davidd's A Doll A Day 2019

[Alliecat]

I'll pass too cos I had no idea what most of it was about
But the set and lighting are cool again.

[Elfy]

Laura looks very alluring with a come hither look in her eye.

[neon_jellyfish]

I've seen the announcement about the movie last fall, and got very cautiously excited. Now that I've seen the trailer, I have to fully agree with the Spooky Sookie Sisters here.

Superb photo, as always!!!

[werepuppy]

Hehe, ooh Sooki Sisters, your commentary is witty and I love your takes. They should ask dear Cousin Monday her thoughts on the new film of her family...

The set and lighting here are fantastic.

Wednesday just shrugs and says it can't be as bad as Reunion

[davidd]

8 September – It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago tonight I climbed aboard an airplane and left rainy, dreary Oregon for the sunny Land of Aloha, Hawaii!

I managed to live there for sixteen years. Most of that time was a grand and glorious adventure.

And after ten days shy of four years in Utah, I am sorely wishing I could go back to my little grass shack in... well, in Waialua, actually.

(I still need to paint the base of one of the hula dancers, but otherwise I'm fairly happy with how my little "tiki shrine" turned out.)

[neon_jellyfish]

Oooh, that's a wonderful commemorative photo!

This is none of my business, but wouldn't it be better for you to try to move from Utah to a place more similar to Hawaii? I know moving to another state is a giant undertaking, but I think that being constantly unhappy is way too high a price for saving money and stress by not moving... Sorry for being nosy, it's just that you really seem to be very unhappy where you are now.

[werepuppy]

Aw, that looks lovely

[Alliecat]

Aww I got a similar little hula girl at the International Marketplace (the real one), from the absolutely nicest vendor. A lovely older man and we had such a nice chat.
Yay for 16 years of adventure. Would love to hear the stories.
If only it was just moving to another province, and not another COUNTRY... In a minute....

[davidd]

Oooh, that's a wonderful commemorative photo!

This is none of my business, but wouldn't it be better for you to try to move from Utah to a place more similar to Hawaii? I know moving to another state is a giant undertaking, but I think that being constantly unhappy is way too high a price for saving money and stress by not moving... Sorry for being nosy, it's just that you really seem to be very unhappy where you are now.

Y'know, after reading your comment earlier today, I started thinking... which I really shouldn't do... and remembering all the not-so-fun stuff about living in Hawaii. There wasn't a lot that wasn't good, and some people might say nothing major, but it was enough to add up to a significant amount of stress over time. So it wasn't all sunny skies, gentle tradewinds, and the Aloha spirit.

That said, Utah is probably not nearly as bad as I make it sound with my constant complaining. Mostly it's the winter weather that I find discouraging In fact, the television weather forecast tonight mentioned snow being likely at altitudes above 8000 ft / 2400 m over the next few days. I live at 7000 ft / 2100 m. Positives include: not too many people around (although the valley across from our house had zero houses in it when we moved here four years ago, and now there are five), nearby National Parks (half an hour to Bryce Canyon, 45 minutes to Zion, 2-1/2 hours to the Grand Canyon), and I am currently able to make a living without working very hard by operating a couple of vacation rental units. The sun rises over red cliffs, the sunset lights up the red cliffs, and there are, quite literally, as the old cowboy song says, deer and antelope playing and buffalo roaming. Well, technically, the buffalo are on a ranch one mile up the road, but it's a BIG ranch, so they get to roam. There are eagles soaring overhead and owls hooting in the distance at night. So I should really stop complaining.

The realistic plan is to find someplace to "escape" to during the coldest two or three months out of the year. Although even now, we can drive two hours south and find palm trees. They are desert type palm trees, not coconut palm trees, but still, they are palm trees. If I want to escape the snow and see palm trees in the darkest, coldest months of the year, all I need to do is climb in to the car and drive a couple of hours.

Yeah, I should definitely stop whining.

Although there's no ocean. I haven't seen the ocean in four years, which is a bit of a stretch after having lived so close to the ocean that there were sand crabs burrowing under the front porch steps. (Now I have rattlesnakes.)

It lessens the disappointment to know that to an extent I am following in the footsteps of "the poet laureate of Hawaii," a writer and artist named Don Blanding. Blanding, a "haole" (white man), created the "Hawaiian holiday" of Lei Day while working as a reporter and columnist for a Honolulu Newspaper. (When I was a teacher, I was the only teacher at my school who knew the history of Lei Day, or who taught a lesson on the origins of Lei Day.) While Blanding loved Hawaii and lived there for a number of years in the 1920s and the early 1930s, he eventually left, later living in Florida (next on my list) and in the American Southwest. It amuses me to know that, like Blanding, I moved from Hawaii to the Southwest, but (as Alliecat so often says) Hawaii still feels like home.

There, that's more than ya wanted to know, I bet! 

Aw, that looks lovely

Thank you. I like the warm light cast by the little battery-operated tea lights.

Aww  I got a similar little hula girl at the International Marketplace (the real one), from the absolutely nicest vendor.  A lovely older man and we had such a nice chat.
Yay for 16 years of adventure.  Would love to hear the stories.
If only it was just moving to another province, and not another COUNTRY...   In a minute....

I purchased one of the hula girls at the Aloha Stadium swap meet. The second one was sent to us by a relative in Minnesota (cold and snowy Minnesota) as a joke while we were living in Hawaii.

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9 September – The Dollie Dungeon Circus Sideshow Celebrates Wonderful Weirdos Day

Thank you to neon_jellyfish for pointing out that today is Wonderful Weirdos Day, and for inspiring today's photo.

And after the photo-session:

Kenna: Hold still! Stop wiggling! This is so adorbs! 

Dr. Evil: Adorbs? This is not 'adorbs!' This is painful! I'm stuck! It hurts! Help me get out of here!

Kenna: Just let me get one more shot!

[werepuppy]

Awww, Kenna and Dr. Evil are so adorbs

Also I like Darling's chainsaw

[Elfy]

Love it! We all need more weirdos in our lives.

[Lejays17]

The Wonderful Weirdos group shot is great, and I particularly like the out-take with Kenna

[neon_jellyfish]

Hey! Yours is better than mine! Not fair!

I'm glad you can find things to enjoy even in Utah

[Alliecat]

Hahaha, fun shot!

Wow, you are close to some fabulous famous scenery. Mom always wanted to visit those places and never did At least the palm trees are within driving distance...
I hearya about the cold though, and totally agree about needing to escape. Heck, it's too cold for me already. I've had to turn the heat on in a room or 2 after having the windows open all day -- horrors!!! All the while thinking, "It's already colder than it gets in Hawaii...."
I read a very sobering article about the illusion of retiring in Paradise... about how a lot of retirees end up leaving the islands because the cost of care for the elderly is so high. The numbers, although not backed up by a source, were horrifying

[davidd]

Also I like Darling's chainsaw

Since Darling acquired the chainsaw she rarely allows it out of her sight. 

Love it! We all need more weirdos in our lives.

We do? 

The Wonderful Weirdos group shot is great, and I particularly like the out-take with Kenna.

I'm afraid Kenna has made it a priority in her life to harass poor ol' Dr. Evil.

Hey! Yours is better than mine! Not fair!

Not better, just different. Your Weirdo Circus is a class act. My Weirdo Circus has chainsaw juggling and trained skunks.

I read a very sobering article about the illusion of retiring in Paradise... about how a lot of retirees end up leaving the islands because the cost of care for the elderly is so high.  The numbers, although not backed up by a source, were horrifying

It's not just the cost of elder care, it's the cost of living, period. Hawaii is one of the few states in the U.S. that is losing population (although the numbers are very, very small). Perhaps ironically, considering that I moved from Hawaii to Utah, Utah is one of the fastest growing states in the U.S.
(Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/201.../38918791/ )

I may have mentioned before, I have known several people who moved to Hawaii, were initially happy there, and yet ended up leaving within a few years, usually due to the cost of living, although some also grew "homesick" for the Mainland. I had zero homesickness for the Mainland, but the rising cost of living and other job-related stresses were taking much of the joy out of Hawaii life.

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I was feeling even less inspired today than neon_jellyfish, so for the second day in a row I have more or less (and rather poorly) copied her photo:

10 September – Pullip EOS – Moderately Filtered

10 September – Pullip EOS – Heavily Filtered

Yes, I finally caved in and bought... or re-bought... a Pullip EOS. I briefly owned one back when they were originally released, in 2010 or so, but I ended up... seriously, this is true... donating her as a prize for an online photo contest. Recently, I finally replaced her. She arrived several weeks ago, and after considering trying to sell her... because, y'know, EOS doesn't come cheap anymore... I decided today, after seeing neon_jellyfish's Doll A Day post, to open the box and let her out.

As you can see in this photo, I have not yet taken off her hair net, but I can already tell that her hair is dry and frizzy. I recall reading back when EOS was released that the wig is not of particularly good quality. I have also read that her costume is fragile, and one of the metal rivets on one of the "pleather" uniform straps fell off straight away. Of course, that could have been a result of age as much as a quality issue.

Most concerning, however, is that her eyes seem to have dulled during the nearly ten years she has spent in her box. Is there a way to restore the gloss to Pullip eyes? Or should my other girls be afraid... very afraid... that they could possibly end up as eye donors?

I shall need to put some time in to de-netting and brushing out EOS's hair. The way her hair frames her face (as in neon's pic today) is a significant element in her look.