If you would like to see one of the homemade neighbor-dolls, she’s in the top row, third from the left and patterned on doll the neighbor (who turned 100 in 1990 or so) had as a child. I played with the original so much she copied her for me and made her several outfits.
I donated most of the stuff in that picture, but I still have her & all of her clothes at my parents’ house. At one point I offered her to friends and cousins who had little girls. “Respectfully we do not want your possessed doll.” 😂
When I die they will find her among my effects.
That particular neighbor also gave me her toiletry kit from WWI, where she served as a nurse. It had a mirror with a hole and a hook you could hang on a tree.l, and slots for a comb, toothbrush, etc. I’ve lost it along the way, but used it for years whenever I went camping.
Her daughter (who I’ve written about as the one who would have me do yard chores while she lectured me on the evils of Nestle) used to have me sit with her when she went out or was working long hours on their land in case she fell or became forgetful.
I’d help her untangle yarn and collect eggs from their chickens and shell peas and stuff, and she’d tell me stories. Maybe she did have short term lapses as she aged, but based on the hot goss circa 1910 she laid down, that lady never forgot a thing in her LIFE.
Both she and daughter were married at one point, but they never, ever, ever talked about their (dead? missing? ex?) husbands except to say stuff like “men: who needs ‘em?” If they find human bones someday where the pigpen used to be or under the blueberry thicket, I would not blink an eye.
“Men: They’re good at talking, I suppose.”
“Quiet is better than decorative.”
“You don’t have to bring home everyone you dance with.”
“If you ever find a man who is as useful as ten women, hold onto him, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
It was like having Granny Weatherwax x 2 next door.
