Re: Lovin' the Doughboy!
I wish that I could photograph my entire kitchen in one shot -- sort of a panoramic surround-sensation of Poppin Fresh! Yes I am old enough (1 yeer older than Dough) that he was always called Poppin' in my memory, but in my house, when my brother and I played with the vinyl Poppin' and Poppie dolls (the seven-inch ones, and the finger-puppet Family including Biscuit, Bun-Bun and Popper -- I didn't get Flapjack and Granmommer and Granpopper until I was over thirty!) we always called him just plain Dough. After a while it all sort of ran together - a game I called "playing PoppieDough." Poppie and Dough appropriated all the other toys in the house, including Barbie's Dream Camper and sometimes some of G.I. Joe's weaponry. Now that's a dangerous thought -- Poppie with a grenade! ("Buy my flaky biscuits, or Betty Crocker here gets messed up!") Even an elaborate miniature dollhouse which my sister spent years on, putting up scaled-down wallpaper and rugs, and little chandeliers -- Popper and Bun-Bun moved in immediately. Bun-Bun had to sleep in the top bunk bed though because her head was too big for the bottom bunk.
Now I have Uncle in his blue car, and Cupcake the bear with the bib (my sister also made me a teensy weensy Cupcake out of felt for Bun-Bun to sleep with in her bunk bed) and a stuffed Flapjack made as an advertising tie-in with Hush Puppies shoes. Of course I like the kitchen things and I cherish the curtains my late mother got for me for my first apartment -- but my heart is always with the toys. I still see miniature things and think, "That's for Poppie!"
The Family has also come with us on several vacations. Biscuit violated several British laws by having her photograph taken beyond the ropes at Stonehenge, Dough can be spotted on the ramparts of Warwick Castle, and Bun-Bun loved the World of Motion at Epcot. At a pancake house in Akron, Ohio (don't ask) my sister-in-law and I were admonished by the waitress for allowing Popper and Poppie to get so much syrup on themselves. We had to take the whole family to the ladies' room to get washed.