Friday, November 28, 2008

to continue

pretty gruesome huh! just the sort of things little girls love.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

page 7


the next two days will find me - one hand on a dust cloth - eyes scanning the domicile for the whereabouts of the vacumn cleaner last used over a month ago- the other hand thumbing through cookbooks. Somehow, I manage to scrape Thanksgiving dinner together every year - but it certainly isn't - presentation wise- anything martha Stewart would put her stamp of approval on. Odd chairs, odd plates, regular old flatware and nothing coming out of the oven in any synchronicity with anything else. But I love having the family together - and after plying them with wine - those who like wine that is - they seem to take it all in good spirit. So i just thought maybe i better post some more of the story because I know i'll be so busy the next couple of days.

page 6


danger and thrills abound.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

page 3

page 2


as you may have realized - I have already confused you. I believe I have made an errata or something. Maybe that is too harsh a term. Whatever, I have done is to put the title page after page one. So annoying - please forgive me - i will try to rearrange things.

oops

Friday, November 21, 2008

the story begins


page one. Setting the scene

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I serialize the book



Merry Christmas to all the people who read this blog. Both of you can heat up the hot chocolate because I received my copyright certificate on my book and all the little words and big, and all the little pictures and big with which i wrote and illustrated the book. When i started this blog Mr. Achmahdinejad started his. I have never read his blog and don't intend to. I merely referenced him because we embarked on the cosmosphere together. I assume that the Iranian secret service reads mine because someone from Iran regularly monitors my site and googles my interest in that wily. honey- tongued potentate. Mr. A may settle down with kiddies at his knee to read my book. The heroines are innocent as any nine year old would like them to be. True, they are not swaddled in textiles, as many of the ladies are in his neck of the woods - nonetheless they are chastity and maidenly virtue personified. Men exist to them only as an impetus to don new outfits.

So without further ado = (I will repeat the cover and post the intro page - probably separately because i am clueless as to how to bundle the whole thing together)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

the perils and pleasures of ice


more in the Christmas mood.

Christmas card


I am back from the road trip from hell. A friend has succumbed to the state of the economy and finds himself being evicted. He has a kennel and not only needs to find a new place for himself and his wife - but must also place several dogs. he has been a great dog breeder and exhibitor and has helped me so much over the years. A most generous person. What's a gal to do. i couldn't help financially - but I could relieve him of some dogs - one of which we co-own. i drove from Savannah to New England - staying one night at my sister's in NJ. Then drove to Roanoke, VA where I placed one of the dogs. i couldn't bear to hear that dumb song lo lo lo lalola one more time so i stayed in a hotel in NC before hitting the road again. For some reason that song played 4 times in two days - that and I got a bad case of loving you - what ever the heck it's called. I'm not kidding - different states -but identical soundtracks - maybe canned DJ's who knows. Lets exhume Wolfman Jack - or when i was a kid the big DJ in Miami was Rick Shaw. Which leads me to one of the more colorful episodes in my youth.

Rick Shaw had a call in request show at 9 at night. Some guys calling themselves the Seven Sinners of Southwest (southwest miami senior high) requested Alley-Oop. I was at a sleepover and the four of us JR. High girls got the bright idea of requesting Poison Ivy by the coasters and dedicating it to the Seven sinners with the provocative line - This is dedicated to the Seven Sinners from the Devil Dolls - Sinners what's your number? Rick Shaw made a big deal out of it and we screamed with delight when he said we sounded like we could make the sinners commit some sinning. Geezum crow - we were 12 and 13. One of us was wise beyond her years however, and through some magic manipulation the seven sinners showed up at the home of the girl whose mother worked outside the home. We hung out there exclusively - our own parents being the beastly busy bodies so inhibiting to the free spirits we were.

The guys had a big old bad ass car and looked to be about 35 years old to us. I mean driving and old enough to shave even. Our reaction as we skulked under the window and peeped through the venetian blinds, was to curse our plank straight figures. So typical of the female psyche - we were not good enough. Personally, I was paralyzed with fear. Not fear of physical contact just fear of being revealed. We were at that awkward stage where our teeth seemed to be bigger than our boobs. nary a one of us could muster up that hallmark of teenagers - a pimple. What would happen if we were labled retards before we even got to high school. Pat R. who was in 8th grade got the bright idea of placing two oranges in her training bra and answering the insistant - and in my opinion aggressively intimidating ring of the front door bell. The rest of us sat on the floor under the windows and hugged our knees. As with any situation - our reaction was to giggle. When Pat opened the door - we were into the snorting stage of giggling. Well the sinners were no dopes. To us they looked like the rat pack - Dino and Joey and Frank and there was a hunky kind of Peter Lawford looking guy. To them we looked like the scaggy little weeds we were. poor Pat - her valiant effort to look 16 had failed miserably. The boys put that old beater into gear and peeled rubber down the road. We giggled on and on. But we decided the day might be best spent among Toby's mother's makeup samples (her mother sold makeup to who i never knew). In only 30 minutes we all looked like play pretend harlots. How we berated ourselves. Why if only the sinners (there were only 4 sinners this day) could see us now - they'd have come in and then - and then - we were never quite sure what the and then was. maybe given them a pickle sandwich - that was what we were having.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Tuck comb three

the back of her little legs. I named her Eliza Jane Collins. She is the embodiment of maidenly modesty and sweetness, known for her charitable deeds - a skilled needlewoman, accomplished floral artist and renowned sad ballad songstress. Her only flaw, a decided streak of vanity.

don't worry - I'll bring her down a peg. i can't sew worth a damn and I'm afraid her superior expression will be quite at odds with the "outfits" I will make for her.

tuck comb two


She has a cooly appraising look. I couldn't overcome it. the more I painted her the more superior she became.

tuck comb doll


i am taking an online doll making class offered by Gail Wilson. She specializes in historical dolls. In this case it is a Tuck Comb doll circa 1820 -1850. it is great fun. You get a blank paper mache head - arms and legs which you sand and then paint. Lessons are posted about every two weeks until voila - you, depending on your skill level with the sewing machine, come out with a reasonable replica of an antique doll. The wonderful thing about this doll is that she is so blank. She is a true tabula rasa . Gail provided us with pictures of dolls in museums and i did my level best to embellish her as some of the fancier ones were. It is fun going to bead shops and flea markets to find suitable jewelry and material for her clothing. I will post more pics.