Alongside a small apartment building in Rockaway Beach is an odd assortment of broken Talavera pottery, derelict lawn ornaments and abandoned dollhouses. It is thought-provoking, but not at all sad.
In an effort to get out more, I’ve been auditioning various coffee shops around town. Current fav is Perfect Pour on Clarendon. Small, friendly, excellent coffee (they do their own roasts). Wheelie enjoyed making my cappuccino appear mustachioed. Little hipster.
nancyland.com 
The community of abandoned dollhouses is quite interesting to me; essentially a suburb within a suburb.
Glad that you’re getting out more and that the funk’s lifting (lifted?). I’ve given up coffee but I still enjoy the aroma of it.
It *is* an interesting display. It seems to be neither tended nor molested; I visit every time I’m at Rockaway.
I know it sounds sad that it requires effort to go out — one of the downsides of working from one’s home.
And I hope that you willingly gave up coffee, that it no longer served you, and that it was a choice not forced upon you :)
I voluntarily decided to give up coffee but NOT tea which fortunately, I prefer more. :)
I require additional pictures of this odd assortment, I am energetically intrigued. Perhaps further on in the alphabet?
Mmmmm coffee.
I will make it so. Next time I will bring my gardening knee pad, to ease squatting on cold, wet pavement.
They do make good coffee. Thus far I’ve only had cappuccino there, but when I had my office downtown, it was my habit to take an afternoon espresso. I might resurrect that practice :)
Bravo on taking Wheelie out for a coffee… or two.
Two cups? Good heavens, Marilyn, I’m no fiend!
And it’s fun to take Wheelie out and about. Mostly no one notices her photo ops — or I don’t notice them noticing me. Last night I heard a baker on TV referring to his sourdough starter as “Carl” and I thought that was cute. Here the name Carl refers to San Francisco’s fog :)
I second the request for more photographs of the dollhouses–and I would love to hear your internal stories for them (for I presume, forgive me, that you imagine their backstories as you do for your own builds)
::waving at Wheelie going on adventures with you::
I haven’t really listened for their stories yet; I think I need to get to know them better :)
Wheelie spins her head for you.
Well done Wheelie!
I love the abandoned dollhouse idea.
Megan, wait. Do you love abandoning dollhouses, or the idea of more pictures of them ;)
Wheelie thrums her rungs for you.
What a wonderful opportunity for a time lapse photography project. Be neat to see how long it takes a dollhouse to succumb to the salt air.
It will be interesting! I peeked into the courtyard of the building, and there’s more bricolage around one apartment in particular, so now I have to pluck up my courage to leave a note for the resident :)
I have a different take on the abandoned doll’s houses because I do find it sad. It took somebody a whopping number of hours to assemble these houses…regardless of the skill level and instead of bringing somebody joy, here the houses lie deteriorating. It makes me want to rescue and rehab them and give them to a creative soul who would love to have them.
I would also love to know the real story and if I lived there, I would knock on the owner’s door and inquire. The perfect introduction is that I’m a miniaturist writing a story on what eventually happens to the treasures of our beloved hobby.
Yes, the photo makes me incredibly sad ~ and interested ~ and perhaps that’s because of my age. With a modicum amount of care, our miniatures will be around far longer than ourselves. I know because every day I pull out 30+ year old treasures that I’ve collected for years and they appear to have been made yesterday. Occasionally I have to re-spot a bit of glue but that’s nothing after decades.
It’s a WIP but I’m making sure my Executrix knows where to re-home my miniatures to those who love or at least have an appreciation of some of my very fine artisan pieces plus some of my own work. This is a “thing” that all of us with miniature collections need to deal with…sooner rather than later. It’s right up there with making sure our Will is written. I’ve had a Will since I was 32. I wanted my family to be beneficiaries rather than the state in which I lived. We do our families a loving favor by attending to this matter that we all must face.
Oh, and I love coffee. I generally drink a couple of mugs a day.
All you say is true, and I hear and agree with what you’re saying, Nancy B.
These are just a different story about a thing. Perhaps in subsequent pictures you may see what I mean :)
I’ll stay tuned, Nancy E.
By the by, did you love seeing the Noel and Pat Thomas note cards?
Yes! Noel has such a warm drawing style. You really should start a blog to share all your wonderful and historic treasures :)