Sunshine, Blue Skies, and PO Box Surprise!

Random "blue sky" photo taken while at a red light during a recent trip to the post office

The weather in my area has been wild since the latter part of April and throughout the entire month of May.  On a near daily basis, we experienced or received weather alerts that conditions were favorable for thunderstorms, flash flooding, and tornadoes.  During this time, I lost my old faithful desktop PC and three cordless phones in an electrical storm.  Another lightning-filled storm is the attributing cause of a $135 replacement part required to restore the cooling function of our central air conditioning unit.

However, we consider ourselves lucky.  While it rained almost daily for the past 45 days, there were no tornadoes in our immediate area and no flooding. Several people are not as fortunate with many areas still drying out even though we have finally enjoyed full days of sunshine since May 31st.

This past Sunday, after the weather cleared, I drove to the PO to mail some letters and to check my PO box, which had not been checked in several days.   Not expecting to retrieve anything from the box except junk mail, I was pleasantly surprised by a colorful padded envelop from dear friend, and fellow doll lover, Betty Ativie.  

Sunshine, in the form of two beautiful dresses made especially for two of my dolls and matching head bands, was my PO surprise.

The package contained a beautiful card with handwritten note wishing me a happy birthday. Carefully and separately wrapped in tissue paper were two beautiful sunny yellow dresses that Betty handmade for two of my dolls, Matoka by Himstedt specifically, and a smaller doll of my choice.  A third, smaller tissue-wrapped package contained matching head bands made of the same sheer yellow fabric.

I chose to dress Ashley Rose by Madame Alexander in the smaller dress as seen in the close-up photo above and in the following photo, where she is seated on the floor with Matoka looking on.

Ashley Rose is 14 inches tall; Matoka (by Annette Himstedt) stands 33-1/2 inches.

Matoka poses alone in the next photo wearing her new dress and matching headband which, in this photo, looks like a halo.

Attached to the enter of the bodice of each dress is a delicate flower with two yellow ribbon streamers.  Matoka, who had been dressed in a red velour dress since Christmas was as delighted to receive her new dress as I was for her to receive it.

Thank you again, Betty for allowing me to be a recipient of the blessing that is you!  Matoka and Smiling Debbie greatly appreciate your sewing talents and your thoughtfulness.

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While in doll redressing mode, two other dolls that had been dressed in Christmas attire since last December are now dressed for spring/summer.  Smiling Debbie and Emilee are shown below in their matching store-bought dresses.

The need to redress these two had been on my to-do list since February of this year.  Thanks to the recently received gifts of sunshine, that mission has been accomplished.

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