It Just Keeps Getting Better

  Ron's birthday weekend has been a blast from the start. Yesterday we started V is for Vendetta before heading to the horse track. I lost twenty dollars on the horses and a dollar on the slots but came home with a hat, t-shirt, and stuffed horse. It was loads of fun. DOC also arrived in time for Doc Holliday's birthday, and we read it on the way to the casino and in the car today. So far I've only found three typos to fix, a missed space, a comma instead of a period that asshole intelligence missed, and a missed quote. I'll fix it. We are up to page 164 already, it's a riot. After returning home I finished V is for Vendetta which was awesome and not what I expected. Then I sold another of Mummy's Treasures on Ebay. The boys had me up until four. The Madame Alexander Mamie Eisenhower doll was in my Ebay cart, and I considered buying her. I knew I was going to get her for Ike. I had sweet dreams for Dana's Dreams Three Revenge of the Dream Hog. I'm up to page 133 in that. We got up today, and I sold an old painting, The Black Dahlia. I have heard about the doll shops in Lancaster since I moved out here nineteen years ago. Ron takes me to the auctions and shows. The Doll Outlet had Mamie. She's from 1973. I think Ike is from 1987, Enesco. I'm taking a break but IKE, another musical satire, will be sooner than later. Then we went to a fabulous fifties diner. It was better than Happy Days. It was right by where my brother and I had played pirate miniature golf. What's more, the steamboat motel, where I always wanted to stay with Purple Witch, is also there all within walking distance of a theater. There was a doo-wop concert there tonight. I wonder if that is where Purple Witch might be going to see Slayer in September. I'll have to look into it because I could get a room at the steamboat motel. Then, Ron stopped at yet another doll shop, The Doll Boutique, where I got this sweet dress for Frannie who had been wearing Marcella's dress since The Letitia Penn Doll Club's Christmas at The William Penn. That was a Schoenhut theme, but Red Witch and Little Ron will be at this year's with an early dollhouse theme. Good times! If I'm back in September I'll pick up a slicker for Frannie. TTYL...

Amazon (Books)

Ebay (Mummy's Treasures & Dolls)

Vampiric Council Tea

Dublin Doll Show

  We heard about the Dublin Doll Show at The Letitia Penn Doll Club Christmas at The William Penn Inn. Ran into the lady from the club there. Yes, Countess Po' Ass would love to join their club, but The William Penn Inn is quite a haul. I got Penny, a big handmade prim, two autographed Creole Cats books, a beaded Indian chief, an antique baby bonnet, antique lace for my Jennie Wade dolls, and an antique doll recipe book for a grand total of thirty dollars. I got the adorable bromeliad from the Pearl S. Buck house for four dollars. We stopped at Peaceful Valley Park too. Then we had lunch at Country Place. It was a good time. 

 

Scratchy Fairy Cakes

   Ron had gotten me Betsy Williams Are there Fairies in the Bottom of your Garden? from the witch at The Green Dragon. I read it to him on the way to The Leticia Penn Doll Club's Christmas at The William Penn Inn. I got the fairy cake recipe from there. The fairy blackberry punch will match. Have a Happy Beltane! 

🔥Light All the Fires🔥

THE TRIP | EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE HORROR MOVIE | TERROR FILMS

Potpourri and Fragrant Crafts

  Ron had gotten me Betsy Williams's Are There Fairies in the Bottom of Your Garden? from the witch at The Green Dragon that he buys me incense and candles from. The fabulous crystal rock hound sells specimens directly across from her. I'd bought a beautiful twin crystal from him, but Ron had gotten me a cherry quartz jaspar wand from him as well as carved animals. I had read the darling little booklet to him on the way to The William Penn Inn, which is a bit of a haul. We were so impressed that our private Beltane celebration will be the best ever this year. I also went looking for more of Betsy's work. She's a real herbalist in a world of fakes. My Grandma had a bookshelf full of Reader's Digest books, they were all the rage back in the day when people were real. I have only just started this book, but I love it already. I am sure that it will bring me joy for years to come, not to mention the gifts from my garden and walks to my favorite Peeps. 

Potpourri and Fragrant Crafts
 

Frannie and Me

  Finally got the pictures from the Leticia Penn Doll Club's Christmas Schoenhut party at The William Penn Inn. That was such a good time. I've already picked up two other dolls I'd coveted there. 🙄 I'm kind of ridiculous. I'm supposed to be saving for my next Gettysburg trip. 

Buy My Dolls

  
 

Baby New Year

  When we were at the William Penn there was a big K & R baby as a prize which made me want an antique baby doll. I have a lot of German antique dolls, but they are all either girls or ladies, no babies. I do have some contemporary babies including a huge Rustie that Mummy brought me back from Florida while visiting a mutual friend and a Christening baby, but Kitty is my first antique. She's the same big chunky size as the flirty eyed one I'd seen at the doll club event, but she's older and prettier, more baby-like. She's an ABG, and I might have one of their chinaheads but none other. She had a bit of crazing to one leg and was missing some fingers all of which I remedied. Skinny dip satin spray paint and a buff fixes old doll bodies right up. I mended Mummy's Ideal bride doll this way, and I had thought I'd have to paint her green and start over, she was that bad. Polymer fingers can be painted with it too and glued right in place, so you'll really have to look to find the mend. She was naked, but now she wears my old baby dress and shoes. The cap and coat were Ron's mother's from the twenties. Ron and his brothers wore them too. Frankie and I are up to episode fourteen of forty-eight of The Great Courses, Ancient Egypt. The professor is from Long Island, and we are really enjoying it. We only have through Sunday to finish them, so I'll chat later, but I had to share Kitty. 

 

Happy New Year!

 

Pennsylvania Calendar
by dollsandmagic

A True Ginny Christmas

    I had wanted a Ginny doll since I was a kid. I got my first, the one in the coat on the right, last year from a lady on Ebay that Ron had gotten my Hexican Himstedt, (Panchita, aka, Esmerelda), from. I got two of them, both from the eighties, still in their boxes, from her for eight dollars. I share, and had sent the spring one to Susie Blue Witch telling her that I planned on making them clothes like witches' dresses. Then, I won the one on the left, Norway from the seventies still in the box, at The Lancaster Doll Show. I also won Scotland that day who is wrapped up for Susie for Christmas along with The Three Witches Magic Shoppe Adventures in Doll Land. Last week at The Letitia Penn Doll Club's Christmas at The William Penn Inn, (1714), Ron won the centerpiece, everything here plus the original Ginny from the fifties in the middle. Both she and the eighties have sleep eyes, but the seventies girl does not. I still like my eighties one the best, although they say that the quality dropped in 1973 when they stopped making her in the U.S.A. I like them all for different reasons. Sadly they stopped making Ginny in 1995. I still get to have a true Ginny Christmas, and I will make them things once I'm done with Fanging with Claude. I've made it to page 185. I will get back to my Gettysburg game and all of that. TTYL... Happy Witches' Christmas! 🌟

The Letitia Penn Doll Club Christmas

  We started celebrating the holidays all December years ago when it was just us. We have our regular go tos: Joanna and Cornwall furnaces and Bethlehem, but Ron is full of surprises and certainly out did himself this year with the Schoenhut event sponsored by the Letitia Penn Doll Club at The William Penn Inn, (1714). Over the Moon does not describe it. I am seriously considering joining The Letitia Penn Doll Club now. They could use me, I'm so crafty. I made a couple of videos for you to watch afterwards, for sights, but let me tell you all about it. I took Frannie, my Schoenhut, she was a big hit. Looks like my table, the last, thirteen, was the only to bring their doll friends along as Frannie met her sister, Nadjia, and her Japanese friend. I made so many new friends. Funny but Bev, the festive martini lady, was telling me how they love young people, she was referring to me. 🤣 Well, my hex used to say the only difference between me and a seven-year-old is that you can beat the seven-year-old and send it to bed. There were so many gorgeous dolls there, but Ron got Red Witch a tiny handmade wooden doll from Marjorie that I've been eyeing up at The Lancaster Doll Show for years for my stocking. The centerpieces were precious, and wouldn't you know, Ron won one. He deserves it: full of handmade wonders and a Ginny doll from the fifties. The food was fabulous. You have your choice, and I was the only vegetarian of the table and so happy for it: a mushroom quiche and a sweet fruit salad. We had a waldorf salad first witch' was so special as Ron had wanted his mother to make him one after watching My Dinner with Andre as a kid. She would not. Think I'll be making them from now on. The triple dessert was too much, and I brought two-thirds of it home. Frankie loves the cheesecake. He was good only pulled Miss Hickory out of The Collins Port Inn while we were gone. He also upset Bob, the cactus. Anyways, Ron did not only win the darling centerpiece, but I also won a loaf of nut bread from The William Penn Inn. It means more than you know as my mother always made nut bread. The favors, the catalogs and adorable wooden Schoenhut alphabet dolls are enough to make any antendee feel fortunate whether or not you scored one of the fabulous prizes. The maker of the precious alphabet blocks was wearing a groovy seventies Christmas blazer. I have one in orange that I wore as a child that somehow came back to me that a Himstedt is wanting. What a charming way to celebrate the holidays! 

Video Part 1: Prizes

Part Two

 

Letitia Penn Doll Club Christmas

Letitia Penn Doll Club Christmas

Christmas at Cornwall Furnace

    It was another fabulous holiday starting at Cornwall Iron Furnace (1742). They have yummy homemade cookies, cocoa, and Christmas tea. Last year it was so warm that we walked about the town, but today was cold; and although Mummy's Ewok coat is warm, the Christmas pants Theresa sent me several years ago aren't. I'm just happy they still fit as I wash everything in hot water and put it in the dryer. I have to fit into my handmade green velvet from the seventies for the Shoenhut gig at The William Penn next week that I've only worn to see Loreena McKennitt, so looks like I'll be fasting this week. Didn't happen today, afterwards we went to The Bluebird Inn (1859). I had a Merry Cranberry house cocktail served in an ornament that was off the hook, and their chili puts Trooper Thorn's to shame: all so good. They crumble cornbread on top. I'm going to have to remember that. I got videos of the fabulous trains, but I'm having technical difficulties uploading them. I'll keep trying. My beautiful Christmas cactus is blooming too. Frankie was a very good boy and napped with me when we got back. 🎄

 

Schoenhut Dolls

We're in. We will be going to The William Penn afterall. I'm feeling a little ew, today. Frankie and I were up all night watching Mama's Family. I only just discovered that you can rent an entire farmhouse through The Dobbin House on Little Round Top in Gettysburg that sleeps ten and has a kitchen and laundry. Anyways, good news so I'll TTYL... 💖

A Schoenhut Christmas at The William Penn

  

   

Frannie, my Schoenhut, and I are excited, Ron is taking us to A Schoenhut Christmas at The William Penn Inn! I've never been there, but it is from 1714, and is the oldest operating inn in Pennsylvania! Frannie and I are going to get dressed up. Ron has the best ideas. He didn't even know that I had a Schoenhut. Of course I do! She is very special to me too. 

 

Schoenhut Christmas

The William Penn