born way too late

being an only child, who grew up in a neighborhood where most all the kids were in college, i had to develop a pretty dang good imagination. developing "to be continued" stories with my massive collection of Barbies and other dolls.

so, with said imagination flourishing, i also did a lot of reading. and my favorite book hands down, was "Little Women."

like most girls, i identified with Jo - the tomboy that no one understood except for her sister, Beth. but, as i began my teen years, i started to want to be more like Meg and Amy. Meg because deep down, i didn't really want to be a tomboy, but had no idea hot to stop and Amy because her story turned out to be the most romantic. **sigh**

then, came 1976. America was celebrating her bicentennial, and Mattel produced a line of dolls called the Star Spangled Dolls. each doll represented a period in our history, starting with the American Indian, and ending with a couple from the jazz era.

my favorites were the pioneer & Civil War era dolls.

yes, i had also just discovered the "Little House" books. i'd also started reading "Gone with the Wind." i loved those periods of our history.

more importantly, i loved those clothes.

don't get me wrong. i have NO desire to wear corsets. it just seemed to me a gentler, elegant time.

so imagine my glee when last week, when Halloween costume shopping with sister in law, i found these patterns from Simplicity.

holy frejoles.

i would love to make either of these, but two things stop me. 1) i cannot sew to save my life. (OK, i can sew, but not well) and 2) where the $%*@! am i gonna wear this?

i have experience in hoop skirts. when i was 15, i joined a Masonic youth group, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. it stressed faith in a Supreme Being, service to all, and developed (for me) an ease in leadership & public speaking. so, as part of the whole thing, as president or a past president of each unit, you had the opportunity to wear a formal with a hoop.

believe me, it takes some doing to look like you're gliding along the floor, as opposed to schlepping in hiking boots.

part of me would love to be involved in some historical group that would allow me to feed my love for history, AND to get to wear some really cool togs. but on the other hand, here in Mostly Smoggy So. Cal., we don't have a whole lot of historical spots. it's not like being on the East Coast. here, we have a tendency to reduce our historical spots to parkingl ots with a marker reading "On this spot..."

oh well. maybe in my next life.