It is 2023!

So, time goes by fast, especially when you have fun. I must have had a blast. I can not even comprehend that it is a new year and we are soon entering February. It was not long ago I was sitting in the garden at our cottage enjoying summer. Birds singing, soft breeze, deer walking across the gravel road and Bentley barking. Now I am at home, freezing, seeing snowflakes and wondering if I need and extra shirt for the late evening walk with Bentley. 

Summer was lovely at the cottage. It was nice and warm during the most of the days, all the way to late October. We even took a dip in the lake the last day of October. That has not happened for a long time. Well, yes, it was cold and I almost lost my breath diving in. If someone would ask me today, if I would swim like that, I would say "No, are you crazy?" I would need to sweep away the Autumn leaves first. 

Pictures: Bentley after his swim at the lake. My new doll, ordered from abroad, with a
skirt from Kamelia Doll Fashion and her Etsy shop. The two last photos as sand sculptures
made by different artists during the Kalmar International Sand Sculpture Festival in Sweden.
First one is called "Broken Dreams" by Bogdan Kutevych & Oleksiy Poda
and the second one, with the sunflowers, is called "Close, yet so far apart"
by Ludo Roders & Joris Kivits.

One of the dolls I bought during Summer. She is a Bellatrix Lestrange, a character from Harry
Potter movies. Love her face sculpt and her wild hair. 

And this is the peach one from the Rainbow High Collection. Her name is Georgia Bloom
and she is from series 3. In that toy store I met a young man and he really new stuff about
these dolls, new ones on the way and even about other toy stuff. Heard him talk with other
customers. He was the right one in the right place, was my thought.

There has been dolly times during Summer and Autumn. On one of our trips I bought a new Rainbow High. Did not find the grey-ones, but found a peach one. And the minty one. Took just the peach one and a big orange ball for Bentley, that he could have outdoors, indoors and even in the lake. He was so happy. Hubby and I took that trip together while the girls stayed home with Bentley. We did some sightseeing, eating and just enjoyed our time. 

Our joy. And sometimes pain. Especially when playing and hitting heads. He looked bamboozled 
and so did I. We are okay. The two first one are from the cottage, during Autumn and the other
two are from the other week, when we got a lot of snow. Bentley loves snow. He would sleep
outdoors in the snow, if he was allowed. 

When our neighbors asked us when we had plans to leave the cottage for home, I usually joked saying "before the snow" or "last day in November". They know that we often stay until a couple of days before schools start in late August, but with the new 'rules' with you-know-what, the schools have distance classes and education. So, the girls could have their classes through video communications, I so did I - all my commitments. So easy and felt so relaxing to be able to do so. My hubby took some of his extra vacation, but otherwise he was commuting between the cottage and home when he was free from work. We are glad that we could make it work, because not being at the cottage for almost two years, makes stuff grow. Fast. More work needs to be done and I hope that we can do it this summer.

I hope that 2023 has started well for you and you are enjoying your time with dollies. I have not visited you for a while, so I will do it now. 

Stay safe!