Wednesday 2 April 2014

Versatile Blogger Award


Thank you, Theresa, for awarding me the ‘Versatile Blogger Award'!
Quite an honour!  I shall try to find 7 interesting things to say about myself! 



1.     I was born in a small town in Austria virtually in the middle of WWII. I lived mainly with my aunt, as my mother was working and was also looking after my grandmother who was very ill with cancer at the time. Despite all that, I seem to have had quite a normal, happy childhood, not really aware of what was actually going on around me. I do however remember a couple of things which stand out from those days.

2.    We lived in a large townhouse which had a bakery on the ground floor and two stories above. Whenever there was an air raid warning, we all had to go down into a very deep cellar for shelter. I wasn’t that worried about the bombs, but I was seriously concerned about the rats that inhabited the cellar. I am happy to say, I never actually saw one.

3.    The other wartime memory I have is when the British, who occupied our part of Austria, left at the end of the war.  The column of army vehicles rolling slowly through our city seemed endless. It was quite a sight and all of us children were fascinated to see this. But what I remember most is that the soldiers threw their chocolate rations to us kids as they drove by. I have loved the British ever since, never realizing that I would one day be a British citizen myself. Life is strange.

4.    Austria was left devastated and poor after the war and life was hard for most people. There was a program by which children from Austria were sent to Switzerland for a few months to recover from the ordeal. I was lucky to be picked and ended up with the Mayor of Basel and his family. It was a magical time. My stay included the Christmas period and the immensely kind and generous people I stayed with made me a present of a wonderful Schildkröt doll with a complete wardrobe, hand-sewn by one of the aunts. My love of dolls stems from that time, I am sure.  I still have the doll, Hedi. She is in a box in the attic and she needs a new leg. I mean to have her fixed, but I don’t know where I can find a doll hospital which deals with these particular dolls.


Example of Schildkroet Celluloid doll ca 1946

5.    I love the Austrian Christmas traditions. The Christmas tree is decorated in secret on Christmas Eve. That means that one room in the house is locked until a bell is rung. Then the door is opened and a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree ablaze with candles is standing there in the darkened room with the presents lying underneath the tree. In our house my aunt would play Silent Night, Holy Night on the piano as we entered, which completed the magic. At midnight we all used to go to the carol concert.  More often than not the snow really did lie deep and crisp and even. Magical.  

6.    I enjoyed school and after my ‘Matura’ I started a degree course in Philology at Vienna University. To ‘perfect’ my French, I studied a year at the Faculté des Lettres at  Bordeaux University. I so enjoyed my time away from Austria that I tagged on another year in England to get a better grip on the English language.

7.    In London I met my husband who was doing his PhD in Physics at the time. After our son was born we went to Pakistan for a year to meet his family. At the end of that year he re-joined his college in London. Three years later we had a daughter. It was for her that I  bought a Sasha doll when she was four years old and a baby Sasha boy the following Christmas. Those two Sashas remained well cared for, draped in linen, in our attic until 4 years ago, when I took them down to show them to Hanna, my granddaughter. It was like kissing Sleeping Beauty awake, and now it is I who is under a spell. 


Yasmin's Sasha




15 comments:

Dee said...

Thank you for sharing seven facts about yourself Karin. I think once a doll lover always a doll lover :)
Sounds like you have a lovely magical childhood despite the war.
and it's nice to 'hear' from you
hugs Dee xxx

twizel said...

Hi Karin
It sounds like you have led an interesting life, i am so glad that you excepted the award as your blog definitely deserves it.
Theresa x

Theodora said...

Shocking! I haven't blogged since January! It's been a bit of a roller coaster and the Sashas had to take a back seat. But you will be pleased to hear they are all beautifully dressed for Summer nicely standing on the shelf waiting patiently for something nice to happen. Love Karin x

Theodora said...

Hi Theresa. I hope this was not too long and tedious! Is there something I need to do now? Please advise!!! Love Karin x

Sharon said...

Karin, how lovely to hear from you and to hear about you too! I never knew you were Austrian, I just assumed that you were British....we learn something new every day, don't we! You sound like you had a fascinating childhood....and when you said about the rats in the cellar it reminded me of something my mum told me about their air raid shelter in England, she said that the bombs and the doodlebugs didn't bother her, it was the spiders in the shelter that she was terrified of! She's not changed there either!
What a lovely start to your love of dolls too, a particularly pretty doll! And great that you still have her. And as Dee says, once a dolly lover, always a dolly lover!
Anyway, it's nice to see you on your blog, and I hope that we'll see some photos of your summer-ready Sasha dolls soon!
Big hugs, Sharon in Spainxx

Kendal said...

Very interesting reading!
I was probably born just a few years before you but luckily we spent the WWII years away from the Midlands where my parents lived (and which was being heavily bombed) as my mother moved to stay with a friend down in Somerset to have me whilst my father was away fighting.

Pleased to hear that your blog will hopefully be re-opening very soon to enjoy the Spring and Summer seasons.

Theodora said...

Hi Sharon, that's the thing about this blogging! We all have ideas about the people we so happily communicate with and they may not always be what we think! One is never sure just how much to reveal of oneself and shatter the illusions other people have of us! I think it was too cold, damp and inhospitable for the spiders to inhabit that cellar! God knows what the rats lived on down there! It was actually quite a stupid place to go. Had a bomb really hit, we would all have been buried alive! Don't you just hate war!
My grandchildren are coming up next week and I am sure Iona will drag the Sashas into the garden, so hopefully there will be something more cheerful for the blog. I have been looking at other blogs, but not commenting. Must remedy this! Love, Karin x

Theodora said...

Hi Kendal, it doesn't seem to matter where one experienced the war years, they were all absolutely awful! This exercise did make me realize how children 'normalize' their experiences and are able to emerge as quite functional human beings. I have been looking at your blog regularly. Lovely as ever. But I have tried not to get 'involved', so to speak! I have been battling with a lot of health issues and we spent some time in Austria because my mother had a stroke and has subsequently died. But no doubt, I shall find myself fully engaged in all things Sasha again soon. Love, Karin x

Sharon said...

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your mother, Karin, and your health issues. I hope that your health will improve and you'll be feeling fully fit soon.
Yes, we do indeed seem to build up an impression of our on line friends which sometimes turns out to be so completely opposite to what we expected! When I chat with BJD people on Den of Angels, I have a tendancy to associate that person with their avatar....which is funny because mine is a photo of one of my chihuahuas...I wonder do they do the same for me then!!!! But it is quite funny when they change their photo and suddenly I have to get used to a whole 'new' character!!!
Big hugs Sharon xx

Theodora said...

This is so true! I actually think of you more like that sassy girl with the big bow from 'Sharon in Spain'! I think we all hide behind some image or other, especially if we are not that happy with our 'real selves'! That's where the Sasha get-togethers are so useful! You finally meet the people in the flesh! Not that I have been to many - only the one Dee organized last Autumn!
Love, Karin x

vintage-sasha said...

thankyou for sharing, i liked hearing all about your life and i love the schildkrot doll, i used to look at them on german ebay all the time but never bought one as i know im not good at just having one of anything ! xxxx

Theodora said...

Hi Sarah, so nice to hear from you. They still make dolls. In Austria they seem to prefer Schildkroet to Goetz, for some reason. I bought one for Yasmin (before the Sasha), a baby doll with a lot of lovely hair! None of my granddaughters seem interested in her, for some reason, so she is just sitting on a chair! I know what you mean about not being good at just having one of anything! I was once told by a doctor that I have an 'addictive personality'. That may explain it! Love, Karin x

Sharon said...

Actually Karin, that 'sassy' girl with the big bow....it really is me! I'm really just a cartoon character! LOL!
I hope you'll be going to Dees Chat n Snap again this year, because I'm almost certain that I will be there!!!

Theodora said...

Well, I am planning to! I am looking forward to meeting you! It was a lot of fun. xxx

vintage-sasha said...

mmm yes I think I have an "addictive personality" too ! ....those schildkroet dolls, I like the original ones, I think they now make copies of the originals, maybe they started with glass eyes and then when the war came they started to paint the eyes instead, I spent a long time studying the dolls and learning about them and endless looking on ebay BUT I realised not to go there ! xxxx