Barbie's 60th, Dolls and Microsurgery and More

For Barbie's 60th, I bought the pilot Barbie; I just took a round-trip jaunt cross country, not for fun, for family business.  It seemed appropriate.  I brought family dolls, plush, and souvenirs for my aunt home.   I bought the MEGO Samantha and a tiny,3 inch Kachina to add to my collection.  One was from Target on a quick run for another suitcase.  The other came from the Southwest store at O'Hare.

In the last week I've been home, I made up for the lack of doll places I wasn't able to visit here, at Salvation Army, Goodwill, a couple thrift stores and yard sales. 

The Ultimate Teddy; Bass Pro Shops

Mermaid, doll utensil door handle, Bass Pro Shops

One Fairy Garden ready

Bitty Babies and Star Wars finds

German bisque baby head

Small antiques peek from their case

Besides the 60th Barbie, I found a Star Wars Hot Wheels robot car.  Also, a large terracotta statue made in Mexico and an Ashanti doll of wood from Ghana.   A large German bisque baby head and several International dolls, two German bisque came home, also several boxes of vintage 40s and 50s paper dolls.  At one yard sale, I found Victorian German bisque figures, and a Lefton Madonna and Child.  A live sized Pekingese named Mickey came with, and a life-sized PM statue of a collie named, of course, Lassie.

Some gorgeous modern bisques arrived, and a little boy, an artists doll, kneeling in a tiny suit with short pants.  Adorable. 

Three Madame Alexander portraits came home, along with a lovely Supermarket bride complete with earrings and heels.  A deer friend left me an action figures and three movies channeling my Countess.

So, the museum rolls on.

A friend told me his son was doing microsurgery for voles as part of his vet studies.  He learned the precision by paining eyes on mini plastic soldiers. Play with dolls and toys has inspired scientific discoveries and all kidns of other inventions.  Get out that toybox!

I see lots of doll references to teddies, Barbie and Chatty Cathy on The Nanny, and references to 80s toys on The Goldbergs.  New toys will be out soon for fall; check out the shelves.  I noticed Barbie fishing gear at Bass Pro Shops this weekend, and a line of dolls with accessories that the shops put out.

My big find was two AG Bitty Babies for $2.50 each at a yard sale, and box of Star Wars figures and a Millennium Falcon for $5.  Not bad.

So, look for the Virtual Doll Convention if you haven't signed up yet; June 19-23.  My book, Thinking Outside the Doll House; A Memoir, will be out soon. 

We move forward, even as life and fate drag us backward.

Lassie

One of our new Gene additions

Wearing a vintage dress, a Dollikins style doll ponders the state of the doll house