Little People

"Excuse me, ma'am!"

I don’t know about at your place, but at the Rancho one thing often leads to an unexpected other. In this case, working out in the yard led to the still life above. How so? Well, after dragging out a plaster and wood table that had become waterlogged and swollen from recent rains, I became captivated by its now-cracked surface … which led to my desire to use it as a photographic backdrop … which led to my looking for a suitable photo subject … which led me pulling out a decadent lady made of composition … which lead to pairing her with a composition college boy … and … well, see how that works? The lady in question is a mini-display mannequin whose frock has long-gone missing, and whose maquillage has become cracked and moldy … I think she looks gorgeous. Less impressed, the bookish letterman is scandalized and looks for a way out of this forced association, what would the house mother think?

Not done yet, I looked for, and found, more little people in the vault to play with …

"Don't look, children."

The blow-dried exhibitionist colossus here is Mattel’s entry in the 70s bionic toy craze, named Pulsar (THE ULTIMATE MAN OF ADVENTURE!). His blood no longer flows “realistically” behind his clear plastic torso, and he’s lost his spandex superhero costume and brain discs, but he’s still pretty impressive (13 1/2″ tall; that chin!). Stoically sharing space with Pulsar is a fatherless family in pastel plastic. Made up of fraternal twins girls (Dakota, Summer), a big brother (Chase-Ryan), and Mother, none of them could ever be accused of being chatty …

People persons

Yard cleanup as an excuse for photo-play with dolls? It’s just Sunday at the Rancho. Because there was no rain this weekend (finally!), I was able to accomplish lots of yard work and re-configuring in preparation for the upcoming garden tour in April. Pictures soon, and I’m pretty exciting about where things are going — stand by!