Currently visiting natalunasans [but without roseinthelibrary, who was not feeling well enough to join us] between June 29 and July 3. Because natalunasans and Gabriel have just moved into a new apartment less than a month ago [!!], e decided to focus on a stack of doll sets including an academic set for the Spymaster in his professor guise, the Spymaster’s caravan [he’s Nata’s obvious favorite, so he gets lots of sets], a combination of a lab/hospital/place of dubious science, and a library. Some pieces related to each set have been thrown in the set, but nothing had been arranged.

On Monday, June 29, Nata sat in the slot right in front of the shelves we were focusing on, and I stood around behind her. She opened up boxes of stuff that had not yet been sorted into their designated set area and told me what was in them. Sometimes she put the items into the set where they would eventually be. Sometimes I suggested where to put them. Sometimes she found things to set aside for a project later in the visit. When she got too sidetracked, I suggested to return to the initial project or reminded her what we had been working on.

Nata remarked that I seemed to be working instead of playing. She said with self-conscious deprecation that I didn’t seem to be having fun. I pointed out that labor and fun were not mutually exclusive. I was laboring insofar as I was supervising the organization and placement of someone else’s toys, so I was not playing with my own toys. However, I was having fun because I enjoy directing, organizing, leading, arranging doll sets, looking at other people’s dolls and doll stuff, and playing with dolls, and working on Nata’s sets allowed me to combine all of these activities.

We sorted, organized, did small projects, and puttered around Nata’s doll stuff for several hours. I set aside some materials with which to make Pine shoes. I also set aside some belts and things with which to make Modern Pippi, a recently completed custom doll, a utility belt. Mostly, though, I oversaw deployment of Nata’s doll stuff.

Tuesday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 1, passed similarly. Tuesday and Wednesday passed similarly. After spending the night at my hotel, I got picked up by Nata around 8:30 AM or so. I ate meals at her house, in between which we went to department stores like Walmart and Target and then worked on doll projects. In the afternoon, we did a video chat with Rose for an hour or two. We showed her around Nata’s doll room and the projects we were doing, and she gave us a tour of her doll sets and current projects. Because we were just saying whatever came into our minds in between periods of focusing on dolls, we really did feel like we were just doing parallel play through the intermediary of a video call.

Anyway, after all that introduction, here are some photos of the sets Nata and I focused on. From the top to the bottom, left to right, are the Spymaster’s academic office, the Spymaster’s caravan, the lab/place of dubious science, and the library. The first set of photos shows the sets with extraneous stuff removed but nothing organized.

I started with the library. Nata decreed that all the cats should go there, so…uh…they did. These first pictures show the overall arrangement of the library from left to right.

Here are some details of all the cats as we scan the room from right to left.

Next I arranged the lab/place of dubious science. These photos show the whole spread from left to right.

Details and commentary from left to right.

Finally I tackled the project of the Spymaster’s caravan. [I decided not to work on the Spymaster’s academic office this time.] These pictures show an overview of the set, including the small patio area. The caravan has a roof made from a poster with a purple galaxy print on it, which I removed to have easy access to the various parts of the set.

Detailed shots of the interior with commentary.

And here’s a picture that Nata took of me playing with her dolls. Apparently I’m saying, “There’s definitely a lot of…stuff…in here.”