The Luau

I was so excited to find out I'd won a drawing at CJ's blog, dollsandprettythings. Four days later, Wayfarers Inn was ready to Go Hawaiian. They traveled in the Red Bag Express.

Yes, this bag is filled with little hard plastic dolls. I'm afraid to count them.

Everyone gathered at the beach hut.

Lily is holding a lei and Edward, having taken off his coat in an attempt to go native, is holding the scuba gear. There is a ukulele leaning against Lily's leg.

"Can I buy you a drink?" asks Geoffrey, hoping Goldie isn't watching.

Charlie, although she considers herself worldy wise, is a bit horrified at the skimpy bikini.

"I would never wear this in public!"

One of the new girls (not yet named) loves surfing.

Cassie admires the surfer girl. "Do you think I could do it?" she asks.

"It's easy!"

Food is the big attraction for many.

Mr. Philadelphia may have had a bit too much to drink.

On the far right, next to Mary Rose's hand, is a wee little can of macadamia nuts. To the left of that is a tropical drink with a slice of lime that has an umbrella on it. The red bag next to the center coke is actually a bag of coffee that had fallen over, as so many thing do around the Wayfarers. To the right of the right-hand coke, behind the fish, is a bottle of guava sauce. The hamburger on the left is from a vending machine that Auntie Berman found (it's where the cokes came from too).  I didn't have time to serve up the pig on a platter with an apple in his mouth. He is some sort of Lego pig, so if he's on his back he doesn't really look piglike.

"Will you teach me how to play golf, Reginald?"

This looks more like she's twirling a lasso, but there is a golf club handing from her hand. The golf ball is so tiny I left it in its package, in an attempt not to lose it.

Meanwhile, Edward and Lily have been talking.

"Lily, will you marry me?"

They announce their engagement to the happy onlookers.

"Lily has consented to be  my wife," says Edward happily.

And in case you're wondering about this and this and this, Edward decided not to tell Lily about his past. It would serve no useful purpose and, as Auntie Berman is so fond of saying, "They're dolls. They aren't real." So Lily will never know and will be much happier that way.

A good time was had by all.

After their wonderful day at the beach, an experience they would never forget, the Wayfarers packed into the Red Bag Express and went home. 

It was quite exhausting for me too, and I've had the Mele Kalikimaka song running through my head all day!

Merry Christmas from Wayfarers Inn

We have some new residents of Wayfarers Inn, even though I keep saying I'm not going to get any more. When I got my latest Sweet Sue doll, Sally, she arrived in a hatbox with three small hard plastic dolls.

The two smaller ones actually have legs that bend! They are dressed in lovely pink dresses. The taller one is wearing what might be a bridesmaid dress. They were happy to go to Wayfarers Inn.

Geoffrey introduces himself in the music room.

The girl in the plaid skirt is actually another new girl that I got a few weeks ago, but I don't really remember the circumstances. Sometimes they just happen!

Goldie is happy that someone can finally sit on the couch.

Gloriana and Juliana bring Jeff the dog in to meet the new little girls.

We found this lovely organ but there's not really room for it in the music room. We might have to do some rearranging.

Another find was another bathtub.

"Where did this huge bathtub come from? We like our pretty one much better"

It is rather big and it's too small for the Barbies, so it will be put away until the right-sized dolls come along.

In my doll hunting frenzy of yesterday, I saw several dolls at my own store and I hadn't even known they were there, because they were in the Housewares/Collectibles section. They seemed older than the little dolls I have. Showing great restraint, I only got two. They both need restringing.

Welcome home, dollies!

Merry Christmas from Wayfarers Inn!

A New Car

Everyone is thrilled with the new car that was given to Wayfarers Inn.

The car is a Jim Beam Whiskey bottle kindly donated by my HLP (minus the whiskey). Behind the rear wheel you can see the cork, which doesn't stay in.

Mr. Philadelphia tells one of the unnamed dolls why he doesn't think women should drive.

Mr. Philadelphia is one of the few dolls who could drive (because his legs bend), if the doors would open, which they don't, and if they did all the whiskey would spill out, if there was any whiskey in it, which there isn't.

Another of the unnamed girls admires the car.

Since I had no idea how many dolls live at Wayfarers Inn, I decided to take a group picture and count them.

I think there are 30, but I kept losing count and I didn't count the two little girls.

Front center are Mary Rose, Goldie, and Geoffrey, who started it all.

Goldie, Geoffrey, Juliana, Gloriana, and Mary Rose at home in the library.

Juliana and Gloriana are wearing dresses taken from Madame Alexander's Happy Meal dolls. Now that I know they fit, we will be on the lookout for more of them. I just wish we could figure out how to get the hats/headpieces off those dolls. They are very firmly affixed to the doll heads.

Progress - I think

They say you have to break eggs to make an omelet, so I started tearing down the new Wayfarers Inn.

The shingled roof was the easiest to remove. It was really rotting away. So was the base, which came off easily.

My tools.

The back was the hardest. It didn't want to come off. I removed the rafters, which can be reused.

Gutted

The two floors lifted out easily and will be used as patterns for the new floors.

It doesn't look like much is left, but the front and two sides are the main parts of the house. HLP will cut new floors, including a new base. The inside will be sanded and painted. We'll figure out how to put the rafters back on. The shingles are in very bad repair and will have to be replaced. The house is currently stored under my porch.

Meanwhile, back at the old Wayfarers Inn, they have some new treasures.

"If only we could sit down, Geoffrey."

We found this lovely little rustic chair at one of the thrift stores.

"At last! A real toilet!" says Bonnie.

Another find was this toilet. The bathroom is almost complete.

What was originally intended to be a bedroom has ended up as a lumber room. There is a desk/cupboard that doesn't really fit anywhere else, a dressmaker form that bears no resemblance to any of these dolls' bodies, a metal thing that looks like it could be a gong, a pirate's chest, and another Avon clock. The clock was to have gone in the Grayson's new house but it's too tall.

The New Wayfarers Inn

If you have been following my other blog, http://dollyfever.blogspot.com/  you will know of our efforts to get this doll/birdhouse:

While we were waiting to get it, I found another house for the Graysons and decided this one would be perfect for a new Wayfarers Inn. It looks like a country farmhouse and because the windows are so big, the Wayfarers are a better size for it. So a few days ago, my Husband-Like Person and a friend went and got it. He said Johnie grabbed the $20 bill, scurried inside his house, saying "Good luck getting it out" as he slammed the door. You can't see in this picture but it was mounted on a pole sunk into concrete in the ground. HLP and his friend ended up sawing the pole off and lugging the house to Auntie Berman's yard.

So today I got the shop vac and cleaned it out.

Downstairs

Upstairs - Before

Upstairs - After

The base and the floors were made of some kind of pressboard which was rotting away, so I easily removed that. The house itself is of some sort of sturdier, yet lightweight wood. It has real shingles on it, cut down from big shingles. Because I had never seen the far left side, I was pleased to find a fake chimney.

Now we know where the fireplace goes

It has cunning little rafters upstairs.

That long stick isn't part of the rafters. I'm not sure where it goes.

Cassie waves from the downstairs window.

Cassie is the only Wayfarer who has seen the house so far. She was handy so I grabbed her. She can't wait to tell the others.

Now, all we have to do is hose it down, sand it down, repaint it, rebuild the upper dormer window, put in two new floors . . . I see a lot of sanding in my future. We were going to take the back off but now I'm not so sure. The windows are big enough to reach into, so maybe we'll just put the furnishings in through them. We'll get it all fixed up before we decide.

The back of the house.

Meanwhile, I gave all my Costumed dolls to Mrs. Smith. She likes them in costume and gets upset when I remove their staples and redress them. These girls were all the newer 60s dolls and I hadn't bonded with them and things were getting crowded, so I didn't mind giving them to her. Then I found two more dolls at work:

The Mexican one is rather dreadful. Her arms are vinyl and her face and legs are painted a very unnatural pink and a large bit of paint has peeled off her nose. Her right arm has come out of its socket but I would have to take off her clothes to fix it. I'm guessing the rest of her body is some kind of plastic but it feels very brittle. Her feet are glued onto a small board.

The girl on the right is one of the older hard plastic dolls. Her hair is amazingly nice--no bald spots! I am going to destaplize her and make her new clothes. She will fit right in at Wayfarers Inn.