How Are You Today?

My daughter will be receiving her very own custom Bamboletta Doll in the next few days! She has no idea. Alice hasn't met Monet, because I wanted the first Bamboletta she met to be her own and I knew Alice's custom would be here eventually. I have carefully obscured Monet from view during Alice's waking hours. I'm relieved the custom doll will be here soon because there have been a few close calls! The doll will have curly hair like Alice.





I miss being able to comfortably go hiking in the middle of the day. I want to take Monet out into the desert, but it's just too hot right now!

The searing summer lingers well into what, to my Midwestern sensibility, should be fall. When I was a preteen and teenager in Nebraska, I remember Halloween getting 'canceled' because of the snow. Here in Tucson, the weather can blister through November.
It's officially monsoon season, but our house has only received the barest sprinkling of rain. Late afternoon, though, sunlight careens through dust in the air kicked up by nearby storms, and it can look wonderfully eerie.


















The last two days, Monet has dreamed of a doll named Polly. Polly is newly arrived at my mother's (and grandmother's) home in Nebraska. Polly's dreams must be filled with cicadas and crickets, visions of lightning bugs, rich loamy soil in my mother's beloved garden. Here is a photo of Polly beneath the pine tree, surrounded by hosta. Dresses like this will soon be available for purchase at Dreaming Monet's Etsy site. The pattern was worked up by Mom. Don't you love these colors on Polly?

Lastly, I knit Monet a cardigan, experimented with an upcycled cami and played around with a new skirt idea. Poor Monet, I made her try it on all at once, which hurt her eyes. She does like her new sweater, though!