The Friday Five reminisce about their childhood...

[magnetic_pole]

1. What was your favorite toy as a child? A doll house made by my grandfather in the 1960s. It was long and low, a one-story, five-room ranch house with garage and patio out front, study enough to sit on. (Which I did, of course; the hallmark of childhood is unforgiving, rough love.) I spent hours with it when I was very small and made furniture and miniature household items in my spare time. (Those of you were children in the late 70s and early 80s will recognize two of the items I attempted to miniaturize: a PeeChee folder and a Rubic's cube.) It inspired me to assemble three more doll houses myself, one in cardboard as a very small child, then two in wood (one that looks very much like this one, although I made it half-timber, and an earlier model of this house, which took me most of my high school years to complete).
2. What did you name it? N/A
3. Who gave it to you? My father's father, who died before I was born and about whom I know almost nothing. (My father is very quiet about his childhood.) Apparently he was a barber and woodworker and constructed the doll house for his first granddaughter, who wasn't born until the early 1970s.
4. Do you still have it? No.
5. If not, what happened to it? I think my parents gave the original doll house, the 60s ranch house, to the young daughters of a very good family friend. There was a long period when my parents and I weren't in contact, but recently I discovered the ones I constructed are gone, too--my parents stored them in the attic, and the heat ruined the glue that held them together. They sent along the furniture I'd made, which I gave to the daughter of my college roommate, another doll house fanatic, and I saved for myself a handful of the tiny items I'd made or bought, PeeChee folder and Rubic's cube included.

I'd be curious to hear about your childhood toys! Thanks to thefridayfive for the prompt.

In fannish news, I have my Holmestice assignment, which looks eminently workable, and watched the first episode of Miss Sherlock, which premiered on Friday. (I'll admit I lost some of the threads of the plot, but gender-swapped Holmes and Watson is SO very much my thing I didn't care.) Also, splix's The Search for the Lost Sword has recently updated, which tickles me to no end.

I'm done cat-sitting for the time being, which means I have no excuse for lying on the floor in the cats' apartment taking "> and batting mouse toys around and instead probably need to finish my last few classes and start grading. Onward and upward! Signing off. Have a great week, folks!

Comments

[alisanne]

Ohh, what a lovely memory.
It's a shame you don't still have the dollhouse, although it sounds like it went to a good home. :)

Kitty pics are fab! <3

[magnetic_pole]

Are the kitties lovely? And they're just downstairs, so we can drop by and see them occasionally. (Fortified with allergy medicine, of course; I clearly have no future as a cat lady.) And I wish I had a photo of the dollhouses so I could post them here!

Sorry for the belated reply, A. M.

[out_there]

I had Barbies and Rainbow Brites and a She-Ra doll as a kid, but the first doll I remember loving was a Raggedy Ann and Andy doll, with the two of them hugging. Apparently I was two when I got it. The story goes that it was the first Christmas after Mum left Dad the first time, and she didn't have the money to celebrate Christmas. Another single parent let her know that the local charaties did hampers of food and toys for Christmas, but by the time Mum contacted them, all they had left were a few tins of beans and peas, and that Raggedy Ann and Andy doll. (They were also good enough to give her a voucher for $20 of food, but that couldn't be spent until after Christmas.)

I loved that doll for years. It would have been given to a second-hand store during one of the many clearouts as a kid (limited space and frequent moves means that photos are the only thing I still have from my childhood. That and actively working against a family tendency to hoard.)

[magnetic_pole]

Rainbow Brites and She-Ra! I think I'm a little older than you (? I was born in the early 70s), but those are such memorable parts of my childhood.

The story about your Raggedy And and Andy doll is so touching. I'm so glad they had something for you that year!

(Sorry for the delayed response!) M.

[ancientreader]

Four-star photos of Cats Being Industrious!

I am in awe of your youthful mini-carpentry skills -- your furniture must have been sturdy indeed.

[magnetic_pole]

So the funny follow-up story about the cats is that when their human got home she texted us a photo of the two cats hanging out with her...and the old, cranky, sleeping White one had big blue eyes, open wide! I don't think he'd opened up his eyes wide enough for me to see their color the whole time his human was gone.

(Sorry for the belated reply!) M.

[delphi]

Those are some adorable cats, and I'll second being in awe of your early start at construction and crafting. As soon as I saw 'dollhouse', I thought, "Of course!"

For all that I spent a good portion of my childhood just wandering around daydreaming, I don't think I ever figured out imaginative play. I read a lot, watched TV, listened to music almost constantly, played piano, copied comic book panels, fanatically arranged and reordered trading cards, and loved those slot-together wooden dinosaur skeletons, but I didn't really know what to do with dolls, stuffed animals, or blocks.

I'd say my favourite toy when I was three to five was my Fisher Price cassette player, which I used for listening to Sesame Street albums and '80s pop, and for recording myself reading picture books. Then, when I was seven or eight, I got one of those Electronic Lab boards that you could wire up (as per the book of experiments) to make an AM radio broadcast or a basic musical keyboard. That thing was actually really cool.

[magnetic_pole]

I had friends who had those Fisher Price cassette players, too! They were so exciting. So many attempts at recording things: stop, start, stop, rewind, start again. We were so patient back then, before everything was digital and immediate.

Meanwhile, I'm in awe of your electronic experiments. Neat! Did the AM radio or the keyboard work?

As soon as I saw 'dollhouse', I thought, "Of course!"

I actually never thought about it that way, but yes--I suppose I'm still doing the same thing. With a highly abstract and academic swerve in there. :) M.

P.S. Sorry for the super belated reply.

[splix]

I am in awe of the fact that you MADE A DOLLHOUSE. I'm sorry that they didn't last. :(

So happy you liked the update!

I would LOVE to see Miss Sherlock! I was hoping that it would be on HBOGO but it doesn't seem to be there yet, only HBO Asia. I got all excited Friday and then my hopes were dashed. :(

[magnetic_pole]

Re: Miss Sherlock, have you seen the links on Tumblr? I've managed to see the first three, though I haven't spotted a link for the fourth (released yesterday) yet. It's not quite as smart as Sherlock, but it's gorgeous and (as I'm sure you know) two female leads is like catnip for me.

It's been so nice and touching to see admiring comments about the dollhouse on this post! I was always a bit defensive about it when I was younger, feeling like it wasn't a very grown-up hobby for someone in her teens. Only now am I starting to look back and see it differently. M.

P.S Sorry about the delayed response.

[splix]

I might have seen the links, but Tumblr moves so fast I lose track. Maybe I'll wait and see if the whole series is available somewhere. I'm hooked on Treme right now and I've still got about 30 hours of that to get through. :)

Dollhouses are just so cool. If I had one right now I'd be redecorating it constantly, I think. :D

[semielliptical]

It's wonderful that the dollhouse gave you some kind of connection to your grandfather, even though you never met him. It's rather touching to think about him building the house, imagining/assuming he would have a granddaughter who would enjoy it - and he was right!

I'm also impressed that you put together two houses yourself, as well as making miniature furniture and accessories. Have you ever been interested in returning to that hobby as an adult?

I don't know that I had a toy that stands out in my memory as a favorite. Toys that I played with a lot were shared with my siblings (4 of us close in age). I had a teddy bear and a special doll that were just "mine", but I didn't play with them much.

[magnetic_pole]

Four of your close in age! That must have been a lot of fun/chaos. :) Were you close/friendly as well as close in age? Are you close as adults?

I've never thought of returning to building dollhouses as an adult--in part because we've never had much room in our apartment and in part because I've only recently come to realize that even adults need hobbies. *sheepish smile* I've never been able to work 24/7 like some of my friends, but I've always had that as a goal--or at least until I discovered fanfic.

Sorry for the super belated reply, S! I seem to lose control in the last weeks of the semester every time. M.

[semielliptical]

Fanfic is an excellent hobby that does not take up much space!

There was certainly chaos, lots of bickering, some fighting, but also a fair amount of fun with having siblings around the same age. Always someone to do things with (whether you wanted company or not - probably why I prize solitary time now).

I was always closest with my older (1 year) sister, we did almost everything as a pair when we were little. We live far apart now but have long conversations every week or two. I'm 5 years older than my other sister, so while we spent a lot of time together I wouldn't have said we were friends as kids. But by chance we've ended up living near each other as adults, and I have a good relationship with her now. My brother and I always fought the most as kids and while there isn't any strain between us now, we're not close.

No worries about the slow reply - as you can see, I'm not keeping good tabs on online conversations these days!

[therealsnape]

Wow, if you managed to build something even vaguely resembling those houses you linked to, all respect. Amazingly clever.

I had to google the Peechee folder, but Rubic's Cube, yes. I never was a fanatic, but I did solve it.

[magnetic_pole]

Aw, thank you re: the dollhouse building! As I was saying to Splix above, I was a bit embarrassed about it when I was younger, thinking it was a childish hobby for a teenager. I'm only now beginning to realize I should have been proud of myself--it was very finicky, tedious work!

Did you have a favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it? M.

P.S. So sorry for the belated reply!

[therealsnape]

You certainly had reason to be proud of yourself. Those houses are a real achievement.

I was very much a little reader, always with my nose in a book. But I had a collection of dolls that I loved dearly, and I used to play school with them and hospital-nurse (I spent quite a bit of time in hospitals between ages 4-6). And I liked my Barbie dolls, too. A distant cousin gave me her old barbies; she had lived in the US all her life, for her parents had immigrated, and she had Barbie dolls you never saw in Holland. Not teenage girls with long hair, but a more adult-looking woman with a short perm, too. A really old doll, all modern ones at that time could bend their legs, but not this one.

I made up endless stories with them.

[secretsolitaire]

Your dollhouse sounds so cool!

I've been meaning to answer this prompt myself but just been too lazy. I'll get to it. /o\

[magnetic_pole]

It's a fun prompt! As is this week's, about the senses. I'll be interested to read your replies if and when you're in the mood to do them.

Sorry about the delayed reply! The end of the school year took over a bit.

Hope you've avoided any flooding or house damage from these recent rains. A friend of mine just posted that her ceiling fell in! M.