A Boy Doll Diary - The photo story about a man living with his boy doll

Dear Diary, The boys and Santa Claus under the Yule tree. A dam ;  It's Christmas Day and we're celebrating.  The weather is stunning - sunny, blue skies and hot and blessedly, no wind.  It's the perfect Christmas Day in the southern hemisphere.  You'll notice that I'm wearing my summer kit - shorts, T-shift and jandals.  The other day I saw Santa Claus in shorts! Staying cool in the middle of summer. A ngelo:  I love Christmas!  We have a special new tree this year, decorated with vintage New Zealand toys, in particular the Marylou doll.  And, underneath, prezzies for the family.  I love opening my gifts to see what great things I was given. "Check out my festive snowman socks!" A dam , A ngelo & J esse :  We wish all of our friends in cyberland a very happy Holiday season.  There are lots of reason to celebrate this day, from the summer solstice here at the bottom of the globe, to the winter solstice...

Dear Diary, J esse:  It's been a long three months since we last wrote anything here.  Needless to say, this has been a very trying time for us - technically speaking - given all the problems with computers and phone cameras.  In spite of professional assistance, we've been unable to get back online until today and we are happy to return.  I promise we'll write very frequently.  Many apologies to everyone who has been looking and waiting for word from us.

Dear Diary, A ngelo :  I am a spoiled boy - really I am.  I have a fantastic wardrobe, almost all of which has been sewed by Ruth in England.   When people see my clothes in real life, they just can't believe the attention to detail, like real buttonholes, buckles, and trims.  Long ago Papa sold off all the Trendon factory-made outfits as he considered them historical but poorly made when compared to my outfits from Ruth.  We first started to buy clothes from Ruth in around 2001 when I first came to live with my Papa.  At that time Ruth lived in a small village in England and didn't have good access to a large variety of fabrics.  So, Papa would go to the mega fabric stores and purchase cuts of different fabrics. He would then attach a photo from an advertisement which showed the kind of garment he wanted made.  Ruth always came through with the best coat, hat, suit and etc. Papa ordered a new outfit for me as a surprise and it came a li...

Dear Friends, I recently purchased a new computer - a Mac - and I trying to find my way around it.   Currently, the biggest problem I'm having is figuring out how to download my photos so I can put them on this site. Regrettably, I am not from the techno-savvy generation, so this has posed quite a challenge for me. Please don't abandon the three of us.  Angelo, Adam and I don't want to lose any of our friends.  Hopefully, by the end of this week we can post some more entries. With warmest regards, Jesse

Dear Diary, A dam : Not long ago, Jesse came home with some wonderful knitting wool for me to use to make a slipover.  It is made in New Zealand from NZ animals.  It is 60% merino and 40% dehaired angora.  Let me tell you this is soft as can be!   It is a very fine 2-ply, almost lace weight.  I think I got 34 stitches/10 cm on 2.75 mm needles.  I knitted it flat but used steeks so it is seamless.  It's not easy for me to knit flat, so please excuse my errors at times.  Plus, don't forget I don't have a pattern so I had to just make it up on the fly. But, all things considered it finished up pretty well and I like wearing it.   I am convinced that mauve is definitely my colour. Now, about the colour.  It's a beautiful soft shade of mauve which goes well with the size and soft texture of the fabric.  And, we all agree that mauve is a fantastic colour for me.  It brings out the colour of my face and hair, compliment...

Dear Diary, J esse : You may remember some time back when I reported that all of Angelo's shoes had disappeared.  At that time I had made many thorough searches of our house, including two trips to the attic.  Sadly, I was unable to find his footwear. Last weekend, we decided that we needed to clear out some of the things in the attic before the ceiling cave in.  I brought down lots of very large plastic storage containers and we happily decided that since we had forgotten the things inside were even still around, we didn't need to keep them.  In one large box there was an assortment of things, from clothes to kitchenalia.  At the bottom was a white plastic bag and inside - Angelo's shoes! I would not have been able to see them when I looked through the sides of the clear plastic boxes.  I was delighted (and relieved to find them) but for the life of me I have absolutely no idea how this box came to be put into a plastic bag and then put into the botto...

Dear Diary, A dam :  For the past 2 1/2 years, Jesse has been a volunteer at the local Red Cross thrift shop.  Once each fortnight he pulls a shift, working in the store.  He loves doing this because he feels he is giving back to the community where we live.  In addition, he has met many people and become well-known.  The other day he went to pick up something he purchased on-line and when he arrived the woman said to him "I know you from the Red Cross shop!" A few weeks ago when he went for his shift, there was an 18" boy doll for sale.  I use the word "doll" loosely because it isn't really a doll because it could never be played with.  It's more a manikin; you know the type: ceramic head, hands and feet, cloth body and wired into a pose to represent something (like a dancer, little child, etc).  Think Franklin Mint.  Anyway, this boy doll had on an old fashioned newspaper boy outfit and Jesse thought it would probably fit me.  S...