My 92nd birthday came in like a bear.

My birthday month, January, was full of challenges, among them the end of my old computer system.  I am working now to set up one a little differently and have found my way back to my blog today.  Texas is emerging from a dramatic three-day ice storm which has left many without power or heat still. My own home was touched only lightly because I had only light rain to freeze, but most of central Texas looked like this: 

Heavy ice will take a while to melt, but as for my yard, today I am thawed and have stepped outside a few minutes in shining sunlight.

Dolls are a happy counterpoint to challenges, and I have added to the doll family here, two late 19th century cloth dolls with oil painted faces.  Homemade dolls like this have a charm and personality from being one of a kind, made one at a time.   

This doll came to me from the collection of Kathy Turner, noted collector and dealer, who had kept the doll about 10 years.

It is unusual to find one in this original condition and so though her clothing is fragile I will guard every thread of it.

She has no bonnet of her own so has borrowed one I made from pieces of an old quilt.

Another doll, "Angel", has come to me from the collection of Dixie Redmond.

Angel badly wants clothing, there will be other pictures when she is dressed.

Angel has her name from the circle on the top of her head, the unusual seaming reminds me of a halo.

Her head and hands are oil painted, nicely done.  

   Thoughts and prayers for those friends in northern states facing an onslaught of deep cold.  e