View allAll Photos Tagged PATCHES
Pumpkin patch in at Whittle's Willow Spring Farm in West Mystic, CT. Tone-mapped NEF - taken with Nikon D200 w/ Sigma 18-55mm lens and wide-angle accessory.
This barn just fascinates me with all the tin panels that have been used to 'patch' the walls. It's obviously been there for several years due to the rust but it's definitely is a cool look...
Three bracketed photos were taken and combined with Photomatix to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS5.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
My peace patch, and my anti-McDonalds patch!
----------------------------------------------
"The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross"
"Researchers have found that children can often recognize a company logo, like the Golden Arches, before they can recognize their own name."
"...the Happy Meals, two-for-one deals, and free refills of soda give a false sense of how much fast food actually costs. The real price never appears on the menu."
"McDonald's buys its Happy Meal toys from manufacturers in countries where the prices are low...Too often the lives of the workers who make Happy Meal toys are anything but happy."
"During the 1980s, McDonald's became one of the world's largest purchasers of satellite photographs taken from outer space."
"A medium Coke that sells for $1.29 contains about 9 cents' worth of syrup. Buying a large Coke for $1.49 instead,...will add another 3 cents' worth of syrup... You can make a lot of money selling sugar and water in a paper cup."
All quotes from Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson, Chew on This!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mumtaz Jehan (February 14, 1933 – February 23, 1969), more popularly known as Madhubala (literally "honey belle"), was an Indian Bollywood actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi Cinema.[2][3] She was active between 1942 and 1960. Along with her contemporaries Nargis and Meena Kumari, she is regarded as one of the most influential personalities of Hindi movies.[4] She is also considered to be one of the most beautiful actresses to have worked in the industry.[5][6]
Madhubala received wide recognition for her performances in films like Mahal (1949), Amar (1954), Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and Barsaat Ki Raat (1960). Madhubala's performance in Mughal-e-Azam established her as an iconic actress of Hindi Cinema. Her last film, Jwala, although shot in the 1950s, was released in 1971. Madhubala died on 23 February 1969 after a prolonged illness.
Early life
Madhubala was born Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi,[7] on 14 February 1933 in Delhi, British India.[1] She was a native Pashto-speaker.[8] Her father was Attaullah Khan, a Yusufzai[1] Pashtun from the Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in British India (present-day Pakistan), and her mother was Ayesha Begum.[9] She belonged to an orthodox middle-class family[10] and was the fifth of eleven children. After her father lost his job at the Imperial Tobacco Company in Peshawar,[11] he relocated to Delhi followed by Mumbai. There, the family endured many hardships. Madhubala's three sisters and two brothers died at the age of five and six. The dock explosion and fire of April 14, 1944 wiped out their small home. The family survived only because they had gone to see a film at a local theater.[12] With his six remaining daughters to provide for, Khan, and the young Madhubala, began to pay frequent visits to Bombay film studios to look for work. At the age of 9, this was Madhubala's introduction to the movie industry, which would provide financial help to her family.[9]
Early career
Madhubala's first movie, Basant (1942), was a box-office success.[13] She acted as the daughter to a mother played by actress Mumtaz Shanti. As a child actress she went on to play in several movies. Actress Devika Rani was impressed by her performance and potential, and advised her to assume the screen name 'Madhubala',[10] literally meaning "honey belle". Her first lead role, at the age of 14, was with producer Kidar Sharma when he cast her opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal (1947).[13] This was the last film in which she was credited as Mumtaz before assuming her screen name 'Madhubala'. She achieved stardom and popularity in 1949 when she was cast as the lead in Bombay Talkies studio's Mahal – a role intended for well-known star Suraiya. Madhubala, with established actresses, screen-tested for the role before she was selected by the film's director Kamal Amrohi. The film was the third largest hit at the 1949 Indian box office. Following the success of Mahal, Madhubala appeared in the box office hits Dulari (1949), Beqasoor (1950), Tarana (1951) and Badal (1951).
Hollywood interest
In the early 1950s, as Madhubala became one of the most sought-after actresses in India, she attracted interest from Hollywood. She appeared in the American magazine Theatre Arts where, in its August 1952 issue, she was featured in an article with a full page photograph under the title: "The Biggest Star in the World - and she's not in Beverly Hills". The article described Madhubala's immense popularity in India, and explored her wide appeal and large fan base. It also speculated on her potential international success.[12] Academy Award winner American director Frank Capra, while visiting Bombay for International Film Festival of India, was keen to give her a break in Hollywood, but her father Ataullah Khan declined.[14]
Stardom
Madhubala's co-stars Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Rehman, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand were the most popular of the period. She also appeared with Kamini Kaushal, Suraiya, Geeta Bali, Nalini Jaywant, Shyama and Nimmi, notable leading ladies. The directors she worked with, Mehboob Khan (Amar), Guru Dutt (Mr. & Mrs. '55), Kamal Amrohi (Mahal) and K. Asif (Mughal-e-Azam), were amongst the most prolific and respected. Madhubala also became a producer with the film Naata (1955), in which she also acted.[15]
During the 1950s, Madhubala took starring roles in almost every genre of film being made at the time. Her 1950 film Hanste Aansoo was the first ever Hindi film to get an "A" – adults only – rating from the Central Board of Film Certification.[16] She was the archetypal fair lady in the swashbuckler Badal (1951), and following this, an uninhibited village beauty in Tarana (1951). She played the traditional ideal of Indian womanhood in Sangdil (1952), and produced a comic performance as the spoilt heiress, Anita, in Guru Dutt's satire Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955). In 1956, she acted in costume dramas such as Shirin-Farhad and Raj-Hath, and played a double role in the social drama Kal Hamara Hai (1959). In the mid-1950s, her films including the major ones like Mehboob Khan's Amar (1954) did not do well commercially.[17] However, she bounced back between 1958 and 1960 when she starred in a series of hit films. These include Howrah Bridge, opposite Ashok Kumar where she played the role of an Anglo-Indian Cabaret singer involved in Calcutta's Chinatown underworld. In the song Aaiye Meherebaan from this film, she lip-synced a torch song dubbed by Asha Bhosle which has remained popular to this day. Among other successful films, she played opposite Bharat Bhushan in Phagun; Dev Anand in Kala Pani; Kishore Kumar in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi; and Bharat Bushan again in Barsaat Ki Raat (1960). Then in 1960, she appeared in the magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam.
Madhubala acted in as many as seventy films from 1947 to 1964, and only fifteen of which were box office successes.[17] Dilip Kumar regrets that "(h)ad she lived, and had she selected her films with more care, she would have been far superior to her contemporaries ..."[18] Kumar also points out that "actresses those days faced a lot of difficulties and constraints in their career. Unable to assert themselves too much, they fell back on their families who became their caretakers and defined everything for them."[19]
Mughal-e-Azam and later work
It was the film Mughal-e-Azam that marked what many consider to be Madhubala's greatest and definitive characterization, as the doomed courtesan, Anarkali. Although the film took nine years to complete, it was not until 1953 when Madhubala was finally chosen to play the role. Bunny Reuben in his Book Dilip Kumar: Star Legend of Indian Cinema claimed that Dilip Kumar's role was instrumental behind this selection.[20] Mughal-e-Azam gave Madhubala the opportunity of fulfilling herself totally as an actress, for it was a role that all actresses dream of playing as Nimmi acknowledges that "as an actress, one gets a lot of roles, there is no shortage of them, but there isn’t always good scope for acting. With Mughal-e-Azam, Madhubala showed the world just what she could do."[21]
Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam
However, by the late 1950s, her health was deteriorating fast, and Director K. Asif, probably unaware of the extent of Madhubala's illness, required long shooting schedules that made physical demands on her, whether it was posing as a veiled statue in suffocating make-up for hours under the studio lights or being shackled with heavy chains. It was also a time when Madhubala's relationship with Dilip Kumar was fading out, and "the lives of Madhubala and her screen character are consistently seen as overlapping, it is because of the overwhelming sense of loss and tragedy and the unrelenting diktat of destiny that clung to both and which neither could escape".[22]
Mughal-e-Azam was released on 5 August 1960, and became the biggest grossing film at that time, a record that went unbroken for 15 years until the release of the film Sholay in 1975. It still ranks second in the list of all time box-office hits of Indian cinema. Madhubhala was nominated for a Filmfare Award for her performance in Mughal-e-Azam.
In 1960 Madhubala was at the peak of her career and popularity with the release of Mughal-e-Azam and Barsaat Ki Raat. She did have intermittent releases in the early 1960s. Some of these, like Jhumroo (1961), Half Ticket (1962) and Sharabi (1964), performed above average at the box-office. However, most of her other films released during this time were marred by her absence and subsequent lack of completion due to her prolonged illness. These films suffer from compromised editing, and in some cases the use of "doubles" in an attempt to patch-in scenes that Madhubala was unable to shoot.[23] Her last released film Jwala, although filmed in the late 1950s, was not issued until 1971.
Personal life and controversies
In their 1962 book Self-Portrait, Harish Booch and Karing Doyle commented that "(u)nlike other stars, Madhubala prefers a veiled secrecy around her and is seldom seen in social gatherings or public functions" (p. 76), and went on to say that "(c)ontrary to general belief, Madhubala is rather simple and unassuming" (p. 78).[10][24] This is echoed in Madhubala's sister's interview with the Filmfare: "(Madhubala) became a craze because she was never seen in public. She wasn’t allowed to attend any function, any premiere. She had no friends. But she never resisted, she was obedient. Being protective, my father earned the reputation of being domineering".[25] Dilip Kumar added, "She was extremely popular ... and I think the only star for whom people thronged outside the gates. Very often when shooting was over, there’d be a vast crowd standing at the gates just to have a look at Madhu ... It wasn’t so for anyone else. That was her personal effect on fans. Her personality was vivacious."[26] But, "she was aware of her beauty," reminisces B. K. Karanjia, former Filmfare editor and a close friend of both Madhubala and her father, "and because there were so many in love with her, she used to play one against the other. But it was out of innocence rather than shrewd calculation."[27] Dev Anand recalled in a similar way: "(s)he liked to flirt innocently and was great fun."[28][29] However, with Dilip Kumar she had a long association.
Dilip Kumar and Madhubala first met on the set of Jwar Bhata (1944), and worked together again on the film Har Singaar (1949), which was shelved. Their relationship began two years later during the filming of Tarana (1951). They became a romantic pair appearing in a total of four films together. Actor Shammi Kapoor recalled that "Dilip Kumar would drive down from Bombay to meet Madhubala ... she was committed to Dilip ... he even flew to Bombay to spend Eid with her, taking time off from his shooting stint ..."[30] "They even got engaged", said Madhubala's sister.[25] But, Madhubala's father Ataullah Khan did not give them permission to marry.[31] Dilip Kumar said, "She was a very, very obedient daughter",[32] and who, in spite of the success, fame and wealth, submitted to the domination of her father and more often than not paid for his mistakes.[33] "This inability to leave her family was her greatest drawback", believed Shammi Kapoor, "for it had to be done at some time."[34] The Naya Daur (1957 film) court case happened in 1956 when Dilip Kumar testified against Madhubala and her father in favor of the director B.R. Chopra in open court. This struck a fatal blow to the Dilip-Madhubala relationship as it ended any chance of reconciliation between Dilip Kumar and Madhubala'a father.[35] Reflecting on this, while Dilip Kumar said he was "trapped",[36] Shammi Kapoor felt "this was something which went beyond him (Dilip) and he couldn’t control the whole situation ..." [37] However, Madhubala's sister Madhur Bhushan claimed that "(Madhubala) said she would marry him (Dilip), provided he apologised to her father. He refused, so Madhubala left him. That one 'sorry' could have changed her life."[38]
Madhubala married Kishore Kumar in 1960, and according to Leena Chandavarkar (Kishore's fourth wife): "When she realized Dilip was not going to marry her, on the rebound and just to prove to him that she could get whomsoever she wanted, she went and married a man she did not even know properly."[39] B. K. Karanjia assumed that "Madhubala may have felt that perhaps this was her best chance" because by this time she became seriously ill, and was about to stop working completely; however, he added that "it was a most unlikely union, and not a happy one either." [40] Madhubala’s illness was known to Kishore, but like all the others, he did not realize its gravity; Ataullah Khan did not approve of his son-in-law at all, but he had lost the courage to disapprove.[41] Ashok Kumar reminisced in a Filmfare interview: "She suffered a lot and her illness made her very bad-tempered. She often fought with Kishore, and would take off to her father's house where she spent most of her time."[42] Madhubala's sister echoes this view albeit in a slightly different tone: "After marriage they flew to London where the doctor told her she had only two years to live. After that Kishore left her at our house saying, ‘I can’t look after her. I’m on outdoors often’. But she wanted to be with him. He’d visit her once in two months though. Maybe he wanted to detach himself from her so that the final separation wouldn’t hurt. But he never abused her as was reported. He bore her medical expenses. They remained married for nine years."[25]
However, Madhubala's love-life continued to be the subject of media speculation. Mohan Deep wrote an unofficial biography of Madhubala titled Mystery and Mystique of Madhubala, published in 1996, where he claims that Kishore Kumar regularly whipped Madhubala, who would show her lashes to Shakti Samanta.[43] Mohan Deep also questions whether Madhubala was really ill or whether her ailing was a fiction.[44] Shammi Kapoor, a long-term colleague of Madhubala, refuted Mohan Deep's claims, which he described as being "in bad taste". Paidi Jairaj, and Shakti Samanta, both of whom worked with Madhubala, rejected Deep's biography emphasizing the glaring difference between fact and fiction, and film journalist M.S.M. Desai, who had worked as a journalist on Madhubala's sets, questioned Deep's method of research saying, "Mohan Deep was not around at the time of Madhubala, so how is he capable of writing about her without resorting to hearsay?"[45]
Final years and death
Prithviraj Kapoor visiting the grave of Madhubala in 1969
Madhubala had ventricular septal defect (hole in her heart) which was detected while she was shooting for Bahut Din Huwe in Madras in 1954.[46] By 1960, her condition aggravated, and her sister explains that "due to her ailment, her body would produce extra blood. So it would spill out from the nose and mouth. The doctor would come home and extract bottles of blood. She also suffered from pulmonary pressure of the lungs. She coughed all the time. Every four to five hours she had to be given oxygen or else would get breathless. She was confined to bed for nine years and was reduced to just bones and skin".[25] In 1966, with a slight improvement in her health, she made a valiant attempt to complete her work in Chalak opposite Raj Kapoor, which needed only a short spell of shooting, but she could not even survive that strain.[47] When acting was no longer an option Madhubala turned her attention to film direction. In 1969 she was set to make her directorial debut with the film Farz aur Ishq. However the film was never made as during pre-production, she died on February 23, 1969, shortly after her 36th birthday. She was buried with her personal diary at the Santa Cruz Muslim cemetery by her family and husband Kishore Kumar.[48] Her tomb was built with marble and inscriptions included aayats from the Quran and verse dedications. Controversially, her tomb was demolished in 2010 to make space for new graves.[49]
Madhubala's strong presence in the public memory has been evidenced by all recent polls about top actresses or beauties of the Indian cinema.[50][51][52] Every year, on her birthday, numerous articles are printed and television programmes aired to commemorate her, to the present day. Her posters are still in demand and sold alongside contemporary actresses, and modern magazines continue to publish stories on her personal life and career, often promoting her name heavily on the covers to attract sales.[53] Many believe, however, Madhubala remains one of the most underrated actresses as "her beauty attracted more attention than her talent."[54]
In 2004, a digitally-colorized version of the original Mughal-e-Azam was released, 35 years after her death. In 2012, her 1962 release Half Ticket was also remastered, digitally coloured and re-released.
On March 18, 2008, a commemorative postage stamp featuring Madhubala was issued.[55] The stamp was produced by India Post in a limited edition presentation pack. It was launched by veteran actors Nimmi and Manoj Kumar in a ceremony attended by colleagues, friends and surviving members of Madhubala's family. The only other Indian film actress that was honoured in this manner was Nargis Dutt, at that point of time.[56]
Filmography
Year Film Director Notes
1942 Basant Amiya Chakravarty as Manju; credited as Baby Mumtaz
1944 Mumtaz Mahal Kidar Sharma as a child artiste
1945 Dhanna Bhagat Kidar Sharma as a child artiste
1946 Pujari Aspi as a child artiste
1946 Phoolwari Chaturbhuj Doshi as a child artiste
1946 Rajputani Aspi as a child artiste
1947 Neel Kamal (1947 film) Kidar Sharma First film as a heroine
1947 Chittar Vijay Mohan Sinha
1947 Mere Bhagwan Mohan Sinha
1947 Khubsoorat Duniya Mohan Sinha
1947 Dil-Ki-Rani Mohan Sinha as Raj Kumari Singh
1948 Parai Aag Najm Naqvi
1948 Lal Dupatta K.B.Lall
1948 Desh Sewa N.Vakil
1948 Amar Prem N.M.Kelkar
1949 Sipahiya Aspi
1949 Singaar J.K.Nanda
1949 Paras Anant Thakur as Priya
1949 Neki Aur Badi Kidar Sharma
1949 Mahal Kamal Amrohi as Kamini
1949 Imtihaan Mohan Sinha
1949 Dulari A. R. Kardar as Shobha/Dulari
1949 Daulat Sohrab Modi
1949 Aparadhi Y.Pethkar as Sheela Rani
1950 Pardes M.Sadiq as Chanda
1950 Nishana Wajahat Mirza as Greta
1950 Nirala Devendra Mukherjee as Poonam
1950 Madhubala Prahlad Dutt
1950 Hanste Aansoo K.B.Lall
1950 Beqasoor K. Amarnath as Usha
1951 Tarana Ram Daryani as Tarana
1951 Saiyan M. Sadiq as Saiyan
1951 Nazneen N.K.Ziree
1951 Nadaan Hira Singh
1951 Khazana M.Sadiq
1951 Badal Amiya Chakravarty as Ratna
1951 Aaram D. D. Kashyap as Leela
1952 Saqi H. S. Rawail as Rukhsana
1952 Deshabakthan Amiya Chakrabarty
1952 Sangdil R. C. Talwar
1953 Rail Ka Dibba P. N. Arora as Chanda
1953 Armaan Fali Mistry
1954 Bahut Din Huye S.S.Vasan as Chandrakanta
1954 Amar Mehboob Khan as Anju
1955 Teerandaz H.S.Rawail
1955 Naqab Lekhraj Bhakri
1955 Naata D. N. Madhok as Tara
1955 Mr. & Mrs. '55 Guru Dutt as Anita Verma
1956 Shirin Farhad Aspi Irani as Shirin
1956 Raj Hath Sohrab Modi as Raja Beti/Rajkumari
1956 Dhake Ki Malmal J.K.Nanda
1957 Yahudi Ki Ladki S.D. Narang
1957 Gateway of India Om Prakash as Anju
1957 Ek Saal Devendra Goel as Usha Sinha
1958 Police Kali Das
1958 Phagun Bibhuti Mitra as Banani
1958 Kala Pani Raj Khosla as Asha
1958 Howrah Bridge Shakti Samanta as Edna
1958 Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi Satyen Bose as Renu
1958 Baghi Sipahi Bhagwandas Varma
1959 Kal Hamara Hai S.K.Prabhakar as Madhu/Bela
1959 Insaan Jaag Utha Shakti Samanta as Gauri
1959 Do Ustad (1959) Tara Harish as Madhu Sharma
1960 Mehlon Ke Khwab Hyder as Asha
1960 Jaali Note Shakti Samanta as Renu/Beena
1960 Barsaat Ki Raat P.L.Santoshi as Shabnam
1960 Mughal-e-Azam K.Asif as Anarkali; Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
1961 Passport Pramod Chakravorty as Rita Bhagwandas
1961 Jhumroo Shankar Mukherji as Anjana
1961 Boy Friend Naresh Saigal as Sangeeta
1962 Half Ticket Kali Das as Rajnidevi/Asha
1964 Sharabi Raj Rishi as Kamala
43172 & 43154 have just worked the (1W59) London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill with 'Harry Patch' on the tail end as it sits in Platform One to run into the siding and wait the return working to London Paddington.
I had created a patches . The patches RMMV ( Rheinmetall Military Vehicles ) . I was started a Facebook Group with these name: Perhaps a lot of Viewers would bes get into the Group or want these Patches. 5,99 Euro for Delivered Europe. Best regards Frank / Admin Combat-Camera-Europe
Philadelphia - 2013
For those curious: I used one strobe synced to the camera by PC cable. The strobe (an old SB24), had a Lumiquest II mini softbox attached. The whole thing was on a stand and placed on the sink and aimed at the ceiling on a slight angle and manually set for 1/2 power. The sink is camera right at the top of the photo. Oh yeah.. I stood on the bathtub to get the shot.
The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials (WICST) Project was initiated in 1989 to address issues of sustainability of alternative farming systems. The hub of the WICST project activities are two crop rotation trials at Arlington Agricultural Research Station and the Lakeland Agricultural Complex in Walworth County. These trials compare three cash grain and three forage-based production systems. The production systems vary in crop diversity and use of purchased inputs. They range from continuous corn to rotational grazing and the performance criteria include productivity, environmental impact and profitability. Photos by Sevie Kenyon, UW-Madison CALS
Come to the Pumpkin Patch at Seminole Heights United Methodist Church down on the corner of Central & Hanna in Seminole Heights. The Patch will be open 12-8 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Saturdays until Halloween.
A long standing tradition after an EVA is to put the expedition crew patch into the air lock.
Es ist alte Tradition, nach einem Weltraumspaziergang den Missionpatch in der Luftschleuse anzubringen.
Credits: ESA/NASA
128A0628
I've been messing around with my new polaroid land camera a lot lately. It's taken me longer than usual to get used to this little camera. After messing up an entire roll of film, I got handle of pulling the film out of the camera.
I went to a pumpkin patch in Carnation, WA the other day. It was a beautiful fall day so I couldn't resist bring along the camera.
I'm still trying to figure out the best way to carry the images around without messing them up. For this one, I folded the image back together with the negative and the emulsion left some marks on the image. Oh well, now I know!
This was a little patch of Daffodils in my front yard but they are all gone now.. They didn't last very long... Processed in Topaz Studio with Palette Knife Oil 1.. Happy Sliders Sunday, Everybody!!
In a fortuitous patch of light on a Timeline Events charter. 6880 "Betton Grange" pictured at Rabbit bridge on the Great Central railway.
An eastbound Chessie System freight with a Western Maryland unit in the lead emerges from the 4,475-foot-long Sand Patch Tunnel, in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania.
ReStart Mall on a walk around the city, catching up on changes. February27, 2015 Christchurch New Zealand.
Some freaky stuff going on in Salisbury today..
A 6 metre tall puppet moving through the town center..
Salisbury Arts Festival...
But still acceptable. This is one of the few instances where the AC4400CW was the right leader. It's been a while since I've seen a patched SP lead and with UP re-painting some of it's older locomotives it probably won't be a common sight for much longer. This trio is on CN's Leithton Subdivision heading for Global 4 in Joliet.
Today my friends Mellie and Patches came by my house, and we went to the park and took some pictures. It's simple nothing great :|
Thanks to Zack for the adorable testimonial :}!
CFE train FWCH pulls through Ivanhoe on the CSX Porter Sub with a patched CSX Dash 8 followed by a G&W heritage painted Dash 8. February 2025
RELEASE DATE: 1983
MANUFACTURER: Original Appalachian Artwork
BODY TYPE: Stuffed; tag 1978, made in Cleveland, Georgia; 1983 green signature
HEAD MOLD: Soft sculpture
PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: Baldwin Lance arrived as the most familiar of strangers. In July 2021, Shelly and I both contracted a bad case of CABBIE FEVER. We had become obsessed in all things Cabbage Patch. One of our earliest discussions surrounded soft sculptures--how I thought they looked odd, how most were "one of a kind", and, best of all, how they could be purchased at an exotic location called Babyland. Call me shallow--if I were ever able to travel, I wouldn't go to the pyramids, or the Eiffel tower, or even to Disney. No, I would want to go to Babyland--where Cabbies live and play. Where you can adopt them straight out of the patch. Anyway, I digress--the point is, we were ogling soft sculpture Cabbages online. In one of my earliest Mercari searches, I saw this little man. He was my Baby Otis--I took one look at the listing and I said, "That's MY baby!" I loved everything about him and thought he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen--back when I wasn't sure whether I loved softies or just thought they were interesting and weird. He was expensive--his original listing was for $300. Then, he got slashed to around $250, still untouchable. I thought, "Maybe if he sits around long enough, he'll get marked down to a price I can afford." I knew him then as "Baby Baldwin." When I went back to check up on him--see if he was still available, see if he was any cheaper, I typed in "Cabbage Patch Baldwin." I obsessed in him for months and "Cabbage Patch Baldwin" was one of my typical Mercari searches. However, he was still expensive and, after being cheated out of one Baby Otis and losing a bid on another, we became consumed with getting Otis. Even if Baldwin Lance (whose whole name I knew by then), had gotten marked down, we were afraid to spend money on another softie--it's an investment--for fear of finally finding a touchable Otis and not having the funds. It took us until the holiday season--November--to track Otis down. By then, between buying my Courtney doll's things for Christmas and, shortly after, getting Corinne and Gwynn Tan, we didn't have any spare dolly cash for an investment such as Baldwin. I hadn't looked at his price in eons--probably since the fall. I figured, if he HAD somehow gotten marked down to what I wanted to pay, someone else would've bought him. I don't think I typed him in after a point because I was so sure someone else would've scooped him up and I didn't want to deal with the heartbreak. He's not like Otis--he's the only "Baldwin Lance". However, I came down with a bad cold a little before Easter 2022. Shelly was bored and, of course, using the down time to shop. We'd been talking for months about, maybe, someday getting A Kid For All Seasons Morton. We loved that he was bald and came in a raincoat and, more importantly, we wanted a bigger softie for certain clothes. (Otis is a strange shape, probably because he's from the Nursery Edition.) Shelly, somehow, remembered this guy and typed in my old key words "Cabbage Patch Baldwin." And wouldn't you know? He was finally touchable AND had a make offer. Shelly had decided that he was cuter than Morton and that we should make an offer. It was one of those agonizing scenarios where the seller wanted to haggle over a small window (considering the cost of the item, five or ten bucks is fairly insubstantial). I wanted to cave and just buy him for full price--I was so close to finally having my dream Cabbie and I fantasized about them immediately accepting our offer. (It wasn't that much of a stretch--a few days later, we tried making an offer on Oscar and they took it within the hour, no haggling!) In the end, we got him for a very good deal and I was very happy. I was so happy about him that, while feeling like I was dying from that horrible cold, I would keep thinking, "Baldwin is coming! THE Baldwin." It was my mantra. We ordered him the Wednesday before Easter. Ordering something before a holiday weekend can be hit or miss--it took the seller several days to ship him. Plus, he came to us all the way from California. Therefore, Oscar, who we ordered on Easter day came two days before him! By the time Baldwin came, Oscar and I had become best friends--but it didn't change how thrilled I was to finally have "Baby Baldwin" in our home. It didn't matter that he wasn't the first Cabbie of his stature, or that he was the second softie to arrive in a week. No, he was still just as exciting--Baldwin, the Baldwin I've loved since around the time we got our first Cabbage Patch Kid, Baby Martin. In fact, I'm pretty sure I loved this guy even before we got Baby Martin--for some reason, I thought his name was "Baby Baldwin" and it made me push to christen our first doll "Baby" something. I think--it feels like a long time ago. I just know that this little man has been in my heart since July 2021 and it took him about nine months to join the family! I felt really bad for him actually--he'd been listed since June 2021, before I'd even discovered him. He was probably waiting for a home, sitting in someone's closet. (I was scared that the seller wouldn't be able to FIND him after so many months of him not selling.) I also strongly suspected, because normally people make a point of photographing the butt markings on soft sculptures to prove authenticity, that this little guy had NEVER been undressed. When he arrived, wrapped in saran wrap like a mummy, I knew I was right--his name tag was still tabbed into his pants with a factory tab. NEVER undressed, what a travesty. A doll who was intended to be adopted, loved, and pampered like a real baby (okay, let's be real--their intent is to make money off the dolls, but the "adopt me, love me" gimmick really works for me) was never played with or truly appreciated. Poor Baldwin! We didn't know a whole lot about him, especially since the seller didn't post any nude photos. Going off the color of his name tag, Shelly thought maybe he was made in 1987, just like me. However, it turns out he's from 1983! Before we even stripped him, we thought that was the case because Shelly looked at the tag for a date and that's the date (and, since he'd never been stripped, we knew the tag was his). His butt stamp still looks like new! Honestly, I didn't care what year he was (though I suspected he was from the 80s--he's got that look). I'd been in love with him so long that I didn't care if he was from 1983, 1978, 2000, 2005, or 2018. Any time in between--it didn't matter. I love him no matter what. I love his bulbous head--it's like Otis', much bigger than Oscar's. His nose is humped like Otis' too. I love how he's got green eyes like Raphie's--and that dimple! He is simply to die for! He is truly one of a kind--and he's finally found his forever home with me and Shelly!