Spider Woman and Navajo rag dolls in general

Tam is offering up two little dolls similar to what I've got today, so if you want 'em, go pay her a gander.  She's only charging shipping and handling, and her S+H charges are very reasonable...unlike some eBay sellers I've bought from.  I know now why they call it FEEbay!  Anyway, I've never shown these dolls that I can remember, so here's two of 'em.  They're Navajo rag dolls that can be found at tourist sites in the Four Corners area, or online.  Nothing's rare about them, but as usual they have stories behind them.  Their names are Falling Star (left) and Spotted Deer.

These two were gifts from Daddy.  He and a bunch of his black powder friends camped at Old Mines, which is probably the farthest he travelled to rendezvous.  Old Mines is in Washington County, while Grassy and Old Greenville are less than a hundred miles from Malden.  Anyway, the first time he went to Old Mines to camp there was just a teeny-weeny risk of severe weather, but I stayed up with Mama to catch the ten o'clock news anyway, just for the heckuvit.  Lo and behold, when the weather screen popped up the first thing the weatherman pointed out was a tornado-warned thunderstorm...in Washington County.  "Uh-oh, that's where Daddy's at!"  Mama grumbled.  Indeed, the storm hit Old Mines full-tilt, and Daddy said it was...interesting.  There WAS a tornado sighted, but it went away from the town and the campsite.  Interestingly, the weather had been very dry before the storm

Anyway, the dolls came from a seller at Old Mines.  Daddy had seen a little girl carrying one, and he enlisted all his friends (and he had quite a few) to find the person carrying them.  Eventually one of his friends did find the person, and they had TWO left!  Daddy got those two, our two...and then Spotted Deer got rained on, so her face got erased.  See how she looks a little different from Falling Star?

Daddy re-drew her face!  He did a good job, too.  Indeed, I like the face he drew better than the one Falling Star has!

This other doll is another gift, and she also has a story behind her.  She's sort of a combination between figurine and doll, and she's tricky to photograph.

There's a lot going on here, but in short, she's a weaver.  There are fibers of wool strewn around her, and her baby lies on a pallet beside her.  See?

I named her Spider Woman, after the Native American legend that Josefina Montoya heard in Josefina Learns a Lesson.  Spider Woman was the name of a being (deity?) that is important to both the Hopi and the Navajo people, and since she taught humanity to weave blankets and nets her name is fitting.  So I named my doll that.  Spider Woman came all the way from the Four Corners area.  My father's favorite sister (he had two) went there for a vacation once, and at one spot she bought Spider Woman from a group of "friendly, smiling Navajo ladies," as Auntie called them.  "That'll never survive the trip home," Auntie's friend said, but survive Spider Woman did and I was delighted.  I keep her in a safe place, far away from the ravages of dust and cats.  If I had one complaint about Spider Woman it would be that it's hard to see her face through the strings of her loom.  She has a rather fierce, determined expression. 

All three of these dolls are constructed more or less the same.  They wear long linen skirts with sashes, beaded jewelry, and velveteen blouses (all permanently attached).  Their hair is made of...I think it's black wool...

...and their tiny hands are leather.

Spider Woman's feet are not visible under her skirt, but Falling Star and Spotted Deer both wear red "moccasins."

And...that's all I have to say!  These dolls aren't terribly hard to find, nor are they very expensive or valuable, but to me my trio are worth their weight in gold with the stories they carry.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

What do you do in a graveyard?

Well, if you're a sicko like me you take your dolls there and take pictures.  That's exactly what I did yesterday afternoon.  The graveyard this time is on the south side of Malden, and I was accompanied by my mother to avoid the bad vibes I got last fall.  Now, meet Jackie, a Little Miss Matched doll.

And of course I had Rita Cheryl as well.  I'm almost never without her.

About two yards from those Life Saver-shaped grave markers is a large tree stump, and if it's one thing I love it's a tree stump.  When I was little I'd climb on them and sometimes jump off, but now they're of great use for dolly pics.  Jackie is queen of all she surveys!

Well, almost everything.  Rita Cheryl governs herself. 

Jackie says they can co-reign, something Rita Cheryl is agreeable to.

Since I have a review for Jackie in the works, I took a picture of the girls' differing sizes.  Jackie is a high-end toy, but she's also intended as a fashion doll and thus has the willowy build to match.  She will not be sharing clothes with Rita Cheryl. 

Not too long after I climbed back into the car a freight train passed through.  Two of the locomotives were CSX locomotives, and I hoped passionately for a Chessie System boxcar to photograph, but alas there were none.  Chessie System was merged into CSX around the time I was born, so rolling stock with the old Chessie logo is getting pretty rare.  But I always look anyway.  In case y'all can't tell, Chessie System's logo is a cat.  Y'all know my opinions on cats!

I apologize for the long lull in activity.  Work has been insanely busy, and I've been insanely lazy.  The weather hasn't been great, keeping outdoor pictures to a minimum, and more rain is forecast for next week.  Suits me; I'd love it if the whole summer stayed cool and rainy. 

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987 

Wake-up call!

Got a lovely wake-up call at four in the morning!

The southern storm is supposed to go just to the north of Malden, while the northern storm has already spawned one large tornado near Grassy and Marble Hill. 

My brother-in-law's parents live near Marble Hill, so that tornado is cause for alarm.  As for Malden, we're fixing to have a nasty thunderstorm of our own.  I don't guess I'll be going back to sleep. 

Prayers are greatly appreciated!

Love, 

RagingMoon1987 

The contents of the go-go bag

The weather is predicted to get violent again tomorrow, so I will once again spend the day with my boots laced and my purse and Rita Cheryl's go-go bag at the ready.  Since I need to kill time between now and the next review (not scheduled until the end of the month) I figured I'd run over what I keep in the go-go bag.  There's a surprising amount of stuff, LOL.  First there's Gabby, Rita Cheryl's doll.  Her book is packed too...somewhere. 

A My Life backpack, made out of fidget vinyl.  Rita Cheryl carries a few polished rocks and a small bouncy ball in there.

Zoe Barber is a Harry Potter fan, and Rita Cheryl has this wand for her birthday.  I guess if Zoe blows away Rita Cheryl will keep it.

Marina Gutierrez's radio, which Marina is generously loaning out.  Gotta get weather reports, after all!

Then there's clothes.  When I was little I'd pack a change of clothes when the weather got bad.  Now I don't care so much about myself ( I can always find new stuff), but I like to relive this childhood habit with Rita Cheryl.  To start things off I've got her colorblock crop top, which she wears a lot...

...and her new customized T-shirt, which she's worn a few times already. 

In addition to the old, I packed two new tops that Rita Cheryl hasn't worn yet.  The first is this orange peasant blouse.  It's got polka dots!

The other new top is this one, which I'm holding onto for summer.  It's crocheted and doesn't cover much, but I won't let that bother me. 

Over that she'll wear this black lace kimono-style jacket.  I don't love how stiff the lace is, but then I'm not the one wearing it.

Then there's bottoms.  I currently have Rita Cheryl in a skirt, but she prefers blue jeans.  This pair is so new that she hasn't worn them yet.  I plan to match those with the orange peasant blouse and the red crocheted top.

The other jeans are Rita Cheryl's beloved mom jeans.  Seriously, Etsy called them that.  Rita Cheryl calls them comfortable. 

A couple'a pairs of shoes, in this case Rita Cheryl's favorite blue clogs, and her light-up knock-off Chucks that match her personalized T-shirt. 

The tie-dyed jacket.  Rita Cheryl lives in this thing during winter.

And lastly, some finishing do-dads (hair ribbons and buttons in this case).

I was surprised that the bottom part of that bag could swallow so much stuff, but when properly folded, a lot of clothes can go in.  Add to all that Rita Cheryl herself, and the items she's wearing.

The Shinedown shirt, the aforementioned plaid skirt, and a pair of Doc Martin-style boots with red socks.  She also is now wearing a fidget toy on her wrist (this picture was taken before that).  Luciana collects fidget toys, and when she got three of the same toy she used the two extras as friendship bracelets for herself and Rita Cheryl.  

And with that, hopefully Rita Cheryl is ready for whatever may come, be it tornado or train derailment or nuclear catastrophe.  I too have some odds and ends packed just in case, and we're...well, we're as ready as we'll ever be.  Maybe we'll dodge the bullet, like we thankfully did on Friday.  Cross your fingers and say a prayer, and if you're in the warned area make sure you're ready too.

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987 

I lied!

I had a little money left over this pay period, so I bought a beat-up Terri Lee doll.  She came blowing earlier today, on the tail end of yesterday's storms.

Mumpy Terri Lee, as Tam would call her.  I always get a big LOL out of that, but if one stops to think, Tam is actually right!  When I was a little kid and I'd go on a pouting bender Mama would snap "Quit that poutin'.  I can out-pout you!"  And she could!  But seriously, even back in the forties critics said the doll wouldn't sell because she had a "funny face," but they were quickly proven wrong.  Terri Lee proved VERY popular, and a bit (a lot?) groundbreaking as she had a couple'a black friends (Bonnie Lou and Benji) and brown eyes instead of the blue eyes that were standard for dolls then.  Probably her small-town persona helped some too; Terri Lee was a product of a family-owned company in Lincoln, Nebraska, a sizeable but not ridiculously big town, and her creators never made any bones about her rural heritage.  Hold up a bit...my mistake, she started off in Lincoln, but the factory burned down.  For reasons I can't remember the company retained roots in Lincoln, but opened up a new factory in California.  There they continued their success (with some hiccups) until some a-hole burned down the California factory.  That proved to be the beginning of the end for Terri Lee's heyday, though she saw a revival during my adolescence.  My favorite reproduction was always this one, made by the one and only Robert Tonner, with sherbet-colored clothes and a yellow mohair wig.  Tonner called that hair "chick," I think, and the doll herself was entitled "Daisy Chain."  Terri Lee's full-tilt nitty gritty history can be found here.  Melanie O. at Doll Land includes some additional information about what happened to Terri Lee after the 1960s.  To my horror, Miss Melanie fell victim to Parkinson's in 2019 and had to quit collecting and blogging.  I wonder where she is and how she is now...I have friends with Parkinson's, and it's a terrifying, frustrating ailment.  I hope to God I don't get it, and I hope none of y'all do either.

Right, back to matters at hand.  Even now Terri Lee has her fans (like me) and her naysayers (Mama, LOL).  And yet...I know I've mentioned in the past that I like these dolls, but I've gotta admit that one of these stern-looking dolls gave me a turn.  My family was at our favorite antique mall many years back, where I got many of my best dolls back in the day.  I was in my usual place, ogling Crissy and Toni and a brunette Chatty Cathy and a Malibu Skipper in a pretty red dress, when I suddenly saw this cranky little poppet glowering at me!

Maybe she was mad because I hadn't noticed her right off the bat.  How I could've overlooked her is anyone's guess, but I did.  I was so startled that I shrieked and jumped back, to my sister's great amusement.  The little doll had pretty face paint, but she's obviously rewigged and her price was a little high, so I said no thank you to that one.  The doll I have now has a rub on her upper lip, but her coloring is prettier than the pale poppet at the antique store so I think I did pretty well.  A rub is easily mended.

She's a little ruffed up all over, like vintage dolls will be, but that doesn't matter to me.  I've got a Terri Lee doll, and that's what matters.  How about some clothes to cover those cute little britches, chica?

That dress fits more like a nightgown than a dress, but it'll do for now.  To my considerable chagrin there are not a lot of things available on Etsy for Terri Lee, but Vee's Victorians has one dress available in three color variations, and Sherry's Terri Lee Doll Clinic has some things, and eBay and Jan's Doll Closet also have some odds and ends.  Whatever, I love a challenge. 

Of course I can't talk about Terri Lee without bringing her rival Mary Jane into the mix.

Terri Lee:  What the...???  What are YOU doing here???

Mary Jane:  ;-)

I'm predicting that these two will get along about as well as Rose Tyler and Sara Jane Smith did.  Even though Mary Jane was created to rival Terri Lee, these two are pretty different.  Their faces are the most obvious difference; Terri Lee has the aforementioned mumpy cheeks and painted eyes, while Mary Jane has jowly cheeks and inset eyes that flirt and sleep.  Terri Lee is blonde and brown-eyed, while Mary Jane has deep auburn hair and blue eyes. 

Mary Jane is a hard plastic walker, while Terri Lee is just hard plastic, a kind that feels cheaper than the stuff Mary Jane is made of.  More importantly, Mary Jane has slimmer limbs and shorter arms than Terri Lee.  Presumably this renders clothes sharing out of the question. 

That's kind of a pain in the butt that these two can't share clothes, because it isn't easy to find clothes for either of these dolls.  MAKING them wouldn't be so bad, but finding them ready-made isn't easy, especially for Mary Jane, who had a very short production run.

Since I made such a big to-do about the weather yesterday, here's a recap.  Malden and the majority of the Bootheel made it through unscathed, though I figure there's some damage to siding, trees, and car windows here and there.  Arkansas and Iowa did not make it out nearly as well; Little Rock and Wynne (both Arkansas towns that I've never been to but know of quite well) both got hit hard, and at least four fatalities have been reported at Wynne.  Someone also died at a crowded theater in Belvidere, Illinois, who is no stranger to violent tornadoes.  As for Iowa, I don't know of any fatalities there, but one of those tornadoes was a friggin' BEAST.  It was beautiful in a perverse sort of way, as tornadoes often are, but one can't ignore the cloud of debris it kicked up.  As for me, well...I honestly was expecting to wake up facedown in a puddle of mud, having been blown out of my house and into the backyard.  That's how bad all the weather stations, from our local meteorologist on up to Ryan Hall and Reed Timmer, were making it out to be.  I spent the day and part of the evening with my heaviest boots lashed to my feet and my purse and Rita Cheryl's go-go bag at the ready.  But Malden didn't get hit and I am very thankful, though I am keeping the less fortunate in my prayers, just as I did last week when Rolling Fork got hit.  Oh, and did I mention that my sister drove to Fayetteville, Arkansas and back in all this crap???  She did, and she made it just fine until she got to Poplar Bluff.  Then she had to stop and wait out a tornado-warned thunderstorm before completing her last leg of her trip (Jackson, Missouri was her destination).  To give y'all an idea of how far she had to travel in two days, Fayetteville is in the northwest corner of Arkansas, not too far from Joplin, and Jackson is eighty miles north of Malden, very close to the Mississippi River.  It was ten P.M. when she got home, to "a clean house, a warm meal, and a hot shower," as her husband put it.  He's a keeper, that husband!  So things could've been worse for my family, and they could've been way better for some other poor folks.  And spring is just getting started.

Wish me luck with my grumpy little girls!  I've already got my hands full with Felicity and Amazing Maddie, and Sila Clops is also still pissed with me.  

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987