It’s a bright mid-winter day and a frigid wind blowing through tall pines creates the only sound audible for miles. I strain to hear anything else at all, but for the occasional snap of a branch the silence is almost deafening. Suddenly, from high atop a nearby pine a song erupts. It’s a cheerful song - high pitched and almost gleeful. And a tiny bird does it’s best to fill a woodland stage with charismatic melody. It’s a bird with a twist… a bill that doesn’t merge in a typical fashion, at all. Instead of a mandible that neatly into an upper maxilla above, these structures crisscross sitting alongside one another. At first glance one would thing this poor, unfortunate creature was injured or deformed. But as one continues to watch, the realization occurs that this is one of the more interesting yet subtle manifestations of evolutionary change, allowing the bird to pluck the smallest of seeds nestled deeply betwixt the scales of tiny pine cones. Nature’s marvels are all around us. One needs only to take the time to keep an open eye and open mind.

 

That's actually the same TT scale model train I used for the 'Berlin 2039 tribute' picture. Here, the train is passing through an industrial area in Berlin on a foggy morning. The close-up shot let you feel the power and almost smell the diesel exhaust of this hard working class 241 engine. The environment was created with the help of Midjourney version 5.

Hello everybody :)

 

Here´s my latest creation I made for the 9 Kingdoms RPG on RogueBricks ( roguebricks.de/forum/ )

 

The MOC is a present for Ben Tritschler, it´s a micro-scale recreation of his fantastic "Secret Cottage in Farnor Forest" ( www.flickr.com/photos/modestolus/30869430951/in/dateposted/ ) he made one year ago.

 

The waterfall is made out of the foot-piece from the CMF Ghost. I tried to include all the main details from Ben´s MOC like the cottage, the waterfall, the pond or the hole and I just added a few things like the little bridge, the signpost or the well. There´s also a flagpole and cartwheel, you can see them on the detail photo.

 

The trees are inspired by Full Plate ( www.flickr.com/photos/emillide/29170793834/in/dateposted/ ), who's work is a big inspiration for me :)

 

I hope you like it :)

I think this view, taken at the BNSF Minneapolis yard sums up what we Brits often think of America. Everything is built to such a huge size. The hub of the Minneapolis financial district provides the backdrop whilst in the foreground are a couple of EMD SD75M's. These locomotives would appear to be in store, however although BNSF does store a good number in this yard they are also rotate them between locomotives still in use. Both locomotives 221 and 253 originate from 1994 and 1995 respectively.

Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature

scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass

to a snowflake.

- Rachel Carson

 

Got a favorite? i like the one that looks like diamond bling! (2nd down on the right!)

Better resolution

 

Kemble's Cascade, or Kemble 1, is a stunning asterism located in the constellation Camelopardalis. This star formation appears as a straight line of more than 20 stars, ranging from the 5th to the 10th magnitude, and stretches across 3 degrees of the night sky, equivalent to the width of five full moons. It seems to flow into the compact open cluster NGC 1502, creating a beautiful visual effect reminiscent of a celestial waterfall.

 

The brightest star in this cascade is HD 24479, a 5th magnitude star that stands out in this alignment. The asterism was named by American astronomer Walter Scott Houston in honor of Father Lucian Kemble (1922–1999), a Franciscan friar and amateur astronomer. Father Kemble discovered the cascade while observing the sky with 7×35 binoculars, describing it as "a beautiful cascade of faint stars tumbling from the northwest down to the open cluster NGC 1502."

 

Houston, impressed by the discovery, featured the asterism in his "Deep Sky Wonders" column in Sky & Telescope magazine in 1980, giving it the name "Kemble's Cascade." This brought the formation to the attention of amateur astronomers worldwide, ensuring its place among the celestial wonders admired by skywatchers.

 

Thanks Christophe for sharing the raw data.

 

RA 01h 19m 38.7s

DEC +58° 14' 35.1"

MAGNITUDE 6.4

SIZE 62.6 x 41.7 arcmin

PIXEL SCALE 0.626 arcsec/pixel

ORIENTATION Up is 272 degrees E of N

CONSTELLATION Cassiopeia

 

Captured June 2024

Total integration time of 29.6 hours.

 

Technical Details

Data acquisition: Christophe Marsaud

Processing: Nicolas ROLLAND

Location: Saintes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

Ha: 86*600s

L: 140*180s

R: 55*180s

G: 55*180s

B: 55*180s

Optics: Takahashi FSQ 106

Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO

CMOS: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

It's always been a dream of mine to do this. Make a perfectly sized hardsuit! Mecha Monkey and Legohound already got a preview of this. ;)

Viewed from the bell tower of central Kyiv’s other magnificent ecclesiastical site, St Sophia’s, this is St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery (Ukrainian: Михайлівський золотоверхий монастир).

 

St Michael’s is a functioning monastery located on the right bank of the Dnieper River on the edge of a bluff northeast of the Saint Sophia Cathedral. The site is located in the historic administrative Uppertown and overlooks the city’s historical commercial and merchant quarter, the Podil neighbourhood.

 

Originally built in the Middle Ages by Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych (regnat 1050-1113), the monastery comprises the Cathedral itself, the Refectory of St. John the Divine, built in 1713, the Economic Gates, constructed in 1760 and the monastery’s bell tower, which was added c. 1716–1719. The exterior of the structure was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 18th century while the interior remained in its original Byzantine style. The original cathedral was demolished by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, but was reconstructed and opened in 1999 following Ukrainian independence in 1991.

 

During the Mongol invasion in 1240, the monastery is believed to have been seriously damaged. The Mongols damaged the cathedral and removed its gold-plated domes. The cloister subsequently fell into disrepair and there is no documentation of it for the following two and a half centuries. By 1496, the monastery had been revived and its name was changed from St. Demetrius’ Monastery to St. Michael’s. In 1620, Iov Boretsky made it the residence of the renewed Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev, and in 1633, Isaya Kopynsky was named a supervisor of the monastery.

 

During the first half of the 1930s, various Soviet publications questioned the known historical facts regarding the age of the Cathedral. The publications stressed that the medieval building had undergone major reconstructions and that little of the original Byzantine-style cathedral was preserved. This wave of questioning led to the demolition of the monastery and its replacement with a new administrative centre for the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (previously located in the city of Kharkiv). Before its demolition (8 June – 9 July 1934), the structure was carefully studied by T.M. Movchanivskyi and K. Honcharev from the recently purged and re-organized Institute of Material Culture of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. On the basis of their survey, the cathedral was declared to belong primarily to the Ukrainian Baroque style, rather than to the twelfth century as was previously thought, and thus did not merit preservation due to its lack of historical and artistic value. This conclusion backed up the Soviet authorities' plans to demolish the entire monastery. Local historians, archaeologists, and architects agreed to the monastery's demolition, although reluctantly. Only one professor, Mykola Makarenko, refused to sign the demolition act; he later died in a Soviet prison.

 

In August 1963, the preserved refectory of the demolished monastery without its Baroque cupola was designated a monument of architecture of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1973, the Kiev City Council established several "archaeological preservation zones" within the city; these included the territory surrounding the monastery.

 

After Ukraine regained independence in 1991, the demolition of the monastery was deemed a crime and voices started to be heard calling for the monastery's full-scale reconstruction as an important part of the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. These plans were approved and carried out in 1997–1998, whereupon the cathedral and belltower were transferred to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate. Yuriy Ivakin, the chief archaeologist for the site, said that more than 260 valuable ancient artifacts were recovered during excavations of the site before reconstruction. In addition, a portion of the ancient cathedral, still intact, was uncovered; this today makes up a part of the current cathedral's crypt.

 

The newly rebuilt St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral was officially opened on 30 May 1999. However, interior decorations, mosaics, and frescoes were not completed until 28 May 2000. The side chapels were consecrated to SS. Barbara and Catherine in 2001. During the following four years, 18 out of 29 mosaics and other objets d'art from the original cathedral were returned from Moscow after years of tedious discussion between Ukrainian and Russian authorities. The remaining frescoes were finally transferred from St Petersburg’s Hermitage in 2009 but placed in a separate preserve.

 

The St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery became the headquarters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine after the church's creation on 15 December 2018. St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is used as the headquarters of the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine. The rector of the monastery has the rank of diocesan bishop.

 

This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.

It’s Marshall D. Teach, better known as the infamous “Blackbeard,” a pirate whose name strikes fear across the seas. In the world of One Piece, he reigns over the New World as one of the Four Emperors—a title he claimed through a ruthless act of treachery against his former captain. Cunning and ambitious, Blackbeard is as dangerous as they come.

 

For those unfamiliar with the show, Blackbeard here is built at minifigure scale—and yes, he’s a pretty big fellow. Part of the joy of One Piece is how unashamedly cartoonish its characters can be, with their exaggerated designs often matched by equally outrageous sizes. And funny enough, Blackbeard isn’t even among the largest—the seas are also shared by the likes Whitebeard, Kaido, and pirates even larger still, making him look almost modest by comparison. It’s all part of the mythic, larger-than-life whimsy that fuels Luffy’s grand adventure.

 

So although the One Piece LEGO sets are based specifically on the live action Netflix series, that's not going to stop me from building some of these oversized anime favorites! That isn't to say that I didn't also really enjoy the Netflix series. Looking forward to Season 2!

Bright suns, travelers!

 

Ever since building and sharing my miniature diorama of the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge layout based on the early Imagineering concept art in 2016 (long before the official name had been announced and many referred to the developing expansions at the time as “Star Wars Land,”) I had convinced myself that I was going to build larger, minifigure-scale sections of Batuu once the land was open and the details of Black Spire Outpost could be experienced up close and personal.

 

After pouring through as many reference photos, videos, and concept art as I could get my hands on, I now present a minifg-scale display of the entrance/facade to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction, home of Ohnaka Transport Solutions.

 

With the iconic Millennium Falcon docked out front of the curved hangar bay, beneath the rocky spires of an alien world, this section of Galaxy’s Edge is perhaps what we all think of when we think of a perfect amalgamation of the visual aesthetics of not only the Galaxy’s Edge experience, but Star Wars in general. I worked diligently to capture all the details I could pack in at this scale, attempting to blend the natural landscape of the Batuu spires with the weathered and lived-in hangar building. Using the 75257 version of the Falcon (with some minor exterior modifications and added greebles), the rest was built up and around to create a bustling corner of Black Spire Outpost for Hondo Ohnaka to conduct his smuggling operations, while avoiding the suspicion of the First Order patrols.

 

Thanks for checking out my design! Good journeys to you all— Til the spire!

 

Not a snake fan .....

  

raysreptiles.com/

Harvington Hall is a moated medieval and Elizabethan manor house in the hamlet of Harvington, southeast of Kidderminster in Worcestershire. Harvington's moat and artificial island can be traced back to the 13th century, older than the bulk of the 14th-century building work that survives behind a layer of bricks.

 

Adam de Harvington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, lived and, probably, died there in March 1344. After his death, the estate was passed into the hands of the 11th Earl of Warwick and, in 1529, was sold to a wealthy lawyer, Sir John Pakington. Pakington's great-nephew, Humphrey Pakington, inherited the estate in 1578, and transformed the house into what can largely be seen today.

 

Though the Hall's scale is large in the present day, it is currently only about half of its original size, as two additional wings were demolished in around 1700.

 

Humphrey was a Catholic during the time of the harsh Elizabethan penal laws against Catholicism in England. Hue was a recusant, which means that he refused to abide by the practices of the Church of England, such as attending the church service on Sundays, a refusal that was extremely costly financially.

 

In 1585, it became illegal for a Catholic priest to set foot in England, which prompted Humphrey to construct numerous priest holes (or "priest hides") in the Hall for the protection of Catholic priests or followers. These priest holes still survice in the house. Most notably, some of them were the handiwork of the master carpenter Nicholas Owen, a Jesuit lay brother. Owen built many priest holes in the buildings of English Catholics from 1588 until his final arrest in 1606, when he was tortured to death by prison authorities in the Tower of London. Owen is honoured as a martyr by the Catholic Church and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Samuel's son: Lemuel-Ben Gulphus Leaky, with no interest of the shipyard, but more so in mondène ski resorts and champagne parties. Still a BMW customer though.

Sporting a KAW hat, Jared Childress checks his list after finishing up work at Nodaway. He's working the "Local from Hell" out of St. Joseph, MO, which is using a CBQ "high-hood" GP7.

 

This is Jim McCroskie's HO scale layout based on the CB&Q Kansas City to Omaha line in 1968. Mac himself originally hired out with the Q as a clerk, later becoming a Special Agent and retiring with the BN. 12/7/24

Sometimes balconies are adapted for ceremonial purposes, e.g. that of St. Peter's Basilica at Rome, when the newly elected pope gives his blessing urbi et orbi after the conclave. Inside churches, balconies are sometimes provided for the singers, and in banqueting halls and the like for the musicians.

A unit with a regular balcony will have doors that open up onto a small patio with railings, a small Patio garden or Skyrise greenery. A French balcony is actually a false balcony, with doors that open to a railing with a view of the courtyard or the surrounding scenery below.

 

Ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcony

Rome has many incredible cathedrals. The massive scale of St. Peter's is breathtaking. The dome is hundreds of feet tall. To gain a little perspective, we learned the letters seen here are 10 feet tall!

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Tonight however we have headed east of Cavendish Mews, down through St James’, past Trafalgar Square and down The Strand to one of London’s most luxurious and fashionable hotels, The Savoy*, where, surrounded by mahogany and rich red velvet, gilded paintings and extravagant floral displays, Lettice is having dinner with the son of the Duke of Walmsford, Selwyn Spencely. The pair have made valiant attempts to pursue a romantic relationship since meeting at Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie’s, Hunt Ball the previous year. Yet things haven’t been easy, their relationship moving in fits and starts, partially due to the invisible, yet very strong influence of Selwyn’s mother, Lady Zinnia, the current Duchess of Walmsford. Although Lettice has no solid proof of it, she is quite sure that Lady Zinnia does not think her a suitable match for her eldest son and heir. From what she has been told, Lettice also believes that Lady Zinnia is matchmaking Selwyn with his cousin Pamela Fox-Chavers. In an effort to see what her potential rival for Selwyn’s affections is like, Lettice organised an ‘accidental’ meeting of she, Pamela and Selwyn at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Spring Show** a few weeks ago. As a result of this meeting, Selwyn has finally agreed to explain to Lettice his evident reluctance to introduce her to his mother as a potentially suitable match. Yet as she walks beneath the grand new Art Deco portico of the Savoy and the front doors are opened for her by liveried doormen, Lettice is amazed that surrounded by so many fashionable people, Selwyn thinks the Savoy dining room is the place to have a discreet dinner, especially after they have been very discreet about their relationship for the past year.

 

Lettice is ushered into the grand dining room of the Savoy, a space brilliantly illuminated by dozens of glittering electrified chandeliers cascading down like fountains from the high ceiling above. Beneath the sparkling light, men in white waistcoats and women a-glitter with jewels and bugle bead embroidered frocks are ushered into the dining room where they are seated in high backed mahogany and red velvet chairs around tables dressed in crisp white tablecloths and set with sparkling silver and gilt china. The large room is very heavily populated with theatre patrons enjoying a meal before a show and London society out for an evening. The space is full of vociferous conversation, boisterous laughter, the clink of glasses and the scrape of cutlery against crockery as the diners enjoy the magnificent repast served to them from the hotel’s famous kitchens. Above it all, the notes of the latest dance music from the band can be heard as they entertain diners and dancers who fill the parquet dance floor.

 

A smartly uniformed waiter escorts Lettice to a table for two in the midst of the grand dining salon, where Selwyn, dressed in smart white tie stands and greets Lettice.

 

“My Angel!” he gasps, admiring her as she stands before him in a champagne coloured silk crepe gown decorated with sequins with a matching bandeau set amidst her Marcelled** hair. “Don’t you look ravishing!”

 

“Thank you, Selwyn.” Lettice purrs in pleasure as she allows the waiter to carefully slide the seat of the chair beneath her as she sits. “That’s very kind of you to say so.” She gracefully tugs at her elbow length white evening gloves.

 

Sparkling golden French champagne is poured into their crystal flutes from a bottle sitting in a silver cooler on the linen covered table by their obsequious waiter. The expansive menu is consulted with Lettice selecting Pied de Veau*** and Selwyn choosing Cambridge Sausages**** both dishes served with a light Salade Romaine*****. Polite conversation is exchanged between the two. Lettice is given congratulations on the great success of the publication of her article in ‘Country Life’******, which Selwyn has finally seen. Selwyn is asked how Pamela’s coming out ball went. The pair dance elegantly around the true reason they are there.

 

It is only when a large silver salver of cheeses is put down and they are served Vol-au-Vent de Volaille à la Royale******* on the stylish gilt edged white plates of the Savoy that Lettice finally plucks up the courage to start the conversation that they have been trying to avoid.

 

Cutting a small piece of flaky golden pastry and spearing it with a piece of tenderly cooked chicken and a head of mushroom Lettice inserts it into her mouth and sighs with delight.

 

“There is nothing nicer than dinner at the Savoy, is there my Angel?” Selwyn addresses his dinner partner.

 

“Indeed no,” Lettice agrees after swallowing her dainty mouthful. “However, I must confess that I was surprised that you chose the Savoy dining room for us to meet. It’s the most indiscreet place to have a discreet dinner.” She deposits her polished silver cutlery onto the slightly scalloped edge of her plate. “We’ve been so careful up until now, choosing places where we are less likely to garner attention. Here we sit amongst all the most fashionable people of London society. There are bound to be friends of both your parents and mine who will see us sitting here together at a table for two.” She glances around at the bejewel decorated ladies looking like exotic birds in their brightly coloured frocks and feathers and their smartly attired male companions. “There are even photographers here this evening.”

 

“I know my Angel.” Selwyn replies matter-of-factly before putting a small amount of his own vol-au-vent into his mouth.

 

“Whilst I know my mother won’t mind seeing my name associated with yours, or a picture of the two of us together at the Savoy,” She glances nervously at Selwyn as he serenely chews his second course. “I thought we were trying to avoid Zinnia’s attention.”

 

Selwyn finishes his mouthful and then takes a slip of champagne before elucidating somewhat mysteriously. “A change of plans, my Angel.”

 

“A change of plans, Selwyn?” Lettice queries, running her white evening glove clad fingers over the pearls at her throat as she worries them. “What does that mean? I don’t understand.”

 

“You and I have had some rather awkward conversations over my refusal to introduce you to Zinnia, haven’t we, Lettice?”

 

“We have, darling Selwyn. And I thought that was what we were going to talk about this evening.”

 

“And so we will, but I also want this evening to be a statement of intention.”

 

“A statement of intention?” Lettice’s heart suddenly starts to beat faster as she licks her lips.

 

“Yes. . I invited you here this evening because it is one of the most fashionably public places to be seen. I want people to see us together this evening, my darling, whether it be Zinnia’s spies amongst us, or just the general citizenry of society. I also thought that since there is a rather ripping band playing tonight, that you and I might cut a rug******** a bit later and that perhaps we might get photographed. Zinnia won’t want to meet you, unless your presence is waved in front of her like a red rag to a bull.”

 

“I’m not sure I like that term when used in conjunction with your mother, Selwyn darling.” Lettice says warily.

 

“But it’s true. For all her forthrightness and ferocity, Zinnia is very good at playing ostriches when she wishes, and pretending not to see things she doesn’t want to see.” Selwyn explains before taking another sip of champagne. “I should have done this earlier, like when we agreed that I would escort you to your friend Priscilla’s wedding in November last year. However, I wasn’t man enough to stand up to her. Now I want to make a statement about you, about us,” He reaches out and places his pale and elegant right hand bearing a small signet ring over Lettice’s evening glove clad left hand, staring Lettice directly in the eye. “And I need Zinnia to sit up and take notice.”

 

Lettice picks up her champagne flute in her right hand and quickly sips as small amount of the effervescent beverage to whet her suddenly dry throat. She considers what Selwyn has just said along with other things people have said to her about Selwyn and Lady Zinnia over the last year since she reacquainted herself with Selwyn.

 

“The day I attended Priscilla’s wedding without you,” Lettice begins. “I met Sir John Nettleford-Hughes.”

 

“Sir John!” Selwyn scoffs, releasing Lettice’s hand, leaving a warm patch that Lettice can still feel through the thin fabric of her white glove. “He’s one of Zinnia’s cronies. I’m quite sure that they had,” Selwyn pauses whilst he finds the right word. “An understanding, shall we say, when they were both younger.” He looks at Lettice again. “I hope I didn’t shock you, my Angel.”

 

“Not at all, Selwyn darling.” Lettice assures him. “After all, I am twenty-three now, and a lady who has set forth into the world.”

 

“I’m glad my Angel. I’d never want to shock you with something like that.”

 

“It doesn’t shock me, Selwyn darling, but it would explain some things he said to me that day when I was cornered by him.”

 

“Cornered?”

 

“Yes. I now think he deliberately sought me out and cornered me so he could tell me what he did.”

 

“What did Sir John say?” Selwyn queries.

 

“I didn’t really pay that much attention to it,” Lettice begins, glancing down at her partially eaten vol-au-vent. “At least not at first. I thought he was just spitting venom at me because I spurned his affections the evening of Mater’s Hunt Ball when I met you.”

 

“What did he say?” Selwyn presses anxiously.

 

“When I explained your absence as my escort – he only knew because he is related to Cilla’s mother and she had been crowing to him about your attendance at the wedding – he laughed when I said that you were at Clendon********* meeting Pamela. He said it was not a coincidence that you were forced to cancel your own plans in preference for spending time with your cousin. He said that your mother had orchestrated it.”

 

“And so she had, my Angel.” Selwyn conforms. “And that is why I said that I should have been more of a man and stood up to Zinnia at that time. However,” He releases a pent up breath which he exhales shudderingly. “Zinnia is not someone to cross, especially when she is determined, or in a foul mood, of which she was both.”

 

“Sir John said that even though we had been discreet about spending time together, that your mother already knew about our assignations.”

 

“I would imagine him to be quite correct.”

 

“I accused him of telling her, but he denied it.”

 

“I would doubt that even as a crony of Zinnia, he would have had the pleasure of breaking the news of your existence as a potential future daughter-in-law to her. Zinnia’s talons reach far and wide, and her spies exist in some of the most unlikely places. What else did Sir John have to say?”

 

“He said that your mother is the one who would undoubtedly arrange your marriage to suit her own wishes. He implied that I ought not tip my cap at you since you were not free to make your own decision when it came to the subject of marriage. He said that even your father wouldn’t cross your mother on that front.”

 

Selwyn chuckles sadly. “Sir John is well informed.”

 

“So it’s true then?”

 

“What is, darling?”

 

“That you aren’t free to marry.”

 

“No, of course not. Not even Zinnia with all her bluster can force me to marry someone I don’t want to.”

 

Lettice releases a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding in her chest beneath the silk crepe and sparkling beading of her gown.

 

“However, Zinnia and my Uncle Bertrand have their own plans as regards Pammy and her relationship to me, and they are both applying pressure to both of us.”

 

“Sir John said that too.” Lettice utters deflatedly.

 

“I should like to point out, my Angel, that I was not aware as to the plans and plotting afoot for Pammy and I when I met you again at your mother’s ball.” Selwyn assures Lettice. “I didn’t even know about it in the lead up to Priscilla’s wedding. It was only that weekend at Clendon when I was first reintroduced to Pammy and I inadvertently overheard snippets of private conversations Zinnia and my uncle that I realised that they had been hatching their plot to bind us into a marriage of convenience to bind our families closer together for almost as long as Pammy has been alive.”

 

“So this wasn’t something new, then?”

 

“It was to me, Lettice darling, but not to them. Do you remember I told you at the Great Spring Show that my real aunt, Bertrand’s first wife, Miranda, was a bolter**********?”

 

“Yes Selwyn.”

 

“And that he fled to America and that was where he met Rosalind?”

 

“Yes Selwyn.”

 

“Well, the reason why he fled to New York was because the failure of his marriage to Miranda and her desertion of him led to quite a scandal. The scandal clung to Pammy, long after Miranda was gone, and I think after a he married Rosalind, being connected to an element of scandal herself, being a divorcée, she hatched the plan with Uncle Bertrand and Zinnia with Pammy’s social well being at heart.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, I mean that from the outside, there is nothing unusual or untoward about two distant cousins marrying. The fact that the Spencely and Fox-Chavers happen to be two very distinguished and wealthy old families who would doubtless look to intermarry across the generations also throws off any whiff of scandal.”

 

“Are you saying they planned to marry you two so that Pamela would be untarnished by her mother’s actions?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“But how is the child responsible for her mother’s sins, Selwyn?”

 

“You know as well as I do, coming from a family as old and well established as your own, Lettice, that scandal sticks like glue.”

 

“Then why throw a ball for Pamela? Why introduce her to society?”

 

“Because as the next Duke of Walmsford, it is only fitting that I should marry a suitable girl from a suitable family who has been presented in society. Certain families won’t allow their daughters to socialise with poor Pammy, and I’m quite sure that whilst they send their eligible sons, just as many would never countenance a marriage between them and Pammy.”

 

“So if Pamela marries well, into a family who would welcome her, she is absolved of any wrongdoings of her mother. There is no whiff of scandal and she rises above reproach.”

 

“Exactly.” Selwyn sighs. “Clever girl.”

 

Lettice takes a larger than usual gulp of champagne as she allows the thoughts just formed from their conversation to sink in. “And how does Pamela feel about this? Does she even know that she is being matched with you, Selwyn?”

 

“Yes she does,” Selwyn explains. “Although I was the one who told her. However, like me, she has no desire to see us to get married. She barely knows me, and both of us treat each other like siblings rather than potential romantic marriage prospects.”

 

“Does she know why your mother, aunt and uncle hatched this plan?”

 

“Well,” Selwyn replies uncertainly. “She knows her mother deserted Uncle Bertrand, but I don’t think she realises that Miranda’s legacy to her is a tainted one, and I’m quite sure she doesn’t know about some of the other debutante’s families attitudes towards her because of Miranda’s actions.”

 

“So what is she to do, if no decent bachelor will have her, and you won’t marry her?”

 

“I didn’t say that no eligible bachelors would consider marriage with Pammy, Angel, only some.” Selwyn says with a smile. “And half of those who won’t marry her would only have wanted to marry her for her money.”

 

“You sound as if you know something.” Lettice remarks, giving her dinner partner a perplexed look.

 

“Oh I wouldn’t go as far as to say that, my Angel.” he replies mysteriously.

 

“So, what would you say then, Selwyn darling?” Lettice prods.

 

“I’d go so far as to say that being the happy and pretty young thing that she is, Pammy is in no short supply of admirers whose families would overlook her mother’s status as a bolter.”

 

“Because they want to marry her for her Fox-Chavers money?”

 

“Well, there are a few of those, I’ll admit,” Selwyn agrees. “But that is why her dear cousin Selwyn is escorting her to all these rather tedious London Season occasions. I can keep those wolves away. However even if we discount them, there are still a few rather decent chaps who are vying for Pammy’s attentions.”

 

“Are there any that Pamela is interested in?” Lettice asks hopefully.

 

“As a matter of fact there are two young prospects whom she is quite keen on, or so she confides in me.”

 

“Oh that’s wonderful, Selwyn!” Lettice deposits her glass on the linen covered surface of the table and claps her hands in delight, beaming with a smile of happy relief. The her face falls. “But then, what are we all to do? Hasn’t your mother charged you with chaperoning Pamela throughout the Season?”

 

“Well, that was the other reason why I decided to bring you to the Savoy, my Angel.” Selwyn remarks. “We need to be seen together about town, and the best way to do that is to be seen at the functions and places that will be popular because they are part of the London Season, like cricket matches at Lords, and the Henley Regatta************.”

 

“And the Goodwood races!” adds Lettice with enthusiasm. “And Cowes week************!”

 

“That’s the spirit, my Angel!” Selwyn encourages her with equal enthusiasm. “Zinnia has charged me with chaperoning Pammy for her own end, but we will use the Season to thwart her with our own ends in mind.”

 

“Oh Selwyn, how clever you are! What a darling you are!”

 

Just at that time, the waiter who served them their vol-au-vents and player of cheese approaches the table. Noticing their half eaten meals and their cutlery sitting idle, he tentatively asks, “Shall I clear now, Your Grace?”

 

“If you would fetch us clean plates and cutlery for the cheese.” Selwyn replies. “Which I think we shall enjoy after a turn on the dancefloor. Don’t you agree, my Angel?” He stands up, pushing his chair back and offering Lettice his hand.

 

“I do indeed, Selwyn darling!” Lettice pulls her napkin from her lap and drops it on the tabletop.

 

The waiter pulls out Lettice’s chair, and taking Selwyn’s hand, Lettice allows him to lead her proudly across the dining room of the Savoy. Pairs of eyes note the handsome young couple and lips whisper behind glove clad hands and fans as remarks are made as to who they are and that they appear to be together as a couple, yet for the first time since the night of her mother’s Hunt ball, Lettice doesn’t care what people are thinking or saying. She feels light, as though floating on a cloud, and as she falls comfortably into Selwyn’s strong arms and they begin to sway to the music, she feels proud to be with Selwyn: the man she is falling in love with, and who intends to marry her.

 

*The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners. The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous. Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel. The hotel is now managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It has been called "London's most famous hotel". It has two hundred and sixty seven guest rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Thames Embankment. The hotel is a Grade II listed building.

 

**May 20 1913 saw the first Royal Horticultural Society flower show at Chelsea. What we know today as the Chelsea Flower Show was originally known as the Great Spring Show. The first shows were three day events held within a single marquee. The King and Queen did not attend in 1913, but the King's Mother, Queen Alexandra, attended with two of her children. The only garden to win a gold medal before the war was also in 1913 and was awarded to a rock garden created by John Wood of Boston Spa. In 1919, the Government demanded that the Royal Horticultural Society pay an entertainment tax for the show – with resources already strained, it threatened the future of the Chelsea Flower Show. Thankfully, this was wavered once the Royal Horticultural Society convinced the Government that the show had educational benefit and in 1920 a special tent was erected to house scientific exhibits. Whilst the original shows were housed within one tent, the provision of tents increased after the Great War ended. A tent for roses appeared and between 1920 and 1934, there was a tent for pictures, scientific exhibits and displays of garden design. Society garden parties began to be held, and soon the Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Spring Show became a fixture of the London social calendar in May, attended by society ladies and their debutante daughters, the occasion used to parade the latter by the former. The Chelsea Flower Show, though not so exclusive today, is still a part of the London Season.

 

***Pied de Veau is a dish of calves feet served in a thick creamy chicken sauce, often served with carrots and onions.

 

****Cambridge Sausages are made from coarse ground lean and fatty pork with binder (rice in some receipts) and a heavy admixture of sweet spices such as mace, ginger and nutmeg, linked, in medium skins.

 

*****Salade Romaine is a salad made of Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, parmesan cheese, and a delicious olive garden dressing.

 

******Country Life is a British weekly perfect-bound glossy magazine that is a quintessential English magazine founded in 1897, providing readers with a weekly dose of architecture, gardens and interiors. It was based in London at 110 Southwark Street until March 2016, when it became based in Farnborough, Hampshire. The frontispiece of each issue usually features a portrait photograph of a young woman of society, or, on occasion, a man of society.

 

*******Vol-au-Vent de Volaille à la Royale is a dish of sliced chicken with mushroom and quenelles cooked in a cream sauce served in a puff pastry casing. The Savoy’s kitchens were famous for their deliciously light and tasty vol-au-vent selections, with 1920s menus often containing a selection of four to six varieties as plats du jour.

 

********The term “cutting a rug” emerged in the 1920s from American culture and became common parlance on both sides of the Atlantic by the 1930s. It came about because of African American couples doing the Lindy Hop (also known as the Jitterbug). This was vigorous, highly athletic dancing that when done continuously in one area made the carpet appear as though it was “cut” or “gashed”. Selwyn using this language would have been at the front of the latest fashion for exciting youthful language from America.

 

*********Clendon is the family seat of the Duke and Duchess of Walmsford in Buckinghamshire.

 

**********A Bolter is old British slang for a woman who ended her marriage by running away with another man.

 

***********The Henley Royal regatta is a leisurely “river carnival” on the Thames. It was at heart a rowing race, first staged in 1839 for amateur oarsmen, but soon became another fixture on the London social calendar. Boating clubs competed, and were not exclusively British, and the event was well known for its American element. Evenings were capped by boat parties and punts, the air filled with military brass bands and illuminated by Chinese lanterns. Dress codes were very strict: men in collars, ties and jackets (garishly bright ties and socks were de rigueur in the 1920s) and crisp summer frocks, matching hats and parasols for the ladies.

 

************Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world, and a fixture of the London Season. With forty daily sailing races, up to one thousand boats, and eight thousand competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world. Having started in 1826, the event is held in August each year on the Solent (the area of water between southern England and the Isle of Wight made tricky by strong double tides). It is focussed on the small town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

 

This splendid array of cheeses on the table would doubtless be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate each cheese and biscuit on this silver tray, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene, are in reality 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection, including pieces from my childhood.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau:

 

The silver tray of biscuits have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The cheeses and the vol-au-vents come from Beautifully handmade Miniatures in Kettering, as do the two slightly scalloped white gilt plates and the wonderful golden yellow roses in the vase on the table. The cutlery I acquired through Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom. The silver champagne cooler on the table is made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The bottle of champagne itself is hand made from glass and is an artisan miniature made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The bottle is De Rochegré champagne, identified by the careful attention paid to recreating the label in 1:12 scale. The two glasses of sparkling champagne are made of real glass and were made by Karen Ladybug Miniatures in the United Kingdom.

 

The two red velvet upholstered high back chairs I have had since I was six years old. They were a birthday present given to me by my grandparents.

 

The painting in the background in its gilded frame is a 1:12 artisan piece made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States.

 

The red wallpaper is beautiful artisan paper given to me by a friend, who has encouraged me to use a selection of papers she has given me throughout the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.

Every year, hundreds of climbers inch their way up Devil's Tower, clinging to the vertical cracks in the rock columns with their fingers and toes. From the ground they look like ants against the rock. To see two of them making their way up, use your cursor to look at the noted area, and view large. They're about 600 feet up. Tomorrow I'll have a close-up of the top climber. This was taken from the visitor center.

 

Explore 8/19/2012

Meanwhile, at Jerry's apartment, Jerry has the whole gang over as Ultraman's* parents are in town.** But he didn't know the entire family was coming...

 

"Hey! Hey! and Ho! Ho!"

 

Ultraman: Whoa! Ultraman Power and Ultraman Neos! POSE!

 

"POSE!" "POSE!"

 

...laughter...

 

George: Oh, I'm sure this is going to work out just fine...

 

...laughter...

 

Elaine: So all of your family is named after Ultraman?

 

Ultraman Papa: Yes! We are the Ultraman Family!

 

Uncle Leo: It's a fine family, a FINE family!

 

...laughter...

 

Elaine: No, but your son... is that your son back there, coming out of the restroom?

 

Ultraman Mama: Yes! Our wonderful boy!

 

Elaine: Okay, so when did you get the name 'Ultraman Mama'?

 

Ultraman Mama: Well you can also call me ウルトラの母.

 

Elaine: I... don't think I can...

 

...laughter...

 

Elaine: What does that mean?

 

Ultraman Mama: Oh, sweety, it means Urutora no Haha.

 

Elaine: ...

 

Uncle Leo: That's a fine name! A FINE name!

 

...laughter...

 

Elaine: 'Haha' as in laughter?

 

Ultraman Mama: No, 'Haha' as in Mother. I am Mother of Ultra.

 

Elaine: So... did you have a name before you had your son?

 

Ultraman Mama: Of course! Ultrawoman Marie!

 

Ultraman Papa: And mine name was Ultraman Ken! But now you can call me ウルトラの父, or Urutora no Chichi.

 

Elaine: Right... Chichi...

 

...laughter...

 

Ultraman Neos: Man, where is the food! I'm Ultra-starving!

 

Ultraman Great: We gotta wait for the others!

 

Kramer: Oh, there's more coming? Hey, yeah, that's good.

 

Elaine: But, I mean, why do you all name yourselves after him? Why is he the center of the family?

 

Ultraman Papa: Is your name Elaine anything? Ultra Elaine? Elaine Big Head? Something like that?

 

...laughter...

 

Elaine: No, it's just Elaine! Well, Elaine Benes.

 

Ultraman Papa: Ah, you wouldn't really understand then.

 

Uncle Leo: You can call me Ultra Leo! Hellooooo~~!!

 

...laughter...

...applause...

__________________________

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Funko

Mini Moments

Seinfeld - Jerry's Apartment

Jerry

George

Elaine

Kramer

 

Bandai

Ultraman

Ultraman Neos

Ultraman Power

Ultraman Papa

Ultraman Mama

Super Deformed

Finger Puppet

 

isoner Please correct us if we're wrong on Neos or Great. 😊

 

* Ultraman visited first!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/51928817750/

 

** Then his parents!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/51941245682/

 

I'm a huge fan of Rey in the new Star Wars trilogy. This build started when I bought the official Rey's speeder set, and didn't love how out of scale it was with the Rey minifig, and how inaccurate it was compared to the movie version.

 

Despite my best efforts, I ended up building a version that was still too big for the Rey minifig, and probably close to the same scale as the original set. Buuut I think it looks much more movie accurate now, and I'm really pleased with the shaping and details I was able to include.

 

Also, it's been a little while since I built or posted anything here. Like 7 years. (My handle used to be Vid, in case anyone is wondering who this rando is in their feed). It's good to be back! I have like 3-ish additional MOCs in progress, I'm making slow progress but I'm really liking where they are going. Maybe I'll post some pictures of where I'm at soon.

"What is all the noise? It's the middle of the night."

 

"Exactly, Batman!! We're going to RING in the New Year! And meet these Kinnikuman posers in the RING!"

 

"HAH! We've been itching to get you pro wrestlers in the squared circle! You're not even chojin!"

 

"Why are you doing this here? I was asleep."

 

"Because you're THE BATMAN!!"

 

"That... doesn't explain why you're outside my dojo screaming in the middle of the night."

 

"Well, you've starred in the New Year the past two years! This gives you a threepeat!"

 

"... I'm going back to sleep. If I hear more noise I'm sending my Batbots out here."

 

"But we're RINGING in the New Ye-"

 

"Set to maim."

 

"We're leaving!"

__________________________

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Previous New Years in Paprihaven!

2016

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/24016530511/

2017

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/31867683122/

2018

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/27644587509/

2019

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/45632559805/

2020

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/49702278841/

2021

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/50786635676/

 

some really beautiful early morning sunrays streaming into the interiors of the most beautiful basilica i have ever seen, St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City...we were lucky that our tour group's guide for the day was able to get passes to go in early into the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica and we were able to enjoy both areas without the large crowds and spend longer times inside the chapel and the Basilica...and just for a sense of scale, the letters on those golden bands up close to the ceiling are each about 13 feet high according to the tour guide...have a great weekend guys...pls. View On Black

 

Seen on Explore 06/12/2011 #357 highest position...

A look at 'JENNY'S SHOP', a quality furniture set/diorama made by Takara in 2000 for their Jenny dolls which are 27cm (10.6'') tall. It's playscale, one of the best Jenny furniture sets ever made, and can be used with many other 1/6th scale fashion dolls!

 

Dimensions:

Width: 49.1 cm (19.3'')

Height: 31.5 cm (12.4'')

Depth: 26.7 cm (10.5'')

 

The structure is heavy and sturdy (my package weighted 4kg / 8.8 pounds) and consists of a detachable wall and floor that snap together to stay in place. The wall can stand on its own without the floor attached, too. The doors to the changing room can open, the clear plastic drawers are removable.

 

The goodies included are a self-standing clothing rack, 5 clothing hangers, 2 tote bags with 'JENNY'S SHOP' logo, potted plant, and various mini coupons and wall stickers to decorate the interior with if you wish.

 

See the set decorated with items and a Licca doll.

 

RebelLUG Vignweek Day 4: “Pirates”

 

Black Flag is my favorite Assassin’s Creed game.

 

Also this Vignweek has been a strain on my skills! I feel the same way about minifig scale scenes as some of you feel about 1:1 scale! It’s hard! I don’t know what I’m doing 😅

♦ Instructions available at BrickVault ♦

 

"I like your ship. She's a classic. Razor Crest, am I right?"

 

My Midi-Scale collection keeps expanding with more than a classic piece of spaceship, the legendary Razor Crest from The Mandolorian.

 

Made of 1,230 pieces, 30cm long, this baby ST-70 Gunship has a total of... zero stud across its entire surface, making it a true 100% SNOT build.

 

At such a size, replicating all the complex angles and features of the original model required advanced SNOT techniques. I really wanted to push the limits of what could be done at such a small scale.

 

Capturing the tapered body also required making a very compact 2 stud wide structure that could still hold everything together securely.

 

The ship has two display modes, "in-flight" with its canted stand, and "landed" with easy-to-install landing gear.

 

► Instructions for the Razor Crest are available at BrickVault!

This is an AT-TE micro-scale model I made for RebelLUG's GridWarsVI Contest. To participate you have to build a Star Wars vehicle using the Tron aesthetic. Which seemed a very nice concept to me!

I will probably make another entry, but I'm still waiting for some parts to come in. And I also go on holiday within 2 weeks. So we will see.

  

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are just a short distance from Cavendish Mews, at Mr. Willison’s grocers’ shop. Willison’s Grocers in Mayfair is where Lettice has an account, and it is from here that Edith, Lettice's maid, orders her groceries for the Cavendish Mews flat, except on special occasions like the soirée that Lettice threw for Dickie and Margot Channon’s engagement, when professional London caterers are used. Mr. Willison prides himself in having a genteel, upper-class clientele including the households of many titled aristocrats who have houses and flats in the neighbourhood, and he makes sure that his shop is always tidy, his shelves well stocked with anything the cook of a duke or duchess may want, and staff who are polite and mannerly to all his important customers. The latter is not too difficult, for aside from himself, Mrs. Willison does his books, his daughter Henrietta helps on Saturdays and sometimes after she has finished school, which means Mr. Willison technically only employs one member of staff: Frank Leadbetter his delivery boy who carries orders about Mayfair on the bicycle provided for him by Mr. Willison. He also collects payments for accounts which are not settled in his Binney Street shop whilst on his rounds.

 

Lettice’s maid, Edith, is stepping out with Frank, and to date since he rather awkwardly suggested the idea to her in the kitchen of the Cavendish Mews flat, the pair has spent every Sunday afternoon together, going to see the latest moving pictures at the Premier in East Ham*, dancing at the Hammersmith Palais or walking in one of London’s many parks. They even spent Easter Monday at the fair held on Hampstead Heath***. Whilst Lettice is away in Cornwall selecting furniture from Dickie and Margot’s Penzance country house, ‘Chi an Treth’, to be re-purposed, Edith is taking advantage of a little more free time and has come to Willison’s Grocers under the pre-text of running an errand in the hope of seeing Frank. The bell rings cheerily as she opens the plate glass door with Mr. Willison’s name painted in neat gilt lettering upon it. Stepping across the threshold she immediately smells the mixture of comforting smells of fresh fruits, vegetables and flour, permeated by the delicious scent of the brightly coloured boiled sweets coming from the large cork stoppered jars on the shop counter. The sounds of the busy street outside die away, muffled by shelves lined with any number of tinned goods and signs advertising everything from Lyon’s Tea**** to Bovril*****.

 

“Miss Watsford!” exclaims Mr. Willison’s wife as she peers up from her spot behind the end of the return counter near the door where she sits doing her husband’s accounts. “We don’t often have the pleasure.”

 

Edith looks up, unnerved, at the proprietor’s wife and bookkeeper, her upswept hairstyle as old fashioned as her high necked starched shirtwaister****** blouse down the front of which runs a long string of faceted bluish black beads. “Yes,” Edith smiles awkwardly. “I… I have, err… that is to say I forgot to give Fr… err, Mr. Leadbeater my grocery list when he visited the other day.”

 

“Oh?” Mrs. Willison queries. “I could have sworn that we had it.” She starts fussing through a pile of papers distractedly. “That isn’t like you Miss Watsford. You’re usually so well organised.”

 

“Well,” Edith thinks quickly. “It… it isn’t really the list. It’s just that I left a few things off. Miss Chetwynd… well, you see she fancies…”

 

“Oh, well give me the additions, Miss Watsford,” Mrs. Willison thrusts out her hand efficiently, the frothy white lace of her sleeve dancing around her wrist. “And I’ll see to it that they are added to your next delivery. We don’t want the Honourable Miss Chetwynd to go without, now do we?”

 

With a shaky hand Edith reluctantly hands over her list of a few extra provisions that aren’t really required, especially with her mistress being away for a few days. As she does, she glances around the cluttered and dim shop hopefully.

 

“Will there be anything else, Miss Watsford?” Mrs. Willison asks curtly.

 

“Err… yes.” Edith stammers, but falls silent as she continues to look in desperation around the shop.

 

Mrs. Willison suspiciously eyes the slender and pretty domestic through her pince-nez*******. She scrutinises Edith’s fashionable plum coloured frock with the pretty lace collar. The hem of the skirt is following the current style and sits higher than any of Mrs. Willison’s own dresses and it reveals Edith’s shapely stockinged calves. She wears her black straw cloche decorated with purple silk roses and black feathers over her neatly pinned chignon. “Is that a few frock, Miss Watsford?” the grocer’s wife continues.

 

“Ahh, yes it is, Mrs. Willison. I made it myself from scratch with a dress pattern from Fashion for All********,” Edith replies proudly, giving a little twirl that sends her calf length skirt flaring out prettily, and Mrs. Willison’s eyebrows arching with disapproval as the young girl reveals even more of her legs as she does. “Do you like it?”

 

“You seem a little dressed up to run an errand here, Miss Watsford.” Mrs. Willison says with bristling disapprobation.

 

“Well, I… I err… I do have some letters to post too, Mrs. Willison,” Edith withdraws two letters from her wicker basket and holds them up in her lilac glove clad hand.

 

“Well, we mustn’t keep you from your errand, now must we, Miss Watsford? Now what else did you require before you leave?” the older woman emphasises the last word in her sentence to make clear her opinion about young girls cluttering up her husband’s shop.

 

“An apple.” Edith says, suddenly struck with inspiration. “I’d like an apple for the journey, Mrs. Willison.”

 

“Very good, Miss Watsford.” the older woman starts to move off her stool. “I’ll fetch…”

 

“No need, Mrs. Willison!” Frank’s cheerful voice pipes up as he appears from behind a display of tinned goods. “I’ll take care of Miss Watsford. That’s what I’m here for. You just stay right there Mrs. Willison. Right this way, Miss Watsford.” He ushers her with a sweeping gesture towards the boxes of fresh fruit displayed near the cash register.

 

“Oh Fran…” Edith catches herself uttering Frank’s given name, quickly correcting herself. “Err… thank you, Mr. Leadbetter.”

 

Mrs. Willison lowers herself back into her seat, all the while eyeing the pair of young people critically as they move across the shop floor together, their heads boughed conspiratorially close, a sense of overfamiliarity about their body language. She frowns, the folds and furrows of her brow eventuated. Then she sighs and returns to the numbers in her ledger.

 

“What are you doing here, Edith?” Frank whispers to his sweetheart quietly, yet with evident delight in his voice.

 

“Miss Lettice is away down in Cornwall on business, so I thought I’d stop in on my way through in the hope of seeing you, Frank.” She glances momentarily over her shoulder. “Then Mrs. Willison greeted me. I thought I was going to get stuck with the disapproving old trout and not see you.”

 

“The weather looks good for Sunday, Edith. It’s supposed to be sunny. Shall we go to Regent’s Park and feed the ducks if it is?”

 

“Oh, yes!” Edith clasps her hands in delight, her gloves muffling the sound. “Maybe there will be a band playing in the rotunda.”

 

“If there is, I’ll hire us a couple of deck chairs and we can listen to them play all afternoon in the sunshine.”

 

“That sounds wonderful, Frank.”

 

“Well,” pronounces Frank loudly as the stand over the wooden tray of red and golden yellow apples. “This looks like a nice juicy one, Miss Watsford.”

 

“Yes,” Edith replies in equally clear tones. “I think I’ll have that one, Mr. Leadbeater.”

 

“Very good, Miss Watsford. I’ll pop it into a paper bag for you.”

 

“Oh, don’t bother Fr… Mr. Leadbeater. I’ll put it in my basket.”

 

Frank takes the apple and walks back around the counter to the gleaming brass cash register surrounded by jars of boiled sweets. “That will be tuppence please, Miss Watsford.” He enters the tally into the noisy register, causing the cash draw to spring open with a clunk and the rattle of coins rubbing against one another with the movement.

 

Edith hooks her umbrella over the edge of the counter, pulls off her gloves and fishes around in her green handbag before withdrawing her small leather coin purse from which she takes out tuppence which she hands over to Frank.

 

“Here,” Frank says after he deposits her money and pushes the drawer of the register closed. He slides a small purple and gold box discreetly across the counter.

 

Edith gasps as she looks at the beautifully decorated box featuring a lady with cascading auburn hair highlighted with gold ribbons, a creamy face and décollétage sporting a frothy white gown and gold necklace. She traces the embossed gold lettering on the box’s lid. “Gainsborough Dubarry Milk Chocolates!”

 

“Can’t have my girl come all this way to see me and not come away with a gift.” Frank whispers with a beaming smile dancing across his face.

 

“Seeing you is gift enough, Frank.” Edith blushes.

 

“Ahem!” Mrs. Willison clears her throat from the other end of the shop. “Will they be going on the Honourable Miss Chetwynd’s account, Frank?” she asks with a severe look directly at her husband’s employee.

 

“Um… no Mrs. Willison. Don’t worry. I’ll be paying for them.” Frank announces loudly. Bending his head closer to Edith, he whispers, “I can see why Mr. Willison has her in here when he isn’t. You can’t get away with anything without her knowing: ghastly old trout.”

 

Edith giggles as she puts the small box of chocolates and the apple into her basket. “I’ll save them for Sunday.” she says with a smile. “We can share them whilst we listen to the band from our deckchairs.”

 

Frank smile broadens even more. “Righty-ho, Edith.”

 

“Righty-ho, Frank.”

 

“Well, as I was saying, Miss Watsford,” Mrs. Willison pronounces from her stool. “We mustn’t keep you from your errands. I’m sure you have a lot to do, and it is almost midday already.”

 

“Yes indeed, Mrs. Willison.” Edith agrees, unable to keep the reluctance out of her voice. “I really should be getting along. Well, goodbye Mr. Leadbeater. Thank you for your assistance.” She then lowers her voice as she says, “See you Sunday.”

 

Both Frank and Mrs. Willison watch as the young lady leaves the shop the way she came, by the front door, a spring in her step and a satisfied smile on her face, her basket, umbrella and handbag slung over her arm.

 

“Frank!”

 

Frank cringes as Mrs. Willison calls his name. Turning around he sees her striding with purpose behind the counter towards him, wending her way through the obstacle course of stacks of tins and jars of produce, hessian sacks of fresh vegetables and fruits and boxes of bottles.

 

“Yes, Mrs Willison?”

 

“Frank,” she says disappointingly. “I can’t stop you from stepping out with a girl in your own time,” She comes to a halt before him, domineering over him with her topknot, her arms akimbo. “And I’d say the Honourable Miss Chetwynd is foolishly modern enough to let you take her maid out on Sundays.” She looks at him with disapproving eyes. “However, I’d be much obliged if you kept your dalliances to your own time, and kindly keep them out of my husband’s establishment during business hours!”

 

“Yes Mrs. Willison!” Frank replies, sighing gratefully, now knowing that he isn’t going to be given notice for chatting with Edith during work hours.

 

“And I’ll make an adjustment to your wages this week for the chocolates.” she adds crisply.

 

“Yes Mrs. Willison.” Frank nods before hurrying away back to the stock room.

 

*The Premier Super Cinema in East Ham was opened on the 12th of March, 1921, replacing the 800 seat capacity 1912 Premier Electric Theatre. The new cinema could seat 2,408 patrons. The Premier Super Cinema was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres who were taken over by Gaumont British in February 1929. It was renamed the Gaumont from 21st April 1952. The Gaumont was closed by the Rank Organisation on 6th April 1963. After that it became a bingo hall and remained so until 2005. Despite attempts to have it listed as a historic building due to its relatively intact 1921 interior, the Gaumont was demolished in 2009.

 

**The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain.

 

***Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is a large, ancient London heath, covering 320 hectares (790 acres). This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate. The south-east part of the heath is Parliament Hill, from which the view over London is protected by law.

 

****Lyons Tea was first produced by J. Lyons and Co., a catering empire created and built by the Salmons and Glucksteins, a German-Jewish immigrant family based in London. Starting in 1904, J. Lyons began selling packaged tea through its network of teashops. Soon after, they began selling their own brand Lyons Tea through retailers in Britain, Ireland and around the world. In 1918, Lyons purchased Hornimans and in 1921 they moved their tea factory to J. Lyons and Co., Greenford at that time, the largest tea factory in Europe. In 1962, J. Lyons and Company (Ireland) became Lyons Irish Holdings. After a merger with Allied Breweries in 1978, Lyons Irish Holdings became part of Allied Lyons (later Allied Domecq) who then sold the company to Unilever in 1996. Today, Lyons Tea is produced in England.

 

*****Bovril is owned and distributed by Unilever UK. Its appearance is similar to Marmite and Vegemite. Bovril can be made into a drink ("beef tea") by diluting with hot water or, less commonly, with milk. It can be used as a flavouring for soups, broth, stews or porridge, or as a spread, especially on toast in a similar fashion to Marmite and Vegemite.

 

******A shirtwaister is a woman's dress with a seam at the waist, its bodice incorporating a collar and button fastening in the style of a shirt which gained popularity with women entering the workforce to do clerical work in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.

  

*******Pince-nez is a style of glasses, popular in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, that are supported without earpieces, by pinching the bridge of the nose. The name comes from French pincer, "to pinch", and nez, "nose".

 

********”Fashion for All” was one of the many women’s magazines that were published in the exuberant inter-war years which were aimed at young girls who were looking to better their chances of finding a husband through beauty and fashion. As most working-class girls could only imagine buying fashionable frocks from high street shops, there was a great appetite for dressmaking patterns so they could dress fashionably at a fraction of the cost, by making their own dresses using skills they learned at home.

 

This cluttered, yet cheerful Edwardian shop is not all it seems to be at first glance, for it is made up of part of my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection. Some pieces come from my own childhood. Other items I acquired as an adult through specialist online dealers and artists who specialise in 1:12 miniatures.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

Central to the conclusion of our story is the dainty box of Gainsborough Dubarry Milk Chocolates. This beautifully printed confectionary box comes from Shepherd’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom. Starting in the Edwardian era, confectioners began to design attractive looking boxes for their chocolate selections so that they could sell confectionary at a premium, as the boxes were often beautifully designed and well made so that they might be kept as a keepsake. A war erupted in Britain between the major confectioners to try and dominate what was already a competitive market. You might recognise the shade of purple of the box as being Cadbury purple, and if you did, you would be correct, although this range was not marketed as Cadbury’s, but rather Gainsborough’s, paying tribute to the market town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, where Rose Bothers manufactured and supplied machines that wrapped chocolates. The Rose Brothers are the people for whom Cadbury’s Roses chocolates are named.

 

Also on the shop counter is an apple which is very realistic looking. Made of polymer clay it is made by a 1:12 miniature specialist in Germany. The brightly shining cash register, probably polished by Frank, was supplied by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering in the United Kingdom. The cylindrical jars, made of real spun glass with proper removable cork stoppers which contain “sweets” I acquired as a teenager from an auction as part of a larger lot of miniature items. Edith’s lilac coloured gloves are made of real kid leather and along with the envelopes are artisan pieces that I acquired from Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders Miniatures in the United Kingdom. Edith’s green leather handbag I acquired as part of a larger collection of 1:12 artistan miniature hats, bags and accessories I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel. The umbrella comes from Melody Jane’s Doll House Suppliers in the United Kingdom. Edith’s basket I acquired as part of a larger lot of 1:12 miniatures from an E-Bay seller in America.

 

The packed shelves you can see in the background is in fact a Welsh dresser that I have had since I was a child, which I have repurposed for this shot. You can see the dresser more clearly in other images used in this series when Edith visits her parent’s home in Harlesden. The shelves themselves are full of 1:12 artisan miniatures with amazing attention to detail as regards the labels of different foods. Some are still household names today. So many of these packets and tins of various foods would have been household staples in the 1920s when canning and preservation revolutinised domestic cookery. They come from various different suppliers including Shepherds Miniatures in the United Kingdom, Kathleen Knight’s Doll House in the United Kingdom, Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering and Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. Items on the shelves include: Tate and Lyall Golden Syrup, Lyall’s Golden Treacle, Peter Leech and Sons Golden Syrup, P.C. Flett and Company jams, Golden Shred and Silver Shred Marmalades, Chiver’s Jelly Crystals, Rowtree’s Table Jelly, Bird’s Custard Powder, Bird’s Blancmange Powder, Coleman’s Mustard, Queen’s Gravy Salts, Bisto Gravy Powder, Huntly and Palmers biscuits, Lyon’s Tea and Typhoo Tea.

 

In 1859 Henry Tate went into partnership with John Wright, a sugar refiner based at Manesty Lane, Liverpool. Their partnership ended in 1869 and John’s two sons, Alfred and Edwin joined the business forming Henry Tate and Sons. A new refinery in Love Lane, Liverpool was opened in 1872. In 1921 Henry Tate and Sons and Abram Lyle and Sons merged, between them refining around fifty percent of the UK’s sugar. A tactical merger, this new company would then become a coherent force on the sugar market in anticipation of competition from foreign sugar returning to its pre-war strength. Tate and Lyle are perhaps best known for producing Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Lyle’s Golden Treacle.

 

Peter Leech and Sons was a grocers that operated out of Lowther Street in Whitehaven from the 1880s. They had a large range of tinned goods that they sold including coffee, tea, tinned salmon and golden syrup. They were admired for their particularly attractive labelling. I do not know exactly when they ceased production, but I believe it may have happened just before the Second World War.

 

P.C. Flett and Company was established in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands by Peter Copeland Flett. He had inherited a small family owned ironmongers in Albert Street Kirkwall, which he inherited from his maternal family. He had a shed in the back of the shop where he made ginger ale, lemonade, jams and preserves from local produce. By the 1920s they had an office in Liverpool, and travelling representatives selling jams and preserves around Great Britain. I am not sure when the business ceased trading.

 

Golden Shred orange marmalade and Silver Shred lime marmalade still exist today and are common household brands both in Britain and Australia. They are produced by Robertson’s. Robertson’s Golden Shred recipe perfected since 1874 is a clear and tangy orange marmalade, which according to their modern day jars is “perfect for Paddington’s marmalade sandwiches”. Robertson’s Silver Shred is a clear, tangy, lemon flavoured shredded marmalade. Robertson’s marmalade dates back to 1874 when Mrs. Robertson started making marmalade in the family grocery shop in Paisley, Scotland.

 

Chivers is an Irish brand of jams and preserves. For a large part of the Twentieth Century Chivers and Sons was Britain's leading preserves manufacturer. Originally market gardeners in Cambridgeshire in 1873 after an exceptional harvest, Stephen Chivers entrepreneurial sons convinced their father to let them make their first batch of jam in a barn off Milton Road, Impington. By 1875 the Victoria Works had been opened next to Histon railway station to improve the manufacture of jam and they produced stone jars containing two, four or six pounds of jam, with glass jars first used in 1885. In around 1885 they had 150 employees. Over the next decade they added marmalade to their offering which allowed them to employ year-round staff, rather than seasonal workers at harvest time. This was followed by their clear dessert jelly (1889), and then lemonade, mincemeat, custard powder, and Christmas puddings. By 1896 the family owned 500 acres of orchards. They began selling their products in cans in 1895, and the rapid growth in demand was overseen by Charles Lack, their chief engineer, who developed the most efficient canning machinery in Europe and by the end of the century Chivers had become one of the largest manufacturers of preserves in the world. He later added a variety of machines for sorting, can making, vacuum-caps and sterilisation that helped retain Chivers' advantage over its rivals well into the Twentieth Century. By the turn of the century the factory was entirely self-sufficient, growing all its own fruit, and supplying its own water and electricity. The factory made its own cans, but also contained a sawmill, blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, paint shop, builders and basket makers. On the 14th of March 1901 the company was registered as S. Chivers and Sons. By 1939 there were over 3,000 full-time employees, with offices in East Anglia as well as additional factories in Montrose, Newry and Huntingdon, and the company owned almost 8,000 acres of farms. The company's farms were each run independently, and grew cereal and raised pedigree livestock as well as the fruit for which they were known.

 

Founded by Henry Isaac Rowntree in Castlegate in York in 1862, Rowntree's developed strong associations with Quaker philanthropy. Throughout much of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, it was one of the big three confectionery manufacturers in the United Kingdom, alongside Cadbury and Fry, both also founded by Quakers. In 1981, Rowntree's received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade. In 1988, when the company was acquired by Nestlé, it was the fourth-largest confectionery manufacturer in the world. The Rowntree brand continues to be used to market Nestlé's jelly sweet brands, such as Fruit Pastilles and Fruit Gums, and is still based in York.

 

Bird’s were best known for making custard and Bird’s Custard is still a common household name, although they produced other desserts beyond custard, including the blancmange. They also made Bird’s Golden Raising Powder – their brand of baking powder. Bird’s Custard was first formulated and first cooked by Alfred Bird in 1837 at his chemist shop in Birmingham. He developed the recipe because his wife was allergic to eggs, the key ingredient used to thicken traditional custard. The Birds continued to serve real custard to dinner guests, until one evening when the egg-free custard was served instead, either by accident or design. The dessert was so well received by the other diners that Alfred Bird put the recipe into wider production. John Monkhouse (1862–1938) was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. Monk and Glass custard was made in Clerkenwell and sold in the home market, and exported to the Empire and to America. They acquired by its rival Bird’s Custard in the early Twentieth Century.

 

Queen’s Gravy Salt is a British brand and this box is an Edwardian design. Gravy Salt is a simple product it is solid gravy browning and is used to add colour and flavour to soups stews and gravy - and has been used by generations of cooks and caterers.

 

The first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder, which rapidly became a bestseller in Britain. It was added to gravies to give a richer taste and aroma. Invented by Messrs Roberts and Patterson, it was named "Bisto" because it "Browns, Seasons and Thickens in One". Bisto Gravy is still a household name in Britain and Ireland today, and the brand is currently owned by Premier Foods.

 

Huntley and Palmers is a British firm of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. The company created one of the world’s first global brands and ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory. Over the years, the company was also known as J. Huntley and Son and Huntley and Palmer. Huntley and Palmer were renown for their ‘superior reading biscuits’ which they promoted in different varieties for different occasions, including at breakfast time.

 

In 1863, William Sumner published A Popular Treatise on Tea as a by-product of the first trade missions to China from London. In 1870, William and his son John Sumner founded a pharmacy/grocery business in Birmingham. William's grandson, John Sumner Jr. (born in 1856), took over the running of the business in the 1900s. Following comments from his sister on the calming effects of tea fannings, in 1903, John Jr. decided to create a new tea that he could sell in his shop. He set his own criteria for the new brand. The name had to be distinctive and unlike others, it had to be a name that would trip off the tongue and it had to be one that would be protected by registration. The name Typhoo comes from the Mandarin Chinese word for “doctor”. Typhoo began making tea bags in 1967. In 1978, production was moved from Birmingham to Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside. The Moreton site is also the location of Burton's Foods and Manor Bakeries factories. Typhoo has been owned since July 2021 by British private-equity firm Zetland Capital. It was previously owned by Apeejay Surrendra Group of India.

 

A close up shot of a male Parson's Chameleon to show the beautiful intricacy of the scales around the eye.

One of the features of the Sk8 Park in Grimsby, Ontario is a group of small billboard-style panels specifically intended to host the artistic expressions of those visiting the site. As a result, graffiti is encouraged in places that are acceptable. Furthermore, periodic cleanup of the panels by town staff ensures regular refreshment of the subject matter. This image was taken in mid-February, the dead of Winter, so the snow-covered park was not in regular use and had not been for several months. The last round of painting had been ignored, likely waiting for Spring to get a refresh, with the consequence being the multiple layers of paint had weathered and flaked off leaving colourful abstracts when viewed up close. This section features and area with yellow and green patches. - JW

 

Date Taken: 2019-02-21

 

Taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with an AF-S DX Nikkor 12-24mm 1:4 lense set to 12mm, Daylight WB, ISO100, Program mode, f/8.0, 1/250 sec. PP in free open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon RAW/NEF source file: set final image width to 9000px, adjust Tone Curve 2 in parametric mode by darkening the ‘Darks’ and ‘Lights’ slightly, enable HDR Tone Mapping and apply a light amount of HDR, enable Shadows/Highlights and recover highlights just enough that the ‘white’ areas of paint show detail/texture, boost contrast and Chromaticity in L-A-B mode, set White Balance to Daylight (5300K), boost Vibrance, sharpen (edges only), save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: increase overall contrast, fine tune overall tonality using the Tone Curves tool, sharpen, save, scale image to 6000px wide, sharpen slightly, save, add fine black-and-white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 2048px wide for posting online, sharpen slightly, save.

palacio de carlos V, alhambra, granada, estado español

 

a s., con cui avrei voluto essere lì

Handcrafted, OOAK, fashion doll furniture in 1:6 scale from Abigail's Joy.

 

Please visit my website Abigail's Joy

This is the by-product of another attempt to find an image taken a number of years ago (back in 2015, to be specific) but never processed or posted. While stopping into a small Hamilton, Ontario Chinese food restaurant for some late lunch, I was packing up camera gear as we waited for our order to be completed. I looked across the room and noticed the wild combination of colours provided by the restaurant decorating scheme. Given how long ago I took this shot, and given the volatility of the restaurant business, particularly given the past three years, I wondered if it was still there. A dive into Google and the answer was, yes. If you are wondering, it is Mr Dumpling Express over on Dundurn St S. - JW

 

Date Taken: 2015-03-28

 

(c) Copyright 2023 JW Vraets

 

Tech Details:

 

Taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with an AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6 VR lense set to 45mm, ISO1600 (Auto ISO), Aperture priority mode, f/5.0, 1/80 sec. PP in free Open Source RAWTherapee from a RAW/NEF source file: set final image size to be 9000 px wide, crop a little off the left (preserving the original aspect ration) to get a better symmetry, apply both Tone Mapping and Dynamic Range Compression at default levels, us the Graduated Neutral Density/GND tool rotated to cover the area below the black bench top and then darken slightly, boost both Contrast and Chromaticity in L-A-B mode, slightly boost black level, slight Vibrance increase, apply noise reduction, save, sharpen (edges only). PP in free Open Source GIMP: slightly brighten the upper end of the tone curve by using the Curves tool, slightly boost overall saturation, slightly boost overall contrast, sharpen, save, scale to 6000 px wide, sharpen, save, add fine black and white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale to 3000 wide for posting, sharpen, save.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are not in Lettice’s flat. Instead, we are in central London, near the palace of Westminster and the Thames embankment at the very stylish Metropole Hotel*, where Lettice’s latest client, American film actress Wanetta Ward is living whilst her Edwardian Pimlico flat is redecorated by Lettice. We find ourselves in the busy dining room of the hotel where the gentle burble of voices fills the room and mixes with the sound of silver cutlery against the blue banded gilt hotel crockery, the clink of glasses raised and the strains of popular Edwardian music from the small palm court quartet playing discreetly by a white painted pillar. Surrounded by suited politicians and a smattering of older women, Lettice and Miss Ward sit at a table for two where a splendid selection of sweet and savory afternoon tea has been presented to them on a fluted glass cake stand by a smartly dressed waiter.

 

“Isn’t this fun?” Miss Ward giggles delightedly, looking at the delicacies placed before them. “Taking afternoon tea in London. What a wonderfully British thing to do. I’ve really taken to enjoying this rather quaint observance.” Pouring coffee from a silver coffee pot with an ebonised handle into her cup, she takes a sip. “Ugh!” she exclaims as she shudders and pulls a face. “Which is more than I can say for this sludge you British call coffee.” With a look of distain, she deposits the cup back into its saucer with a loud clatter. “No one makes coffee like we do back home.”

 

“Perhaps you might care for tea?” Lettice remarks quietly and diplomatically, indicating to the silver teapot beside her. “We’re very well known for our excellent tea.”

 

“Ugh!” Miss Ward says again, only this time without the melodrama of face pulling. “I think I’ll stick to the sludge, if it’s all the same to you, darling. You people might have conquered India and her tea plantations, but no-one makes tea like they do in Shanghai.” She sighs. “It’s almost an art form.”

 

“Perhaps we should have had cocktails then.”

 

“Now you’re talking, darling girl.”

 

“Only it might be frowned upon – two ladies alone, sitting and drinking in a hotel dining room.”

 

“See,” Miss Ward remarks in a deflated tone. “It’s like I told you when we met at my flat. You British are all a bunch of stuffed shirts**.” Looking around at the table of older gentlemen next to them, enjoying a fine repast as well as some good quality claret from a faceted glass decanter, she adds somewhat conspiratorially with a flick of her eyes, “And they don’t get much more stuffed that this bunch of politicians.”

 

“Are you always so frank, Miss Ward?”

 

“I’m American, darling. We’re known for our frankness as much as you are known for your diplomacy. I’d be letting the home side down if I wasn’t, especially whilst on foreign soil. Anyway,” she continues as a burst of guffaws come from the table as the gentlemen laugh at something one of them said. “I think they have been here for most of the afternoon, and that isn’t their first bottle. They aren’t going to pay enough attention to either of us to care what we two ladies are saying. I think they are happy if our secret women’s business stays secret. Don’t you agree Miss Chetwynd?”

 

Lettice discreetly looks over at them, noticing their florid faces and slightly rheumy eyes. “Yes, most probably.”

 

“In spite of the sludge they pass off as coffee here, I can say that afternoon tea at the Metropole is delicious.” The American woman picks up the cake stand and holds it aloft before Lettice for her to select a petit four. “Here! Try one.”

 

“I haven’t been here since before the war.” Lettice remarks, choosing a ham and tomato savoury before gazing around the room at the elegant Georgian revival furnishings, the restrained Regency stripe wallpaper, the watercolours of stately British homes in gilt frames and the white linen covered tables with stylish floral arrangements on each.

 

“Has it improved?”

 

“In looks, undoubtedly. It used to be very Victorian: lots of flocked wallpaper, dark furniture and red velvet. No, this is much brighter and more pleasant. The food however,” Lettice glances at the pretty petit four on her plate. “Is yet to be tested.” She picks up her cup and sips her tea. “Do you have your first script from Islington Studios*** yet, Miss Ward?”

 

“Oh I do, darling!” Miss Ward’s eyes grow wide and glisten with excitement. “The film is called ‘After the Ball is Over’. It’s a bit of a Cinderella story. A beautiful girl, despised by her haughty stepmother and stepsister wins the heart of a local lord, all set against the beautiful English countryside.” She picks an egg and lettuce savoury from the cake stand and takes a larger than polite bite from it before depositing the remains on her own plate.

 

“And are you the heroine?”

 

“Good heavens, no!” Miss Ward nearly chokes on her mouthful of egg and pastry. Placing the back of her hand to her mouth rather than her napkin, she coughs roughly, finishes her mouthful and then adds, “I’d rather die than play the heroine! They are always such insipid characters.” She pulls a face and then clears her throat of the last remaining crumbs. “No, I’m playing the stepsister, who uses her womanly wiles to charm the local lord in the first place.” She lowers her kohl lined eyes and smiles seductively. “She’s much more fun as a character, as are all mistresses and villainesses. Just think about the faerie tales you read when you were a girl. What a dull life Snow White or Cinderella would have led were it not for their wicked stepmothers.”

 

“I’d never considered that.” Lettice takes a small bite from her savoury.

 

“Trust me, I may not win the hearts of the audience, but I’ll be more memorable for playing the baddie than I ever would be for playing the helpless heroine.”

 

“How shockingly cynical, Miss Ward.”

 

“Cynical yes,” The American looks thoughtfully towards the ceiling for a moment before continuing, “But also truthful.”

 

“Well,” Lettice says a little reluctantly. “Thinking of truth, you haven’t invited me to afternoon tea just so I can enjoy the selection of sweet and savoury petit fours.” She withdraws her folio from beside her seat and places it on the table.

 

“Ahh!” Miss Ward’s green eyes sparkle with excitement. “The designs for my flat! I finally get to see them!” She rubs her elegant hands with their painted fingernails together gleefully.

 

“Now first, your boudoir.” Lettice withdraws a small pencil and watercolour sketch.

 

The sight of the picture makes Miss Ward gasp with delight as she stretches out her fingers to clutch the drawing. Bringing it closer to her, her painted lips curl up in pleasure.

 

“I thought a treatment of gold embellishment and brocade on black japanned furnishings might give a sense of luxury. I have kept the white ceiling, and white linens for the bed, but as you can see I’ve included some elements of red to bring that exotic oriental feel to the room you so wanted.”

 

“Delicious darling girl!” Miss Ward enthuses. “I have to admit, you were right when you said that white wouldn’t be boring if you used it. It helps balance the intensity of the black, red and gold.”

 

“I’m pleased you approve, Miss Ward.”

 

“Oh I do!” She hands the drawing back to Lettice. “What else?”

 

Lettice shows her a few more sketches showing her designs for the dressing room and the vestibule until she finally reaches the two for the drawing room and dining room. She places them on top of her folio, the pools of garish colour standing out against the white linen of the tablecloth and the buff of her folio.

 

“I remembered you telling me how much you like yellow, Miss Ward, but try as I might, I remain unconvinced that yellow walls are a suitable choice.” The American glances first at the drawings and then at Lettice but says nothing. “The colour is bold, and I know you wanted boldness,” Lettice continues. “But since we are being truthful, this strikes me as showy and déclassé.”

 

“Déclassé, Miss Chetwynd?”

 

“Inferior and lacking in the class and elegance of the other rooms’ schemes.”

 

Miss Ward leans forward and picks up the drawing room painting, scrutinising it through narrowed eyes. Dropping it back down, she picks up her coffee cup and takes a sip before asking with a shrug, “Alright, so what do you suggest then?”

 

“Well, it’s funny you should be holding your cup while you ask, Miss Ward.” Lettice observes astutely.

 

“My coffee cup?” Miss Ward holds the cup in front of her and screws up her nose in bewilderment. “You want to paint the walls coffee coloured?”

 

“Oh no, Miss Ward,” Lettice cannot help but allow a small chuckle of relief escape her lips. “No, I was referring more to the outside, which is blue with a gold trim. Here, let me show you what I mean.” She reaches inside her folio and withdraws a piece of wallpaper featuring a geometric fan design in rich navy blue with gold detailing. “I thought we might paper the walls instead, with this.” She holds it out to her client. “It’s very luxurious, and it makes a bold statement, but with elegance. I thought with a suitable array of yellow venetian glass and some pale yellow oriental ceramics, this would both compliment any yellow you add to the room, and give you that glamour and sophistication you desire.”

 

Lettice doesn’t realise it, but she holds her breath as the American picks up the piece of wallpaper and moves it around so that the gold outlines of the fans are caught in the light of the chandeliers above. The pair sit in silence - Lettice in anxiety and Miss Ward in contemplation – whilst the sounds of the busy dining room wash about them.

 

“Pure genius!” Miss Ward declares, dropping the wallpaper dramatically atop Lettice’s sketches.

 

“You approve then, Miss Ward?” Lettice asks with relief.

 

“Approve? I love it, darling girl!” She lifts her savoury to her mouth and takes another large bite.

 

“I’m so pleased Miss Ward.”

 

“Oh it will be a sensation, darling! Cocktails surrounded by golden fans! How delicious.” She replies with her mouth half full of egg, lettuce and pastry. She rubs her fingers together, depositing the crumbs clinging to them onto her plate. “And it will compliment my yellow portrait so well, you clever girl.”

 

“Your, yellow portrait, Miss Ward?” Lettice queries, her head on an angle.

 

“Yes, didn’t I tell you?”

 

“Ahh, no.”

 

“Well, I had my portrait painted whilst I was in Shanghai, draped in beautiful yellow oriental shawls. It’s really quite striking,” she declares picking up the remnants of her savoury. “Even if I do say so myself.”

 

“For above the fireplace?”

 

“Oh no! My Italian landscape will go there.”

 

“Your Italian landscape?”

 

“Yes, I bought it off a bankrupt merchant in Shanghai trying to get back home to the States along with a few other nice paintings.”

 

“How many paintings do you have, Miss Ward?”

 

She contemplates and then silently starts counting, mouthing the numbers and counting on her fingers. “Eleven or so. My beloved brother had them packed up and sent over. They should be arriving from Shanghai in Southampton next week. I’ll get them sent directly to the flat. I’ll leave it up to you darling girl to decide as to where they hang.”

 

“You are full of surprises, Miss Ward.” Lettice remarks with a sigh, picking up her teacup and taking a sip from it.

 

“Evidently, so are you,” the American replies, indicating with her eyes to the wallpaper. “I wasn’t expecting anything as modern and glamourous as that in London!”

 

Smiling, Lettice says, “We aim to please, Miss Ward.”

 

*Now known as the Corinthia Hotel, the Metropole Hotel is located at the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall Place in central London on a triangular site between the Thames Embankment and Trafalgar Square. Built in 1883 it functioned as an hotel between 1885 until World War I when, located so close to the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall, it was requisitioned by the government. It reopened after the war with a luxurious new interior and continued to operate until 1936 when the government requisitioned it again whilst they redeveloped buildings at Whitehall Gardens. They kept using it in the lead up to the Second World War. After the war it continued to be used by government departments until 2004. In 2007 it reopened as the luxurious Corinthia Hotel.

 

**The phrase “stuffed shirt” refers to a person who is pompous, inflexible or conservative.

 

***Islington Studios, often known as Gainsborough Studios, were a British film studio located on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in Shoreditch, London which began operation in 1919. By 1920 they had a two stage studio. It is here that Alfred Hitchcock made his entrée into films.

 

An afternoon tea like this would be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate each sweet or savoury petit four on the cake plate, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene are 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau:

 

The savoury petite fours on the lower tier of the cake stand and the sweet ones on the upper tier have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. Each petit four is only five millimetres in diameter and between five and eight millimetres in height! The selection includes egg and lettuce, ham and tomato, Beluga caviar, salmon and cucumber and egg, tomato and cucumber savouries and iced cupcakes for the sweet petit fours.

 

The blue banded hotel crockery has been made exclusively for Doll House Suppliers in England. Each piece is fashioned by hand and painted by hand. Made to the highest quality standards each piece of porcelain is very thin and fine. If you look closely, you might even notice the facets cut into the milk jug. Several pieces of the same service appear on the table in the background and the tiered sideboard to the left of the table.

 

The fluted glass cake stand, the glass vase on Lettice and Miss Ward’s table and the red roses in it were all made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The cake stand and the vase have been hand blown and in the case of the stand, hand tinted. The teapot is made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The coffee pot with its ornate handle and engraved body is one of three antique Colonial Craftsman pots I acquired from a seller on E-Bay. The two matching pots are on the sideboard in the background. Lettice’s folio was made by British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Lettice’s interior design paintings are 1920s designs. They are sourced from reference material particular to Art Deco interior design in Britain in the 1920s.

 

The Chippendale dining room chairs are very special pieces. They came from the Petite Elite Miniature Museum, later rededicated as the Carol and Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures, which ran between 1992 and 2012 on Los Angeles’ bustling Wiltshire Boulevard. One of the chairs still has a sticker under its cushion identifying which room of which dollhouse it came. The Petite Elite Miniature Museum specialised in exquisite and high end 1:12 miniatures. The furnishings are taken from a real Chippendale design.

 

On the table in the background luncheons of fish and salad and spaghetti bolognaise are waiting to be eaten. The fish and salad plates are made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures and the plates of spaghetti bolognaise are made by Frances Knight. The vases of flowers on the table and on the stands are beautifully made by hand by the Doll House Emporium. The three plant stands are made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq, whilst the sideboard is made by high-end miniature furniture maker JBM.

Forward swept wings are an obvious feature of both the S-37 (left) from Russian and the X-29 (right) from the US. The latter was purely intended as a research aircraft and to save costs and because it didn't have to carry weapons or combat systems, the aircraft could be made quite small. The Sukhoi design was intended to eventually replace the Su-27 Flanker as Russia's air superiority fighter, and consequently was supposed to have a long range and advanced sensor systems and it had an internal weapons bay. As a result it's a big beast. Both of these models were built at the same scale of roughly 1/40, so the size comparison is realistic.

This is another view of the neighborhood in my cellar.

As a Hobbit fan, I have named the street of homes 'UnderHill Homesteads' as it is located in my cellar. The family room shops & homes are in an area named 'Middle Earth', and my attic shops and Lauren's town house are located in 'HillTop'.

 

Lissa's house with the blue bedroom is the most complete. All I need to do there is add some pictures, accessories and attic stuff.

In the foreground is OM's house, which is also fairly complete.

The pink house with the lavender roof is Leslie's which I haven't started yet, but look forward to. I will put a 2nd story on it.

The back left is Marianne's home, which has most of the furniture, but not much else.

To the right is Petra's home, which has about the same amount of furniture as Marianne's does.

The 2 homes on the right side of the street belong to Kiera and Jason, which I haven't started yet. This summer I want to get all of the exterior finishing done so that the street will look better.

Unseen in this photo are my brownstone, Lauren's cottage,

Liv's home and Lisa's home .... which I also haven't started on yet.

Several of the homes will do double duty as homes for newer, more active members with a change of furnishings.

I need to get busy!!

  

1:144 scale! It's tiiiiny! It's like a dollhouse for a dollhouse. So cute! Been working on this all last night and today I'm back on it. Breaking my little blonde head.... came with very limited/basic instruction....

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are south of the Thames in the middle-class London suburb of Putney in the front room of a red brick Edwardian villa in Hazelwood Road, where Lettice has come to collect a hat from her childhood chum Gerald’s friend, Harriet Milford. The orphaned daughter of a solicitor with little formal education, Harriet has taken in lodgers to earn a living, but more importantly for Lettice, has taken up millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money*. As Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, has forbidden Lettice to wear a shop bought hat to Leslie, Lettice’s brother’s, wedding in November and Lettice has quarrelled with her own milliner, Madame Gwendolyn, Gerald thought that Harriet might benefit as much from Lettice’s patronage as Lettice will by purchasing one of Harriet’s hats to resolve her fashion conundrum. Today is judgement day as Harriet presents Lettice with her millinery creation.

 

Lettice’s critical eye again glances around the front parlour of the Putney villa, which doubles as Harriet’s sewing room and show room for her hats. She crinkles her nose in distaste. She finds the room’s middle-class chintzy décor an affront to her up-to-date interior design sensitivities, with its flouncy floral Edwardian sofa and roomy armchair by the fire, a pouffe hand embroidered by Harriet’s deceased mother and the busy Edwardian floral wallpaper covered with a mixture of cheap botanical prints and quaint English country scenes, all in gaudy gilded plaster frames. Yet what makes it even worse is that no attempt has been made to tidy the room since her last visit a month ago. Harriet’s concertina sewing box on casters still stands cascaded open next to the armchair, threads, embroidery silks, buttons and ribbons pouring from its compartments like entrails. Hats in different stages of being made up and decorated lie about on furniture or on the floor in a haphazard way. The brightly patterned rug is littered with spools of cotton, scissors, ribbon, artificial flowers and dogeared copies of Weldon’s** magazines. A cardboard hatbox spewing forth a froth of white tissue paper perches precariously on the arm of the sofa, whilst in an equally hazardous position on the right arm of the armchair, a sewing tin threatens to spill its content of threads, thimbles and a black velvet pincushion all over the chair’s seat and the floor.

 

“Sorry, Miss Chetwynd,” Harriet mutters apologetically as she ushers Lettice into the front parlour. “I still haven’t had an opportunity to tidy up in here yet.”

 

“It’s of no consequence, Miss Milford.” Lettice lies as she sweeps into the room swathed in a powder blue coat trimmed with sable that Gerald has made for her. She perches on the sofa in the same place where she sat on her last visit and deposits her crocodile skin handbag against its overstuffed pink and floral arm.

 

“Your censorious gaze and the reproving way you pass that remark tell me otherwise, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“Are you always so observant, Miss Milford?”

 

“Just like my father,” Harriet replies, glancing up at a very Edwardian photographic portrait of a dour bespectacled man in a large oval frame on the mantelpiece.

 

“I’m sorry Miss Milford,” Lettice acknowledges her criticality politely. “But I must confess I am used to visiting tidier establishments.”

 

“Yes, I suppose Madame Gwendolyn’s shop is far tidier than my front parlour is.” Harriet admits. “But then again, I would imagine that she also has a retinue of staff to keep it so for her.”

 

“Perhaps,” Lettice agrees with a half-smile. “I’m only concerned that if you wish for your little enterprise to be taken seriously, you need to present a professional front. I myself use my own drawing room as a showroom for my clients, so I make sure to keep it tidy when I have clients or prospective clients visiting.”

 

“Or you maid does, Miss Chetwynd: the same one who bakes biscuits for you.”

 

“Touché, Miss Milford.” Lettice replies, cocking her eyebrows in amused surprise at Harriet’s quick, yet adroit remark. “I think your father should have taken more interest in your education. You might have made a very fine lawyer, had you been given the opportunity.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies, blushing at the compliment.

 

“The lack of education afforded to women in our country, just because we are women, is a scandal. Yet our patriarchal society is what will ensure that we remain the fairer and less educated sex.”

 

“You sound like you might have made a fine lawyer too, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet acknowledges. “I’m sure had you been born a few decades earlier you would have made a fine suffragette.”

 

“Or a radical.”

 

“However, that isn’t why you’ve come here today. You’ve come about a far more appropriately feminine pursuit, the acquisition of the hat for your brother’s wedding.”

 

“Indeed, Miss Milford. My mother would be suitably gratified to see me passing my time thus rather than in radical discussion, even if she would prefer it was at Madame Gwendolyn’s establishment.”

 

“Then I do hope I shan’t disappoint Lady Sadie, or you, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

Harriet walks over to a corner of the parlour and withdraws a yellow straw hat on a hatstand that she has kept concealed behind a brass firebox. She reverently carries it across the room and deposits it on the tilt chess table sitting empty between the seats of the two women s that Lettice might inspect it closely.

 

“Considering your colourings, the shape of your face and the soft chignon you wear at the nape of your neck, I’ve opted for a rather romantic picture hat rather like that featured on the cover of Weldon’s Spring Fashions.” Harriet explains as she holds up the magazine’s cover next to the hat for Lettice to make comparisons. “I know it’s autumn now, but it has been remarkably mind, and,” she adds. “This is for a wedding after all.”

 

Lettice examines the hat before her. The shape of the wide brimmed hat that sits low on its stand immediately appeals to Lettice, and she can easily see herself wearing it very comfortably. “Very observant again, Miss Milford.” she says approvingly.

 

“As you can see, I’m acknowledging the season and once again trying to compliment your own colourings with the trimmings.” Harriet says proudly as she carefully turns the hat on its stand. “A russet and golden brown satin rose and some ornamental autumnal fruits in golds and vermillion. I hope you will agree.”

 

Lettice reaches out and touches the satin rose, rubbing the luxuriant fabric between her thumb and forefinger with satisfaction. “Agree? Why my dear Miss Milford, you have managed to do something Madame Gwendolyn has never done for me.” She beams with delight. “You have made a hat that suits my personality beautifully. How could I fail but to be pleased? I must confess that I am more impressed with what you have created than I even dared hope for.”

 

“Then may I take it that you won’t quibble over my price of seven guineas, nine and sixpence?” Harriet asks, trying to keep the nerves out of her well modulated voice. She has never charged such an exorbitant price for one of her creations before, but Gerald told her that seven guineas, nine and sixpence should be the price she should ask Lettice for it. Thinking quickly she adds, “It is quite comparable to the cost of a mode from Selfridges.”

 

“You sell your skills to cheaply, Miss Milford.”

 

“I may possibly increase my fees if my ‘little enterprise’ as you continue to call it, really takes off, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“I shouldn’t speak so disparagingly of your enterprise, Miss Milford. I must sound unspeakably rude and patronising. Please forgive me.”

 

“Rude, no Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet acknowledges.

 

“As amends for my snobby behaviour,” Lettice proffers hopefully. “I shall happily promote your name to anyone at the wedding who asks me who made my hat.”

 

“I’d be grateful, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies with a grateful smile. “And I’ll try and get this place tided up should any of your friends come knocking. I did at least keep the telephone connected after father died, so I am in the book. I found it useful to have a telephone for enquiries about rooms to let initially, but now also for queries about hats.”

 

“Most prudent, Miss Milford.”

 

Harriet stands up, reaches past Lettice’s shoulder and takes up the plain cardboard hatbox stuffed with white tissue paper and places it on the seat of her armchair. She proceeds to pick up Lettice’s new hat, and like a mother tucking its child into bed, she lovingly places her creation into the box, nestling it amongst the nosily crumpling paper.

 

“Miss Chetwynd, do you mind if I make another frank observation?” she asks.

 

“My dear Miss Milford, you have made several so far,” Lettice laughs. “Why should I stop you now?”

 

Harriet snatches up the box and resumes her seat, placing the open hatbox on her lap.

 

“I’m glad you said yes Miss Chetwynd, for you see, something has been bothering me since your first visit here.”

 

“And what is that, Miss Milford.”

 

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice how ill at ease you seemed. Could it be because Gerry didn’t tell you about our friendship?”

  

Lettice looks across at Harriet whose mousy brown hair cut into a soft bob frames her pretty face, free of makeup. Her brown eyes have an earnest look in them. Lettice acknowledges Harriet’s question with a quick and curt nod, before casting her eyes down, ashamed that her feelings have been so easily perceived by someone she barely knows.

 

“I thought so.”

 

“I didn’t know you existed until Gerald pulled his motor up outside the front of your house.”

 

“I must confess I’m surprised, as Gerry talks about you all the time. You two are obviously the greatest of friends, and have been since you were children.” Harriet licks her lips a little awkwardly before continuing. “Perhaps he is a little embarrassed by our friendship, after all, I’m not an aristocrat’s daughter like you and some of your other friends he tells me about.”

 

“I’m sure that isn’t true, Miss Milford.” Lettice assures her hostess. “Gerald can be a frightful snob. I’ve pulled him up on it enough in recent times, and,” she admits a little begrudgingly. “He’s done the same with me. If Gerald really was ashamed of you, he wouldn’t have introduced us. That I do know.”

 

“He’s been wonderful to me since we met. I’m not sure if he told you, but I’m guessing not if he didn’t really tell you about me prior to our first meeting, but we met at the haberdashers we share in Fulham.”

 

“That Gerald did tell me.”

 

“Well, he’s given me encouragement and guidance as I try to get this millinery business up and running, and, well after my difficulties with the handsy General when I first started letting rooms, I feel more comfortable with gentlemen friends who don’t want to paw me.”

 

“Like Gerald and your Cyril, you mean.”

 

“Yes.” Harriet acknowledges with a blush.

 

“Where is Cyril, by the way? I haven’t heard his oboe playing today.”

 

“He’s in Norfolk, visiting his mother.” Harriet explains. She hesitates for a moment before carrying on. “I’ve never had many friends, you see. I was always the shy one at school, and not at all popular. What few friends I have had up until recently have been rather bookish and shy like me, so it was like a breath of fresh air when Gerry took an interest in plain and shy little me.”

 

“Hardly plain, Miss Milford.” Lettice counters kindly.

 

“You do know that I’d never want to intrude on your friendship with Gerry, don’t you? You’re his oldest and best friend, and he’s so proud of you and how you’ve set up your own business all by yourself. You inspire him you know.” Lettice blushes and glances back down into her lap at Harriet’s admission. “And you’re such a chum to him. He says you use the word ‘brick’ to describe your good friends, so you are his ‘brick’ then. Now that I know that he didn’t tell you about me, I must have come across as an interloper: a middle-class girl of no particular note trying to usurp you in Gerry’s affections. However, I can assure you that I’m not. Your friendship with him is perfectly safe. I’m just happy to bask in Gerry’s minor attentions for as long as he wishes to bestow them upon me.”

 

“Well, I must confess that I did suffer a few pangs of jealously when I first saw the two of you being so familiar together, but I realised after we left you, that you are no threat. Gerald and I had a frank conversation of our own on the way home.” Lettice admits. “Not that Gerald is bound to me by any means. He can be friends with whomever he likes, and so long as his dalliances with gentlemen are discreet, I’m happy. He just needs to be careful in that respect.”

 

“I tell Cyril the same thing.”

 

“So, if Gerald wants to be friends with you, who am I to argue? All the same, I am pleased to hear from you that you are no threat, Miss Milford.”

 

“Not at all, Miss Chetwynd.” She sighs with relief and places the lid on the hatbox on her lap before putting it aside. “Well, now that we have that awkward little conversation out of the way, might I interest you in some tea?”

 

“Some tea would be splendid, Miss Milford. Thank you.”

 

Harriet gets up and walks across the room. As she reaches the threshold of the parlour door she turns back and says, “You know we really do have quite a lot in common, you know, Miss Chetwynd?”

 

“How so, Miss Milford?” Lettice looks up from smoothing down the hem of her frock over her knees.

 

“Well, we both have Gerry as our friend, and we are both forward thinking women in a patriarchal world.”

 

“That’s true, Miss Milford.”

 

“We both are trying to establish names for ourselves, albeit in different areas. And we both have progressed ourselves in spite of our parents’ lack of interest in furthering our education. We could almost form a sisterhood.”

 

Lettice doesn’t necessarily agree with Harriet’s point about her education, which is quite presumptuous. Her father, the Viscount Wrexham, unlike Lady Sadie, was quite indulgent with Lettice’s education, giving her far more opportunities than were afforded to her elder sister Lally. Harriet realises that she has overstepped the mark by being overly familiar when she sees a cool steeliness darken Lettice’s sparkling blue eyes and harden her features slightly, but it is too late for her to retract her words.

 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to presume that we will ever be bosom friends***, Miss Milford. However, let me get used to your existence,” Lettice concedes with all the good grace of a Viscount’s daughter. “And I’m sure that we can be friends of a sort that goes beyond a passing acquaintance or an agreeable business arrangement.”

 

“Very well, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies with a half-smile. “I’ll be satisfied with that. Better that we be friends of a sort than enemies for no reason. I think as women wanting to forward ourselves in this male dominated world, we probably have enough of them as it is.”

 

“Perhaps, Miss Milford. Let us see.”

 

*Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.

 

**Created by British industrial chemist and journalist Walter Weldon Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was the first ‘home weeklies’ magazine which supplied dressmaking patterns. Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was first published in 1875 and continued until 1954 when it ceased publication.

 

***The term bosom friend is recorded as far back as the late Sixteenth Century. In those days, the bosom referred to the chest as the seat of deep emotions, though now the word usually means a woman's “chest.” A bosom friend, then, is one you might share these deep feelings with or have deep feelings for.

 

Contrary to popular belief, fashion at the beginning of the Roaring 20s did not feature the iconic cloche hat as a commonly worn head covering. Although invented by French milliner Caroline Reboux in 1908, the cloche hat did not start to gain popularity until 1922, so even though this story is set in that year, picture hats, a hangover from the pre-war years, were still de rigueur in fashionable society and whilst Lettice is fashionable, she and many other fashionable women still wore the more romantic picture hat. Although nowhere near as wide, heavy, voluminous or as ornate as the hats worn by women between the turn of the Twentieth Century and the Great War, the picture hats of the 1920s were still wide brimmed, although they were generally made of straw or some lightweight fabric and were decorated with a more restrained touch.

 

This rather cluttered and chaotic scene of a drawing room cum workroom may look real to you, but believe it or not, it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my teenage years.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

At the centre of our story is Lettice’s yellow straw hat decorated with ornamental flowers, fruit and organza. 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism such as these are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. The maker of this hat is unknown, but it is part of a larger collection I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel. The hat stand the hat rests on is also part of Marilyn Bickel’s collection.

 

The copy of Weldon’s Dressmaker Spring Fashions edition on the tabletop is a 1:12 size miniature made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. In this case, the magazine is non-opening, however what might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s books and magazines are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make this a miniature artisan piece. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.

 

The spools of ribbon, the tape measure, the silver sewing scissors in the shape of a stork and the box of embroidery threads and the box of cottons I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House in the United Kingdom.

 

The tilt chess table on which these items stand I bought from Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom.

 

The concertina sewing box on casters to the left of the photograph which you can see spilling forth its contents is an artisan miniature made by an unknown artist in England. It comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the in the United Kingdom. All the box’s contents including spools of ribbons, threads scissors and buttons on cards came with the work box. The box can completely expand or contract, just like its life-sized equivalent.

 

The round white metal sewing tin on the armchair is another artisan piece I have had since I was a young teenager. If you look closely you will see it contains a black velvet pin cushion, a pair of sewing scissors, needles, threads and two thimbles. Considering this is a 1:12 artisan miniature, imagine how minute the thimbles are! This I bought from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and doll house furnishings. It does have a lid which features artificial flowers and is trimmed with braid, but I wanted to show off the contents of the tin in this image, so it does not feature.

 

The spools of yellow, purple and blue cottons come from various online shops who sell dollhouse miniatures.

 

The bookshelf in the background comes from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late eighteenth century.

 

Harriet’s family photos seen cluttering the bookshelf in the background are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each. The castle shaped cottage orneé (pastille burner) on the bookshelf has been hand made, painted and gilded by Welsh miniature ceramist Rachel Williams who has her own studio, V&R Miniatures, in Powys. The bowl decorated with fruit on the bookshelf was hand decorated by British artisan Rachael Maundy.

 

Lettice’s snakeskin handbag with its gold clasp and chain comes from Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders Miniature Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

The parlour palm in its striped ceramic pot I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

The floral chintz settee and chair and the Art Nouveau china cabinet are made by J.B.M. miniatures who specialise in well made pieces of miniature furniture made to exacting standards.

 

The paintings and prints on the walls all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House in the United Kingdom.

The 129th Sandwich Fair.

 

A model of Class 5-4 Hudson Type 4-6-4, Burlington Series 3000 Engine and is 1/4 scale.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

 

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 100 lives. In bills passed by Congress during its construction, it was referred to as the Hoover Dam, after President Herbert Hoover, but was named Boulder Dam by the Roosevelt administration. In 1947, the name Hoover Dam was restored by Congress.

 

Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water, and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium named Six Companies, Inc., which began construction in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques used were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned the dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.

 

Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction, with 7 million tourists a year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.

 

Source: hoover.archives.gov/hoovers/hoover-dam

 

85 years after its completion, Hoover dam is still considered an engineering marvel. It is named in honor of President Herbert Hoover, who played a crucial role in its creation.

 

For many years, residents of the American southwest sought to tame the unpredictable Colorado River. Disastrous floods during the early 1900’s led residents of the area to look to the federal government for aid, and experiments with irrigation on a limited scale had shown that this arid region could be transformed into fertile cropland, if only the river could be controlled. The greatest obstacle to the construction of such a dam was the allocation of water rights among the seven states comprising the Colorado River drainage basin. Meetings were held in 1918, 1919 and 1920, but the states could not reach a consensus.

 

Herbert Hoover had visited the Lower Colorado region in the years before World War I and was familiar with its problems and the potential for development. Upon becoming Secretary of Commerce in 1921, Hoover proposed the construction of a dam on the Colorado River. In addition to flood control and irrigation, it would provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and Southern California. The project would be self-supporting, recovering its cost through the sale of hydroelectric power generated by the dam.

 

In 1921, the state legislatures of the Colorado River basin authorized commissioners to negotiate an interstate agreement. Congress authorized President Harding to appoint a representative for the federal government to serve as chair of the Colorado River Commission and on December 17, 1921, Harding appointed Hoover to that role.

 

When the commission assembled in Santa Fe in November 1922, the seven states still disagreed over the fair distribution of water. The upstream states feared that the downstream states, with their rapidly developing agricultural and power demands, would quickly preempt rights to the water by the “first in time, first in right” doctrine. Hoover suggested a compromise that the water be divided between the upper and lower basins without individual state quotas. The resulting Colorado River Compact was signed on November 24, 1922. It split the river basin into upper and lower halves with the states within each region deciding amongst themselves how the water would be allocated.

 

A series of bills calling for Federal funding to build the dam were introduced by Congressman Phil D. Swing and Senator Hiram W. Johnson between 1922 and 1928, all of which were rejected. The last Swing-Johnson bill, titled the Boulder Canyon Project Act, was largely written by Hoover and Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work. Congress finally agreed, and the bill was signed into law on December 21, 1928 by President Coolidge. The dream was about to become reality.

 

On June 25, 1929, less than four months after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a proclamation declaring the Colorado River Compact effective at last. Appropriations were approved and construction began in 1930. The dam was dedicated in 1935 and the hydroelectric generators went online in 1937. In 1947, Congress officially "restored" Hoover's name to the dam, after FDR's Secretary of the Interior tried to remove it. Hoover Dam was built for a cost of $49 million (approximately $1 billion adjusted for inflation). The power plant and generators cost an additional $71 million, more than the cost of the dam itself. The sale of electrical power generated by the dam paid back its construction cost, with interest, by 1987.

 

Today the Hoover Dam controls the flooding of the Colorado River, irrigates more than 1.5 million acres of land, and provides water to more than 16 million people. Lake Mead supports recreational activities and provides habitats to fish and wildlife. Power generated by the dam provides energy to power over 500,000 homes. The Hoover Compromise still governs how the water is shared.

 

Additional Foreign Language Tags:

 

(United States) "الولايات المتحدة" "Vereinigte Staaten" "アメリカ" "美国" "미국" "Estados Unidos" "États-Unis"

 

(Nevada) "نيفادا" "内华达州" "नेवादा" "ネバダ" "네바다" "Невада"

 

(Arizona) "أريزونا" "亚利桑那州" "एरिजोना" "アリゾナ州" "애리조나" "Аризона"

 

(Hoover Dam) "سد هوفر" "胡佛水坝" "हूवर बांध" "フーバーダム" "후버 댐" "Гувера" "Presa Hoover"

Here's one I made earlier....

A batch was built in 1927 long before more modern techniques made monocoque designs viable. There's no trussing underneath and the roof is built like a boiler! Simulated teak panelling and lining was applied and for many years, one was used at the head of the "Flying Scotsman".

 

Details: A custom etch was required (William Barter), most of the rest was MJT parts only tweaked a little. More info can be found here: www.steve-banks.org

This model runs with the complete, dead-scale "Flying Scotsman" on Cliff Parsons' The Gresley Beat

Explore ~484

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are not in Lettice’s flat. Instead, we have followed Lettice south-west, through the neighbouring borough of Belgravia to the smart London suburb of Pimlico and its rows of cream and white painted Regency terraces. There, in a smart red brick Edwardian set of three storey flats on Rochester Row, is the residence of Lettice’s client, recently arrived American film actress Wanetta Ward.

 

Now that the flat is completely redecorated under Lettice’s deft hands, Miss Ward has vacated her suite at the Metropole Hotel* and has been living at her Pimlico address for a few weeks now. As a thank you to Lettice, the American has invited her to afternoon tea. And so, we find ourselves in the beautifully appointed, spacious drawing room.

 

“Now, darling girl!” Miss Ward says as she sweeps into the drawing room through the green baize door that leads from the service area of the flat. “You must try my own brew of coffee!” She enthusiastically hoists a beautiful china coffee pot decorated with cherry blossoms in the air. “I promise you that you’ll never go back to that sludge you British call coffee after you’ve had this.”

 

Lettice smells the rich aroma from the pot’s spout as Miss Ward places it with an appropriately theatrical swoop, enhanced by the brightly coloured Spanish shawl draped over her bare shoulders, onto the silver tray on the cherrywood table between the Queen Anne style settee and the matching pair of Chinese armchairs. “It smells divine, Miss Ward.”

 

“Darling!” Miss Ward enthuses. “Divine isn’t the word for this!”

 

“I look forward to tasting it, then.” Lettice replies with a bemused smile. “And afternoon tea, Miss Ward?”

 

“I know! I know!” the American brandishes her hands in the air. “I admit I said it was a quaint observance, but it’s one that I’ve come to enjoy since living here in England. We might not have petit fours like they do at the Metropole, but trust me, Harriet has found the most wonderful little local bakery that makes an amazing selection of cookies. Try one!” She indicates to the plate piled generously with an assortment of brightly coloured and delicious looking biscuits.

 

“Harriet, Miss Ward?”

 

The American picks up a biscuit as she speaks and then pauses with it to her lips. “My new maid, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

Lettice considers the woman with a rather angular face in black silk moiré afternoon uniform and lace collar, cuffs, cap, apron and cap who answered the door. She didn’t strike her as having such a lovely name. She looked to be more of an Augusta or Bertha.

 

Miss Ward’s American voice interrupts Lettice’s contemplation. “Oh, I must thank you too, for the number of that domestics employment agency you gave me.”

 

“You can thank my mother, Miss Ward.” Lettice selects a small pink macaron and takes a ladylike bite from it before depositing the remainder on her plate. She feels the pastry and filling melt in her mouth. “She and I may not agree about a good many things, but Mater certainly knows the best agency In London for staff.”

 

“Well, Harriet is perfect!” Miss ward exclaims. “She fits in here so well, and she doesn’t throw a fit with all my comings and goings at all hours to and from the studio, taking telephone messages for me with the efficiency of a secretary, and she doesn’t even seem to mind the unannounced arrivals when friends come to pay call.”

 

“I do hope you told her about me coming today, Miss Ward.” Lettice remarks in alarm.

 

“Oh I did, Miss Chetwynd! It’s quite alright!” She stuffs the biscuit into her mouth, rubbing her fingers together to rid them of crumbs which tumble through the air and onto her lap where they disappear amidst the fuchsia coloured georgette of her dress. “Mind you,” she continues, speaking with her mouth full. “I don’t think Harriet likes it when I insist on making my own coffee.” She gulps loudly. “She doesn’t like it when I go onto the kitchen. She says it’s her domain.” She looks across at Lettice perched elegantly on the settee, dressed in a pretty pastel yellow frock that matches the trim of her straw hat. “I imagine your maid is the same.”

 

“I’m sure I haven’t asked Edith, Miss Ward.”

 

“Well, perhaps you should, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“What a ridiculous notion!” Lettice laughs. “Of course she wouldn’t mind! It’s my flat. I can come and go where and when I please.”

 

“If you’ll pardon me, my dear girl,” Miss Ward picks up the coffee pot and pours the steaming, rich golden brown liquid first into Lettice’s cup and then her own. “But it’s a ridiculous notion that you don’t. If I may be so bold: it may be your flat, but you’re a lady, and even I, the egalitarian American in the room, knows that masters and servants don’t mix. You probably vex the poor little mouse when you swan into her domain, rather than ring the servant’s bell. Not that she would tell you that of course! Your maid is much to meek to speak her mind, whereas Harriet tells me that god invented servants’ bells, so I don’t have to go into her kitchen.” She smiles cheekily. “Mind you, I draw the line at her making coffee for me or my guests.” She indicates to the milk jug and sugar bowl. “Now, there is cream in the jug and sugar in the bowl Miss Chetwynd. Do help yourself.” She picks up the jug and glugs a dollop of cream into her coffee before scooping up two large heaped teaspoons of sugar.

 

After Lettice has added a small amount of cream and a flat teaspoon of sugar to her own coffee, she looks around the drawing room observantly whilst she stirs her cup’s contents. To her delight, and no little amount of surprise, the room remains as she designed it. She was quite sure that Wanetta would rearrange her well thought out designs as soon as she moved in, yet against her predictions the furniture remains where she had them placed, the gold and yellow Murano glass comport still standing in the centre of the mantelpiece, the yellow celadon vase with gold bamboo in place on the console table. Even the small white vase, the only piece left over from the former occupier’s décor, remains next to the comport on the mantle. The American was ready to throw it into the dustbin at every opportunity, yet it happily nestles between the comport and a large white china vase of vibrant yellow roses and lilies. It is as she notices the celadon vase that she sees the painting of Wanetta, which only arrived at the flat when its sitter did.

 

“So that’s the famous yellow portrait, Miss Ward,” Lettice remarks, admiring the likeness of the dark haired American, draped in a golden yellow oriental shawl, sitting languidly in a chair.

 

“Oh yes!” gasps Miss Ward as she turns around in her armchair to look at the painting hanging to the right of the fireplace, above a black console table. “You haven’t seen it, have you? Do you like it?”

 

“Yes I do,” acknowledges Lettice. “It’s a remarkable likeness, and the artist has captured the light in your eyes so well.”

 

“Thank you, darling girl! I think it’s beautiful.”

 

“So is your coffee!” Lettice remarks. “It’s quite delicious, and not at all what Bramley makes for me at Glynes**.”

 

“I told you, you British drink sludge.” She takes an appreciative, if overly large, gulp of her own coffee. “Now this, is real coffee.”

 

“So, have you christened your cocktail cabinet, yet?”

 

“Yes I have. I threw a cocktail party for the actors, actresses, director and crew when we wrapped up ‘After the Ball is Over’. It was quite the occasion!”

 

“Oh I could well imagine, Miss Ward.”

 

“Of course,” the American quickly adds. “I’m sure it wasn’t anywhere near as extravagant as your cocktail party that you threw for Mr. and Mrs. Channon.”

 

“You heard about that then, Miss Ward?”

 

“Heard about it? My darling girl,” Her eyes widen and sparkle with excitement. “I immersed myself in the article published by the Tattler, drinking in every little detail of your fabulous soiree. You looked stunning, darling!”

 

Lettice blushes and shuffles awkwardly in her seat on the settee at the brazen compliment. “Thank you, Miss Ward.”

 

“So did Mrs. Channon, of course! And wasn’t Lady Diana Cooper’s*** robe de style**** to die for?”

 

“Err, yes… quite, Miss Ward.” Lettice replies awkwardly. Anxious to change the subject and move away from her own private life, and thereby avoid the American’s potential attempts to try and gather some gossip to share with her fellow actors and actresses at Islington Studios*****, Lettice asks. “And what’s the next moving picture you will be making, Miss Ward? Another villainess role in a historical romance?”

 

“Oh, the studio is shutting for Christmas, so I’m sailing on the Aquitania****** on Monday, back to the States to visit my parents. I haven’t seen them in an age, and, well, they aren’t getting any younger. Besides, Islington Studios are paying for the journey and are organising for me to promote ‘After the Ball is Over’ at a few functions whilst I’m back home.”

 

“That will be lovely for you, Miss Ward.”

 

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll be back in the new year, when we start filming ‘Skating and Sinning’.”

 

“’Skating and Sinning’, Miss Ward?”

 

“Yes!” the American gushes as she picks up the coffee pot which she proffers to Lettice, who declines, and then proceeds to fill her own cup. “It’s the first picture planned for 1922. Another historical drama, set in London in the Seventeenth Century, when the Thames froze over.”

 

“Yes, 1607 I believe.”

 

“You’re a font of knowledge, Miss Chetwynd!” Miss Ward exclaims, clapping her ring decorated hands in delight. “You never cease to amaze me! A first-class interior designer and a historian!”

 

“Knowing trivial historical facts is just part and parcel of an education in a family as old as mine, Miss Ward.” Lettice deflects, taking another sip of her coffee. “And the sinning?”

 

“The sinning, Miss Chetwynd?” the American woman queries.

 

“Well, I assume the frozen Thames explains the skating part of the film’s title, Miss Ward.”

 

“Oh, the sinning!” Miss Ward settles back in her armchair with a knowing smile, placing her coffee cup on the black japanned table between the two Chinese chairs. “Well, that’s me, darling!” She raises both her arms dramatically, the Spanish shawl gathering about her shoulders as she does. “I will be playing a merry young, recently widowed, Duchess, with her eyes on our heroine’s young betrothed!”

 

“And do you succeed, Miss Ward?”

 

“Ah-ah! That,” She wags her finger playfully at Lettice. “Would be telling, darling girl. I can’t go giving away the ending, or you won’t come see the film.”

 

Lettice smiles at the actress. “Well, I’m glad that London has entranced you enough to return from the delights of America.”

 

“Well of course it has! And anyway, I have to come back to enjoy and show off my beautiful new home!”

 

Lettice blushes at the compliment.

 

“I’ll have you know Miss Chetwynd, that at my cocktail party, I had so many compliments about this beautiful room, the furnishings and the décor. You’ll be hearing from directors and future starlets in the new year, I’ll guarantee!”

 

“I shall have to see whether I can accommodate them, Miss Ward.” Lettice replies. “As you know, I will be decorating some of the principal rooms of Mr. and Mrs. Channon’s country house in the new year, and I have a few other potential commissions currently under negotiation.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be able to squeeze them in, darling! When the moving pictures come knocking, you just won’t be able to say no.”

 

“Well…” Lettice begins, imagining her mother’s face drained of colour, and her father’s flushed with anger, if she takes on another commission from a moving picture actress.

 

“Oh, and thinking of my flat. The other reason why I asked you here.” Miss Ward interrupts, standing up and walking over to the console table beneath her portrait, where some papers sit beneath the base of one of the Murano glass bottles. She fumbles through them and withdraws a small slip of paper. Walking over to Lettice she hands it to her. “A cheque to settle my bill before I set sail for home, darling girl.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Ward.” Lettice replies, opening her lemon yellow handbag sitting between her and her black and yellow straw hat on the settee and depositing the cheque safely inside. “I appreciate your prompt payment.”

 

“It’s my pleasure, Miss Chetwynd.” the American replies. “And thank you again for all that you have done.” Her glittering eyes flit about the room. “I just love being here! It’s so perfect! It’s so, so me! A mixture of the old, and the new, the oriental and the European, all of which I love.”

 

“I’m so pleased you approve, Miss Ward. It is your home, after all.”

 

“I even have to concede that you were right about having touches of white in here. It adds a touch of class. And that wonderful wallpaper you suggested,” She indicates to the walls. “Well, it is the pièce de résistance of this room’s décor!” Stepping over to the fireplace, she picks up the small white vase. “This puzzles me though.” Her face crumples. “Why were you so anxious that I keep this vase?”

 

“Well, “ Lettice explains. “Call me sentimental, but I felt that it is part of your home’s story and coming from an old family home surrounded by history, I thought it would be a shame to see it just tossed away. I hope you don’t disagree.”

 

Miss Ward considers the small Parian vase in her manicured hands for a moment before replacing it. “Not at all, you sentimental girl you!”

 

The pair smile at one another, happily.

 

*Now known as the Corinthia Hotel, the Metropole Hotel is located at the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall Place in central London on a triangular site between the Thames Embankment and Trafalgar Square. Built in 1883 it functioned as an hotel between 1885 until World War I when, located so close to the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall, it was requisitioned by the government. It reopened after the war with a luxurious new interior and continued to operate until 1936 when the government requisitioned it again whilst they redeveloped buildings at Whitehall Gardens. They kept using it in the lead up to the Second World War. After the war it continued to be used by government departments until 2004. In 2007 it reopened as the luxurious Corinthia Hotel.

 

**Glynes is the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie.

 

***Born Lady Diana Manners, Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Cooper, Viscountess Norwich was an English aristocrat who was a famously glamorous social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrated group of intellectuals known as the Coterie, most of whom were killed in the First World War. She married Duff Cooper in 1919. In her prime, she had the widespread reputation as the most beautiful young woman in England, and appeared in countless profiles, photographs and articles in newspapers and magazines. She was a film actress in the early 1920s and both she and her husband were very good friends with Edward VIII and were guests of his on a 1936 yacht cruise of the Adriatic which famously caused his affair with Wallis Simpson to become public knowledge.

 

****The ‘robe de style’ was introduced by French couturier Jeanne Lanvin around 1915. It consisted of a basque bodice with a broad neckline and an oval bouffant skirt supported by built in wire hoops. Reminiscent of the Spanish infanta-style dresses of the Seventeenth Century and the panniered robe à la française of the Eighteenth Century they were made of fabric in a solid colour, particularly a deep shade of robin’s egg blue which became known as Lanvin blue, and were ornamented with concentrated bursts of embroidery, ribbons or ornamental silk flowers.

 

*****Islington Studios, often known as Gainsborough Studios, were a British film studio located on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in Shoreditch, London which began operation in 1919. By 1920 they had a two stage studio. It is here that Alfred Hitchcock made his entrée into films.

 

******The RMS Aquitania was a British ocean liner of the Cunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950. She was designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on the 21st of April 1913 and sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on the 30th of May 1914. Like her sister ships the ill fated Lusitania and the renown Mauritania, she was beautifully appointed and was a luxurious way for first and second-class passengers to travel across the Atlantic between Britain and America.

 

This upper-class 1920s Art Deco drawing room scene may be different to how it may appear, for the whole scene is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces I have had since I was a teenager and others that I have collected on my travels around the world.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The cherry blossom patterned tea set, which if you look closely at the blossoms, you will see they have gilt centres, I acquired from an online stockist on E-Bay. It stands on a silver tray that is part of tea set that comes from Smallskale Miniatures in England. To see the whole set, please click on this link: www.flickr.com/photos/40262251@N03/51111056404/in/photost.... The wonderful selection of biscuits on offer were made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering.

 

The wooden Chinese dragon chairs and their matching low table ,that serves as Wanetta’s tea table, I found in a little shop in Singapore whilst I was holiday there. They are beautifully carved from cherrywood.

 

The Queen Anne settee made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, JBM with great attention to detail.

 

The black japanned cocktail cabinet with its gilded handles was made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq.

 

All the glass comport on the mantlepiece has been blown and decorated and tinted by hand by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The white and gold Georgian Revival clock next to it is a 1:12 artisan miniature made by Hall’s Miniature Clocks, supplied through Doreen Jeffries Small Wonders Miniatures in England. The ginger jar to the right of the clock is hand painted. It is an item that I bought from a high street doll house stockist when I was a teenager.

 

The yellow celadon vase with gold bamboo painted on it, I bought as part of a job lot of small oriental vases from an auction many years ago. The soapstone lidded jar in the foreground came from the same auction house, but from a different job lot of oriental miniature pieces.

 

Lettice’s black straw hat with yellow trimming and a yellow rose, which sits on the settee is made by Mrs. Denton of Muffin Lodge. It is an artisan miniature made just like a real hat! 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. Lettice’s lemon yellow purse is also an artisan piece and is made of kid leather which is so soft. It is trimmed with very fine braid and the purse has a clasp made from a piece of earring. It come from Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders Miniatures in the United Kingdom. Lettice’s furled Art Deco umbrella is also a 1:12 artisan piece made of silk, acquired through an online stockist on E-Bay.

 

The vases of flowers on the mantle piece and side table are beautifully made by hand by the Doll House Emporium.

 

The stylised Art Deco fire screen is made using thinly laser cut wood, made by Pat’s Miniatures in England.

 

The black Bakelite and silver telephone is a 1:12 miniature of a model introduced around 1919. It is two centimetres wide and two centimetres high. The receiver can be removed from the cradle, and the curling chord does stretch out.

 

Wanetta’s paintings, including the yellow portrait, were made in America by Amber’s Miniatures.

 

The miniature Oriental rug on the floor was made by hand by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney

 

The Georgian style fireplace I have had since I was a teenager and is made from moulded plaster.

 

The striking wallpaper is an art deco design that was very popular during the 1920s.

A poor photo of a model that I recently purchased. This is a Balboa Models HOn3, three truck freight rail bus. I will replace this photo with a better one soon.

 

Scale: HOn3

Category: Passenger

Subcategory: Self Propelled

Type: RAIL BUS

Road: Rio Grande Southern (RGS)

Importer: Balboa Scale Models (BALBOA)

Year(s): 1967-68

Back in the 1920's and '30s, Bunkie's Landing was an area that dealt with the more nefarious aspects of commerce. The place was "colorful" enough that years later a story showed up in the Saturday Evening Post, complete with a romanticized illustration. There were hints that the Lint family, from Elgin Park, were heavily involved in the dubious dealings of the place, but enough time had passed that people were content to just use those stories as footnotes to the town's history.

By the time the 1950s arrived, Bunkie's Landing had become the local garbage dump.

 

On a different note...This is the same set I used for "The Noble, Humble Garbage Truck"

 

www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/27670803655/in/datepos...

 

The set itself was so evocative, and almost iconic in the Hollywood noir sense, that I felt compelled to stage another scene. And what better era than the 1930s, complete with a Cadillac Lux-O-Barge?

High end luxury vehicles rubbing shoulders with questionable business practices works every time.

 

On yet another topic... I was monkeying around with my camera and decided to change the settings on it, and as you can see from the photos, there is a distinct "painterly" look to the images. I'm not sure what happened, but I liked the effect.

  

A lightning strike in the distance over Artist's Point. Cook County, Minnesota.

 

For this shot, I got a little wet! I stacked a polarizer and ND Grad and then shot 2 to 3 second exposures. I ended up shooting about 300 pictures from this tripod placement (the waves pushed my tripod around at one point). Out of the 300 shots, three had lightning in it. Lot of dodging and burning going on. After I think about that, I may scale back a bit.

 

Explored!

Ukrainians!

And all our friends and allies!

De facto allies. Today, here in Kyiv, in the heart of our country, we are taking a decisive step for the security of the entire community of free nations.

We see who threatens us. Who is ready to kill and maim. Who in order to expand his zone of control does not stop at any savagery.

On February 24, the first full-scale attack on Ukraine was carried out. The first!

Russia would not have stopped at our borders if we had not stopped it. Other states would have been under attack. The Baltic countries, Poland, Moldova and Georgia, Kazakhstan...

Russia claimed to subjugate various nations of Europe and Asia. Claimed six months ago. This criminal ambition is breaking down in Ukraine. It was broken down in the suburbs of Kyiv and Chernihiv. In "Azovstal". In the Sumy region and Kharkiv region. On Zmiinyi Island. It will be broken down in Donbas and in the south of Ukraine when we liberate them. Definitely - in Crimea, in the free Ukrainian Crimea.

The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy - the enemy not only of Ukraine, but also of life itself, humanity, law and truth.

Russia already knows this. It feels our power. It sees that it is here, in Ukraine, that we prove the strength of our values. And that is why it is in a hurry. Organizes this farce with the attempted annexation. Tries to steal something that does not belong to it. Wants to rewrite history and redraw borders with murders, torture, blackmail and lies.

Ukraine will not allow that.

Today I held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The meeting of the National Security and Defense Council has just ended. We have a decision.

First – it is only the path of strengthening Ukraine and ousting the occupiers from our entire territory that restores peace. We will complete this path.

Second – Ukraine was and remains a leader in negotiation efforts. It was our state that always offered Russia to reach an agreement on coexistence on equal, honest, decent and fair terms. It is obvious that this is impossible with this Russian president. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but already with another president of Russia.

And third – we must de jure record everything we have already achieved de facto. It is in Ukraine that the fate of democracy in the confrontation with tyranny is being decided. It is here, with the firmness of our state borders, that we can secure the firmness of the borders of all European states. We can guarantee that no one else will dare to bring war back to our continent.

It is here, in Ukraine, that the values of our Euro-Atlantic community have obtained real vital energy. The strength of the nation that fights for freedom, and the strength of the nations that help in this fight.

We are de facto allies. This has already been achieved. De facto, we have already completed our path to NATO. De facto, we have already proven interoperability with the Alliance’s standards, they are real for Ukraine - real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction.

We trust each other, we help each other and we protect each other. This is what the Alliance is. De facto.

Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure. Under a procedure consistent with our significance for the protection of our entire community. Under an accelerated procedure.

We know it's possible. We have seen Finland and Sweden start accession to the Alliance this year without a Membership Action Plan.

This is fair. This is also fair for Ukraine. This is the consolidation at the level of the treaty of what has already been achieved in life and what are our values.

We understand that this requires the consensus of all members of the Alliance. We understand that it is necessary to reach such a consensus. And therefore, while this is happening, we offer to implement our proposals regarding security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe in accordance with the Kyiv Security Compact, which was developed and presented to our partners.

Security has no alternatives. But determination is needed to guarantee it.

We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.

 

Today, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine adopted a decision to impose sanctions on significant individuals and legal entities of Russia who did not have the courage to speak out in defense of humanity and international law, or who in one way or another are involved in aggressive steps against Ukraine and the community of democratic nations.

And at the same time, I am addressing the people's deputies of Ukraine: at the next session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a draft law on the nationalization of all Russian assets will be considered, which should significantly simplify this procedure. Please endorse this bill without delay.

We are completing the dismantling of Russian influence on Ukraine, Europe and the world.

Glory to Ukraine!

Alright! Let's go!

 

Oh, it's Buffaloman AGAIN. *

Or, 'Terri-Bull'...

Nyuk! Nyuk!

What's he gonna do this-

 

Origin time!

 

Wait, what?

No!

We're sorry!

Now??

 

Buffaloman (バッファローマン) is a Devil Chojin with allegiances to Akuma Shogun and Satan, but works alongside the Justice Chojin for a good portion of the original series, before retiring to teach the New Generation.

 

About

 

Buffaloman is a charging bull-themed Chojin and one of the Seven Devil Chojin who were said to be too strong and brutal and banished to the ends of the universe.

 

His techniques and fighting style usually rely on his immense strength and power, but in tight situations he can lower his power in order to become faster. Additionally, he specialises in brutal fighting. He is quite clever and will often lure his opponents into wasting stamina.

 

He is depicted as a formidable opponent and far more powerful than any other chojin; the concept of Chojin Power was introduced specifically to illustrate this point. Buffaloman's Chojin Power is 10,000,000 Power, which is 10 times that of Warsman, previously Kinnikuman's greatest opponent. By the end of the series many chojin who surpass 10,000,000 Power have appeared, but Buffaloman still boasts of his power and is the only one where it is treated as an advantage.

 

Personality

 

Despite being a Devil Chojin, he normally fights honourably and shows his opponents respect, even when using brutal methods in battle. During his fight with Kinnikuman his good heart is awakened, and he is revived as a Justice Chojin after his first death. He also has a great sense of companionship, showing great respect for his fallen comrades. He returns to his evil ways in Kinnikuman (2011), but he maintains his honorable side and does not hate his former allies.

 

Appearance

 

He is very large in both height and frame, and has two curved horns called Long Horns (ロングホーン) on both sides of his head, and has a spike on each knee. He has curly brown hair, with a darker shade of skin and pure white eyes. He wears protective gear around both his legs and arms, and tends to have some sort of chest protection in the first few scenes before being destroyed.

 

He also has red shoes and gloves. When Buffaloman was possesed, he had purple skin and a fire symbol across his face with a smile on it.

 

Relationships

 

Kinnikuman

Kinnikuman is the one that showed him that, even if he was a devil, he could become a hero, making Buffaloman to sacrify his last horn and power for the sake of Meat and the dead Justice Chojin. After his resurrection, he become an ally and friend to Kinnikuman, and he even let Doctor Bombe to use his horns as replacement for Kinnikuman's arm bones.

 

Springman

Buffaloman has a good relation with all his fellow Devil Chojins, but his closet friend seems to be Springman, and the both of them end up fighting in tag matches. They are also the last two Devil Chojin in been defeated in their debut arc. In Kinnikuman Nisei, is shown that Springman visited Buffaloman in hospital, and both travel to see the final match between Mantaro and Ashuraman.

 

Mongolman

He and Mongolman end up making a tag team to enter the Universal Chojin Tag Tournament, and they come up with some destructive techniques.

 

Abilities

Buffaloman primary use his horns to do all kinds of techniques and attacks, as well as his powerful body to destroy his opponents.

 

History

 

Prehistory

Buffaloman came from the Buffalo Clan. The clan was growing in power and fought over who would become king, and it descended into many years of fighting until the entire clan was wiped out, which left Buffaloman as the sole survivor. He originally had a Chojin Power of 1,000,000 units, and was continually beaten because he lacked skill. At an unknown point, he was training alone and crossed through a hurricane in his travels. The wind blew away a cross on a church, and it headed straight towards Buffaloman, who was forced to use his own power to stop the cross, which taught him the Chojin Cross Drop.

 

He eventually met and struck a deal with Satan, who granted him more Chojin Power each time he killed another chojin. Eventually he killed so many that his power had climbed to 10,000,000.

 

He and his comrades, all known as the Seven Devil Chojin (Springman, Atlantis, Stereo Cassette King, Black Hole, Mister Khamen, and The Mountain), were eventually captured by a grouping of 100,000 Justice Chojin and Space Police and trapped in a Chojin Roach Motel and sent into space.

 

Kinnikuman

Buffaloman initially appears as a villain, as one of the Seven Devil Chojin. He steals parts of Meat's body and forces Kinnikuman to fight in a tournament to retrieve them, culminating in a tag-match between Kinnikuman and Mongolman against Buffaloman and Springman. He joins the Justice Chojin side, after renouncing Satan and freeing Meat. He will later participate in various tournaments alongside the Justice Chojin, before fighting alongside Ataru Kinniku in the Survivor Match for the Kinniku Throne Arc.

 

Seven Devil Chojin Arc

 

Harabote reveals that seven chojin were banned from the Olympics, due to their ruthless nature, and these seven Devil Chojin were placed into a floating space prison named a "Roach Motel". The "Roach Motel" is accidentally opened, when Kinnikuman is thrown straight onto the release mechanism during celebrations of his most recent victory. Buffaloman and the other Devil Chojin arrive at a fan-appreciation day, where Kinnikuman and his friends are celebrating the conclusion of the 21st Chojin Olympics.

 

Buffaloman initially attacks Warsman, who attacks him in defence of the children present. He announces that they cannot allow Kinnikuman to call himself "champion", until he had defeated each of the Seven Devil Chojin. Buffaloman splits Alexandria Meat's body into seven pieces; this forces Kinnikuman to beat them all within 10 days, if he wants to save his friend. When Kinnikuman is too injured to keep fighting the Seven Devils (after he defeated SteCassette King and Black Hole), his friends step in to take on the remaining Devil Chojin in his place. Buffaloman is pitted against Warsman.

 

In the match, we see Warsman dodging a series of Hurricane Mixers. On the eleventh try, Buffaloman pierces Warsman's hip, and proceeds to take out a chunk of Warsman's helmet. Warsman tries an arm hold, but Buffaloman breaks free and attempts a knee drop, which is countered by a Jet Liner. Buffaloman is unaffected again, and uses a Long Horn Boomerang. Warsman follows with a Palo Special, but is thrown off by Buffaloman and damages his legs. Warsman then destroys his Bear Claws on Buffaloman's horn, when attempting a Screw Driver attack.

 

Buffaloman pierces a hole through Warsman's chest, which inspires Warsman to use his own version of the Fire of Inner Strength. After an exchange of blows, Warsman begins to smoke from his body, and he grows too exhausted to properly continue the match. Warsman attacks with his Bear Claws one last time, and he manages to break off one of Buffaloman's longhorns. Buffaloman uses a series of Hurricane Mixers to kill Warsman. He then walks away and leaves Warsman deceased in the ring.

 

The final match takes places in the Denen Colosseum.

 

Buffaloman faces Kinnikuman in a double match with Springman. There is only one hour left of the deadline, so Kinnikuman only has one hour to save Meat. The stadium is designed as a giant countdown, with bars around the edges that move for each second, and that will destroy pieces of Meat's body at the 30 minutes and 60 minute marks. Just as Kinnikuman is about to fight alone, Mongolman appears to make it a true tag-team match and join Kinnikuman in his fight against Springman and Buffaloman.

 

Despite it being called a tag-team match, Buffaloman's attention is focused exclusively on Kinnikuman, while Springman fights against Mongolman. Mongolman defeats Springman and saves Meat's limb. Buffaloman is an extremely tough opponent, and - changing colour, as he uses the full force of his 10 million Chojin Power - uses his power to reverse Kinnikuman's techniques, including his trademark finishing move: the Kinniku Buster. During an exchange of blows, Harabote uncovers information on Buffaloman.

 

After Buffaloman helps fix Kinnikuman's mask, he becomes fully possessed by Satan. When Buffaloman goes beneath the ring, shredding the canvas with his horn, Kinnikuman uses his arm to stop the horn, and tosses him back onto the ring. Buffaloman loses control of his power when he absorbs Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength. Buffaloman pierces Kinnikuman's body with his horn, before - overwhelmed by The Fire - the power returns to Kinnikuman and allows him survive.

 

Due to the respect Kinnikuman showed him, even though they were mortal enemies, Buffaloman changes sides at the end of the match. He cries out the key that will free Meat's head, which allows Meat to be saved just before the final countdown. Buffaloman vows to join the Justice Chojin, if he survives Satan's punishment for defeat. He s fatally injured by Satan, but - before he dies - he gives up his Chojin Power, bought with the blood of other heroes, to bring back to life Warsman, Robin Mask and Wolfman, who had died fighting his teammates.

 

Golden Mask Arc

 

Kinnikuman struggles to make it through a door to the final match, and - at the last moment - Buffaloman uses his high chojin power to keep the door open for him. When Kinnikuman offers him a seat at the ring-side, on the side of the justice chojin, Buffaloman refuses and joins the devil chojin in the corner of Ashuraman. Ashuraman appears to gain the upper-hand, but - in a dispute with Meat - Buffaloman inadvertently gives Kinnikuman inspiration needed to counter-attack.

 

After Akuma Shogun murders Ashuraman, Buffaloman is inspired to rejoin the justice chojin.

 

He then confronts the Devil Knights leader, Akuma Shogun, in order to give Kinnikuman more time to perfect the Kinniku Driver. He is eventually defeated by Devil Shogun's Hell's Guillotine technique. During the fight between Akuma Shogun and Kinnikuman, Akuma Shogun begins to revive the Devil Knights and absorb them to become more powerful, but Buffaloman puts on Akuma Shogun's mask and fights them off, which gives Kinnikuman the chance he needed to defeat Akuma Shogun with the Kinniku Driver.

 

Dream Chojin Tag Arc

 

A second Mount Fuji appears in Japan.

 

On top of this mountain, the Universal Chojin Tag Team trophy appears. Underneath, there appears a series of rings that allow for eight tag-teams to compete. Buffaloman - along with the other justice chojin - goes to Kourakuen Hall to discuss the situation. Buffaloman refuses to team up with Kinnikuman and leaves. He sends a letter to Mongolman, asking him to join him as a new tag-team.

 

Buffaloman and Mongolman forms the 20 Million Powers. The name of their combo comes from Buffaloman's 10,000,000 power and Mongolman's 10,000,000 techniques (10 Million + 10 Million). In the first-round match-ups, the teams are required to navigate a labyrinth to be matched against their opponents, and the 20 Million Powers are matched against the Most Dangerous Combo. Just as the 20 Million Powers and Most Dangerous Combo are about to begin their fight, during the Dream Chojin Tag Arc, the Killer Game Combo arrive. This leads to the Killer Game Combo defeating the Most Dangerous Combo.

 

Brocken Jr. does not want his loss to count for nothing, so - to allow the 20 Million Powers to win - he challenges Buffaloman and allows himself to be pinned; this allows 20 Million Powers to officially win the match. This technical win allows the 20 Million Powers to advance to the next round, but the 20 Million Powers attack the Killer Game Combo for their intrusion. Buffaloman uses a feint against Screw Kid, but Mongolman - using the distraction to attack - injures his leg in the process.

 

Buffaloman is then struck by Kendaman, and the Killer Game Combo ask for formal permission to enter the tournament in the place of the Most Dangerous Combo. The 20 Million Powers declare that they will earn their place in the next round by first defeating the Killer Game Combo. The match began with a fierce one-on-one battle between Buffaloman and Kendaman, but Buffaloman tries a Hurricane Mixer on Kendaman, but it fails. Buffaloman is then caught in a Scorpion Defence by Kendaman.

 

He proceeds to break off his Long Horn and breaks the glass of the War-Cube, but is then attacked by a Hell's Screwdriver, which is only stopped by the thrown hair of Mongolman. Buffaloman counters with a powered-up Hurricane Mixer. Fearing the punishment that comes from failing their superiors, Screw Kid and Kendaman begin to use dirty tactics. At this point Neptuneman and Big the Budo reveal themselves, and Kendaman and Screw Kid abandon the match to attack them, and the 20 Million Powers win by default, as the Killer Game Combo are killed by the Hell Missionaries outside of the ring.

 

During the match-up lottery for the semi-final placements, the 20 Million Powers are matched with the Hell Missionaries. The first match is between the Muscle Brothers and the Stray Devil Chojin Combo, and the 20 Million Powers stay at the edge of the ring to act as spotters. At the end of the match, after the defeat of the Stray Devil Chojin Combo, the Hell Missionaries attack Sunshine, only to be stopped by the 20 Million Powers. They then allow the Hell Missionaries to attack, as the dolls - created by the Stray Devil Chojin to steal the justice chojin Friendship Power scatter, and thus creates animosity between the justice chojin.

 

The semi-final match against the Hell Missionaries is a simple barbed-wire cage match, but also a mask-removal death-match in which Mongolman must bet his mask. Buffaloman is thrown into the barbed wire by Neptuneman, who then switches with Mongolman, who is at a disadvantage from being unable to use the rope for his techniques. After being thrown into the screen cage, Mongolman rebounds with a kick.

 

After a series of blows, the 20 Million Powers seem to have the upper hand. Mongolman begins to suffer flashbacks within the ring, as the cage reminds him of his match against Warsman, and Buffaloman is unable to tag in, as both of the Hell Missionaries attack him. The spirit of Warsman helps Mongolman. Buffaloman is tagged in and uses a Buffalo Avalanche Drop. He proceeds to attach his Long Horn, and uses a Hurricane Heat. Mongolman is tagged into the match, but subject to a Cross Bomber.

 

Neptuneman uses his Magnet Power in retaliation. This heals the wounds of the Hell's Missionaries, and they try continuously to attack with Cross Bombers attacks, only to fail. Due to the Iron Sweat on Mongolman and Buffaloman, they are dragged towards the Hell Missionaries by their magnet power, and they almost defeat the 20 Million Powers with a Magnetic Storm Driver. The 20 Million Powers are then further attacked by a magnetic suplex. They are soon entangled in the magnetic barbed wires, as they regain their Friendship Power, and the Justice Chojin regain their power of friendship overall.

 

The iron sweat breaks from Mongoman and Buffaloman, and Buffaloman uses his Longhorn Train. This increases the power of the Hell's Missionaries, who use a Silhouette Body Press, and - after a series of blows - are thrown from the war-cube. The Hell's Missionaries summon thunder to increase their electrical power. Their Lightning Sabre attack renders Buffaloman and Ramenman immobile, and Buffaloman uses a fragment of Iron Sweat to draw Neptuneman away from Mongolman.

 

Buffaloman collapses against the mat, defeated by the Light Sabres.

 

Mongolman carries Buffaloman on his back, as they try again for a Longhorn Train, but they are defeated by a Magnetic Storm Crash. Once Ramenman is defeated, Buffaloman is rushed to hospital alongside Kinnikuman and Ramenman. At hospital, Doctor Bombe removes Buffaloman's horn in order to save Kinnikuman's arm, even knowing it would result in Buffaloman's death, but the tears in Buffaloman's eyes mark his consent to the procedure.

 

Blood Oath Brigade Formation!

 

This story covered the formation of Kinnikuman Soldier's team in detail. Brocken Jr. and Buffaloman want to join Soldier's team, but Asuraman and The Ninja aren't on board with that idea. According to Asuraman, Buffaloman is too easily swayed by his emotions, which is why he never became a Devil Knight despite having exceptional talent.

 

Kinnikuman Soldier shows up and interrupted Asuraman and The Ninja's departure. In response, The Ninja attempted to read Kinnikuman Soldier's mind with his Expose the Heart jutsu, but there's nothing to read. Unlike the other Fated Princes, Soldier has no ambition to destroy his opponents and take over the throne.

 

Asuraman gets into a fight against Soldier, but Soldier easily fends him off. Soldier even escaped the Asura Buster in a similar fashion to Kinnikuman and counters with a Dragon Cube Suplex. Buffaloman deduces why Soldier would pick those four. Pride is their main characteristic. According to Asuraman, "all four chojin are bull headed guys who won't listen to anyone".

 

Asuraman asks if Soldier is a fake Soldier and Soldier confirms this theory. He ambushed the real Soldier's team while they were training near Mt. Fuji and stole the real Soldier's mask. The fake Soldier explains that he joined the tournament because the Friendship Power the Justice Chojin use is a sham and that the pride that they share can bring out their true strength.

 

Asuraman wants Soldier to prove why this team of outcasts would make an excellent team. Soldier tells him to be silent. A real man would never talk so much. Instead, he'd silently watch the result with his own eyes. Asuraman follows up with his Tornado Hell, but Soldier dodges, causing the building already worn down by the Rolling Cube Suplex to collapse on top of them. Soldier heals them all with a Face Flash. With this act, Soldier convinced them to join his team for the upcoming tournament.

 

Survivor Match Arc

When Kinnikuman's right to the Kinniku Throne was challenged by five pretenders to the throne, Ataru Kinniku forms a team of five people to fight in a tournament to determine who shall be king of Planet Kinniku. [50] Buffaloman - sans his horns - arrives at the house of Brocken Jr., along with Asuraman and The Ninja. Ataru asks them to join his team, as well as to meet him at Nagoya Castle in three days time, and - during that time - they watch him from a distance to ascertain his character.

 

After Ataru defeats Bockman and saves a boy, Buffaloman and the others decide to join his team. They proceed to enter Nagoya Castle and face against Team Phoenix, as they announce they have formed The Chojin Blood Oath Brigade. After the defeat of The Ninja and Asuraman, Nagoya and Himeji Castles fly away from their locations and join as one structure.

 

In the final match during the semi-finals battle against Team Super Phoenix and Team Soldier (Soldier, Buffaloman, and Brocken) competed in a 6-Man Tag Match against Super Phoenix (Mammothman, and Prisman). The match takes place in a floating multi-sided ring. Buffaloman, for the most part, fought against Mammothman. Tremendously weaker without his Long Horns, he found himself losing against the nearly unstoppable Mammothman. He was finally able to gain and advantage when Kinnikuman returned the Long Horns used to fix his arm before the Tag match finals. Soon after, Brocken took out Prisman, but then fell into the canyon below and died. Seeing how much Soldier and Buffaloman cared for their fallen comrade convinced Super Phoenix that Soldier wasn't the real Soldier.

 

As Soldier begins to have his true identity figured out by his own father Mayumi as his long-lost elder son Ataru, the Evil Gods choose to sabotage him to eliminate him and help Phoenix win the tournament. The God of Brutality steals a page from the Muscle Prophecy, a book owned by Kinniku Clan royalty which contains past, present, and even future information on every Chojin ever, as a means to reveal who Soldier is to Super Phoenix. As the God of Brutality attempts to give the page to Super Phoenix via Mammothman, Buffaloman sees a vision of Mayumi in his head, forcing him to take the page to protect it. As the mammoth Chojin prepares to hand it to Phoenix, the bull Chojin performs the Chojin Cross Drop on him, jumping out of the ring and forcing Buffaloman to hold the page in his mouth. As they fall, Mammothman hits Buffaloman with his Nose Fencing technique and retains the page. At the last second, Buffaloman hits Mammothman with a Buffalo Bomb on the roof of the Himeji/Nagoya castle and saves the page again.

 

The Evil Gods then arrived and began attacking the floating ring in an attempt to take out Ataru. As the ring fell, Buffaloman caught it and held it up. Weakened from the battle with Mammothman, he put on a red headband given to him by the other Justice Chojins and found enough strength to not only hold the ring up longer but also remove his arm guards and toss them up to Ataru. He then pushed it into the air and as it fell again, he jumped up and hit it with a Hurricane Mixer, successfully putting it back in mid-air. Unfortunately, Buffaloman had no more strength and fell into the canyon below. He is revived (along with his teammates) after the tournament by Kinnikuman's Face Flash.

 

Kinnikuman 2011

 

Perfect Origin Arc

 

Prehistory

Like all the other Idol Chojin, Buffaloman was sent off to his home of Spain by Harabote so he could be placed in Medical Suspension, to help him recover from his many injuries from matches past.

 

However, when he finished his Medical Suspension and made his return while the Seven Devil Chojin invaded the full-scale tournament going on, he declared he was a Devil Chojin again, renegading on his Idol Chojin friends out of nowhere.

 

The Seven Devil Chojin reconvene in their base. Buffaloman returns, where they all decide which of the Perfect Large Numbers they shall do battle against, and Buffaloman decides to fight against Strong the Budo, due to the fact that whomever fights him will likely lose and he will not sacrifice his teammates. The Mountain refuses to allow this to happen, and offers to sacrifice himself instead, due to the team needing Buffaloman to serve as their leader. He asks only that Buffaloman not avert his gaze during his match.

 

After Black Hole's match with Dalmatiman, Buffaloman announces that the Devil Chojin are going to purge all Perfect Chojin for their master, Devil Shogun. During the first stage, he mostly oversees how the Devil Chojin fight the Perfect Chojin.

 

In a flashback, it's revealed that Buffaloman made the choice to return to the Devil Chojin and fight alongside them, which the Seven Devil Chojin welcomed greatly. But they wouldn't let him join them to fight the Perfect Large Numbers because he was their "ace", their leader and without them, the Seven Devil Chojin couldn't perform at their best.

 

Diablos vs. John Does

Grim Reaper and Turboman enter with the New Large Numbers.

 

Grim Reaper reveals the next location - of the second-stage of the tournament - will be the Saqqara Pyramid, which has been relocated to Japan's Tottori Dunes. The Grim Reaper lands on the third step, while Turboman takes the fourth step. The Justice Chojin follow them to the mountain, and Buffaloman is assigned against Turboman, who attacks him with a drop-kick before he can enter the ring.

 

He then drags Buffaloman into the ring with a Turboman Stunner. Turboman punches Buffaloman while he's down, until Buffaloman counters with a headbutt and proceeds to use a back-drop. [60] It is then that Springman arrives on the fourth step to fight the Grim Reaper. [61] Grim Reaper begin the match with a Buzzsaw Hat, which cuts Springman's leg as he enters the ring with a jump.

 

Grim Reaper throws Springman against the corner-post, but the post goes through Springman's hollow body and allows him to remain unharmed, and a Spring-Body Breaking-Squeeze breaks the corner-post. A Spring Transfer allows him to distract Grim Reaper, whereby he land a drop-kick to the face. While Turboman and Grim Reaper, struggle in their matches and appear to be losing, Jak Tea fights against Black Hole and creates a strong geyser before he dies. This creates a crack along the pyramid.

 

Turboman frees himself from Buffaloman with a Somersault Kick. He tries a body-press, but Buffaloman catches him and counters with a back-flip. The fifth step finally collapses from the cracks and descends into the fourth step, where the two single matches combine into one tag-match. Turboman gets Buffaloman into a tombstone pile-driver, but - as he prepares for another attack - Springman and Buffaloman combine to use a Chojin Dodgeball. Springman is chastised for attacking Turboman, who was not his original opponent, as the match rules must abide by those of a single-match (due to the unusual circumstances).

 

The two teams agree to form a tag-team match with tag-team rules.

 

Springman lunges at Turboman, who uses a lariat and a Starter Revolver, but gets his arm caught inside Springma, who retaliates with a Spring Cyclone. Springman proceeds to use a Killer-Coil Head Attack. A second attempt at the attack is deflected by Turboman's a back-kick. It nearly knocks Springman out of the ring, until Buffaloman catches him. Turboman charges with a flying-cross, but the Diabolos counter again with a Devil Expander. Buffaloman then bounces off Springman to kick Turboman, who proceeds with a series of blows. Turboman uses a Glove Revolver and a Turbine Chop.

 

Buffaloman and Turboman return to their corners, and Turboman tags in Grim Reaper, who spins around on Turboman's head and delivers an Ignition Dress to Buffaloman. They proceed to use a John Does Arrow. The Diabolos try another Devil Expander, but Turboman dives through Springman and knocks Buffaloman out of the ring, before hitting him again with another John Does Arrows. A High-Capacity John Does Arrow sends Turboman towards Buffaloman, who manages to catch him and slams him against the wall, which causes the wall to crumble into the shape of a flight of stairs.

 

This allows Springman to use a Devil Slinky. He uses a Spring Body-Breaking Squeeze, which causes Turboman's body to start to glow, as Turboman stores the energy of his opponents. Turboman uses a High-Speed Turbo-Crash, as their two attacks seem to create a stalemate, but soon the release of Turboman's energy causes Springman to harden. He proceeds to stab Springman in his face with Revolver Spikes, and a Revolver Fin causes Springman's body to crash into Buffaloman.

 

Springman finds strength to lift Buffaloman, despite his weakened state. The Diabolos attempt a Long Horn Train, but - when it only glances off Turboman - follow with a Most Super Express. They follow with a third attack, which against glances off Turboman, but Turboman finds strength to use a Revolver Stud while Springman starts to crumble away. Springman uses all his strength to throw Buffaloman into a Hurricane Mixer, and Buffaloman's horns break through Turboman's Revolver attack and pierce his chest. This leads to Turboman's death, followed by Springman dying within Buffaloman's arms.

 

The Grim Reaper proceeds to Turboman's corpse, where he opens Turboman's back and steals his Earth Unit (which allows him to store energy to use against an opponent), and then kicks Turboman's body out of the ring. The Grim Reaper removes his robe, which he uses to taunt Buffaloman like a matador, and uses a Skeleton Body to avoid being struck with a Hurricane Mixer. The Grim Reaper states that people fall victim to Buffaloman's attack due to fear and fidgety movements, but - knowing no fear - he cannot be hurt.

 

The Grim Reaper grabs Buffaloman by his horns, before grabbing at his skin and flipping him over, and - in the process - tears chunks of skin from Buffaloman. The Grim Reaper proceeds to tear off more skin from Buffaloman, and attacks with a Dress Spear, which reveals all the scars on Buffaloman's body from previous matches. He is eventually countered by Buffaloman's Buffalo Hammer. The Grim Reaper proceeds to capture Buffaloman's legs, as he sets up for a John Does Arrows, before revealing it can double as a solo-technique called the Phantom Canon. This causes Buffaloman's scars to reopen in a bloody manner.

 

Buffaloman summons his blood back into his body by force of will. The scars move to Buffaloman's horn and turn it into a Long Horn, before he speeds around the Grim Reaper and lands a series of blows. The Grim Reaper uses an Ignition Dress, followed by a Thunder Sabre, which pins Buffaloman to the canvas, and the Grim Reaper uses the Earth Unit to absorb power from Buffaloman. The sheer power from Buffaloman causes the Earth Unit to break, and Buffaloman uses a Hurricane Mixer.

 

This is followed with a Chojin Cross Slam. The Diabolos are declared the winners of the match, and Psychoman exposes his chest with the offer that Buffaloman kills him as he sees fit, due to the Perfect Chojin suicide rule and out of respect to Buffaloman as the victor. The Grim Reaper taunts Buffaloman until Buffaloman stabs him through the chest with his horn, and this cements Buffaloman's return to a Devil Chojin, preventing him from going back to his Justice Chojin allies. Psychoman then vanishes.

 

Buffaloman takes a piece of Springman's body and leaves.

 

After the Perfect Origin hit the scene, and Grim Reaper reveals himself to be Psychoman, Buffaloman decides to make up for letting him escape alive, but Devil Knight Planetman beats Buffaloman to fighting Psychoman. Buffaloman mostly observes while the Devil Knights take on the Perfect Origin.

 

Buffaloman vs. Ganman

The fight takes place on the first ring of Yggdrasil.

 

They begin by clashing horns in a rapid succession, before Ganman slams Buffaloman's head onto the corner-post with a bulldog headlock. Ganman attempts to ram into Buffaloman, but Buffaloman counters with a preemptive kick, and attempts a body-press, which is caught by Ganman in turn. He throws Buffaloman down, before they lock hands centre of the ring, and Ganman attempts a double over-hook suplex; which prompts Buffaloman to state that he cannot lose, as he must avenge Sneagator.

 

Buffaloman extends one horn, and uses it to pierce into Ganman's right shoulder. This is followed by a Hurricane Devil Sword, as well as a Buffalo Hammer, until Ganman throws Buffaloman out of the ring and forces him to prevent his fall by drilling into the stone ring. Buffaloman drills a tunnel under the ring, which allows him to pierce his horn through the surface for a Devil Shark manoeuvre. It is impossible for Ganman to "read" Buffaloman's moves while he is underground, and Buffaloman knocks him down by targeting his legs.

 

Ganman begins to dodge the horn by sensing Buffaloman's breathing, and catches the horn in his hands, which he uses to drag Buffaloman out of the ring, before using Elk Horn Scissors. He slams Buffaloman onto the ring, which reduces the size of his horn, and Ganman shines a light down on Buffaloman with his cyclops eye. Buffaloman attempts a Hurricane Mixer, but Ganman catches him by his horns and proceeds to use a brain-buster. It is revealed Buffaloman is holding back his power, and Kinnikuman and Akuma Shogun convince him to use his full power once more. Buffaloman breaks out of a Canadian Back-Breaker.

 

He uses a Reverse Suplex, before struggling evenly with Ganman in the middle of the ring. The two engage in a series of even blows, but the scars on Buffaloman start to reopen as he gains back the Friendship Power of the Justice Chojin, and - after an equal battle - Ganman breaks off one of Buffaloman's horns. Ganman gains the upper-hand, after a series of carefully aimed blows, until Buffaloman punches his own eye so that he is left with one working eye (just like Ganman) in order to create a 'fair' fight.

 

They lock together evenly again in the ring, until Buffaloman dares Ganman to use his eye power on Chojin Enma. This provokes Ganman to use an Elk Horn Compressor, as he states he will not use his eye power on Chojin Enma due to having faith in him as a person. He follows with an Elk Horn Tempest, but - as the throws Buffaloman - Buffaloman uses his one remaining horn to swing on the corner-post. Buffaloman builds up speed by moving post to post, and uses a new finishing move: Hurricane Giga Blaster.

 

This completely destroys Ganman's horns. Ganman reveals he has remembered Buffaloman's name, which proves he considers Buffaloman a worthy adversary due to how he forgets all other opponents' names, and hands him his dumbbell. This kills Ganman, who dies upon the canvas.

 

Omega Centauri's Six Spear Arc

 

He was hanging out with the remaining of the Devil Chojin, when suddenly, a magic barrier seal them inside their HQ, making them unable to face off against the Omega invaders.

 

Unnamed Arc

 

As Brocken Jr. and Ataru console Ashuraman's loss after he saw Satan Cross die to The Natural, Buffaloman and The Ninja arrive. Buffaloman notes the coincidence of the five in the same location. The Chojin Blood Oath Brigade has formed again. Ataru believes it is up to the Chojin Blood Oath Brigade to unite as one and put an end to the dangers of the Choushin. Ashuraman is the one who will step up to the plate first.

 

During the fight between Caucasusman and Mammothman, the Chojin Blood Oath Brigade talk about Mammothman's poor showing in his fight against Caucasusman. Buffaloman talks about how tough Mammothman was during their fight and that Mammothman's calmness unnerved him. The Choushin are crafty enough to place their opponents into tricky situations and Mammothman is not used to that. All they can do is wait for something within Mammothman to break.

 

After the declaration of the God of Harmony about the opening of the Tower of Babel, Buffaloman decides to be one of the chojins to enter the tower. Once they arrive and enter, they are challenged by the first god, who introduced himself as the God of Evolution, now known as The Executioner. He didn't feel confortable leaving the first rival to Geronimo, knowing that if the young chojin fail, they will be all doomed. But surprinsigly, Geronimo wins, and three new doors are opened.

 

He decides to travel with Kinnikuman and Warsman, arriving to the next level where they are greet by the choushin of said level. Kinnikuman tries to hide behind Buffaloman, but he take him and tries to throw him into the ring, annoyed by his cowardice, but Warman is the one that jumps into the ring to face against the choushin, who introduce himself as Onyxman.

 

Kinnikuman Nisei

 

Buffaloman acts as a teacher within the Hercules Factory. He is matched against Terry the Kid in the graduation matches, which he loses and allows for Terry the Kid to graduate. He will later participate in an exhibition match during the Chojin Olympics, which he fights with Ramenman against The Machineguns. In the Ultimate Chojin Tag Tournament, he again teams up with Ramenman, but will ultimately lose against the Muscle Brothers Nouveau.

 

Hercules Factory Arc

 

He became one of the many instructors at the Hercules Factory, training the future generation of chojin to fight evil. He is then assigned to the last test for the First Year Graduation: fight one of the new generation chojin, to see if he is worthy or needs more training.

 

He end up fighting Terry the Kid, the son of the famous Terryman. After a quick fight, Terry the Kid manage to defeat him with his Texas Clover Hold, congratulating him for his win shortly after.

 

HF First Year Replacement Matches Arc

 

He is shown to have been defeated by one of the new First Years: Jade. He then return to see the final match of the tournament, alongside the other teachers that were defeated by the Generation EX.

 

Demon Seed Arc

 

Buffaloman meets with Meat and goes with him to check a disturbance. He collapses when Alexandria Meat is taken by six tendrils, much like what happened to him 36 years ago, and the six people reveal themselves to be the ultimate Devil Chojin: the Demon Seeds. Buffaloman cries to see that the new generation cannot enter the General Palast.

 

Jade begs Buffaloman to help, but Buffaloman - weeping and in a rage - strikes Jade over and over, as he expresses guilt over his actions 36 years ago that set current events into action.

 

He stabs himself in the chest with a jagged piece of rock, and tears open the wound to accept the General Stone and reaffirms his pact with Satan. [85] He uses his newfound powers to open a hole in the barrier, but only one chojin can pass through as his strength is not enough for more. The barrier closes just after Mantaro Kinniku enters, trapping them both inside, but also cutting off Buffaloman's horn in the process.

 

Buffaloman tosses away the General stone, only to be carried - in his weak state - by Mantaro. Mantaro is forced to choose an opponent, but The Constellation attacks before the match, and Buffaloman blocks an arrow aimed at Mantaro with his body in defence of his ex-pupil. The Constellation pushes the arrow further into the wound and then proceeds to break his arm, but Buffaloman counters with his Hurricane Mixer. The Constellation uses a Suplex, which smashes Buffaloman's head against the concrete floor and cracks open his skull, incapacitating him.

 

Mantaro struggles to gain an advantage, but Buffaloman's advice helps him to counter. The Constellation uses a broken post of the ring to attack Buffaloman, so as to stop his invaluable advice, and it strikes Buffaloman on the forehead and knocks him unconscious. He regains consciousness just long enough to offer Mantaro further encouragement, before he faints once more. Mantaro tries to carry Buffaloman to safety, but - due to his injuries - passes out in the central chamber and collapses next to Buffaloman, at which point the B-Evolutions arrive.

 

Ultimate Chojin Tag Tournament Arc

 

Prehistory

Buffaloman appears late into this arc, as he participates in the tournament at Kourakuen Stadium. He is featured alongside Mongolman (Ramenman) as part of the 20 Million Powers; despite his missing horns, from the match three days ago in his timeline, Buffaloman seeks to distract the New Generation (to which he sees as the villains). Buffaloman chastises Robin Mask for helping Chaos Avenir, as he believes they are responsible for Alisa Mackintosh's accident.

 

Battle Royale

 

He fights against The Gaon and Emperor Death, in a battle royale for the opening match, and their opponents start with the upper hand.

 

History

 

Prehistory

Buffaloman came from the Buffalo Clan. The clan was growing in power and fought over who would become king, and it descended into many years of fighting until the entire clan was wiped out, which left Buffaloman as the sole survivor. He originally had a Chojin Power of 1,000,000 units, and was continually beaten because he lacked skill. At an unknown point, he was training alone and crossed through a hurricane in his travels. The wind blew away a cross on a church, and it headed straight towards Buffaloman, who was forced to use his own power to stop the cross, which taught him the Chojin Cross Drop.

 

He eventually met and struck a deal with Satan, who granted him more Chojin Power each time he killed another chojin. Eventually he killed so many that his power had climbed to 10,000,000.

 

He and his comrades, all known as the Seven Devil Chojin (Springman, Atlantis, Stereo Cassette King, Black Hole, Mister Khamen, and The Mountain), were eventually captured by a grouping of 100,000 Justice Chojin and Space Police and trapped in a Chojin Roach Motel and sent into space.

 

Kinnikuman

Buffaloman initially appears as a villain, as one of the Seven Devil Chojin. He steals parts of Meat's body and forces Kinnikuman to fight in a tournament to retrieve them, culminating in a tag-match between Kinnikuman and Mongolman against Buffaloman and Springman. He joins the Justice Chojin side, after renouncing Satan and freeing Meat. He will later participate in various tournaments alongside the Justice Chojin, before fighting alongside Ataru Kinniku in the Survivor Match for the Kinniku Throne Arc.

 

Seven Devil Chojin Arc

 

Harabote reveals that seven chojin were banned from the Olympics, due to their ruthless nature, and these seven Devil Chojin were placed into a floating space prison named a "Roach Motel". The "Roach Motel" is accidentally opened, when Kinnikuman is thrown straight onto the release mechanism during celebrations of his most recent victory. Buffaloman and the other Devil Chojin arrive at a fan-appreciation day, where Kinnikuman and his friends are celebrating the conclusion of the 21st Chojin Olympics.

 

Buffaloman initially attacks Warsman, who attacks him in defence of the children present. He announces that they cannot allow Kinnikuman to call himself "champion", until he had defeated each of the Seven Devil Chojin. Buffaloman splits Alexandria Meat's body into seven pieces; this forces Kinnikuman to beat them all within 10 days, if he wants to save his friend. When Kinnikuman is too injured to keep fighting the Seven Devils (after he defeated SteCassette King and Black Hole), his friends step in to take on the remaining Devil Chojin in his place. Buffaloman is pitted against Warsman.

 

In the match, we see Warsman dodging a series of Hurricane Mixers. On the eleventh try, Buffaloman pierces Warsman's hip, and proceeds to take out a chunk of Warsman's helmet. Warsman tries an arm hold, but Buffaloman breaks free and attempts a knee drop, which is countered by a Jet Liner. Buffaloman is unaffected again, and uses a Long Horn Boomerang. Warsman follows with a Palo Special, but is thrown off by Buffaloman and damages his legs. Warsman then destroys his Bear Claws on Buffaloman's horn, when attempting a Screw Driver attack.

 

Buffaloman pierces a hole through Warsman's chest, which inspires Warsman to use his own version of the Fire of Inner Strength. After an exchange of blows, Warsman begins to smoke from his body, and he grows too exhausted to properly continue the match. Warsman attacks with his Bear Claws one last time, and he manages to break off one of Buffaloman's longhorns. Buffaloman uses a series of Hurricane Mixers to kill Warsman. He then walks away and leaves Warsman deceased in the ring.

 

The final match takes places in the Denen Colosseum.

 

Buffaloman faces Kinnikuman in a double match with Springman. There is only one hour left of the deadline, so Kinnikuman only has one hour to save Meat. The stadium is designed as a giant countdown, with bars around the edges that move for each second, and that will destroy pieces of Meat's body at the 30 minutes and 60 minute marks. Just as Kinnikuman is about to fight alone, Mongolman appears to make it a true tag-team match and join Kinnikuman in his fight against Springman and Buffaloman.

 

Despite it being called a tag-team match, Buffaloman's attention is focused exclusively on Kinnikuman, while Springman fights against Mongolman. Mongolman defeats Springman and saves Meat's limb. Buffaloman is an extremely tough opponent, and - changing color, as he uses the full force of his 10 million Chojin Power - uses his power to reverse Kinnikuman's techniques, including his trademark finishing move: the Kinniku Buster. During an exchange of blows, Harabote uncovers information on Buffaloman.

 

After Buffaloman helps fix Kinnikuman's mask, he becomes fully possessed by Satan. When Buffaloman goes beneath the ring, shredding the canvas with his horn, Kinnikuman uses his arm to stop the horn, and tosses him back onto the ring. Buffaloman loses control of his power when he absorbs Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength. Buffaloman pierces Kinnikuman's body with his horn, before - overwhelmed by The Fire - the power returns to Kinnikuman and allows him survive.

 

Due to the respect Kinnikuman showed him, even though they were mortal enemies, Buffaloman changes sides at the end of the match. He cries out the key that will free Meat's head, which allows Meat to be saved just before the final countdown. Buffaloman vows to join the Justice Chojin, if he survives Satan's punishment for defeat. He s fatally injured by Satan, but - before he dies - he gives up his Chojin Power, bought with the blood of other heroes, to bring back to life Warsman, Robin Mask and Wolfman, who had died fighting his teammates.

 

Golden Mask Arc

 

Kinnikuman struggles to make it through a door to the final match, and - at the last moment - Buffaloman uses his high chojin power to keep the door open for him. When Kinnikuman offers him a seat at the ring-side, on the side of the justice chojin, Buffaloman refuses and joins the devil chojin in the corner of Ashuraman. Ashuraman appears to gain the upper-hand, but - in a dispute with Meat - Buffaloman inadvertently gives Kinnikuman inspiration needed to counter-attack.

 

After Akuma Shogun murders Ashuraman, Buffaloman is inspired to rejoin the justice chojin.

 

He then confronts the Devil Knights leader, Akuma Shogun, in order to give Kinnikuman more time to perfect the Kinniku Driver. He is eventually defeated by Devil Shogun's Hell's Guillotine technique. During the fight between Akuma Shogun and Kinnikuman, Akuma Shogun begins to revive the Devil Knights and absorb them to become more powerful, but Buffaloman puts on Akuma Shogun's mask and fights them off, which gives Kinnikuman the chance he needed to defeat Akuma Shogun with the Kinniku Driver.

 

Dream Chojin Tag Arc

 

A second Mount Fuji appears in Japan.

 

On top of this mountain, the Universal Chojin Tag Team trophy appears. Underneath, there appears a series of rings that allow for eight tag-teams to compete. Buffaloman - along with the other justice chojin - goes to Kourakuen Hall to discuss the situation. Buffaloman refuses to team up with Kinnikuman and leaves. He sends a letter to Mongolman, asking him to join him as a new tag-team.

 

Buffaloman and Mongolman forms the 20 Million Powers. The name of their combo comes from Buffaloman's 10,000,000 power and Mongolman's 10,000,000 techniques (10 Million + 10 Million). In the first-round match-ups, the teams are required to navigate a labyrinth to be matched against their opponents, and the 20 Million Powers are matched against the Most Dangerous Combo. Just as the 20 Million Powers and Most Dangerous Combo are about to begin their fight, during the Dream Chojin Tag Arc, the Killer Game Combo arrive. This leads to the Killer Game Combo defeating the Most Dangerous Combo.

 

Brocken Jr. does not want his loss to count for nothing, so - to allow the 20 Million Powers to win - he challenges Buffaloman and allows himself to be pinned; this allows 20 Million Powers to officially win the match. This technical win allows the 20 Million Powers to advance to the next round, but the 20 Million Powers attack the Killer Game Combo for their intrusion. Buffaloman uses a feint against Screw Kid, but Mongolman - using the distraction to attack - injures his leg in the process.

 

Buffaloman is then struck by Kendaman, and the Killer Game Combo ask for formal permission to enter the tournament in the place of the Most Dangerous Combo. The 20 Million Powers declare that they will earn their place in the next round by first defeating the Killer Game Combo. The match began with a fierce one-on-one battle between Buffaloman and Kendaman, but Buffaloman tries a Hurricane Mixer on Kendaman, but it fails. Buffaloman is then caught in a Scorpion Defence by Kendaman.

 

He proceeds to break off his Long Horn and breaks the glass of the War-Cube, but is then attacked by a Hell's Screwdriver, which is only stopped by the thrown hair of Mongolman. Buffaloman counters with a powered-up Hurricane Mixer. Fearing the punishment that comes from failing their superiors, Screw Kid and Kendaman begin to use dirty tactics. At this point Neptuneman and Big the Budo reveal themselves, and Kendaman and Screw Kid abandon the match to attack them, and the 20 Million Powers win by default, as the Killer Game Combo are killed by the Hell Missionaries outside of the ring.

 

During the match-up lottery for the semi-final placements, the 20 Million Powers are matched with the Hell Missionaries. The first match is between the Muscle Brothers and the Stray Devil Chojin Combo, and the 20 Million Powers stay at the edge of the ring to act as spotters. At the end of the match, after the defeat of the Stray Devil Chojin Combo, the Hell Missionaries attack Sunshine, only to be stopped by the 20 Million Powers. They then allow the Hell Missionaries to attack, as the dolls - created by the Stray Devil Chojin to steal the justice chojin Friendship Power scatter, and thus creates animosity between the justice chojin.

 

The semi-final match against the Hell Missionaries is a simple barbed-wire cage match, but also a mask-removal death-match in which Mongolman must bet his mask. Buffaloman is thrown into the barbed wire by Neptuneman, who then switches with Mongolman, who is at a disadvantage from being unable to use the rope for his techniques. After being thrown into the screen cage, Mongolman rebounds with a kick.

 

After a series of blows, the 20 Million Powers seem to have the upper hand. Mongolman begins to suffer flashbacks within the ring, as the cage reminds him of his match against Warsman, and Buffaloman is unable to tag in, as both of the Hell Missionaries attack him. The spirit of Warsman helps Mongolman. Buffaloman is tagged in and uses a Buffalo Avalanche Drop. He proceeds to attach his Long Horn, and uses a Hurricane Heat. Mongolman is tagged into the match, but subject to a Cross Bomber.

 

Neptuneman uses his Magnet Power in retaliation. This heals the wounds of the Hell's Missionaries, and they try continuously to attack with Cross Bombers attacks, only to fail. Due to the Iron Sweat on Mongolman and Buffaloman, they are dragged towards the Hell Missionaries by their magnet power, and they almost defeat the 20 Million Powers with a Magnetic Storm Driver. The 20 Million Powers are then further attacked by a magnetic suplex. They are soon entangled in the magnetic barbed wires, as they regain their Friendship Power, and the Justice Chojin regain their power of friendship overall.

 

The iron sweat breaks from Mongoman and Buffaloman, and Buffaloman uses his Longhorn Train. This increases the power of the Hell's Missionaries, who use a Silhouette Body Press, and - after a series of blows - are thrown from the war-cube. The Hell's Missionaries summon thunder to increase their electrical power. Their Lightning Sabre attack renders Buffaloman and Ramenman immobile, and Buffaloman uses a fragment of Iron Sweat to draw Neptuneman away from Mongolman.

 

Buffaloman collapses against the mat, defeated by the Light Sabres.

 

Mongolman carries Buffaloman on his back, as they try again for a Longhorn Train, but they are defeated by a Magnetic Storm Crash. Once Ramenman is defeated, Buffaloman is rushed to hospital alongside Kinnikuman and Ramenman. At hospital, Doctor Bombe removes Buffaloman's horn in order to save Kinnikuman's arm, even knowing it would result in Buffaloman's death, but the tears in Buffaloman's eyes mark his consent to the procedure.

 

Blood Oath Brigade Formation!

 

This story covered the formation of Kinnikuman Soldier's team in detail. Brocken Jr. and Buffaloman want to join Soldier's team, but Asuraman and The Ninja aren't on board with that idea. According to Asuraman, Buffaloman is too easily swayed by his emotions, which is why he never became a Devil Knight despite having exceptional talent.

 

Kinnikuman Soldier shows up and interrupted Asuraman and The Ninja's departure. In response, The Ninja attempted to read Kinnikuman Soldier's mind with his Expose the Heart jutsu, but there's nothing to read. Unlike the other Fated Princes, Soldier has no ambition to destroy his opponents and take over the throne.

 

Asuraman gets into a fight against Soldier, but Soldier easily fends him off. Soldier even escaped the Asura Buster in a similar fashion to Kinnikuman and counters with a Dragon Cube Suplex. Buffaloman deduces why Soldier would pick those four. Pride is their main characteristic. According to Asuraman, "all four chojin are bull headed guys who won't listen to anyone".

 

Asuraman asks if Soldier is a fake Soldier and Soldier confirms this theory. He ambushed the real Soldier's team while they were training near Mt. Fuji and stole the real Soldier's mask. The fake Soldier explains that he joined the tournament because the Friendship Power the Justice Chojin use is a sham and that the pride that they share can bring out their true strength.

 

Asuraman wants Soldier to prove why this team of outcasts would make an excellent team. Soldier tells him to be silent. A real man would never talk so much. Instead, he'd silently watch the result with his own eyes. Asuraman follows up with his Tornado Hell, but Soldier dodges, causing the building already worn down by the Rolling Cube Suplex to collapse on top of them. Soldier heals them all with a Face Flash. With this act, Soldier convinced them to join his team for the upcoming tournament.

 

Survivor Match Arc

 

When Kinnikuman's right to the Kinniku Throne was challenged by five pretenders to the throne, Ataru Kinniku forms a team of five people to fight in a tournament to determine who shall be king of Planet Kinniku. Buffaloman - sans his horns - arrives at the house of Brocken Jr., along with Asuraman and The Ninja. Ataru asks them to join his team, as well as to meet him at Nagoya Castle in three days time, and - during that time - they watch him from a distance to ascertain his character.

 

After Ataru defeats Bockman and saves a boy, Buffaloman and the others decide to join his team. They proceed to enter Nagoya Castle and face against Team Phoenix, as they announce they have formed The Chojin Blood Oath Brigade. After the defeat of The Ninja and Asuraman, Nagoya and Himeji Castles fly away from their locations and join as one structure.

 

In the final match during the semi-finals battle against Team Super Phoenix and Team Soldier (Soldier, Buffaloman, and Brocken) competed in a 6-Man Tag Match against Super Phoenix (Mammothman, and Prisman). The match takes place in a floating multi-sided ring. Buffaloman, for the most part, fought against Mammothman. Tremendously weaker without his Long Horns, he found himself losing against the nearly unstoppable Mammothman. He was finally able to gain and advantage when Kinnikuman returned the Long Horns used to fix his arm before the Tag match finals. Soon after, Brocken took out Prisman, but then fell into the canyon below and died. Seeing how much Soldier and Buffaloman cared for their fallen comrade convinced Super Phoenix that Soldier wasn't the real Soldier.

 

As Soldier begins to have his true identity figured out by his own father Mayumi as his long-lost elder son Ataru, the Evil Gods choose to sabotage him to eliminate him and help Phoenix win the tournament. The God of Brutality steals a page from the Muscle Prophecy, a book owned by Kinniku Clan royalty which contains past, present, and even future information on every Chojin ever, as a means to reveal who Soldier is to Super Phoenix. As the God of Brutality attempts to give the page to Super Phoenix via Mammothman, Buffaloman sees a vision of Mayumi in his head, forcing him to take the page to protect it. As the mammoth Chojin prepares to hand it to Phoenix, the bull Chojin performs the Chojin Cross Drop on him, jumping out of the ring and forcing Buffaloman to hold the page in his mouth. As they fall, Mammothman hits Buffaloman with his Nose Fencing technique and retains the page. At the last second, Buffaloman hits Mammothman with a Buffalo Bomb on the roof of the Himeji/Nagoya castle and saves the page again.

 

The Evil Gods then arrived and began attacking the floating ring in an attempt to take out Ataru. As the ring fell, Buffaloman caught it and held it up. Weakened from the battle with Mammothman, he put on a red headband given to him by the other Justice Chojins and found enough strength to not only hold the ring up longer but also remove his arm guards and toss them up to Ataru. He then pushed it into the air and as it fell again, he jumped up and hit it with a Hurricane Mixer, successfully putting it back in mid-air. Unfortunately, Buffaloman had no more strength and fell into the canyon below. He is revived (along with his teammates) after the tournament by Kinnikuman's Face Flash.

 

Kinnikuman 2011

 

Perfect Origin Arc

 

Prehistory

Like all the other Idol Chojin, Buffaloman was sent off to his home of Spain by Harabote so he could be placed in Medical Suspension, to help him recover from his many injuries from matches past.

 

However, when he finished his Medical Suspension and made his return while the Seven Devil Chojin invaded the full-scale tournament going on, he declared he was a Devil Chojin again, renegading on his Idol Chojin friends out of nowhere.

 

The Seven Devil Chojin reconvene in their base. Buffaloman returns, where they all decide which of the Perfect Large Numbers they shall do battle against, and Buffaloman decides to fight against Strong the Budo, due to the fact that whomever fights him will likely lose and he will not sacrifice his teammates. The Mountain refuses to allow this to happen, and offers to sacrifice himself instead, due to the team needing Buffaloman to serve as their leader. He asks only that Buffaloman not avert his gaze during his match.

 

After Black Hole's match with Dalmatiman, Buffaloman announces that the Devil Chojin are going to purge all Perfect Chojin for their master, Devil Shogun. During the first stage, he mostly oversees how the Devil Chojin fight the Perfect Chojin.

 

In a flashback, it's revealed that Buffaloman made the choice to return to the Devil Chojin and fight alongside them, which the Seven Devil Chojin welcomed greatly. But they wouldn't let him join them to fight the Perfect Large Numbers because he was their "ace", their leader and without them, the Seven Devil Chojin couldn't perform at their best.

 

Diablos vs. John Does

 

Grim Reaper and Turboman enter with the New Large Numbers.

 

Grim Reaper reveals the next location - of the second-stage of the tournament - will be the Saqqara Pyramid, which has been relocated to Japan's Tottori Dunes. The Grim Reaper lands on the third step, while Turboman takes the fourth step. The Justice Chojin follow them to the mountain, and Buffaloman is assigned against Turboman, who attacks him with a drop-kick before he can enter the ring.

 

He then drags Buffaloman into the ring with a Turboman Stunner. Turboman punches Buffaloman while he's down, until Buffaloman counters with a headbutt and proceeds to use a back-drop. It is then that Springman arrives on the fourth step to fight the Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper begin the match with a Buzzsaw Hat, which cuts Springman's leg as he enters the ring with a jump.

 

Grim Reaper throws Springman against the corner-post, but the post goes through Springman's hollow body and allows him to remain unharmed, and a Spring-Body Breaking-Squeeze breaks the corner-post. A Spring Transfer allows him to distract Grim Reaper, whereby he land a drop-kick to the face. While Turboman and Grim Reaper, struggle in their matches and appear to be losing, Jak Tea fights against Black Hole and creates a strong geyser before he dies. This creates a crack along the pyramid.

 

Turboman frees himself from Buffaloman with a Somersault Kick. He tries a body-press, but Buffaloman catches him and counters with a back-flip. The fifth step finally collapses from the cracks and descends into the fourth step, where the two single matches combine into one tag-match. Turboman gets Buffaloman into a tombstone pile-driver, but - as he prepares for another attack - Springman and Buffaloman combine to use a Chojin Dodgeball. Springman is chastised for attacking Turboman, who was not his original opponent, as the match rules must abide by those of a single-match (due to the unusual circumstances).

 

The two teams agree to form a tag-team match with tag-team rules.

 

Springman lunges at Turboman, who uses a lariat and a Starter Revolver, but gets his arm caught inside Springma, who retaliates with a Spring Cyclone. Springman proceeds to use a Killer-Coil Head Attack. A second attempt at the attack is deflected by Turboman's a back-kick. It nearly knocks Springman out of the ring, until Buffaloman catches him. Turboman charges with a flying-cross, but the Diabolos counter again with a Devil Expander. Buffaloman then bounces off Springman to kick Turboman, who proceeds with a series of blows. Turboman uses a Glove Revolver and a Turbine Chop.

 

Buffaloman and Turboman return to their corners, and Turboman tags in Grim Reaper, who spins around on Turboman's head and delivers an Ignition Dress to Buffaloman. They proceed to use a John Does Arrow. The Diabolos try another Devil Expander, but Turboman dives through Springman and knocks Buffaloman out of the ring, before hitting him again with another John Does Arrows. A High-Capacity John Does Arrow sends Turboman towards Buffaloman, who manages to catch him and slams him against the wall, which causes the wall to crumble into the shape of a flight of stairs.

 

This allows Springman to use a Devil Slinky. He uses a Spring Body-Breaking Squeeze, which causes Turboman's body to start to glow, as Turboman stores the energy of his opponents. Turboman uses a High-Speed Turbo-Crash, as their two attacks seem to create a stalemate, but soon the release of Turboman's energy causes Springman to harden. He proceeds to stab Springman in his face with Revolver Spikes, and a Revolver Fin causes Springman's body to crash into Buffaloman.

 

Springman finds strength to lift Buffaloman, despite his weakened state. The Diabolos attempt a Long Horn Train, but - when it only glances off Turboman - follow with a Most Super Express. They follow with a third attack, which against glances off Turboman, but Turboman finds strength to use a Revolver Stud while Springman starts to crumble away. Springman uses all his strength to throw Buffaloman into a Hurricane Mixer, and Buffaloman's horns break through Turboman's Revolver attack and pierce his chest. This leads to Turboman's death, followed by Springman dying within Buffaloman's arms.

 

The Grim Reaper proceeds to Turboman's corpse, where he opens Turboman's back and steals his Earth Unit (which allows him to store energy to use against an opponent), and then kicks Turboman's body out of the ring. The Grim Reaper removes his robe, which he uses to taunt Buffaloman like a matador, and uses a Skeleton Body to avoid being struck with a Hurricane Mixer. The Grim Reaper states that people fall victim to Buffaloman's attack due to fear and fidgety movements, but - knowing no fear - he cannot be hurt.

 

The Grim Reaper grabs Buffaloman by his horns, before grabbing at his skin and flipping him over, and - in the process - tears chunks of skin from Buffaloman. The Grim Reaper proceeds to tear off more skin from Buffaloman, and attacks with a Dress Spear, which reveals all the scars on Buffaloman's body from previous matches. He is eventually countered by Buffaloman's Buffalo Hammer. The Grim Reaper proceeds to capture Buffaloman's legs, as he sets up for a John Does Arrows, before revealing it can double as a solo-technique called the Phantom Canon.

 

💪M💪U💪S💪C💪L💪E💪

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

M.U.S.C.L.E. No. 105, "Buffaloman D"

 

Painted by Paprika, thus losing all collectible value forever.

 

Buffaloman has been seen in BP 2019 Day 302!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/48980587088/

 

BP 2020 Day 133!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/49852162532/

 

BP 2020 Day 315!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/50587994286/

 

BP 2023 Day 80!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/52762400414/

  

Sometimes I was thinking about a perfect dog for Barbie, or other 1:6 scale dolls. The dog should be poseable, but with no visible joints, and it should have "real" fur. Looks like a toy dog like that was rare, or even never existed. At least, I couldn't find any. So, I made my own :)

 

Models:

 

Barbie fashionistas Geometric print skirt (hybrid).

 

Dog: Needle felted poseable collie figure.

I have a candid moment for you this evening. Until the reign of Septimus Severus (193-211), Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry. Many did however, their wives and families living in the towns that sprung up outside the forts, the soldiers living in the forts themselves. The practice was usually tolerated by fort commanders and time with the family was snatched during times of leave. Here we see a soldier on the way back to duty; he better hurry, Roman discipline was harsh.

 

The Wall: Rome’s Northern Frontier is a Lego model of Hadrian's Wall, a former defensive fortification in Roman Britain built between around AD 122 and AD126, during the rule of the eponymous Emperor Hadrian. The Wall stretched some 120km between the Solway Firth in the west to the Tyne Estuary east and when in use was effectively the northern limit of the Roman Empire. In 1987 the remains of the Wall were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and in 2005 it became part of the transnational Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site. The model is roughly sixteen square metres in size and was built on 105 48x48 stud Lego baseplates.

 

This photo shows part of the Romano-British town I built; more photos will follow over the next few days.

 

The Wall: Rome’s Northern Frontier is a Brick to the Past creation built by James Pegrum, Jimmy Clinch, Simon Pickard, Steve Snasdell, Dan Harris and Barney Main. It was unveiled for the first time at the Great Western Brick Show in October 2015 and will be on display again at London's Brick 2015 in December. You can view more photos in our Flickr Group.

 

Brick to the Past is a group of British Lego fans who build historically themed models on a grand scale. You can follow us on:

 

www.facebook.com/bricktothepast

twitter.com/bricktothepast

www.bricktothepast.com

 

Mattel's Superstar Christie®

 

Corvette's, Star Wars and Superstar Barbie and Christie lined the store shelves! Superstar Christie is ready to jet off to sites yet unknown! All dolled up in her Hervé Léger by Max Azria black and white jacquard dress with open-toed booties and luggage from Fashion Integrity she's set for first class travel!

 

Issued; 1977

 

No Longer Available From Mattel

 

More from this photoset on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/myfarrah/barbie/

 

www.barbiecollector.com/

 

Diorama by Ken Haseltine of Regent Miniatures.