In a stew...

Just taste-tested a pot of chili I made for tonight's Warren County Doll Club meeting (Christmas potluck). It's a variation on this recipe. I made it extra-mild for the delicate taste buds of most of the elderly Midwestern ladies. It still has a little kick, though, so I'd better pack extra sour cream, shredded cheese, and such, just in case.

O'course, if I were making it for just myself, I'd have doubled the normal number & heat of serrano peppers, & had my sinuses finally cleared up. sigh. Maybe I should pack some of my many varieties of salsa, for kicks.

Doll club stuff

Just got back from Warren County Doll Club meeting, posted my notes at the club blog.

Doll Club reminder

For all members of the Warren County Doll Club (and anybody who might be interested in joining us), we will be having a meeting tomorrow evening (Tuesday) at 6:00, at La Tapatia restaurant on South Main Street in Monmouth. If you need directions or have questions, please contact me via e-mail.

Also, please note, we will be having our second annual doll show and sale, scheduled for 22 November, at The Oaks, in Galesburg. If you are interested in setting up your own table for the event, we still have a few available. Again, contact me via e-mail if you have questions.

Warren County Doll Club to meet this week

If you're in the area near Monmouth/Galesburg and you have an interest in dolls/toys/figurines, as a collector or simply a fan, you are invited to join our little group. The first official meeting of 2008 will be held at 6:30 on April Fool's Day, at the home of one of our members.

For information on location and directions, please contact me through the e-mail above, with the words "Doll Club Meeting" in the subject line.

Doll show a modest success

Members of the Warren County Doll Club had their Doll and Toy Show and Sale today. Mom and I shared a table, selling off those dolls we'd picked up over the years and recently decided we didn't need any more.

The two of us had three eight-foot tables full of dolls and toys -- and ours wasn't the largest selection. Other members had four tables stacked with shelves, to serve double-level or more. The funny thing is, for having only a half-dozen members actually showing and selling, we had a truly wide variety of items.

Mine tended toward the mid- to late-twentieth century, with plenty of Christmas-related dolls and figurines, and a few cars and tractors and the like (I had an Ertl John Deere for dirt cheap). But Mary Sullivan had plenty of sweet new porcelain babies, plus quite a cache of action figures, including all the members of KISS, in their original blister packs, and a couple of STNG 9-inch dolls (hard to walk away from Captain Picard, even when he's teetoncey!). Maxine Hiett had about forty of her kewpie dolls, plus a number of lovely portrait dolls and a careful selection of magnificent antique bisque ladies. Karen Ruggles brought to the show several dozen pieces of doll furniture, many fit to use with the 18" American Girl Series, as well as some simple play furniture, a passel of beanie babies, and an assortment of other lovelies. Jan Speer laid out everything from a boxload of little 10¢ dollies to a few seriously collectible kids' books (and some guidebks to collecting dolls) to a charming pair of portraits of Jack and Jackie Kennedy in wedding attire, and, like the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, side-by-side on the table sat Dubya and Rosie. Esther Diehl featured an array including plush monkeys and Cabbage Patch Kids.

Mom & I didn't make a killing, selling off our little things, but we made some space in her guest room, and had a great time in the company of some spiffy people -- plus, we may have persuaded at least one -- and possibly two -- more people to come to our meetings, perhaps to join the club.

As far as I'm concerned, that was the primary purpose of the events.

We likes making our new friends, almost as much as we likes our old friends. And we likes playing with toys, even in public.