A Garden of Virtues

Lady Lovelylocks finds this vintage doily does very well for a shawl as she takes a warm evening stroll in autumn. I just rescued these from my old computer, which I rather abandoned once I purchased the Mac. I am finding lots of fun old photos to share. :)

Leslie knelt at the water’s edge and bowed his head, remaining still as pain washed over his mind like a waterfall. Cold and stinging, he endured its brutal pelting, till his face and eyes were awash in tears. “I only did what I felt was right and fair,” he whispered in the deepening dark, as weedy stalks waved tall as he by the water’s edge. “No other would touch this person, none but me—it was plain from the beginning that this rose was covered with thorns. No other seemed to consider the rose worth the thorns—but I prized it such. I took and held his friendship—breathed life into it patiently day by day, loved him—and now it is all lost.” As a duck skimmed the surface of the pond, colorful ripples spread before Leslie. “Teach me, lord, to endure this pain. I thought him worth the price—I think him worth the price. I see him alone, friendless, and clearly tangled in his thorny resolve I see pain and loneliness. This pain I sought to heal. He tolerated me for a time—then use...

Who is the summer doll going to be??? The new addition to my endless-summer world? This has been a tradition since I started collecting dolls in junior high school, though I have let it fall by the wayside, **not** purchasing a summer doll for some years, and purchasing **more** than one on others. What is a summer doll?? She or he is a new doll, an expensive doll, a pretty piece, a plaything that makes me feel a little weak from its beauty, something that gives me that special sense of deliciousness that only a beautiful new doll can do. When I first started my collection, there was not eBay, and I had not really discovered the world of vintage dolls (my childhood was just over, and I felt no need to collect play dolls). My prizes were expensive, exquisite porcelain dolls, and later, the unparalleled resin ball-jointed dolls. Throughout every year I purchase many dolls, but they are used/old/fixer-upper, in varying degrees. They are not the same as the exquisite doll that come...

This nameless creature sweet and frivolous whispers in my mind. She knows naught but laughter, perfume and bows.

Stuffies for Leslie and Josette , originally uploaded by blacsylc . Josette and Leslie loved the toys I made.

It was 1940 ... Before Josette came to the Beast's castle, she was a nurse. Though isolated from the world by the Beast's enchanted forest, Josette still heard of the war beyond his kingdom's boundaries, and her heart ached. The Beast knew Josette longed to aid in the war effort as she had before she had come to him to save her father's life. He allowed Josette to leave for Paris to work in the hospital as long as she promised to return to him. Little did he suspect how torn Josette felt at the thought of leaving him. She knew her life would be in danger, and that she might never see him again. The fact that he was willing to allow her to break her promise to serve as a nurse for a time gave her even more reason to care about him.