had a desire for had it not been for that darned auction.
  Ken complains that I have too much stuff, but then he goes and buys me more. You're just enabling me Ken! And he spoils me. He needs to learn to put his foot down and say no once in a while. When I whine at the checkout and want that candy bar, (Read: swear that I can make my money back if I bid on that Ebay lot and still keep what I want.) he needs to take my hand and lead me out of the store, (Read: tell me we absolutely can NOT afford it right now.) But NO! He just says, "I trust you. Go ahead. Just don't spend more than X amount of dollars." What can you do with a husband like that?! (In case you're wondering why I defer to Ken on the spending,it's because I make some of the money around here, but it's a drop in the bucket. I've been an at home Mom all these years and I am only starting to try to build a business with my hand made dolls and furniture.)
  I sometimes think, what if we had a really big place, and we could open a doll and toy museum? That would be really cool, and I could keep all my stuff and see it when I wanted to, but it wouldn't be in my way all the time.Well, I can dream, can't I?

Pies, Cakes,and Beatles,(and a nice lady named Donna.)

  I'm getting behind. I only just got around to posting about last Saturday's doll show and here it is Saturday again already. Of course,yesterday was Yard Sale Friday,so Ken and I went around until I ran us out of money.(Sorry Ken!)I did get some really cool things though, and this week was the second sale of the summer for the sale I like to call The Peanut Butter Pie Sale. It's actually a church yard and bake sale, but I go every year for the peanut butter pie! The best pie ever! My family all know that if they want a piece they have to go with me, because any pie bought by me will be consumed before I get home! (This is where Emma usually says, "How's that diet thing working for you?" It's NOT!) In spite of my not knowing they were also open Thursday, there was pie left when I went Friday. Yes! Ken went, so he even nabbed a piece for himself. I had eaten pear cake for breakfast, so I didn't eat my pie until last night
  One year the lady who makes it every year for the sale gave me the recipe. Thank you lady! I need to get around to trying it out. But here it is if anyone else wants to try. (You can call it whatever you like, but I call it Peanut Butter Pie Sale Pie.)
Slightly more than one cup of peanut butter
1/2 tsp milk
1/2 cup  powdered sugar
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 package cream cheese
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a graham cracker crust.Refrigerate.
  I believe the lady from the sale uses pre-made graham cracker crust, but freshly made is better. Just crush graham crackers, mix with sugar to taste, and enough melted margarine to make  it stick together when pressed into a pan. Let cool before pouring in filling. 


  Anyway,I got this record case for Emma, who has been after another one.

  Her records runneth over, and her cat Otto thinks they are his scratching pad if the stack is left out.Emma has quite a record collection, especially for a 22 year old. Music is her thing though. She even has a radio show called "One Mind Tracks", (as opposed to 'one track minds',because each week she plays songs that all have a theme in common. This week was songs about working or jobs, in honor of Labour Day.). So it's all research Emma. Take them off on your income tax...(Just want to mention here that the spell check told me 'runneth' wasn't a word, but totally missed that I had earlier misspelled 'after' as 'aftre'.)
  I got a bunch of interesting singles. ("Strawberry Children", by The Hobbits, anyone?)  And a Bobby Darin album for Fuzz. (But he still needs a record player...)

  But I passed up "I'll be Your Baby Tonight",by Burl Ives. Ewww! You may remember him as the sweet little Sam the snowman from Rudolph, singing about Silver and Gold and scootching his little snow butt through the snow.

 But he was also this creepy looking guy.

Burl Ives, alias Sam the Snowman.

  Oscar and Golden Globe winner, and he does actually kind of  look like Sam the snowman (or, vice versa), but he always creeped me out. Sorry Burl.
  But I digress...
  I also got this Marina Anchors Lalaloopsey, with her pet.

I don't think the life preserver
is hers, but it works.

  The mini I got a few weeks ago when I made the big modern doll score. I just forgot to put her in that picture. I have been waiting for the Lalaloopsies to hit the yard sales, and the time has come!
 But records were the finds of the day, and I didn't even make it to the sale that advertised that they had records! I got some great records at the Peanut Butter Pie Sale, but the records that top the day's buys are these.

Original releases in beautiful nearly new condition!

  One of the nicest things about a day out yard saling is sometimes you meet some nice people and have a good 'natter', as my English friend Cheryl says. (That means, 'a talk'. )I got these Beatles albums from a nice lady named Donna. They are in great condition. Donna bought them way back when they were new releases. Donna is a young 70 years old and encouraged me to 'get out and dance'.Maybe I should take Donna's advice. She looks and acts much younger than 70, and looked thin and fit in her shorts and camisole. I should look so good now! (For the record, I have never worn a camisole in my life,haven't worn shorts in 24 years, and, as I told Donna, I wouldn't dance unless I was locked alone in a room where even I couldn't see me.) I jokingly told Donna's husband Mike that THIS is what 70 year old ladies are supposed to look like!

  (I bought these from Donna too.)
  He suggested she would no way go for that! My Grama had a bun and a hairnet. THAT'S what old ladies used to look like!
  I imagine my Mom would have been a bit like Donna if she had lived. She never stopped moving. She was slim, and like Donna, ate plates piled high with food. (Well, she didn't eat the plates, but you know what I mean.)
  I also got these other goodies, and this mixer from Donna for $1!

  It's just like my Mom's, but I don't have the bowl for Mom's, and since I have been known to bend the beaters by stupidly trying to scrape the sides while mixing and getting a utensil caught in them, extra beaters are always handy to have around. Maybe Emma would like to have the mixer:"Just like Mommy's!" (Now she won't want it!)
  I also bought Donna's grandmother's hats.

 They are beautiful and almost like new. Donna said this one...

 ...looks like the ones Miss Kitty wore on Gunsmoke.

  Mike wondered if she meant Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies.                                                    
        

                                     
   I also got this girl, which is one of  Donna's childhood dolls.

  The lady paying up as I got there bought a boatload of vintage toys and dolls. Pooh! Always a minute too  late.
  Anyway, we paid for our goodies, but as we were driving away down the road  it occurred to me that Mike had only charged us $20 for both albums, instead of $20 each. I hadn't gotten Donna's phone number to give her the cake recipe we had been talking about either. (My pear tree actually had pears this year! It's been a while since it grew enough to do anything with. I used to can them, make pear cake, pear pancakes, and pear syrup, plus we ate a lot of fresh pears.The last few years I have been lucky to get 6 a year. So this year I got to make pear cake again.) We turned around and went back to make sure Mike had charged us correctly. Sure enough we owed them another $20. While we were there we started talking about the cake recipe again and Donna gave me a tasting tour of their apple trees. I tasted them all. (The apples, not the trees.) The best were these little yellow ones from a tree Donna planted herself 45 years ago.

  She gave me a bag full so now I have to make pie or something. Ivy likes to bake, so maybe if I peel them she'll bake something. One year Ivy entered an apple cake in the baking contest at the local Apple Festival and she won. It was the very recipe that I'm giving to Donna, which I bake pear cake from. It's actually an an apple cake recipe, but I have been making it with pears for a zillion years because we have a pear tree, not an apple tree.  In case anybody is interested, here it is.
Shenandoah Apple Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour 8" round pan or loaf pan
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped apples (or pears),peeled
3 large eggs(see below for variation)
1 cup oil (see below)
2 cups sugar (see below)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional. I never use them, but black walnuts would probably be very good with this.)
For topping:3 tsp white sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon.
Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition.
In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add vanilla to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients, apples, and nuts if using them.
Pour into pan and sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or until top is browned and knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Variations:  I always add an extra egg, and an extra slosh of oil. That makes it extra rich and extra moist. I also use 2 cups of packed dark brown sugar instead of white.

  After Donna's we scraped together enough money to share a giant chocolate malted, which are really good from the ice cream place in the little town down the road from Donna's. Then we were broke, so we had to go home!
  I had a very nice day. Ken went with me, which he doesn't do very often. We got some neat stuff. And we made some new friends and had a good time.Plus, that peanut butter pie. Ken's is still in the fridge...