Climbing the Escarpment, 2010

The Texas heat has been putting me off of taking new outdoor photos, so in a moment of weather-nostalgia I starting sorting through some old photos and came across one particular set that I thought I'd share.

These were taken in Kerncliff Park in Burlington, Ontario.  Kerncliff is a trail-head on The Bruce Trail. The Bruce trail is an 800+km trail that runs along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls in the south to Tobermory in the north, and this particular trail head was less than a kilometre from my house during the 3.5 years that I lived in the area.

Back in the later summer of 2010, I packed up my Iplehouse YID Aaron and took him for a hike  (it's all photos from here):

Dolls and Dogs

After the impression my German Shorthair (Gunterdog) made after his guest appearance in my Dolls in the Snow post, I thought I'd post a few more photos of him with various members of the doll posse (it's all photos after the break).

"Don't look now, but I believe there's a giant dog behind us."
The dolls are Soom London & Souldoll Rouse

Second out of the box: Tshepo (Iplehouse YID Dk Aaron)

With a casting date of 2007, this guy is one of the senior statesmen of the doll posse - only two dolls are older - and he's probably the one I'd keep if I had to give the rest up (although my Volks Heath would probably be running neck-and-neck).

The old YID bodies are less realistic and more traditionally SD-sized than Iplehouse's later EID/SID/JID lines, but it's still a solid piece of engineering.  Not the most natural of posers, but not bad by any means - and capable of holding a pose, which I always appreciate.

Much has been made of colour-shifts in early tan dolls, but this one has held his colour beautifully - no greening or purple-ing here (unlike a Lt Cocori that I'll have to show off another time - she is looking a bit seasick these days).


Being one of their older dolls, this guy also game with a full set of clothing, which was also quite good quality - his default leather jacket (pictured on the right) is actually one of my favourite pieces of doll clothing overall.