The Story of How the Rachel Franklin Doll come to live at my house in Montreal.
The story begins many years before. Really it began the first time I saw Rachel at Arta's house. I loved her.
She reminded me so much of Arta and I loved the backend story that she had been pulled from the Johnson family reunion doll raffle and gifted specifically to Arta. I love that the women who made this doll (my aunts and cousins) knew it would be loved and appreciated by Arta.
At some point in the last decade, I made some off-handed comment to Arta like --"when you don't want that doll anymore" or "when you are downsizing your stuff" or "when you are dividing up your stuff for your children, I'd love to have it". I was shocked when she quite firmly responded with NO. I realized then how much she valued and loved the doll. I realized she had other plans for the doll, and I was only going to get to admire that doll when I came to visit Arta.
One such visit was in March of 2016. I came to spend a week with Arta to get her settled into her new basement apartment at 2427 26th Ave. The previous year had been very difficult. In the fall of 2015, we had moved Kelvin out of the 2427 house and into a nursing home--the "nut house" as I later called it after he was hopsitalized related to poor care. (A story for another blog post) We then re-moved/removed him from the Clifton Manor when he got a place at Seton Place in Nov-Dec 2015. At the same time, Arta had her hip replaced after a long and painful time of having bone on bone. Arta's recovery was complicated so she spent 6 months recovering at Rebecca's home in Victoria. She was finally ready to come home.
In the interval, we renovated Arta's basement at 2427 to create an apartment where she could safely return after her surgery. That too might require it's own blogpost. Never-the-less, in March the apartment was ready for Arta's return and I went to Calagry to spend a week unpacking her. Part of the unpacking was getting enough shelving for all the boxes of things that Richard, Mary, Bonnie, Rebecca and others had packed up speedily in the fall when Kelvin and Arta were ill. Here are some cute photos of Michael and Alice who helped me put together the furniture for the new apartment.
Don't you love Michael's double handed hammering technique and Alice's care with taping things. Spending time with these cute kids was just a joy. Below you will see the plate of sliced apples they "finished" during our work session. I'm pretty sure Arta ate all the peels.
At the very end of my trip, we had Arta moved into her new apartment space. Here are a few photos of her bedroom, her jewlery trays and the new kitchen. You can see that the most important part of moving back in was getting the rods hung for Arta's collection of scarves.
At the end of the trip, just as I was leaving to go to the airport, Arta had me come and choose some of costume jewlery for Hebe. Then she told me she'd like me to have the Rachel doll. I was shocked and moved by her gift. It made me cry. She asked me to take it home and let Hebe play with it, which is what I did. Here are a few photos of the Rachel doll once she arrived back in Montreal. Hebe decorated her with the jewlery I had brought back from Arta.
The doll is sitting on the ledge in my living room and anyone who'd like to see her or play with her is welcome to stop by for a visit.
If you have a story about this doll, or know more about her history, please add it in the comments below.
Love Catherine
