My interest in dollhouses continued onward from the age of seven. Just before I turned ten, my Dad got a job in the Pacific region as an academic in a university there. So my younger Brother, my Mom and I also joined my Dad in the Pacific. I missed Sri Lanka I felt sad to leave my friends and my familiar life there. The journey from Sri Lanka to the Pacific was a long one and that's a story I will write on another day.
When I reached this new country there were toys galore that we didn't have in Sri Lanka, not to mention groceries and other items. The main department store in the City center was called Morris Hedstrom and they had a toy department. Of course I was delighted to spend time there. They had various dollhouse furniture sets made of plastic that I bought from the toy department. These included a blue and white bathroom set and a pink floral bedroom set. These furniture sets seemed to be smaller than 12inch scale in size. I also bought a doll called Daisy by Mary Quant. She had curly blonde hair but she was smaller than playscale but bigger than a 12inch scale doll. Each time we visited the toy department I bought a new set of clothes for Daisy.
During that same year my Dad's boss the Professor who was Italian American moved in to the house next door with his wife who was also a Professor along with their son and daughter. I think we got hold of the Sears Catalogue through them. So from then on we used to get our own bi annual catalogs and I was especially interested in the toy catalogues. They had so many wonderful dollhouses, dollhouse furniture and dolls. I used to dream about owning some of the things in the catalogue. I did end up ordering a Ken doll, a Skipper doll (when you turned her arm she grew taller and acquired a bosom) and a playscale baby doll complete with a set of clothes, crib, bottle and high chair. I saw dollhouses and dollhouse furniture, pools and cars for fashion dolls in the Sears Catalogue but even then I was rather restrained in my spending habits and I think that's the reason I never persuaded my parents to order those items for me. So I used to just dream about owning those things but never did get them.
