Cone Heads (it's a disease)
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but it is mainly the outcome of the need we have felt for making democracy such a good thing, like a scrubbed and shining schoolboy. Actually democracy partakes of the sweat and blood of the real world. It is grimy and dangerous and will never survive until it can learn to understand the ways of bullies and take its own part. I happen to care for it not because of any moral perfection it may have, but because it is by and large the best instrument I know for giving us the kind of world we want to live in :-)
Max Lerner, 1938
HFF!! Truth Matters!! Character Matters! Impeach the bully!
john moulton homestead, grand tetons national park, wyoming
“I'm not going down on my knees begging you to adore me
Can't you see it's misery and torture for me?
When I'm misunderstood, try as hard as you can
I've tried as hard as I could
To make you see
How important it is for me
Here is a plea from my heart to you
Nobody knows me as well as you do
You know how hard it is for me to shake the disease
That takes hold of my tongue in situations like these
Understand me…”
The beautiful cover by Hooverphonic: youtu.be/J3OMKTQK8-8
As a sleeper in metropolis
You are insignificance
Dreams become entangled in the system
Environment moves over the sleeper:
Conditioned air
Conditions sedated breathing
The sensation of viscose sheets on naked flesh
Soft and warm
But lonesome in the blackened ocean of night
Confined in the helpless safety of desires and dreams
We fight our insignificance
The harder we fight
The higher the wall
Outside the cancerous city spreads
Like an illness
It's symptoms
In cars that cruise to inevitable destinations
Tailed by the silent spotlights
Of society created paranoia
No alternative could grow
Where love cannot take root
No shadows will replace
The warmth of your contact
Love is dead in metropolis
All contact through glove or partition
What a waste
The City -
A wasting disease
The rose has an abundance of fully double blooms open to large cups in a very attractive apricot colour. With upright growth this ADR winner has the hightest disease resistance in its colour range. Multiple international gold and silver medals makes this a must have.
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae. There are over three hundred species and thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach seven meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses. 53319
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→ LEIMOTIV in discount for TSS 25/01
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→ Ruska Cap
→ Ruska Gloves
→ Ruska Suit
→ Ruska Garter
→ Ruska Choker *GIFT*
all items sold separeted
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Please follow this link to his song on Suno
All the mirrors cracked no truth behind the glass
Shattered pieces fall fate cuts the past
I'm walking shadow roads chasing fading gleams
No one wakes me up I'm my own dreams
City hums at night whispers in the breeze
Streetlights paint my face haunt me like disease
I scream into the dark but no one ever hears
Following my heartbeat drowning out my fears
I'm my own dreams no one else can see
Living in the haze where the wild ones flee
Writing every page this ain't destiny
I'm my own dreams time dissolves the plea
Fire in my lungs words burn like ash
Counting every breath slow inhale crash
The echoes in my chest a rhythm I believe
Everything I hold is something I conceive
I've been a storm I've been a cage
Flames of myself beyond the stage
Turning light to smoke and smoke into streams
Can't no one wake me up I'm my own dreams
I'm my own dreams no one else can see
Living in the haze where the wild ones flee
Writing every page this ain't destiny
I'm my own dreams time dissolves the plea
Dutch Elm Disease. I think this is the artistic, spider-like damage caused by the larvae of the elm bark beetle.
From the Woodland Trust - This now infamous tree disease has killed millions of elm trees in the UK over the last 50 years. It’s changed parts of our landscape forever. Dutch elm disease is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi which is spread by elm bark beetles. It got its name from the team of Dutch pathologists who carried out research on the disease in the 1920s.
Photo By: Cate Infinity
Shot in Second Life Official Viewer in Ultra. No edit.
Location: Drone Haven
Backstory: Drone Haven, a city long abandoned by humanity, stands as a haunting testament to the fleeting importance of humankind in the grand narrative of nature. Rusted skyscrapers rise from fractured earth, their decayed frames wrapped in vines and moss, bearing witness to nature’s quiet reclamation. Faded posters and graffiti whisper a warning from a forgotten era: “The End is Near!” On the city’s outskirts, a survivalist camp briefly clung to life. Dreamers and pragmatists built it as humanity’s final stand, cultivating gardens and creating shelters in defiance of the inevitable. Yet disease, dwindling resources, and discord proved stronger than their resolve. The camp fell silent, overtaken by creeping greenery, its remnants a poignant symbol of resilience overshadowed by decline. At the city’s heart lies the ruins of a once-famous butcher shop, its walls weathered and its windows shattered. Moss softens its rusted fixtures, and vines snake through every crevice. Outside, the grim message echoes: “The End is Near!” This decaying relic serves as a stark reminder of human hubris and the fragile nature of survival. Amid the ruins, drones roam like spectral caretakers. Left by their creators, these machines continue to perform their programmed duties, planting native flora during their annual Echocycle rituals. They maintain Drone Haven as a paradox—a city simultaneously embodying human ambition and nature’s enduring dominance. Yet even the drones are not eternal. As creations of humankind, they too are bound by the finite nature of energy. Like their creators, they will eventually exhaust their resources and cease to function. This juxtaposition—humanity’s ephemeral existence and its legacy in the mechanical species it forged—underscores the fragility of all things, natural or artificial. Drone Haven whispers a layered tale: a reminder that humanity, for all its self-importance, is but a fleeting presence in the face of nature’s vast, enduring cycles. In its rusted beams and flowering vines, it reflects on collapse, resilience, and the inescapable truth that all energy is finite and ultimately consumed.
Tedium is not the disease of being bored because there’s nothing to do, but the more serious disease of feeling that there’s nothing worth doing.
Bernardo Soares (Fernando Pessoa) in "the book of disquiet"
Não é o tédio a doença do aborrecimento de nada ter que fazer, mas a doença maior de se sentir que não vale a pena fazer nada.
Hair - Sintiklia - Hair Bahati - Ombres
Face Tattoo - LILITHIUM - Moon Child Face Tattoo NORMAL (Group Gift)
Lipstick - LILITHIUM - Goth Baesics Lipset - Black (Group Gift)
Eyeshadow - VELOUR: Essential Pack Vol. 1- Eyeshadow #4 [BOM]
Nails - Leksana - Bento Nails "Valentine" (5L gift on MP)
Rings - (Yummy) Serena Rings (Maitreya) 2.0
Dress - LSR Anniah Dress - Maitreya White (Group Gift)
Boots - Scandalize. Eralda Heels.WHITE. MAITREYA (Group Gift)
Pretty hurts
We shine the light on whatever's worst
Perfection is a disease of a nation
Pretty hurts, pretty hurts
Pretty hurts
We shine the light on whatever's worst
You tryna fix something, but you can't fix what you can't see
It's the soul that needs a surgery
Blonder hair, flat chest
TV says bigger is better
South beach, sugar free
Vogue says
Thinner is better
Just another stage
Pageant the pain away
This time I'm gonna take the crown
Without falling down, down, down
ENG: Small autumn impressions of the hospital church in the Wuhlgarten directly at the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin.
A short chronology:
1883 Opening as " Institution for Epilepsy - Wuhlgarten near Biesdorf" (1000 beds); city building director Blankenstein realizes the principle: therapy, living and working under one roof. The hospital church is an integral part and property of the municipal institution.
1928 Renamed " Urban Sanatorium and Nursing Home Wuhlgarten" (1450 beds). Treatment of all psychiatric diseases.
1940/41 As part of the "T4 Action" (euthanasia), chronically ill patients are transferred to killing centers and murdered. The memorial stone on the old railroad track commemorates the victims.
1944/45 Bomb damage to hospital buildings and church; the memorial stone east of the main avenue commemorates the war victims.
1945 Partial takeover of the hospital by the Red Army.
1946 Reopened as a facility for the mentally ill (350 beds).
1950/1960 Profiled as a hospital for psychiatry, neurology and addictive disorders Renamed "Wilhelm- Griesinger-Hospital".
1987 Central clinic for psychiatry and neurology with research department
1997 Merger with Kaulsdorf Hospital to form Hellersdorf Hospital
1997 Opening of the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin and the Augenklinik Berlin-Marzahn on the hospital grounds
1994-97 Reconstruction of the hospital church destroyed during the war
1997 Reconsecration of the church by Auxiliary Bishop Weider (Catholic) and General Superintendent Passauer (Protestant).
•
GER: Kleine Herbst Impressionen von der Krankenhauskirche im Wuhlgarten direkt am Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin.
Eine kurze Chronologie:
1883 Eröffnung als „Anstalt für Epilepsie - Wuhlgarten bei Biesdorf“ (1000 Betten); Stadtbaudirektor Blankenstein verwirklicht das Prinzip: Therapie, Wohnen und Arbeiten unter einem Dach. Die Krankenhauskirche ist ein integraler Bestandteil und Eigentum der städEschen Anstalt
1928 Umbenennung in „Städtische Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wuhlgarten“ (1450 Betten). Behandlung aller psychiatrischen Erkrankungen.
1940/41 Im Rahmen der „T4-Aktion“ (Euthanasie) werden chronisch kranke Patienten in Tötungsanstalten verlegt und ermordet. Der Gedenkstein am alten Bahngleis erinnert an die Opfer.
1944/45 Bombenschäden an Klinikgebäuden und Kirche; an die Kriegsopfer erinnert der Gedenkstein östlich der Hauptallee.
1945 Teilweise Übernahme des Krankenhauses durch die Rote Armee.
1946 Wiederinbetriebnahme als Einrichtung für Geisteskranke (350 Betten).
1950/1960 Profilierung zum Krankenhaus für Psychiatrie, Neurologie und Suchterkrankungen Umbenennung in „Wilhelm- Griesinger-Krankenhaus“.
1987 Zentralklinik für Psychiatrie und Neurologie mit Forschungsabteilung
1997 Fusion mit dem Krankenhaus Kaulsdorf zum Krankenhaus Hellersdorf
1997 Eröffnung des Unfallkrankenhauses Berlin und der Augenklinik Berlin-Marzahn auf dem Krankenhausgelände
1994-97 Aufbau der im Krieg zerstörten Krankenhauskirche
1997 Wiedereinweihung der Kirche durch Weihbischof Weider (kath.) und Generalsuperintendent Passauer (ev.).
... and there it was, the spreader injector of TBE, the Lyme disease marauder, the undoubtedly worst forest and meadow summer enemy we humans face during the summer half year...
The tick!!!
Patiently waiting in nature's vegetation with outstretched limbs for us prey to pass so they can attack and penetrate our skin where they unleash their armies of ill-tempered bacteria and viruses into our relatively fragile body.
My God
Vaccinate yourselves!!!
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Alzheimer's Disease is often referred to as ' the long goodbye '.
It is Alzheimer's Awareness Day here tomorrow. This is my humble offering, dedicated to those who know and perhaps love someone suffering from this cruel disease.
The Long Goodbye
You see my face, you see a stranger there,
I put the rosary in your hands,
I brush your hair.
I fix your bed and plump the pillows
and you smile;
‘Are you the Doctor?’ no Dad, it’s me.
And we continue on,
to be,
the best that we can be.
Another day,
another chapter in the Long Goodbye.
© 2008 Sandra O' Callaghan
Pests or diseases have damaged most of Britain’s 470,000 horse chestnut trees and there are just five years left to find a solution, experts warn. Dr Glynn Percival, manager of the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory at the University of Reading, said: “I don’t think the prognosis is good at all, unless we find something to control the leaf miner. In trees that have leaf miner we do get an increase in the severity of bleeding canker because they have so little energy to defend themselves.”
He continues: “Our research shows trees without leaf miner produce conkers twice the weight of those with – 8g against 4g, which is a 50 per cent drop. We planted them out and the 4g conker germination rate is lower and the vigour is lower. There’s a definite knock-on effect, our data shows. The affected trees’ conkers are smaller and they have less vigour when germinating because of leaf miner.”
“Horse chestnuts have got maybe another five years unless we get these issues under control. The trees are living off their own natural resources. They’re brown and crispy when everything else is green. No energy is being produced.” He said his research shows that honey fungus is also attacking stressed trees, killing them off quicker.
I’ve had this image sitting on the shelf for a while now. I had a theme in mind when I set up the shot but there is something about this image that has just not been working for me.
I like the colours in the sky. I like the smooth but slightly rippled finish on the water. I even like the turbines and I’ve deliberately kept in the power masts and the stacks from the refinery over the hill but I can’t get my head around that grungy mess of a pier. I’m so accustomed to trying to keep all the elements in an image balanced and appealing, like a good landscape should be, that this just doesn't seem right but you know if you change your perspective then interesting can work too. I started to think about the juxtaposition of the beautiful colour of the sky and water being put in comparison to the desolation of the broken pier. If you think about the image as an impression of industrial decay amidst the beauty of nature then I begin to see the appeal.
Please feel free to give me some feedback if you think the combination works or is just a bunch of pretentious crap. I’m thick skinned and I won’t be upset if you want to be honest. Well, hopefully not too upset…
Dilmun is associated with ancient sites on the islands of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, the Cradle of Civilization.
Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) is associated with ancient sites on the islands of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Because of its location along the sea trade routes linking Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley Civilization, Dilmun developed in the Bronze Age, from ca. 3000 BC, into one of the greatest entrepots of trade of the ancient world.
There is both literary and archaeological evidence for the trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley (probably correctly identified with the land called Meluhha in Akkadian). Impressions of clay seals from the Indus Valley city of Harappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify.
A number of these Indus Valley seals have turned up at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites. "Persian Gulf" types of circular stamped rather than rolled seals, known from Dilmun, that appear at Lothal in Gujarat, India, and Faylahkah, as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration of the long-distance sea trade. What the commerce consisted of is less sure: timber and precious woods, ivory, lapis lazuli, gold, and luxury goods such as carnelian and glazed stone beads, pearls from the Persian Gulf, shell and bone inlays, were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange for silver, tin, woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots, certainly, bitumen, which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia, may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl, major products of the Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia - all these have been instanced.
Mesopotamian trade documents, lists of goods, and official inscriptions mentioning Meluhha supplement Harappan seals and archaeological finds. Literary references to Meluhhan trade date from the Akkadian, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and Isin - Larsa Periods (ca. 2350 - 1800 BC), but the trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (ca. 2600 BC). Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports, but by the Isin - Larsa Period, Dilmun monopolized the trade. By the subsequent Old Babylonian period, trade between the two cultures evidently had ceased entirely.
The Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age" lasted ca. 2200 - 1600 BC. Its decline dates from the time the Indus Valley civilization suddenly and mysteriously collapsed, in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. This would of course have stripped Dilmun of its importance as a trading center between Mesopotamia and India. The decay of the great sea trade with the east may have affected the power shift northwards observed in Mesopotamia itself.
Evidence about Neolithic human cultures in Dilmun comes from flint tools and weapons. From later periods, cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, pottery and even correspondence between rulers throw light on Dilmun. Written records mentioning the archipelago exist in Sumerian, Akkadian, Persian, Greek, and Latin sources.
Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living" is the scene of a Sumerian creation myth and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Ziusudra (Utnapishtim), was taken by the gods to live for ever.
There is mention of Dilmun as a vassal of Assyria in the 8th century BC and by about 600 BC, it had been fully incorporated into the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Dilmun then falls into deep eclipse marked by the decline of the copper trade, so long controlled by Dilmun, and the switch to a less important role in the new trade of frankincense and spices. The discovery of an impressive palace at the Ras al Qalah site in Bahrain is promising to increase knowledge of this late period.
Otherwise, there is virtually no information until the passage of Nearchus, the admiral in charge of Alexander the Great's fleet on the return from the Indus Valley. Nearchus kept to the Iranian coast of the Gulf, however, and cannot have stopped at Dilmun. Nearchus established a colony on the island of Falaika off the coast of Kuwait in the late 4th century BC, and explored the Gulf perhaps least as far south as Dilmun/Bahrain.
From the time of Nearchus until the coming of Islam in the 7th century AD Dilmun/Bahrain was known by its Greek name of Tylos. The political history for this period is little known, but Tylos was at one point part of the Seleucid Empire, and of Characene and perhaps part of the Parthian Empire. Shapur II annexed it, together with eastern Arabia, into the Persian Sassanian empire in the 4th century.
Unlike Egyptian and Mesopotamian tablets and cylinders, the Dilmun legacy has been discovered on circular seals. The primitive forms of images carved on the seal indicate they were used as charms or talisman. Carved on wood, soapstone shells or metal, these images clearly define a complex society. Temples in the center of the agrarian village, towns, city-states, religious, and economic cultural life. All facets of the emergence of an evolutionary society are reflected in the inscriptions about the seals.
Impressions found on pottery and property is a probable usage of the seals. Burying them with the dead was probably to avoid misuse. Tiny fragments found impressed, suggest identifying property. Clearly there was an intrinsic value; each seal tells a story, has an identity.
Seals depict Enki, God of wisdom and sweet water. Gilgamesh as a massive and heroic figure, the 'Bull of heaven' hat. Ladies of the mountains 'Inanas' servants wearing her triangle signs depicting space for her power. 'Nana' is the moon god who was also named 'sin'. Symbol was the bull of heaven head. Inana, goddess of immortality.
From the dreams of Gilgamesh, to the philosophy of life. Seals depicting a harmonious life with nature and god are painted here in the colors and form I hope you enjoy. The colors naturally excite and stimulate, often sexually. Indisputably the ancient myths of immortality and resurrection influenced Dilmun beliefs and are abundantly supported in the seal designs, represented by gods of the sun and moon.
The Mesopotamian texts described Tilmun as situated at the 'mouth' of two bodies of water. The Sinai peninsula, shaped as an inverted triangle indeed begins where the Red Sea separates into two arms - the gulf of Suez on the west, and the Gulf of Elat (Gulf of Aqaba) on the east.
The texts spoke of mountainous Tilmun. The Sinai peninsula is indeed made up of a high mountainous southern part, a mountainous central plateau, and a northern plain (surrounded by mountains), which levels off via sandy hills to the Mediterranean coastline. Sargon of Akkad claimed that he reached as 'washed his weapons' in the Mediterranean; 'the sea lands' - the lands along the Mediterranean coast - 'three times I encircled; Tilmun my hand captured'. Sargon II, king of Assyria in the eighth century BC, asserted that he had conquered the area stretching 'from Bit-Yahkin on the shore of the salt Sea as far as the border of Tilmun'. The name 'Salt Sea' has survived to this day as a Hebrew name for the Dead Sea - another confirmation that Tilmun lay in proximity to the Dead Sea.
The cradle of civilization is sometimes referenced by the name Dilmun, or Tilmun. Here, it was said, the god Ea and his wife were placed to institute 'a sinless age of complete happiness'.
Here too animals lived in peace and harmony, man had no rival and the god Enlil `in one tongue gave praise'. It is also described as a pure, clean and `bright' `abode of the immortals' where death, disease and sorrow are unknown and some mortals have been given `life like a god', words reminiscent of the Airyana Vaejah, the realm of the immortals in Iranian myth and legend, and the Eden of Hebraic tradition
Although Dilmun is equated by most scholars with the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, there is evidence to suggest that a much earlier mythical Dilmun was located in a mountainous region beyond the plains of Sumer.
But where exactly was it located Mesopotamian inscriptions do not say; however, the Zoroastrian Bundahishn text and the Christian records of Arbela in Iraqi Kurdistan both refer to a location named Dilamƒn as having existed around the head waters of the Tigris, south-west of Lake Van - the very area in which the biblical Eden is said to have been located.
Furthermore, Ea (the Akkadian Enki) was said to have presided over the concourse of Mesopotamia's two greatest rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates - which are shown in depictions as flowing from each of his shoulders.
This would have undoubtedly have meant that the head-waters, or sources, of these rivers would have been looked upon as sacred to Ea by the cultures of Mesopotamia's Fertile Crescent.
- Zecharia Sitchin The Stairway to Heaven
Dilmun was allegedly a magical land, the birthplace of the gods and the place where the arts of civilization where said first to have been transmitted to men. It was the subject of many legends told by the Sumerians, the people of southern Iraq; it was famed as a land where death and disease were unknown and men and animals lived at peace together.
It was the home of the Sumerian king who was the origin of the myth of Noah, the immortal survivor of the Great Flood, a story retold in the Qu'ran and the Bible.
The first great hero of world literature, Gilgamesh the king of Uruk, journeyed to Dilmun in search of the secret of eternal youth.
He found it deep in the waters of the Persian Gulf, off Bahrain, but lost it when the flower which restored the youth of those who sought it, was stolen by a snake, lurking in a pool as Gilgamesh returned to his kingdom; this is the reason why the snake sloughs his skin.
Symbolism - All is Myth and Metaphor in our reality
* water: flow of consciousness - creation
* restore to youth: move out of the physical body and return to higher frequency forms of sound, light, and color
* snake: DNA - the human bio-genetic experiment in time and emotion
* kingdom - Leo - Lion - King - Omega - closure
Dilmun was also the center of the most important trade routes of the third and second millennia BC. The most important commodity was copper for which Dilmun was famous and the dates for which Bahrain was always celebrated, from ancient times until the present day.
Because Dilmun was so sacred a land, there were many temples built there, the impressive remains of which can be seen today. The largest and most splendid temple surviving in Western Asia is at Barbar on Bahrain's northern shore.
The most famous of all Bahrain's rich archaeological heritage are the 200,000 grave mounds which are a feature of the landscape in the northern half of the island and which, by their size and quality of construction, show how prosperous Bahrain must have been in ancient times.
Dilmun continued to be the most important center of trade in the Gulf region throughout its history.
After the Sumerians, the Babylonians, Assyrians, even the Greeks, settled on the islands, because of their strategic importance in the movement of merchandise, north and south, east and west, by sea and by the land routes to which the seas gave access.
The records of their diplomatic relations with the kings of Dilmun, some of whose names are known from the records, testify to the importance of the islands throughout antiquity.
All left evidence of their presence, preserved today in the Bahrain National Museum and in the immense archaeological sites in which Bahrain is particularly rich.
Bahrain is an open-air treasure house of the past, a unique heritage from the earliest times when men first began to keep records of their hopes, fears and achievements.
It is the contemporary of ancient Egypt with Sumer and the peoples who succeeded them, of the great cities of the Indus Valley.
Source: www.crystalinks.com/dilmun.html
disease free African ( or Cape) Buffalo cow in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
syncerus caffer
kafferbuffel of Afrikaanse buffel
buffle d'Afrique ou buffle noir des savanes
Afrikanischer Büffel
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Another frosty morning yesterday's a. chance to grab a. couple of melting frost shots at coffee break. The frosty bracken fronds were the closest thing to where we were working , and gave . wonderful sparkly subject. A Heart Disease Called Love is by John Cooper Clarke.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent reason of dementia that has inflicted an approximate 5.3 million individuals in the United States.
Read about Alzheimer's Disease
The fluff is a protective covering for woolly beech scale, a sucking insect on the bark.
Thank you to everyone who visits, faves, and comments.
My poor lovely Audrey. Although the disease was first spotted in Pedigree dolls, and was named'Pedigree Doll Disease' it was soon noted that the condition could affect other makes of hard plastic doll and the name was changed to 'hard plastic disease' (HPD).
Although relatively rare, collectors of hard plastic dolls must be aware of the condition and be alert for early symptoms. There are several theories as to the reason the dolls can develop this condition - a reaction of metal to plastic, due to rusting of the metal eye pieces or joining rods, poor storage conditions - a damp loft or warm, moist conditions, high humidity or being stored in a plastic bag.
Symptoms of HPD include indication a smell of vinegar or acetone, small vertical lines around the nose, roughening around the wrists, noticeable loss of colour - especially in a limb, pink or red blotches on the head, small bumps. Eventually the doll will warp, white crusty patches appearing on the surface of the plastic and the the doll will ooze a brown liquid. The plastic is literally dissolving.
The doll must be isolated from other plastic dolls as the disease can spread.
So that is why Audrey stands in a broken mug in the corner, hidden from others by a large dolls house. She holds too many memories for me to part with her - my Dear Grandma bought her for me from a Scouts Jumble Sale in the early 60s - and I played with her for hours as I did all my dolls. Audrey was such a delight - shy but very sensible and everyone loved her. I still love her! I last posted photos of Audrey on Flickr 12 years ago - she had HPD then - so it’s taken some time for her to reach this stage. I think I’ll gently give her a wash and see how much longer she lasts. Unfortunately I am of guilty of keeping her for too long in the attic with extreme changes in temperature. Luckily the disease hasn’t passed to my other hard plastic doll, Sarah Jane.