fortywinks

When hippie bro realized that i was such a leech, he had to scrape me off his skin real fast. We were on our own combat zones (flying knives and punches) til there was no tomorrow. I had to heed the call for diversion… I started being crafty. I made my own dollhouses and decapitated my barbies when i got bored. I was naturally fascinated with ugly rag dolls and feared the beautiful porcelain ones. The first rag doll i ever made was for a school project. She was proudly named "Crucify"( gingerbreadman-look alike with a lovely mop of black yarn hair and wobbly extremities).  I had to sew another one because my teacher exclaimed it was hideous! Worse, hippie bro made Crucify the lone bullseye on the dartboard.  I mourned for a month and had to have another diversion fast before i made a series of Crucifies. And so, i started …sketching. My pet dogs (Tilapia the Royal Mongrel and Bronson the Imported) were my fave subject simply because they always blocked the views of my other models. They were such vain dogs! When I was done, we spent the rest of the summer afternoons catching grasshoppers.
Today, i have a "gorgeous" Sally Doll (from Nightmare before Christmas) and still own a Royal Mongrel and a shih tzu (Chestnut and Bindi).  My girls don’t play with Sally (Mom’s It Doll)but share my passion with dogs. They have also inherited my talent for being crafty and artistic.   One thing for sure, they will never ever have to experience the perils of my childhood…but somehow, laugh about the idiosyncracies that go with it.