It's warm: in the 30s, heading for the mid-40s. And sunny!
I wish I could take a walk, but my knee is still dicky.
Kirsten emailed a couple days ago: Do old dolls ever get donated to the store? she would like one.
Yesterday this doll came in. I've never seen one like her.
Would K. like her?
Yes!
I ran and got the doll.
"Beautiful!" she declared---"all handmade. Fully jointed cloth body, with mohair hair, the face is a fine papier-mache... Unmarked so not as valuable to a collector, but very like dolls by Lenci or Käthe Kruse."
BELOW: Dolls by Käthe Kruse, who began making dolls in 1909 in Berlin, German:
II. A favorite photo of mine
Me, below, left, holding yellow book, with coworkers (Big Boss in Santa hat; Jester, E.D., and Mr Furniture) pose in the donation door for a photo advertising our Wednesday Food-Giveaways during Covid.
This cracks me up because we're so scruffy, and it's so cute, me waving.
Due to politics, Society of SVDP no longer has a food bank. All grocery stores & distributors now give their expired/ excess food to one state-supported distribution facility, Second Harvest.
This is efficient–-monopolies are--but knocking out little rag-tag operations is a loss.
Also, groceries from the Society's food bank supplemented the staff's minimum wage, so it was a big loss to us. I've written about this before--sometimes my coworkers make their meals from the expired bakery that still gets donated directly to the store.
(The wonderful Sisters Camelot is one of the few indies in town who still operate. They handle a lot of produce, and they give out free meals from an old school bus.)
BELOW: I took this photo yesterday to show to the folks at the Food Shelf where I get free food to make hot lunch for my coworkers every week.
I aim not to cook red meat very often because some people don’t eat it (and especially not pork), but I take whatever looks good. Last week, organic (!) hamburger.
III. James Baldwin on Holding on to Your Humanity:
"There may not be as much humanity in the world as one would like to see.
But there is some.
...
I may know six people, but that's enough.
...
The world is held together, really it is—held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people."
I've watched this (1 minute) a dozen times:
--Meeting The Man : James Baldwin in Paris.
Dir. Terence Dixon, 1970.
Thanks for that James Baldwin -- wow. A helpful alternative to despair.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I love to hear hopeful things from sources like him. Believable.
DeleteKathe Kruse doll worth several hundred dollars even in that condition. She is charming! "love has never been a popular movement- except in the "peach love and understanding" revolution. Seems to not be human nature, we need conflict and struggle, sometimes creating it out of the blue just for something to challenge us. Weird species!
ReplyDeletehaha Peach movement- now that would be something! I meant PEACE...of course.
DeleteI like Peach 🍑 better!
DeleteThe Baldwin video reminds me of the idea that the world is kept from the brink of nuclear holocaust because of a few cloistered nuns praying for peace...
ReplyDeleteyes, I love that—
DeleteAlso theJewish idea that a small number of anonymous righteous people justify humanity to God:
“Mystical Hasidic Judaism as well as other segments of Judaism believe that there exist thirty-six righteous people whose role in life is to justify the purpose of humanity in the eyes of God.
“Jewish tradition holds that their identities are unknown to each other and that, if one of them comes to a realization of their true purpose, they would never admit it:
The Lamed-Vav Tzaddikim are also called the Nistarim ("concealed ones").
“In our folk tales, they emerge from their self-imposed concealment and, by the mystic powers, which they possess, they succeed in averting the threatened disasters of a people persecuted by the enemies that surround them. They return to their anonymity as soon as their task is accomplished, 'concealing' themselves once again in a Jewish community wherein they are relatively unknown.
“The lamed-vavniks, scattered as they are throughout the Diaspora, have no acquaintance with one another. On very rare occasions, one of them is 'discovered' by accident, in which case the secret of their identity must not be disclosed. The lamed-vavniks do not themselves know that they are one of the 36. In fact, tradition has it that should a person claim to be one of the 36, that is proof positive that they are certainly not one. Since the 36 are each exemplars of anavah, ("humility"), having such a virtue would preclude against one’s self-proclamation of being among the special righteous. The 36 are simply too humble to believe that they are one of the 36.”
Quoted in Wikipedia
And here’s the answer too. :)
DeleteYes, I love this idea
DeleteInteresting about the dolls - a fascinating aunt had a glass case with similar looking ones that little girl me was not allowed to play with, of course. She also however had a big box of tourist dolls from her extensive travels as a young woman and those I WAS allowed to play with and even pick one to bring home on momentous occasions. Their clothes were all glued on as I recall - children love to undress things. Memory lane! And your stew looks delicious - is it all gone at the end of the day?
ReplyDeleteCheers, Ceci.
Hi, Ceci! The store gets lots of those little travel dolls donated two – – I know exactly what you mean about them being glued! Sometimes I wanted to steal their clothes to give to my dolls – – but their clothes aren’t really clothes! They are glued on fabric.
DeleteYes, all of the hot food I bring gets eaten—It’s a really nice and unexpected side effect that people will often sit down at the break room table and end up eating together – – something they don’t necessarily do if people are just snacking on donuts throughout the day.