Tall Ships Barbie

Tall Ships Barbie

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking. 
John Masefield

The summer I was 9 my father earned his bosun's license.  In celebration, he took my younger brother and me for a sail around Halifax harbour in a sturdy whaler.  A submarine was coming into Halifax harbour just on the other side of George's Island.  We called excitedly to go see the submarine.  Dad was excited too, I guess, because he threw the tiller the wrong way.  The boat rolled over and lay in the water with the keel pointing at the sky.  We  clambered on the hull and she rolled upright.  We jumped in but couldn't bail fast enough.  The boat rolled once more and we were again clinging to the hull bottom.  Poor Dad was frantic and clutched us by the collar handles of our life jackets but my brother and I were not worried.  The whaler wallowed upside down in the harbour until a tug arrived to rescue us. 

My fearless sibling called as a man reached to gaff one of our lines, "Quick, take a photo so we can be in the newspaper."

 Dad never took us sailing again but, should the opportunity arise,  Barbie is suitably dressed for a day on a yacht.

Moonbeam Barbie

Moonbeam Barbie

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am a fan of L.M. Montgomery. I read Anne of Green Gables for the first time when I was 8.  The books weren't always easy to find in those days before Amazon and Indigo but I read as many of them as I could.

This quote from Emily's Quest, has haunted me. 
But he told her she looked like "the moonbeam of a blue summer night" in that gown. 

"That gown" was a long-time desire of Emily's, first expressed in Emily Climbs.

 If ever I can buy that one silk dress I know what it is going to be like. Not black or brown or navy blue--sensible, serviceable colours, such as New Moon Murrays always wear--oh, dear, no! It is to be of shot silk, blue in one light, silver in others, like a twilight sky, glimpsed through a frosted window-pane.

Do you think of your clothes that way?  Barbie does.

Barbie Capulet

Barbie Capulet

Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet was released to great acclaim in 1968.  I saw it at the Paramount Theater in Halifax and was completely undone by the tragic story of the star-crossed lovers.

As the story unfolded, sniffs were heard throughout the darkened theater followed by muffled sobs.  The music rose to a crescendo (amazing score by Nino Rota)  and by the time the astoundingly beautiful Olivia Hussey stabbed herself in the heart the soaring soundtrack had been drowned out by the audience's anguished wails.

I was not immune to the hysteria.  The lights came up and the tears continued to pour down my cheeks.  I went to the ladies' room to wash my face.  One of the ushers was standing in front of the bank of sinks.  She was desperately trying to control her emotions.  She caught my eye in the mirror.  "I have seen this movie at least twenty times and I still can't stop crying."

Barbie Capulet is a lot more sensible than her sister Juliet and a lot less emotional than the usher and me.