I had hoped to have a wonderful story about my visit to Guthrie, Okla., when I expected to meet a doll friend with whom I'm planning a Hitty gathering in October. Alas, it was not to be -- her daughter became ill and had to stay in the hospital over the weekend we were going to meet.
I did get a chance to visit Guthrie, though, and it is an interesting town. Definitely geared for tourists (lots of antique stores and other interesting shops, a number of museums, etc.) but also a living, breathing town. The downtown is nice and compact, which makes it easy to browse all the shops and get a little exercise without overdoing it. One thing that always strikes me about Oklahoma towns is how "new" they look -- new being relative, of course. Guthrie was founded in 1889 and Oklahoma became a state in 1907, but to someone who has lived in Charleston, S.C., which was settled in 1670, it hardly seems "old."
I was particularly disappointed that so many shops were closed, since it was a Monday. One place I definitely plan to visit again is the drug store museum. Peering through the windows just wasn't enough, though I enjoyed walking through the apothecary's herb garden next door. Did you know that boxwood (now used as a shrub in formal gardens) was used as a emetic and had a reputation for curing leprosy, among other things.
The Hittys I took along on the trip were disappointed that I didn't allow them out of the box during the visit, but given the wind and dust I don't know if they would have stayed put.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
On the road to Guthrie
I attended a wonderful gathering of Hitty collectors last year in Leavenworth, Washington. If you've never heard of the town, you owe it to yourself to at least look it up on the Web. It's a gem of a Bavarian village in the Cascades, and even in July you can feel yourself getting into the Christmas spirit! (http://www.leavenworth.org/)
Spend some time with folks who share an interest, and it's hard to let that feeling go. So I convinced a Hitty collector in Oklahoma to help me plan for a get-together in Guthrie, the former state capital. It just so happens that this is Oklahoma's centennial year, a bonus attraction to a town known for its quaint, Old West architecture. (http://www.guthrieok.com/)
Tomorrow, I head out west to help my pardner rope and tie the final details on the event, which will be in October! Stay tuned for updates!!
Spend some time with folks who share an interest, and it's hard to let that feeling go. So I convinced a Hitty collector in Oklahoma to help me plan for a get-together in Guthrie, the former state capital. It just so happens that this is Oklahoma's centennial year, a bonus attraction to a town known for its quaint, Old West architecture. (http://www.guthrieok.com/)
Tomorrow, I head out west to help my pardner rope and tie the final details on the event, which will be in October! Stay tuned for updates!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Story of Gee
I promised to tell you about Gee, my first Hitty. It's a sad tale, but this cloud in my Hitty-collecting universe has several silver linings.
Not long after I found Gee at a UFDC regional conference, I discovered the Hittygirls Yahoo group. I was excited to find other collectors who love Hitty, and and I soon learned what a gracious and giving group of people they were (and are).
In 2003, my husband and I moved to our first house and got a beautiful mutt of a dog we call Lady Lydia Whiskers (Lady for short). Can you see where this story is going already? I made the mistake of trusting Lady to leave Gee alone when I left her (the doll, not the dog) on my bed for a moment. After all, she (the dog, not the doll) had not shown much interest in chewing things.
Big mistake.
Gee was left with part of her face and a foot missing and tooth marks on her body. I felt AWFUL -- obviously I was a terrible mother to both doll and dog. I went to the Hittygirls and confessed all. And then the first bright spot showed itself. Pat Thompson kindly offered to patch Gee up. Since I didn't know then I would have more than one Hitty, I eagerly agreed to send Gee off to the "hospital" and hoped to redeem myself in the eyes of the doll gods.
When Gee returned, she wasn't as good as new but she looked great and had a new air of confidence. I knew that she had come to terms with the experience and was determined not to let it stop her from exploring life. Gee even convinced me to start adding sisters to her family, despite my reservations about my fitness as an owner. Everything was lovely ... until Buddy.
We got Buddy as a companion for Lady in 2004, not knowing that, along with his pathological skittishness, he had an ornery streak, a love of chewing and a talent for larceny.
I was working on a swap project for Hittygirls in mid-2004 in our basement TV room. I had to go upstairs for some reason, so I left Gee on the top shelf of a chest-high bookcase out of harm's way, or so I thought. I didn't think about her again for a day or two. When I went back to the basement to let the dogs out in the back yard, I noticed odd bits of wood that looked like well-chewed doll appendages. Oh, the horror when I realized that this time Gee had truly met her end. The only large piece I found was her splintered torso.
Now, mind you, this dog would have had to climb up on the couch and stretch as far as he could over a side table to grab the doll, and how did he even know that she was there? (Well, I suppose he smelled my scent, but still.)
Here's the second silver lining. Another Hittygirl, TC Vollum, was planning to attend the 10th Hitty and Friends Reunion in Williamsburg, Va., that fall. She offered to take Gee's remains and try to find another doll in that wood.
Somehow, she did just that, and I was tickled pink when Qi (pronounced chee) came to live with me. (Her name means "life energy" in Chinese, and I like to think that she is the embodiment of Gee's inner spark.)
I suppose there are several morals to this story. One, of course, is never trust a dog (even a sweet one). The other, and much more important, is that collecting things can be fun, but collecting friends is more rewarding. And thanks to Gee (and Qi), I have found that precious collectible at Hittygirls.
But I still have nightmares about finding Gee's head in a dusty corner some day.
Not long after I found Gee at a UFDC regional conference, I discovered the Hittygirls Yahoo group. I was excited to find other collectors who love Hitty, and and I soon learned what a gracious and giving group of people they were (and are).
In 2003, my husband and I moved to our first house and got a beautiful mutt of a dog we call Lady Lydia Whiskers (Lady for short). Can you see where this story is going already? I made the mistake of trusting Lady to leave Gee alone when I left her (the doll, not the dog) on my bed for a moment. After all, she (the dog, not the doll) had not shown much interest in chewing things.
Big mistake.
Gee was left with part of her face and a foot missing and tooth marks on her body. I felt AWFUL -- obviously I was a terrible mother to both doll and dog. I went to the Hittygirls and confessed all. And then the first bright spot showed itself. Pat Thompson kindly offered to patch Gee up. Since I didn't know then I would have more than one Hitty, I eagerly agreed to send Gee off to the "hospital" and hoped to redeem myself in the eyes of the doll gods.
When Gee returned, she wasn't as good as new but she looked great and had a new air of confidence. I knew that she had come to terms with the experience and was determined not to let it stop her from exploring life. Gee even convinced me to start adding sisters to her family, despite my reservations about my fitness as an owner. Everything was lovely ... until Buddy.
We got Buddy as a companion for Lady in 2004, not knowing that, along with his pathological skittishness, he had an ornery streak, a love of chewing and a talent for larceny.
I was working on a swap project for Hittygirls in mid-2004 in our basement TV room. I had to go upstairs for some reason, so I left Gee on the top shelf of a chest-high bookcase out of harm's way, or so I thought. I didn't think about her again for a day or two. When I went back to the basement to let the dogs out in the back yard, I noticed odd bits of wood that looked like well-chewed doll appendages. Oh, the horror when I realized that this time Gee had truly met her end. The only large piece I found was her splintered torso.
Now, mind you, this dog would have had to climb up on the couch and stretch as far as he could over a side table to grab the doll, and how did he even know that she was there? (Well, I suppose he smelled my scent, but still.)
Here's the second silver lining. Another Hittygirl, TC Vollum, was planning to attend the 10th Hitty and Friends Reunion in Williamsburg, Va., that fall. She offered to take Gee's remains and try to find another doll in that wood.
Somehow, she did just that, and I was tickled pink when Qi (pronounced chee) came to live with me. (Her name means "life energy" in Chinese, and I like to think that she is the embodiment of Gee's inner spark.)
I suppose there are several morals to this story. One, of course, is never trust a dog (even a sweet one). The other, and much more important, is that collecting things can be fun, but collecting friends is more rewarding. And thanks to Gee (and Qi), I have found that precious collectible at Hittygirls.
But I still have nightmares about finding Gee's head in a dusty corner some day.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
What is your Hitty grail?
Is there one Hitty you particularly long for? What Hitty would you buy if money were no object (excluding Original Hitty)? Personally, if I had a spare $1,000 hanging around, I'd buy a Jean Lotz Hitty and provide her with as much clothing as I had money left over! I love Jean's interpretations because, to my mind, they come the closest in looks to Original Hitty.
Theresa Maugham created a beautiful Hitty with head of carved parian that I would also love to have. She has such a sweet face! Here's her picture:
http://www.geocities.com/gillifoot/parianhitty.jpg
Here's the rundown on what my Hittys are made of: 19 wood, 7 cloth, 5 mixed medium, 3 resin, 4 clay or related material. The mixed-medium dolls are ones with heads made of one material and cloth bodies (or would have cloth bodies if I had made ones for them).
I would love to hear about your favorite Hitty.
Theresa Maugham created a beautiful Hitty with head of carved parian that I would also love to have. She has such a sweet face! Here's her picture:
http://www.geocities.com/gillifoot/parianhitty.jpg
Here's the rundown on what my Hittys are made of: 19 wood, 7 cloth, 5 mixed medium, 3 resin, 4 clay or related material. The mixed-medium dolls are ones with heads made of one material and cloth bodies (or would have cloth bodies if I had made ones for them).
I would love to hear about your favorite Hitty.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Who was your first Hitty?
Who was your first Hitty? Mine was a Robert Raikes version that I found at the UFDC Region 8 conference in Greensboro, N.C., in 2002. I was so excited to find that doll, named Hitty Genevieve (Gee), though her life story is a sad one. (More on Gee another time.)
My introduction to Hitty came on About.Com's doll-collecting forum in the late 1990s. Someone mentioned the book, so I bought a copy. (Need I say that books are also something I collect?) And like a lot of folks, I fell in love with that little wooden doll and her indomitable spirit. Wouldn't it be wonderful, I thought, to have a Hitty doll? Little did I know that hundreds of other fans had thought the same thing and that there was a whole Hitty world out there to be explored.
And even littler did I know that one Hitty almost inevitably leads to another, and another, and another.... My Hitty clan, called the Garden Spot Hittys, now numbers 37. The number will no doubt grow!
My greatest joy in Hitty, though, is the outstanding group of people I have met who share my fascination with this doll and all her permutations.
If you are interested in learning more, there are two wonderful sites to check out: www.hittygirls.com and www.hitty.org. Managed by a creative mother-daughter team, I can't think of two better places to introduce Hitty to new friends.
My introduction to Hitty came on About.Com's doll-collecting forum in the late 1990s. Someone mentioned the book, so I bought a copy. (Need I say that books are also something I collect?) And like a lot of folks, I fell in love with that little wooden doll and her indomitable spirit. Wouldn't it be wonderful, I thought, to have a Hitty doll? Little did I know that hundreds of other fans had thought the same thing and that there was a whole Hitty world out there to be explored.
And even littler did I know that one Hitty almost inevitably leads to another, and another, and another.... My Hitty clan, called the Garden Spot Hittys, now numbers 37. The number will no doubt grow!
My greatest joy in Hitty, though, is the outstanding group of people I have met who share my fascination with this doll and all her permutations.
If you are interested in learning more, there are two wonderful sites to check out: www.hittygirls.com and www.hitty.org. Managed by a creative mother-daughter team, I can't think of two better places to introduce Hitty to new friends.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to my first blog. While I plan to write mostly about Hitty, a little wooden doll who is the star of the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years," I can't promise I won't go off on tangents. That's what is wonderful about collecting -- you never know where it will lead you. I hope you will check back to see if I live up to my promise to myself of posting several times a week! Meanwhile, happy collecting!
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