Quacky Cords!

Nothing much today, really.  I just never pass up an opportunity to talk about Real Baby.  LOL, I adopted Geneva from Tam expecting to like her; indeed, Tam has yet to send me a doll I DIDN'T like.  But I wasn't expecting to fall head-over-heels in love with her the way I have!  It's not like I don't have other baby dolls, LOL again.  But no, Geneva isn't so old that she's peeling and cracking like compo babies do (nor WILL she peel and crack, since she's NOT compo), and she's not painted and customized to the hilt so that I fear carrying her around like I might a higher-end reborn.  I can, in a sense, do what I like with Geneva.

Well, for the most part, I can.  Geneva's head is so heavy that it doesn't stay up very well, but then that's true of real-live babies.  This does little more than make some photography a pain in the posterior.  But anyway, I sometimes complain about the difficulty in finding clothes for certain dolls (Bailey is impossible, for example), but Geneva is relatively easy to shop for.  Relatively easy, that is.  0-3 month-sized tops and onesies are kinda big on her. 

Regarding clothes made specifically for Real Baby, I've found a few brand-name things and some cute stuff on Etsy, but this bad boy is mint on card...for now.  <rubs hands together>  Bwa-ha-ha...but seriously, this came in the mail with zero delays, so in theory my other packages could've too.

I always like showing the price stickers when they're visible.  In this case the sticker reads "Villa Clara Store" plus a price of just under ten bucks.  

Villa Clara Store is apparently still in existence.  They're located a world away from Malden, in Miami, Florida, but then this little dress came from Fort Lauderdale, so it all makes sense.

Now...this little dress is called "Quacky Cords."  It was once used as a mail-order item, but apparently it could be found in stores as well.  According to the back of the package there were four little outfits in this particular wave...none of which are the two brand-name outfits that Geneva modelled last fall.  Those two dresses were probably stock outfits.  Anywho, here's a look at the other outfits.  Four little getups isn't bad for a baby doll!

Quacky Cords is on the bottom right; the others are Starry Sleeper (ooo, pajamas!), Ready for Play (overalls), and Jumpin' Jills (blick, a jogging suit).  I love the word play in "Jumpin' Jills," by the way.  I think that jogging suits are hideous and I refuse to wear them myself, but they look fine on a baby.  Babies don't give a crap what revolting attire you put 'em in...unless it's a hat, LOL.  Most of the babies I've known hated wearing things on their heads.  Fortunately for Geneva Quacky Cords doesn't have a headband or anything like that.  It does, however, have a pair of tights.

I don't know of anyone who likes wearing tights!  But does Geneva look adorable in this or what?  For some weird reason I've always loved ducks on kids' clothes (my old Suzy Cute has an outfit like that).  Another thing that a lot of babies I know don't like are shoes, and Geneva has those too.

Since babies don't walk until nine months or so there isn't much need for shoes until then!  But Geneva is sized about like a nine-month-old...I guess.  I recently met a nine-month-old that was about Geneva's size, so i guess that works.  Geneva is an armful, I know that much!  Anyway, these shoes fall off a lot so when I'm moving Geneva around I just take 'em off, just like I do with some of my Cabbage Patch Kids and quite a few of my American Girls.

Now, as usual, time for a tangent.  I've done some reading about reborn dolls, including Miss Emily's Saskia Project (posts here, here, and here).  When it was time to place Saskia's eyes Emily first gave the little doll very dark eyes...kinda like Geneva's.  Emily wasn't happy with the result and swapped the eyes out, an easy feat with Saskia's soft vinyl.  That got me to wondering...Geneva and her Real Baby brothers and sisters are hard as rocks, harder even than My Twinn dolls.  It's possible to swap out My Twinn eyes with the use of a hair drier, but I wonder if such a feat would ever be possible with a doll like Geneva?

Not that I want to, of course!  One of my favorite things about Geneva are those big, dark, uniquely blue eyes that stand out against her otherwise fair coloring.  But mishaps do happen, and doll eyes can get damaged.  I wonder if a swap would ever be possible, as hardheaded as Geneva is?  For those of y'all who have never handled Real Baby, the vinyl is...I'd almost compare it to porcelain.  It's that hard.  Indeed, the lady who designed Real Baby did do porcelain dolls.  But I've seen My Twinn fans compare the vinyl on the older Twinns to porcelain, and it still becomes malleable when heated.  So I don't know about Real Baby.  It's not a big hairy deal since Geneva's eyes are fine, but I'm curious.  If any of y'all know, let me know.

And that should do it for Geneva for now.  I'll remain on the lookout for cute little dresses, but for the foreseeable future Quacky Cords will be what my Real Baby wears.

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987 

Sweet relief

First things first:  I wanna thank all of y'all who left comments about the mail situation.  I understand now that it's hairy every damn where and my area isn't the only area having trouble.  This information did nothing to solve the problem, of course, but hearing from y'all was tremendously encouraging and I thank you.  In the end I griped for nothing, as out of nowhere my new doll's tracking number started updating again, and she arrived yesterday.  Meet Angela Grace Fitzpatrick.

Shoot a monkey, it's been a long couple'a weeks.  If I were Angela I'd be passed out asleep.  Anyway, Angela has a face that I didn't already have in my collection (Madison) and more importantly, a hair color that I didn't have.  Justin, Rosemary, and Salome are blonde, Rael is a brunette, Xenia's hair is full-tilt black, and Angela's hair is unquestionably red.

When Miss Emily designed her own My Twinn she had to specifically ask for bright red hair, and when she was running the My Twinn Project Shop I think she ran into...maybe two dolls that had this lovely shade.  So red-haired Twinns aren't the most common things out there, and that was the primary reason why I wanted Angela.  Oh yeah, she's also got freckles, though in this picture they're impossible to see.  I love freckled dolls.

She's just a sweet doll all around.  As far as I know, though, she is NOT a Denver-era doll.  Her body tag says "2003," which I think is from what Logan's Ladies calls the "China era."  Logan's Ladies goes on to note that China-era dolls can be eschewed by My Twinn fans because their vinyl parts are smaller than those of the Denver dolls.  That can make customization jobs a pain in the posterior.  I make note of this because Angela's right eye has an alarming pinkish tinge to it.

Since Angela is a China-era doll an eye swap may not be the easiest thing...but then again, her arms don't look any smaller than Rosemary's (left) or Justin's (right)...wait, maybe it does.  But in this case Justin's right there with Angela.  Rosemary looks like she may be thicker in the arms than both of them.

Pink eyes or no, I can't tell y'all what a relief it was to wake up yesterday and see that her tracking location read "CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO" after a solid week of radio silence.  Now to change that outfit...I have a copy of it already and I'm not a big fan of sweatsuits anyway.  I did have a new dress waiting...but Rosemary's wearing it now.

Blick, that new wig looks horrible!  I had no choice but to go back to the one that's too small.

If I find the perfect double-braided wig this one will go back into its box for a doll with a smaller head.  Anyway, I was talking about that dress, but...there's not much to say about it.  It's a linen shirtdress with subtle colors that would look nice for just about any occasion.  Miss Emily says that it's a harder-to-find My Twinn outfit, and indeed I've only seen two available for sale:  hers, worn by a doll she named "Safiya," and mine.  Maybe I need to look harder, LOL.

So that brings the total Twinn count at Uncle Man-Child's to three:  Rosemary, Angela, and Justin.  Like me, Rosemary is smitten with Angela's flaming hair.  Angela just wants to hit the sack, and to Justin's chagrin she chose his shoulder to lean on.

Notice that Angela's shoes are on the wrong feet...and that Justin's shoes aren't in yet.  Same ol' song and dance, the tracking number has stopped updating.  Patience is a virtue, I s'pose. 

By the way, I should probably mention that our plans for a house swap have changed.  If all goes the way we want it to, Uncle Man-Child will be taking Rent House (my childhood home), while Mama and I will be moving to his Grandma's house.  Grandma's house has three big bedrooms and tons of space, so I won't have to cull out as much of my stuff as I'd planned.  That said, I do plan on doing a mass offload of porcelain dolls.  Y'know, those that I bought on impulse and/or weren't gifts.  I may have enuff room for a Giggles doll now...but I'm not gonna push it.  I still have cats, after all, and one more doll is one more thing for my snoopy crew to break.

Victory, 

RagingMoon1987 

Time to gripe: just venting about our mail service

I wanna ask y'all, has your mail service been ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC lately???  This mainly applies to my American readers, but non-Yanks are free to answer too.  Admittedly most of the things I've ordered have either arrived on time or haven't had enuff time to arrive, but I've got two parcels that haven't updated in quite some time.  The first item is (spoiler alert) another My Twinn.  Her tracking number says she was supposed to be here on Monday, and it's Wednesday now and she's still not here.  Indeed, her tracking number insinuates that she hasn't even made it to St. Louis.

Even more alarming is a set of dollhouse items that I bought clean back in March.  Those were scheduled to arrive April 11th at the latest and did make it to St. Louis, but on the fifteenth the tracking number read "arriving late."  It hasn't updated since.  And what day is it today, kids???  The twenty-fourth!

To add to that, I've spoken to one of my friends, who is a mail carrier.  She told me that our local P.O. has had a helluva time keeping new workers on.  K told me that the new hires would come in, work for maybe a week or two, and then either quit or just not show up.  So the P.O. here has been both slow as molasses and understaffed.  The man who delivers Uncle Man-Child's mail sometimes doesn't show up until after dark, which is saying quite a bit since the days are getting longer.  I don't fault the poor carriers for this, of course.  One can't control what lazy new hires do or don't do.  And who knows?  Maybe the boss is an a-hole.  I doubt that's the issue (we'd have heard, LOL), but you never know.

So here I sit, waiting for my poor dolly and for my dollhouse trinkets, and wondering if the issues at Malden's P.O. are more widespread.  If places like Hazlewood (usually my mail's last stop before it reaches Malden) are having the same problems then I'll understand a little bit more.  Yeah, it doesn't make the waiting any less annoying, but I'd understand at least.  BUT...what if that's NOT the issue and the people between here and there are just idiots?

How about you, Rosemary?  What say you about this mess?

Rosemary is more focused on the fleabane growing in Uncle Man-Child's yard  (she and I both love fleabane).  I'm the one that wants a new wig for her.  Her current wig looks cute, but the cap is too small and it won't stay on.  The new wig is coming from St. Peters, which is a St. Louis suburb...so God only knows when or if it'll get here.  We'll see.

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987

Think pink

As promised, here's Candela Laura and Cara Raelean in their new clothes.  

Being a blonde, Candela was kinda born to wear pink.  Mama saw this outfit on Etsy and liked it.

A flowered blouse and a cute pair of pink corduroy overalls.  Oh, and two hair bows.  One for the base of Candela's ponytail and one for the top.

I love how the foliage on the blouse brings out Candela's eyes.  I didn't show that effect, so y'all will just have to take my word for it.

Oh, and I want to show Treesa the shoes, seeing as she supplied these.

Candela sends her heartfelt gratitude, Treesa!  She says those shoes match both her new outfit and the elephant getup.

As for Cara...well, to tell y'all the truth, she can wear any color she likes.  One of the things that I love about bald Cabbies is that they don't have to worry about their outfit complimenting their hair.  Anyway, I supplied Cara's outfit meself.  It came from Blastpiper Discounts on eBay.

As I said about Cara's last outfit, I'm a sucker for baby bonnets.  I'm also a sucker for anything tie-dyed, and such things are difficult to find in...well, in ANY doll's size!  When Mattel released that Ken doll in the tie-dyed wife-beater I was ecstatic.  That said, this isn't really tie-dyed at all.  It's a very fine plaid.

I won't have to worry about staining now...or I shouldn't have to.  If you've ever made your own tie-dyed shirts then you know how the colors can bleed or stain other things.  Now that I stop to think of it, that's probably the reason why doll clothes aren't oft tie-dyed.  Anywho, this outfit is pretty fancy-free; It's got lace on the hem of the dress and around the bonnet, but that's about it.

The lace on the skirt is different from the lace on the bonnet.  I like the stuff on the bonnet better; it's more substantial.

Just for the helluvit, Cara in her bonnet.  

Squeeeee, baby bonnet!  LOL, any outfit for the Preemies is fair game; for some reason there doesn't seem to be a lot of stuff out there...not on eBay, anyway.  Etsy is another story.

And that, kiddies, is my girls in pink!  As usual I owe my mother a debt of gratitude for Candela's outfit; she's always getting my dolls (or me) something nice like that.  I hope she knows I appreciate it.

Pink love,
RagingMoon1987

Rosemary's rough day

Don't let that smile fool you.  Rosemary has not had an easy day.  I'm just thankful that she's one of my easier dolls to deal with.

I grubbed Rosemary out of Storage Hell earlier today, and I guess the lid on her box wasn't tight enuff because she was absolutely filthy.  Her wig AND her eyelashes came off when I started dusting her, and most of the dust wouldn't come off with a simple dusting.  Oh yeah, her shoes also fell apart.

Guess what, though?  It turns out that My Twinn clothes can go for a spin in the wash as long as the water is cold.  I did just that.  Rosemary's current wig is sadly too small for her, but she'll be getting a bigger one soon.  So that leaves eyelashes.  I hadn't realized how vacant these My Twinns look without eyelashes!  At least Rosemary's eyes haven't shifted color.

God only knows what other unpleasantries await me in Storage Hell.  Hopefully not brown recluses...Shudder.

Dusty love,

RagingMoon1987 

New threads for springtime

While I am failing at cutting back on buying dolls, clothes are another story entirely.  Y'all probably noticed that back during Easter, LOL.  A little outfit can easily be folded and tucked away when not in use, so I've shown...well, I've shown a little discretion when buying doll clothes.  If it's unique, I get it.  Such was the case with Geneva's loud little number.  Y'all got a peep at this one when she posed with Justin last Monday.

Geneva is life-sized (duh, she IS Real Baby), so I probably could've run to Wal-Mart and gotten her some infant clothes...but why do that when Etsy has cute things?  The shop is MamaPsCrafts, the same bunch that supplied Geneva's Sylvester dress.

My Paola Reina girls, Imani and Mar, were both wearing their Christmas dresses up until fairly recently.  Mar's dress had the Grinch on it, so what's not to like?  But I bit the bullet and got a new sundress for her.  This came from MiniatureCoutureShop, based in Poland.

For some weird reason a lot of my Paola Reina outfits come from somewhere in Europe.  I guess it's because Paola Reina itself is based in Spain.  I don't have too much of a problem buying foreign, except that it takes forever for the item in question to clear customs.  When that coronavirus crap was a big deal the wait was even more of a pain in the posterior, so I should probably just shut face and enjoy this little outfit.  

Yellow was/is kinda a thing for me this spring, as Imani shows.  Imani is easier to dress than Mar is, for this reason or that.

I tend to gravitate towards saffron and mustard shades for Imani, since both colors look great with her vinyl.  But let's face it:  dolls (and people) of color can wear just about anything and look nice.  SabinaSew is based here in the U.S., and they make clothes for dolls Imani's size, for dolls Mar's size, and for American Girls.  Some of their Minikane-sized stuff is jewel-toned and thus perfect for Imani.  I'll be visiting there again.

Of course it isn't one of the Moon Girl's posts if I don't make some reference to either American Girls or Cabbage Patch Kids, so...here's Cara Raelean.  In yellow.  Proprietor of this outfit was the eBay shop new2u2co.

Preemie Cabbies aren't the easiest to dress, so when I find something that I like I try to snap it up.  This is the second of Cara's yellow outfits; she wore the first one all through winter, and the booties she's wearing are part of that outfit.  I love the big bonnet, by the way.  Babies don't oft wear bonnets anymore, but they sure do look cute in them.

In keeping with the orange/yellow theme, y'all probably know that if anyone in my dolly troop is gonna get something new it'll either be Idalia Gale or Rita Cheryl.  Etsy shop is pac44, the same bunch that made Candela Laura's elephant outfit.  Y'all got a peep at this one back on the eighth.

Chickens!  My sister works with cows and not chickens, but if I see any little outfit that's farm-themed I...well, I'm at least gonna like it!  The sleeves even have CHICKEN WIRE printed on them!  See?

I love that touch and I wonder where the seller found fabric like that.  Fabric of ANY kind is some kind of pricey now.

I got a mouse sleeper for Shelley Fred.  This was another Etsy find, from twinmom3615.

Shelley came wearing my favorite Coleco outfit, the denim bubble butt romper, so it's hard for me to redress him.  Nothing he wears seems to look as cute as that romper.  Still, I think the mouse sleeper does him pretty good, though his ears like to flop in his face.

One of my other boys, Hugo Jack, is also difficult to redress.  He looks good in his Russian outfit, and...very little else suits him.  Maybe this Star Wars getup will do him.

C'mon, y'all know I'm a nerd to the hilt!  I've still not seen any of the Star Wars movies, but I can pretend my dolls have.  And I gotta admit that Hugo looks pretty cute in his new getup.  He'll be in this for awhile, even though it's a smidge big.  Remember how I'm always saying that Idalia Gale is big for a Cabbie?  Hugo Jack is small for a Cabbie.  He's close to my Preemies in size, but not quite as small.  I know that I've griped in the past about Cabbies being inconsistent in size, but paradoxically I kinda like that too.  Just makes 'em even more of individuals, AND it makes them like real kids.  When I was young I was big for a girl, and my best male friend was small for a boy.  As I've said before, humans are weird.

Mama was nice enuff to get an outfit for Candela Laura, but it's not here yet so y'all will have to wait.  I also have yet another outfit for Cara Raelean, and the two follow a color them that ISN'T yellow, so I may make a brief post when Candela's outfit comes.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

This post is for Giggles

Literally, I do these posts just for sh!ts and giggles.  The one and only Ideal made this charismatic little doll.  I found this image on Pinterest, so if it's yours let me know and I'll give you the proper credit...or take the image down, one or the other.  Sadly Giggles does not have ties to any musicians of the era, not that I know of.  But she sure is cute!

So stinkin' cute!  Giggles hails from the same era as Saucy and Swingy, and her gaily striped dress reflects that.  She is eighteen inches tall and sports long, straight hair with bangs.  The Caucasian doll has...you guessed it!  Dishwater blonde hair and blue eyes!  Giggles also came in an adorable African American form, which is more than I can say for Swingy!  Miss Deb notes that Giggles's black form is rare, which sadly is often the case with dolls of color.  In her post about Baby Heather she explains that the white doll would be featured in the commercial, while the black doll only got attention when she popped up in stores.  Even as recently as the late nineties I've noticed that, with Cabbage Patch Kid commercials like Pretty Crimp 'n' Curl, Teeny Tiny Preemies, Baby's First Haircut, the notorious Snacktime Kids, and that's not all of 'em!  I know for a fact that all the above lines had African American options because I've seen 'em, and because they appeared at the very tail end of some of the commercials.  Cabbage Patch Kids have always been good about representing the various races with their products...and yet the dolls and children in their commercials were usually white.  Shame, because dolls are supposed to be for everyone.

Racial discussion aside, since Giggles is an Ideal doll her mechanism behaves in a similar manner to Kissy's:  bring out the doll's arms, then gently pull them together.  Giggles's head will shift, her eyes will move, and she'll...well, she'll giggle!  She apparently did not require batteries, which again is more than I can say for Swingy, OR Baby Heather!  As I've said before, I tend to be leery of battery-operated toys.  Sooner or later you get bored with the toy, and if you forget to take the batteries out (as a bubblehead like me can do) they sometimes leak and do a number on your toy.  When I bother with batteries at all I'm extra-diligent about taking them out when I'm done with the toy.  Giggles avoids that problem, which is more than I can say for Swingy and Baby Heather.

I have to admit that if I had infinite room and infinite money I'd have both Giggles and Swingy in a New York second.  Their smiling faces and Mod-colored clothes make my retro-style heart sing.  I'm not betting on ever being independently wealthy, but one day I'll have enuff room.  Unfortunately that'll likely mean that I'll be alone in the house...so let's not think about that!  I'll admire Giggles from afar instead.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Two blue-eyed blondes

I've been futzing around with my My Twinns lately since they're all gonna need some work done before I get ready to move them.  During one futzing session I noticed that my boy Twinn has something in common with one of my other favorite dolls, Real Baby. 

Both Justin and Geneva are blue-eyed blondes!  This makes me giggle because I sometimes get tired of that combo.  I don't HATE it, mind y'all.  It's just that when I was little ALL the Barbies and almost ALL the baby dolls I had were blonde and blue-eyed.  Thus when I had a doll with dark hair or no hair or particularly red hair I was pretty pleased.  Justin and Geneva help break up the monotony a bit, though.  Geneva's eyes are darker than usual...

...and Justin's eyes are lighter. 

I keep thinking that Justin's left eye is wonky, but I'm wondering now if that eyelash is just set too low?  I need to reglue Rael's lashes AGAIN, so I may try that with Justin too to see if it'll help him focus.

I should probably note that at one time I was blonde and blue-eyed myself, LOL.  I was born with dark hair, said hair lightened up for a spell, and by the time I hit second grade it was dark again.  My eyes have been blue from the get-go.  They're not as dark as Geneva's nor as light as Justin's, and they didn't change color like my mother's eyes did.  Mama was born with blue eyes, and they didn't turn brown until she was about a year and a half old!  Humans are so weird!

Speaking of My Twinn, keep an eye out for a new girl.  I said no more big dolls, but this one's hair was just too beautiful to pass up.  She'll make her debut soon.

Love, 

RagingMoon1987 

Swingy, and her ties to Paul Revere

Today I want to discuss another vintage doll that I've spoken of in the past and have been tempted by.  This young lady is another Mattel doll, and her name is Swingy.  Likely if she belonged to me she'd end up with a pet name like my Saucy has.  Anyway, this is her; photo is courtesy of RubyGunner on Etsy.  This particular doll sold long ago, but other examples can be found on eBay and Etsy for relatively cheap.  Miss Ruby says that her little brother was about the same height as her childhood Swingy, and it was fun to watch them dance together.

Yes, child and doll danced.  The best way I can describe Swingy is that she's a little go-go dancer.  She dates back to 1968 and was your classic Mattel combo:  platinum blonde and blue-eyed.  Nope, never saw a picture of a black variant, which surprised me since Mattel was not opposed to producing black dolls by 1968.  I've seen her size listed as anywhere from eighteen to twenty-one inches, so...maybe she varied in size like Kissy did.  According to Mattel's archives she could apparently walk and dance.  I've seen pictures of this doll in two hairstyles (short and long with curled ends) and two dress variants (pink with polka dots and a pink and orange bodice with a white skirt).  Swingy ran on batteries and...I think it was a switch that you flipped in her back to get her to dance.  She'd swing her arms and move her feet, not unlike Ray Thomas did when he wasn't playing his flute.  Like other older dolls, Swingy sometimes lost her ability to dance as the years went by, but she wasn't as prone to breaking as poor Baby Heather was.  I've also heard that there are good dolly doctors who can get Swingy to dance again if she's on the blink.

Now...since Swingy was a dancer she came with her own record.  Back in those days it was not unheard-of to get a noteworthy musician to do advertisements for things like toys, cars, soda pop, the like.  I sadly could only find audio for the Who's Coca-Cola jingle; for all I know it was a radio ad and there was no accompanying video.  Anyway, musicians do the same thing today; wave enuff money at Jennifer Hopez and she'll shake her rear for your product.  Back in 1968 musicians relied on honest-to-God musical skill rather than looks, though being a hunkasaurus rex didn't hurt.  Thus was the case with Paul Revere and the Raiders (the band that did that GTO commercial linked above); they were cute and could also string together a decent tune.  This is them, minus the tricorn hats.

Paul Revere and the Raiders were a fairly diverse band when it came to music.  "Indian Reservation" is dark, dramatic, and political, "Kicks" is a bouncy anti-drug anthem, and "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" made Mama cry out "Ewwww!!!  That's too bubblegum for me!"  Keep in mind that she was the one who taught me about Paul Revere and the Raiders!  Bubblegum or not, "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" was the song that got retooling for Swingy.  The key got bumped up a bit, the lyrics got a complete overhaul, and "Song For Swingy" was born.  Pretty cool, eh?  I wonder how much Mattel had to pay those guys?  A snippet of the song can be heard in Swingy's commercial, and the full song can be found here.  As I noted twice above, this band was not allergic to doing commercials for other products.  I freaking love that GTO commercial.

Of course if Paul Revere and the Raiders wasn't your preference any record would do.  My choice would've been...hmmm, 1968...likely one of the Big Four: the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and/or the Kinks.  Mama likely would've selected Aretha Franklin or Stevie Wonder; she's a live-strong, die-hard Motown fan.  I admit that even a gimpy fatso like me can get her hips rocking to "Uptight (Everything's Alright)".  Fifteen years old...when I was fifteen I was throwing up before school every morning because the bullying was so bad.  When he was fifteen Stevie Wonder was recording that gem of a song.  An amazing performer, that guy!  I'm so glad he's still alive and kickin' (Miss Aretha is sadly not).  

As with last week, share your memories if you've got any!  I always love reading your stories.

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Return of the black hole sun

The year's big event is over and done.  While some of the meteorologists were concerned about the weather getting rough (it IS April, after all) conditions were pretty good, with only some scattered clouds to interfere with photography.  Indeed, this is going to be the only decent day of the week for skygazing; it rained yesterday, and rain is forecast off and on for the rest of the week.  In true RagingMoon1987-fashion I dragged Idalia Gale along with me, and we shared my goofy-looking specs.

By the way, I find it interesting that I've experienced two major solar eclipses now, and they both occurred on a Monday.  In 2017 Malden was out of the path of totality, so I snapped a few pictures of shadows and took a nap.  This time...oh, it was wild.  KAIT announced at one o'clock that the eclipse was starting, so out the south door I went...to be greeted by people.  Five in all.  They'd spent the morning in and out of the library and were very nice.

The gentleman in orange is getting his doctorate in astronomy or some related field, and he is attending school in Utah.  The woman in the hat, leaning against the light pole, is from Athens, Georgia.  In the red chair is another woman; she is the mother of Orange Shirt and came all the way from Wisconsin.  She had some beautiful aurora borealis pictures on her cell phone.  Upon being invited to look through a telescope, I joined them, introducing myself as "the town eccentric."  I had Idalia Gale in my arms, so I'm pretty sure they believed me.

Orange Shirt's father brought a colander with him, and we were able to see how the shadows changed.  This is how they looked at 1:14...

...and at 1:23...

...at 1:30...

...at 1:38...

...and at 1:43.

Here's the group from Wisconsin, colander and all.  They were a lovely bunch.

Here the man from Wisconsin is looking through the other family's telescope.

Yes, the telescope.  It had a special filter and was safe to look through.  This couple from Georgia brought it.  I was able to get their names, Rhett and Diana.  They too were lovely folks.

One more picture of the colander's shadows.  They were getting teeny-weeny at this point (time check was 1:49).  I regrettably could not get any pictures of the sun, even through my glasses or through Mr. Wisconsin's welder's shield (he'd brought one).  The sun was glorious to behold.

Here we see Mr. Wisconsin and his son goggling at the shadows, which were wavering like heat radiating off a hot surface on a summer's day (EDIT, 12/14/24:  I've learned that this wavering is shadow bands).  That admittedly was pretty darn awesome.  However, my attention was drawn to the western horizon, which was beginning to look ominous.  A cool breeze was also beginning to blow, and since it had been quite warm the breeze felt great.

1:56.  Gettin' dark! 

Here it's possible to see how the sun still shines, but the moon's shadow is fast approaching from the west.

Totality occurred at 1:57, give or take, and it came down like a tidal wave.  I regrettably could not photograph the fabled diamond ring, but it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.  It was surreal, how the horizon was light, the sky immediately above us was dark, and the sun gleamed like a luminous ring around the moon.  Here's what the horizon looked like.

I was able to get one picture of the whole shebang through Rhett's telescope.  The pink blur at the bottom is a huge solar flare, which was drop-dead gorgeous when viewed with naked eyes.

I also was able to get...well, a passable picture without help from the telescope.  Venus and a few other planets were visible during totality.

And then it was over.  Totality lasted...oh, three minutes, tops, but what a glorious three minutes it was.  We all whooped and clapped and cheered like a bunch of fools as the sky went dark, and...gosh, I can't describe how much fun it was!  I think Idalia had fun too.  Or I can pretend she did, LOL.

This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event and I had a mile-wide smile on my face (and a full bladder) at the end of it all.  The next total eclipse in the U.S. won't be until 2033, and Alaska will be the only ones in the States to see it.  Fine by me; Alaska deserves to see neat stuff like that too.  There will be two more in 2044 and 2045, but the 2044 event will be for northeastern Montana and extreme western North Dakota.  The eclipse in 2045 will go well south of Missouri; I doubt my sister will still be living in Fayetteville by then, but if she is she and Brother-in-Law will have a ringside seat.  So unless I fancy a road trip this was my last chance to see a total solar eclipse, and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to do it!  Hmmm...now what to look forward to?  Oh well, as buddy Xanadu once said, I'll find something fun to do!  The last time I griped about things getting dull around here, Sandy McCall materialized on my front porch!  So we'll see.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Rhett and Diana for letting me use their telescope, and to the folks from Wisconsin for just being all-around fun.  I regrettably did not get their names.  But this was a helluva lot of fun for me, and it ranks high on my "Coolest things I've ever seen" list, along with Comet Hale-Bopp, Lake Norfolk, and Night of the Butterflies.

And to those of y'all who fancy a listen, here's "Black Hole Sun."  A deceased friend of mine really liked that song, and I think of him whenever I hear it.  Or if you want something older, here's Pink Floyd and "Eclipse."  Ah, Dark Side of the Moon was about as close to perfect as an album can get, and "Eclipse" was a humdinger of a finisher!

Love and sunshine,
RagingMoon1987