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Celebrating children's books and more! Children's book illustration, vintage and out-of-print childrens books, insights into the life of a bookseller and other bits and bobs.
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This week I'm sharing another treasure from my bookshelf. When I found this almost twenty years ago it was in a very sorry state which might explain how it ended up in a charity shop. Thankfully, none of the colour plates were missing but the covers had suffered dreadfully. Covered in grime, falling apart and completely unloved I doubted it could be restored, but I needn't have worried because the book binder did an excellent job, and the book has smiled down from my bookshelf ever since! It still shows signs of its previous history, which is perfectly fine with me.
The Peasant's wife at the door of her cottage reading her hymn book.
(The Wild Swans)
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
First published in 1913Publisher Constable, LondonIllustrations W. Heath Robinson Yes! I will go with thee, said Tommelise, and she seated herself on the birds' back.
(Tommelise)
We will bring him two little ones, a brother and a sister.
(The Storks)
Father-Stork
The seventeen fairy tales are; The Marsh King’s Daughter, Tommelise, The Snow Queen, Elfin-Mount, The Little Mermaid, The Storks, The Nightingale, The Wild Swans, The Real Princess, The Red Shoes, The emperor’s New Clothes, The Swineherd, The Fling Trunk, The Leaping Match, The Shepherdess and the Chimney-Sweeper, The Ugly Duckling and The Naughty Boy.She stood at the door and begged for a piece of barley-corn
(Tommelise)
Then began the Nightingale to sing
(The Nightingale)
Round and round they went, such whirling and twirling
(Elfin-Mount)
Suddenly a large Raven hopped upon the snow in front of her.
(The Snow Queen)
"He did not come to woo her," he said "he had only come to hear the wisdom of the Princess"
(The Snow Queen)
The bud opened into a full blown flower, in the middle of which was a beautiful child
(The Marsh King's Daughter)
She put the statue in her garden
(The Little Mermaid)
All the images shared here are from my copy of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. This is just a small selection from the seventeen colour plates and more than eighty black-and-white drawings.
The Book Reader below is via
Archive.Org, clicking on the link will take you to a larger more detailed version. Source:
Archive.org, Public Domain (Digitizing Sponsor: New York Public Library)
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales with illustrations by W. Heath Robinson:
Source: Archive.org,Public Domain (Digitizing Sponsor: New York Public Library)
I'm going to be taking a short blogging break in a day or two, but I hope to visit all your blogs before then. I will be back at the end of July. Thank you to everyone who visits me here, if not for you there would be no March of Time Books.
Me off on my blogging break with Terry in hot pursuit! I leave you with this tiny posy from my garden. I wish I could share the wonderful aromas of Lilly of the Valley, Thyme, Daisy, Saxifraga, Veronica and Forget-me-not. I know some of you don’t like to see cut flowers, but I promise it did no harm to the plants, and they will come back bigger and better next year.
Much love, see you soon.
Aunt Rose lived in a cottage in the Kent countryside. Just her house, the house next door, a farm down the lane, and then nothing till the village, a mile and a half away. She was a small, stoutish elderly lady and I used to stay with her for a holiday. it was a great place for a young boy. There were woods to play in where camps could be built. There were trees to climb and fields to run through. But there was one big disadvantage. Aunt Rose talked non-stop, mostly about things like knitting and jam making, things I wasn't the least bit interested in.
Aunt Rose could have talked for England. She was an Olympic winner in non-stop chat and everyone knew about her. The postman would draw up in his van. I could see him looking into Aunt Rose’s garden to see if she was about. Then when he thought she was nowhere around, he’d leave the safety of his van and scoot up the garden path. He’d push letters through the letter box and be half way to his van before she appeared. Then she’d call to him, ask him to do something for her, some little thing, anything, to keep him from getting back to his van.
Every time I stayed with Aunt Rose, there’d be a morning, when we’d wake up to find that cows had invaded her garden. The cows from the field next door had shouldered their way through a weakness in the hedge and were busily munching on her cabbages and lettuces. I’d be upstairs, looking out of my bedroom window when the door downstairs would open and little Aunt Rose in her dressing gown would appear with a tea towel in her hand. Then she’d hurtle down the garden towards the cows flapping the tea towel till it cracked like a whip. She’d bring this down on the backs of the cows but they didn't seem to feel a thing. They were far too interested in her home grown vegetables. For a few minutes she’d yell like crazy and slap down her tea towel on each cow in turn, but nothing stopped them. Next she would come back to the house and carry on alternately muttering and yelling while she got dressed and left the house to walk down the lane and tell the farmer to remove his cows from her garden. She had no phone so she couldn't ring him but it did seem strange to me that the slapping with the tea towel was a ritual that had to be attempted before she’d go and fetch the farmer.
By far the very worst thing about staying with Aunt Rose was her outdoor toilet. It was really just a wooden box in a shed. Inside the box was a bucket. A round hole had been cut into the top of the box and there you had to sit until what was needed to be done had been done. For someone used to an indoor bathroom with a flushing toilet this was all too primitive for me. Occasionally it crossed my mind that someone had to empty the contents of the bucket when it got too full but I quickly moved away from that thought. All I knew was that it sure wasn't going to be me!
Equally worrying were the spiders. As I sat in the shed I was aware that all around me, hanging from corners and crevices, there were spider webs. And where there were webs, there had to be spiders! I wasn't terrified of spiders, but I wasn't too fond of the larger ones. In the semi-darkness I convinced myself that there were eyes watching me, small pinpricks of red in the gloom. Worse still were the ones behind me, the ones I couldn't see and who were probably ganging up and planning a mass bungee jump the next time I entered their territory.
At night, of course, the house was locked up. There was no way to get to the toilet outside, even if I was brave enough to risk it. There was, however, a pot beneath the bed - a 'po', as Aunt Rose called it, or a ‘gazunder’ (because it goes under the bed!) If I woke in the night and knew I couldn't get back to sleep unless I had a pee, that was where it had to be done. I hated it. I’d be desperately hoping that I could get back to sleep without using it, but many times I couldn't. And there it had to sit, beneath the bed, for the rest of the night. I was then supposed to carry the pot and its contents down Aunt Rose’s narrow, twisty staircase and out to the toilet in the shed. No way was I going to do that! I knew what would happen when I tried to get down her stairs one-handed. I would be sure to slip and the contents of the pot would cascade all over me. There had to be a better solution.
So every morning when I woke, I opened my bedroom window, grabbed the pot and emptied its contents onto the flower bed beneath. I wasn't doing anything wrong, just following on from all those people in history who used to do the same thing. But they had emptied theirs out into the street and often over some unfortunate passer by. At least all I was doing was watering the flowers. “Strange,” Aunt Rose remarked one particularly dry summer, “Those delphiniums under your window are looking very healthy.” I'm sure she knew what I was doing, but for once she kept quiet!
Aunt Rose is an extract from Keeping Clear of Paradise Street; A Seaside Childhood in the 1950s by Brian Moses. Brian has published over 200 books for children and teachers and has been a professional children’s poet for 28 years.
He wrote this his childhood memoir in response to questions asked by the children during school visits. He would tell them;
When I was a boy we only had black and white television, and that only had two channels: BBC and ITV. If we wanted to change channels we had to get up out of our seats as there were no remotes. We had no computers, no mobile phones, no Internet, no Playstations, No Xboxes, no X Factor, no DVDs, no iPods, no shopping malls, no pizzas, no MacDonalds... How did we survive?
If you would like to connect with Brian, please visit him at
brianmoses.co.uk. If you are interested in purchasing any of his books you will find all the necessary information on the website.
Brian hopes Keeping Clear of Paradise Street will be a crossover book in that adults who had their childhoods in the 1950s and ‘60s will enjoy the memories and find something to spark their own memories.
It certainly sparked memories for me. I read the extract and responded to Brian as follows;
The cows in the garden had me spluttering into my morning cup of tea – I remember it so well! Only with me, it was my mum, tea towel in hand shouting and hollering as the cows trampled her prize Dahlias. We lived right next to the Dutch barn and cow sheds, so she only had to run to the yard (assuming the men were not all away in the fields) but even so, those cows could cause some damage!
If you enjoyed this post and would like to leave a comment about your own childhood memories or anything else, please do. Your comments are always welcome.
I received no financial compensation for sharing the above post and have no material connection to the brands or products mentioned.
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There’s so little time and so many books that you’d be forgiven for not having read every great work of literature out there – but there’s one novel you absolutely must put on the old bucket list and that’s L P Hartley’s The Go-Between.
First published in 1953, the story starts with an elderly man, Leo Colston, fighting nostalgia while looking back through his old diary from 1900, when he was just the tender age of 13. The majority of the book focuses on the summer that Leo spent in Norfolk at Brandham Hall, home of school friend Marcus Maudsley.
As a poor boy suddenly thrust in with the wealthier upper classes, Leo feels as though he doesn't fit in, although he’s made most welcome by his hosts. However, the story takes a somewhat darker turn when Marian Maudsley makes use of Leo to ferry messages of a romantic nature to Ted Burgess – a tenant farmer a lot further down the socio-economic scale than Marian herself.
Of course, the pair can never marry, something that the young Leo fails to understand. However, he grows increasingly uncomfortable with his role as go-between and tries to put a stop to it, but is compelled to continue by Marian. The story comes to a tragic and shocking end – but you’ll have to read the book in order to find out how it reaches its conclusion!
The book has remained popular over the years and has been adapted numerous times for both stage and screen. In fact, you can actually
book a Go-Between theatre break in London right now if you love the novel that much you can’t wait to see it acted out in front of you. Make sure you watch the 2015 film as well so you can really immerse yourself in the world L P Hartley created.
Simon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Simon, I have to admit I've not read it, although it's been on my must-read list for ages. I haven't seen the film or the stage production either - very remiss of me!
Have you read The Go-Between? Or perhaps you've seen the film or the stage production?
I received no financial compensation for sharing the above post and have no material connection to the brands or products mentioned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been looking for an opportunity to share a couple of recent photographs with you. Our granddaughter Lilly was four last week so what better time than now…
Strike a pose Lilly – beautiful, thank you!
Lilly’s big sister started school this year; here she is at her first sports day. Well done Zoe it looks like you had a lot of fun!
With thanks to Karen & Steven for the photographs.
That’s all for now, I hope you are having a wonderful week.
If Heath Robinson were alive today, he would probably feel right at home in the Harrods British Eccentrics Garden. Spinning trees, shrubs that bob up and down, a flower border rotating around an octagonal folly, window boxes repositioning themselves and a roof that tips its hat!
Diarmuid Gavin the brains behind the garden excels at the unconventional. In 2011, he designed a garden which he suspended 82 ft in the air! In 2012, he recreated Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree, see previous post here. This year he pays homage to English cartoonist William Heath Robinson. “I like to have a bit of fun and try something new,” he explains. Heath Robinson best known for his cartoons of fantastically complicated machines died in 1944, but his madcap inventions have never been forgotten. To describe something as Heath Robinson is to portray something complicated in a funny way which is not particularly practical. The British Eccentrics Garden may not be practical, but it is certainly funny.
Imagine your surprise if you found yourself walking through this garden;
I agree with Diarmuid this garden sums up everything that is wonderful about Britain. You don’t have to be mad to live here, but it certainly helps! This is British eccentricity at its very best.
William Heath Robinson pictured at his desk in 1929
via
How about you – love it or loath it?
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Have you ever wondered why Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote as Lewis Carroll? Or why Theodor Seuss Geisel better known as Dr. Seuss had not one but two pseudonyms? Find the answers in the following infographic reblogged with the kind permission of
Jonkers Rare Books.
I've been playing the literary name game and came up with Bobby Anne Harding for a possible pen name. This combination of my nickname, middle name and mother’s maiden name has quite a ring to it don’t you think? If I wanted to disguise my gender, I could use the shorter and more masculine sounding Bob Harding.
What pen name would you / do you use?
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 5/10/2016
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Today I would like to introduce you to a new blogging friend. I'm not sure how Colleen and I met, perhaps I left a comment on her blog, or maybe she left one on mine. Actually thinking about it, I probably found her via the lovely Carolyn at
Draffin Bears. The how and why isn't really important, I'm just happy we met. We've been in touch for a few weeks and gradually realised we share many common interests. We are both ex-booksellers with a fondness for vintage books (naturally), animals and nature.
In one of my emails to Colleen, I recounted a story of an encounter with a fox. Colleen suggested sharing the story with you assuring me you would love it. I hope you do, but if not you must blame my new found blogging friend! :-) Before telling you about the fox, I should probably share a little background information. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know all this so please feel free to skip the next bit
I live in a small village close to open countryside but for a long time I hardly noticed. Intent on running a business I spent my days sitting behind a desk or travelling around the country visiting auctions and book sales. Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis (brittle bones) which I'm afraid to say I rather took with a pinch of salt. I was given several different types of medication and after six years progressed to infusion therapy, which is prescribed when a condition can no longer be treated effectively by oral medications. Eighteen months ago, I was told none of the treatments had worked and the likelihood of incurring fractures to my spine and/or hips was becoming a real possibility.
The last time I wrote about this, I was several months into a new regime of daily injections, plus walking, Pilates and Tai Chi. The course of injections came to an end last week, and I'm now awaiting the results of a bone density scan. In the meantime, I've closed March House Books, walked many hundreds of miles, and continued to enjoy Pilates although sadly Tai Chi and I parted company. I feel a hundred times fitter than I did last year, and I've found a whole new world just outside my door.
So back to the story … on a very blustery day at the end of April, I was following a footpath I hadn't previously walked. It was very overgrown in places, and before long I came to a stretch which was completely impassable. Never one for giving up or turning back I decided to veer slightly off course in the hope I could rejoin the path further along. This took me into a farmer’s field where I really had no business to be. Walking directly into the wind and keeping tight to the hedge, I was intent on negotiation the boggy ground caused by several days of rain. The combination of soft ground and the wind blowing towards me must be the reason the fox didn't know I was around until I was practically on top of it. To begin with I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking at. Russet in colour, curled up in a ball and fast asleep, it could almost have been a large cat. Until it opened its eyes and fixed me with a steely gaze. Gulp! Seconds passed before the fox slowly rose to its feet, did a graceful about-turn and slunk through a hole in the hedge. I stood still for several minutes, but the fox didn't reappear. I cursed myself for not having a camera, but even if I had I'm not sure I would have had the gumption to take a picture. I was raised on a farm and spent my early years playing in the woods and fields, but that is the closest encounter I've ever had with a fox.
My camera has not left my side since that blustery day at the end of April. I've re-traced my steps several times in the hope of catching another glimpse of the fox but to no avail.
We live in a beautiful part of Somerset, where the changing seasons ensure there is always plenty to photograph, but that didn't prepare me for this...
Can you see? In the midst of all those twigs and branches are a family of badgers! I must have walked past this spot every day for weeks without being aware of their existence. It’s my understanding that badgers are nocturnal animals spending their days in underground burrows or ‘setts’ and only venturing out after dark. I took the photographs on Friday afternoon of last week. I have no idea why the badgers were out and about. It was a warm still day which is how I came to hear a slight rustling in the undergrowth.
I've walked the same path a couple of times since Friday but the badgers are nowhere to be seen, hopefully they are safely back underground. I can't tell you how privileged I feel, first a fox (scary and magical at the same time) and now a family of badgers. A win on the lottery couldn't make me any happier than I am right now.
Before I go, I would like to share these words;
I took my tray out to my secret garden and sat on the edge of the water lily pool in the warm sunshine. There is nothing like warm sunshine enveloping my body to give me a sense of well-being and a warm hug! The extra surprise to send my feeling of well-being soaring was an adorable frog who sat next to me on the edge of the pool and an aerial dance by many beautiful blue dragonflies to entertain me as I enjoyed my breakfast. Don’t you think that is just beautiful? I do. To read more please visit Colleen at
Appreciate beauty everydayHave you encountered anything unusual while out walking?
Photographs; Henstridge, Somerset, Spring 2016 Barbara Fisher
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 5/3/2016
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This is the second in a series of books written by Mollie Kaye The first book in the series Potter Pinner Meadow featured in an earlier post which you can read
hereshould you wish.
Black Bramble Wood is a gloomy sort of place, inhabited by all kinds of creatures but none as scary as Mr. Gingertail the fox. He lives in a house with an extremely large lock on the front door and bars on all the windows. Not that anyone would want to get in!
Farmer Wraggs (you may recall him from Potter Pinner Meadow) lives very close to the wood, and in a corner of his farmyard lives Mrs. Prudence Pumelow and her nine little piglets. Eight of the piglets are very good, but Perkin the ninth little piglet is very naughty.
One sunny autumn day, when the leaves are turning red and yellow Mrs. Prudence Pumelow sends her children out blackberrying. She gives each of them a small basket, an acid drop to suck, and a warning not go anywhere near Black Bramble Wood... “People who go into the wood don’t always come back!”
The sun is shining, and the hedges covered with ripe blackberries and soon all the baskets are full. All that is except for the basket belonging to Perkin’s, he picked a great many blackberries but the only thing that was full was his tummy. “Ooooh, Perkin,” said his brothers and sisters, “no blackberry pie for you.” Perkin looked at the hedges, but the remaining blackberries were all out of reach. “I shall go to Black Bramble Wood,” said Perkin Pumeloe “and I shall get more than any of you!” The eight good little pigs were horrified! “You will never come back” they said “pooh," said Perkin before tilting his little black snout in the air, picking up his basket and heading off towards the wood.
By the time Perkin reached the wood the sun was low in the sky and the trees were casting long spiky shadows. The bramble bushes, however, were covered with hundreds of big, ripe, juicy blackberries, and he picked and picked. Going from one bush to another, he failed to notice he was getting deeper and deeper into the wood. When the sun was almost gone Perkin decided it was time to go home, but he had wandered so far into the wood, he had quite lost his way. Frightened and alone Perkin sat down on a tree root and squealed.
Just then a fox with a large ginger tail came into view. “Dear, dear, have you met with an accident?” he asked. “I've lost my way,” sniffed Perkin “How unfortunate," said the fox. “My name is Mr. Gingertail. Perhaps you will allow me to show you the way?”
Presently, they came to a dwelling under a bank. “My humble home,” said Mr. Gingertail. “Come inside for a few moments while I find my muffler, the evening air is rather chilly and we still have a long way to go.” Now it just so happened that a little red squirrel busy gathering acorns for his supper heard Mr. Gingertail and called “Don’t go in there... run!” Perkin replied, “Shan't” rather rudely and followed Mr. Gingertail into his house.
A little while later Mr. Gingertail came out of the house, locked the door and walked away. The little red squirrel waited until he was out of sight and then hurried to the house and tapped on one of the heavily barred windows. “Are you all right?” he called. “Help!” squealed Perkin. “He says he’s going to f-f-fatten me up to make a p-p-pork pie for his birthday p-p-p-party!”
The little red squirrel promised to help before hurrying away to look for Professor Fluster-Whuffle. He was sure the professor would be the very person to devise a plan of escape for a captured pig. Professor Fluster-Whuffle declared the matter to be a very simple one. Firstly, remove fox, secondly rescue pig. “It may sound simple," said the squirrel looking rather doubtful. “But how does one remove a fox?” “Ah," said Professor Fluster-Whuffle taking an egg out of his pocket. “This is an old Starling’s egg I found lying about and kept it in case it should come in useful." “The egg if broken would be sure to have a most unpleasant smell, we will drop it down Mr. Gingertail’s chimney, and then we will be quite certain he will leave the house."
The Professors plan may well have worked had the egg not met with an accident before the pair arrived at Mr. Gingertail’s house. “Now what can we do” asked the squirrel. But then he had an idea “I know” he said, “on the other side of the wood beyond Gold Gorse Common there is a kennel, we could ask the hounds to chase Mr. Gingertail out of the wood.” “Capital idea" said the Professor. “Now we just need some woodpeckers to peck open the lock.”
News of the rescue plan soon spread, and the trees around Mr. Gingertail’s house became crowded with birds eager to watch.
Presently, the front door opened and Mr. Gingertail came out carrying a pail. Snarling at the birds he proceeded to the pool to fetch some water. Suddenly, from far away, came the sound of a hunting horn. Mr. Gingertail dropped the pail and ran as fast as ever he could.
As soon as Mr. Gingertail disappeared Professor Fluster-Whuffle called “Attention! One! Two! Three! GO!” How those woodpeckers worked! Chips of wood flew in all directions as they pecked away at the lock, and it wasn't long before it fell to the ground with a loud bang. The door flew open and out rushed Perkin Pumeloe. Guided by the birds, he dashed through the wood and across the fields, and he didn't stop running until he reached the farmyard.
Mrs. Prudence Pumelow being so pleased to have him safely home quite forgot to scold Perkin for his disobedience. Nevertheless, from that day on he was the best little piglet in the entire farmyard.
Two things strike me about this story. Firstly, the mention of a pack of hounds chasing a fox and secondly the good pigs portrayed as pink while the naughty pig is very definitely black. I have a feeling this might be considered politically incorrect by today’s standards. What do you think?
M.M. Kaye, (born Aug. 21, 1908, Simla, India—died Jan. 29, 2004, Lavenham, Suffolk, Eng.), British writer and illustrator who captured life in India and Afghanistan during the Raj in her immensely popular novel The Far Pavilions (1978). The daughter of a British civil servant working in India, Kaye spent her early childhood there. She was sent to boarding school in England at age 10. After graduating from art school in England, she found work as an illustrator and soon began to write. She married a British army officer in 1945. Before achieving worldwide success with The Far Pavilions she wrote a number of children’s books (as Mollie Kaye), several detective and historical novels and three volumes of autobiography. [Encyclopaedia Britannica.] The illustrations in Black Bramble Wood are all by Margaret Tempest.
Thanks for your visit...
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 4/26/2016
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I haven’t done any dressmaking for a long time, and I don’t suppose I will start again any time soon, but that didn't deter me from buying these. I saw them in a charity shop priced at £2.50 ($3.58US) for the four, and it was love at first sight. I've seen patterns for sale at vintage markets, but they can be quite pricey, and I've always felt I needed to know more about them before splashing out. However, these were so inexpensive I figured it was a good way to start a collection.
Home economics was mandatory when I was at school, one week we cooked and the following week we sewed. I much preferred the sewing and continued to make my own clothes throughout my teens and early twenties.
There is something very satisfying about opening a pattern, pinning it to the fabric and watching as a new creation slowly takes shape. Mini dresses were easy and fun to make. Fitting zips was the most difficult bit, especially as all my sewing was done by hand. Mum had an ‘old fashioned’ sewing machine, but it and I never got on.
This is something completely new in the collecting line for me so I've been doing a little online browsing and found a super website called
Vintage Stitching if you are into sewing or collecting patterns, you might like it too.
I have a lot to learn, but I'm eager to start collecting and these are at the very top of my ‘want’ list…
sourceI also like some of the menswear ones like these sharp suits
and these bell-bottom slacks.
Thanks for your visit, your comments are always welcome.
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 4/19/2016
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A second helping as promised…
The Tortoise is, to say the Least,
A very Contradictory Beast.
Though he may walk the wide world o'er
He cannot step outside his Door.
The Slowest Creature 'neath the Sun
He's Noted for a Race he Won.
Ignoblest of Created Things
His Shield has Many Quarterings,
and Lastly, though Devoid of Hair
His Combs are Famous Everywhere.
This noble Beast - But, why discourse
Upon the Virtues of the Horse?
They are too numerous to tell
Save when you have a Horse to Sell.
No Beast has done so much as He
To elevate Society.
How could Society Get on
(Or off), my child, if He were gone?
We owe him Much, yet who can say
He ever asked us to Repay?
Ah, Child! How Bright the World would be,
If Creditors were All as He.
Oh, shun the Crocodile, my child;
He is not Tractable and mild,
Nor like the Dog, the Friend of Man.
He's built upon a Different Plan,
He is not Diffident or Shy,
He will not shrink whey you say "Fie!"
and though he's said Sometimes to Cry,
Be not Responsive to his Wail,
Nor Pat him if he wag his Tail.
This Picture's true to Every Line
Except the Smile. (The Smile is mine.)
This Pleasing Bird, I grieve to own
Is now Extinct. His Soul has Flown
To Parts Unknown, beyond the Styx
To Join the Archoeopteryx.
What Strange, Inexplicable Whim
Of Fate, was it to banish him?
When Every Day the numbers swell
Of Creatures we could spare so well:
Insects that Bite, and snakes that sting,
and many another Noxious Thing.
All these, my Child, had I my Say,
Should be Extinct this very Day.
Then would I send a Special Train
To bring the Do-do back again.
The Devil fish, or Octopus,
Has often been Held Up to us
To typify the Greedy Lusts
Of Grasping Syndicates and Trusts.
This Picture (from an Early print)
Gives us, if true, a Fearful Hint
Of his Great Size, and throws some Light
On his tremendous Appetite.
But let us, Child, whate'er we do,
Give the poor Devil fish his Due!
The Picture, I forgot to say,
Is Quite Untrue in every way.
The Moral's Plain as Plain can be:
Don't believe Everything you See.
Oliver Herford’s Book of Animals
With pictures by the Author.
Published by Bickers & Son, London, 1906.
This one hundred and ten year old book is not in the best of condition. It has been used and enjoyed over the years, and that is what gives it its character. If you would like to know more about Oliver Herford, please see last weeks post here.
Could this be the 'early print' referred to in the Octopus poem?
*
Pierre Dénys de Montfort , 1810
Thanks for calling in, have a great week.
*Pierre Dénys de Montfort was a French naturalist, remembered for his pioneering inquiries into the existence of the gigantic octopus. Wikipedia
I can’t resist giving you a sneak peak inside this recently found book. I will be sharing more pictures soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the four parts of a lackadaisical Dachshund!
The Dachshund is the longest dog in the whole canine catalogue.
He is so long -to show him here he must in Serial Parts appear.This is Part One - observe his air of lack-a-daisi-cal despair.I fear he finds it does not pay...
To wag a tail so far away! Oliver HerfordOliver Brooke Herford was born in Sheffield, England on December 2, 1860 (not 1863, as is widely stated) to Rev. Brooke Herford and Hannah Hankinson Herford. Oliver's father, Brooke, was a Unitarian minister who moved the family to Chicago, IL in 1876 and to Boston, MA in 1882. Oliver attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH from 1877 to 1879. Later he studied art at the Slade School in London and the Academie Julien in Paris. Afterward, he moved to New York, where he lived until his death. Herford's cartoons and humorous verse appeared in journals such as Life, Woman's Home Companion, Century Magazine, Harper's Weekly, The Masses and Punch. Over 30 books illustrated by Herford, and frequently written by him as well, were published from the 1890s to the 1930s. He also wrote plays and was known for his humorous and pithy bon mots. Herford was a longtime member of the Player's Club in New York City. He married Margaret Regan in New York on May 26, 1904. Herford died on July 5, 1935 and his wife died the following December. [Source
OhioLinkFindingAidRepository]
My bookshelves are lucky enough to hold a scarce dust jacketed copy of this beautiful book. At time of writing, there is only one comparable copy (with the very scarce jacket) advertised on-line at a price which makes my eyes water! Not wishing to make your eyes water I thought it would be a nice idea to share some of the beautiful images with you.
The Fairy Tales of Perrault with pictures by Harry Clarke (1889-1931), published by Harrap in 1922.
"He brought them home by the very same way they came"
"Fanny would rather be fair in drugget than be a queen with an ugly face"
I’m rather puzzled by the use of the word drugget in the above quote. My understanding of drugget is a wool or partly wool fabric formerly used for clothing or a coarse cloth used as a floor covering or a cotton and wool rug. French droguet, diminutive of drogue trash.
I think it must imply that Fanny (rather an unfortunate name) would rather be fair and dressed in rags than ugly and dressed in finery. Is that how you read it?
"Am I come hither to serve you with water, pray?"
"The marquis gave his hand to the princess"
"He asked her whither she was going"
"Away she drove, scarce able to contain herself for you" (Detail from)
"Any one but Cinderilla (Cinderella) would have dressed their heads awry"
"Little Thumb was as good as his word, and returned that same night with the news"
"Riquet with the tuft appeared to her the finest prince upon earth"
"This man had the misfortune to have a blue beard"
Blue Beard
Thanks for calling in I hope your week is going well...
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 3/29/2016
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Never Tease a WeaselJean Conder Soule illustrated by Denman Hampson
Published by Parents' Magazine Press in 1964.
You can knit a kitten mittens
And perhaps that cat would purr.
You could fit a fox with socks
That exactly matched his fur.
You could make a goat a coat
With a collar trimmed in mink;
In a dainty shade of pink
But never tease a weasel;
This is very good advice.
A weasel will not like it
And teasing isn't nice!
You could make a riding habit
For a rabbit if you choose;
You could make a collie jollyWith a gay crocheted cravat;Or make a possum blossomIn an Easter Sunday hat.
But never tease a weasel,Not even once or twice.A weasel will not like itAnd teasing isn't nice!
A truly delightful book published by the Parent’s Magazine Press in 1964 with illustrations by Denman Hampson. A new edition with illustrations by George Booth was published in 2007. If you prefer the earlier version (as I do) you will need to hunt in your local second-hand book shop or charity shop. Or if you prefer to shop, you could check on
eBayor
ABEbookswhere there are several copies for sale at time of writing.
Never tease a weasel.
There! Now I've said it thrice.
A weasel will not like it –
And teasing isn't nice!
Don’t you just love that Perky Turkey?
Easter Joys be yours a postcard sent in time for Easter 1916. The sweet image and pretty sentiment belie the fact that the newspapers of the time were full of tragic stories about the war and the Easter Rising in Ireland. Easter Monday came later in 1916 falling as it did on April 24th.
These are some of the headlines in British newspapers in April of that year;
Nightly German Navy airship raids on England.
Munitions factory explosion at Uplees near Faversham, Kent, kills 108 men.
Garrick Theatre Fire, Hereford: 8 young girls appearing in an amateur benefit evening performance for soldiers are killed when their costumes catch fire.
Easter Rising in Ireland: Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin before surrendering to the British Army.
German battle cruisers bombard Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.
Gas attack at Hulluch in France: 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, decimated in one of the most heavily-concentrated gas attacks of the war.
Source; Wikipedia
Contrast the above with this letter also published in a British newspaper in April, 1916.
Dear Girls and Boys,
When you read this letter, your schools will have broken up for the Easter holidays, and you will be anticipating the pleasures of country walks in the bright spring sunshine, and finding the nests of our feathered friends. I do not think so many Easter eggs will be rolled on Monday as is the case in normal times, for I have heard of quite a number of children who are giving up this pleasure in order to send the eggs to our hospitals for the wounded soldiers. Still, we can spend quite as jolly a time in the fields on Easter-Monday; and an orange is a fine substitute for an egg as a treat, although I should not recommend it being used as a ball. A ball made of indiarubber is the best fun, and, armed with these two and a little basket for our floral spoils,
we can sally forth for our afternoon's enjoyment in almost any direction from Whitby, with the certainty of finding a pretty walk and plenty of flowers.
Source; Whitby Gazette April 20th, 1916
The news in 2016 is hardly better than it was in 1916, dominated as it is this morning with reports of a suspected bomb attack in Brussels. My wish is that every person on earth could sally forth this Easter with the certainty of enjoying a pretty walk and plenty of flowers.
Image Richard Denman Hampson
**Easter Joys Be Yours manufactured by M. M. Vienne of Austria an important publisher of artist signed cards covering a whole range of topics and styles.
A Letter From Julie;
Well, here I am again at long, long last!!!
Despite finally having one excessively heavy downpour of rain, here in the tropics of North Queensland it continues to be drier and hotter than any other season on record! It has been getting to 38 degrees more often than ever. My beloved Fur Babies have been feeling the horrendous and humid heat, so they tend to spend many lazy hours indoors where it is so pleasant for us all! Even the water from the COLD water taps feels warm! I haven't even needed to turn the hot tap on when having a shower! It’s quite unbelievable and very unusual indeed!
Gum tree after the rain
My neighbor was here at 7.30 this morning as if he had left it any later to mow the lawn, he would never have been able to manage even a quarter of it!! Even that early, it was already 30 degrees! I was enthralled, at that hour, watching and listening to the huge black cockatoo's squabbling for all they were worth in the enormous New Guinea Almond tree down towards the corner of the street. These amazing birds just LOVE the fabulous nuts which form on these trees and they are the only birds I have seen around here which can actually crack them open with their tremendously strong beaks! Some of the other, even larger native cockatoos are also strong enough to do so, but they don't venture from their homes in the rainforests!
Gum Tree Brownie and other Faerie Folk of the Never-Never
This situation has meant that I have been able to thoroughly enjoy the artwork in many of my precious old books, as well as finding new delight in acquisitions recently received from overseas!! One of these is Tarella Quin's first story book, Gum Tree Brownie which was illustrated by the then just 19-year-old Ida Sherbourne Rentoul some years before she met and married Grenbry Outhwaite and took the name we all recognise so well these days!
Gum tree Brownie illustrated by Ida Rentoul.
I have longed for a copy of this very special and lovely book, completely illustrated in black and white, for as long as I can recall. When I won my treasure for a ridiculously low price which made it akin to winning the lottery for me, I truly could NOT believe it. I kept checking it, over and over and OVER again, just to be certain that a mistake hadn't been made! When it arrived back in the country of its creation, packed along with an almost mint volume of the exquisitely decoratively bound Penrose's Annual for 1907-8, I literally trembled with the knowledge of what I would very soon be looking at!!! Oh my goodness, I could have cried with the absolute joy of it! And let me assure you, I was not disappointed with EITHER of these books which I have now added to my library! These very early Australian Golden Age children's books are like Holy Grails for any collectors and I do know how extremely fortunate I am.
Apart from these, I also have had a fabulous time buying a collection of Margaret Evans Price book treasures from a lady in America!! Well, actually there are five of MEP's plus four other stunning old early American (Volland) books!
My many (almost 50!) beautiful old annuals which I ordered from UK last Oct/Nov have been keeping me smiling from ear to ear as I enjoy the contents of them;
The Oxford Annual for Tiny Folks and Penrose's Pictorial Annual
The wonderful Oxford Annual for Tiny Folks featuring a chubby little toddler pushing his even chubbier little sister in a green barrow is simply filled with surprise treasures. Just a few pages in I saw a poem titled 'If You Have A Persian Cat' illustrated by the fabulous Lilian A Govey, a contemporary of my favoured Anne Anderson! Every word of this is so true, especially when I think of the brother and sister pair which my dad and step-mum own and adore!! So much so, that I scanned the three pages and sent them with Dad's birthday card which I made for his 86th birthday! I was rewarded with so many giggles and such genuine laughter when I was phoned with their ardent thanks.
The first story I saw when I opened the Joy Book Annual for 1928 (with a gorgeous child dressed up as a Jester on the cover) happened to be by that favourite author of mine, Agnes Grozier Herbertson!! It is called 'Wee Wobbledy'. He is a gnome who lived on the One Tree Common, and everything in his little house had to be tied securely, or hung on hooks as the BIG WIND always caused everything inside to go Wobbledy-Wobbledy'!!! In her gorgeous inimitable style, A.H tells the story of how the house one day, while its owner was out, was picked up by the BIG WIND and taken quite far away. The Wibbledy-Wobbledy has a grand adventure trying to find where his beloved little home has been set down and with help from The Wise Witch, and then the Wise Wizard, as well as a Shepherd who has a star in his bell, he does indeed find where his house is, by the side of The Peaberry Tree where lots of lovely and kind fairy folk were staring at it and wondering who it belonged to! After he finds the house, meets the 'neighbours', and invites them all in for tea, he decides that he likes this sheltered place and the folk who live there so much that he stays there rather than return to One Tree Common. All in all, another delicious little story by A.G.H.
The Joy Book Children's Annual with the story of Wee Wobbledy and The Spindle Tree
I also managed to have so much time that I enjoyed reading her stand-alone story book titled '
The Spindle Tree’, which I believe was written back in the mid 1920s and illustrated by Stanley Cook. At 190 pages, it is divided into 12 chapters. It is all about a gnome named Yumps, his Real Speckly Sparrow, his Genuine Silver Fin (fish) and his RARE and REAL Spindle Tree which is home to the Spindle Fairy. The tale is filled with memorable characters from the very first page, and I do wish I had a small person to whom I could read a chapter each night at bedtime as it is just exactly THAT type of a story, though still in A.G.H's gorgeous style so suited to very young children!! Many of her larger books which I have now collected are groups of individual short stories, as in The Adventures of
Bee Wee the Gnome to which I introduced you late last year,(again, as with my recent buy of Gum Tree Brownie, after waiting so long to find a copy I could afford!!!) Her Stand alone stories, such as Teddy and Trots in Wonderland and Lucy-Mary, or The Cobweb Cloak, to me seem far better suited to older children than the delightful Spindle Tree!
Kookaburra in my flowering gum tree
Oh heavens, I could just go one and on, and then on some more about all the magical moments I have been so lucky to enjoy over this hideously hot summer!!! I do not honestly know many people who are as fortunate to have such treasures at their fingertips whether indoor, or outside in the garden. Over summer, we have been visited by beautiful and very cheerful Laughing Kookaburras! I do enjoy these marvellous Aussie Icons so much as they sit in the trees and make their amazing sounds which truly do sound just like laughter! It is little wonder that they feature in so many Australian stories. My gum tree is back in bloom again so all sorts of feathered friends come to visit in the cooler daylight hours....simply wonderful!
Ladybirds and little water dragons (gorgeous little lizard friends) have been in the grass a lot lately as well, I think because they enjoy drinking the heavy morning dews!! Between the gum blossoms and the garden critters, I see so much of nature's inspiration which Tarella Quin found, from which she could tell her delightful early fairy tales of this country I call home! I am still tempted to pinch myself to prove that I do in fact have my treasure in 'Gum Tree Brownie’. I was showing it to an elderly friend who popped in earlier, so I do know it is indeed real!!! Some book treasures, as you are so well aware, are akin to dreams in their beauty, aren't they?! (Indeed they are Julie!)
Water dragon which is about 5 inches long TOTAL!
Life is not just good, but genuinely GREAT! I’d need ever so much time to share with you all the treasures and pleasure I garner from them!! But I can continue to do so in bits and bobs! I nearly wrote 'in Dribs and Drabs' but they surely are not, any of them, Drab!!!!
The sunset is taken looking through the trees from my yard.
Until next time, my love and miles of smiles, Jules xoxox
February, 2016.
Postscript 14th March, 2016.
Well, Goodness gracious....We here in tropical North Queensland (Australia) are now praying that the Rains keep up....just so that they won't come down!!!!! Since I wrote the post and Feb came to an end, we have been continually inundated with the unusual wet stuff known as RAIN!! and I really DO mean inundated!! One night we had over 100mm, and almost every day or night this month we have received more extremely worthwhile falls!!
The entire region around the city is gloriously green for the first time in well over a year, and with so much of the wet treasure, it may remain this gorgeous colour for more than a month!! The dust has settled at last too, so the Fur Babies are much more comfortable and it is far easier to keep the housework up to scratch! Like the rest of the population, I am certainly not complaining about any downsides the rain has, such as huge paw prints all over the tiled floors (they clean off so easily!!), as NOTHING makes my beloved plants grow as well as real rain!! I knew that we were in for some more of the deliciously refreshing stuff on Saturday, as my 24-hour little Rain Orchids came into full fragrant bloom again on Friday morning!!! They NEVER tell lies! It's almost as if they have little Fairies living within the buds waiting to just burst forth with the good news!! I could smell their perfume from my kitchen window long before I ventured outside for a closer appreciation! What a huge pity though, that these teensie, yet pristine blooms do only last for a single Day!
While the cheerful sounds, of all the children having a splashing good time out in the street as the rain gently falls on them, echoes delightfully in my head, I have been enjoying being able to curl up and enjoy some of my favourite of books with their magical illustrations and stories! I feel like the happy young child I was all those years ago, growing up in Melbourne where it always seemed to be raining, and I was always being transported off to have adventures in some new Storybook Land!!! My life is certainly blessed, even all these years later, in a city as far from and as different to, that memory-filled place of my childhood. I do pray that all of you who read this little post, also are able to return to you own magical memories with as much ease as I seem able to do. Enjoy every moment, and fill them with smiles!!
All photographs courtesy of Julie Drew.
Read Julie's previous post
here
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 3/8/2016
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The recent television series ‘Back in Time for the Weekend’ sent me scurrying to find my stash of old magazines. For those of you who’ve not seen the programme it features a British family living in six different decades starting from the 1950s and ending in the present day.
Having lived through all the decades showcased in the programme, I'm having difficulty deciding which I preferred. I was a small child in the 1950s a teenager in the swinging sixties and married with a child in the seventies. Any or all of those years could be classed as my favourite but the 60s were certainly the most colourful as demonstrated in this Best of British homemaking magazine from March 1966.
The Best of British Homemaking March 26th, 1966.
Unbeatable quality, unbeatable choice – here’s Good Living Unlimited for your home!
Any moment now ... they'll be talking about furniture. Really?
That special blend of cosiness, comfort and quality that makes the British Home the castle it is!
The world's widest and finest choice of furniture - that's our lucky lot! Here is an eyeview of some of the good buys around.
Every room in the house bursting with our new colour skill. Coolly modern, richly traditional, warmly cottagey - whatever the type of furnishing style it's the colour that makes a room remembered.
I wonder how many of you remember Ladderax (as shown above - and in the photograph below). It was all the rage when we got married and looking on eBay, I see it’s making a comeback. It even has its own Facebook and Wikipedia pages! We got rid of our ‘modular storage’ years ago believing it to be old fashioned, but perhaps we should have kept it.
I always liked the checked wallpaper in the sitting room (above) it made a perfect backdrop for the Ladderax. The photo was taken not long after Terry and I got married. If you look closely you can see our pet budgerigar on Terry’s shoulder. We named the budgie Tarzan thinking he was a boy but when he later turned out to be a she we renamed her Jane!
Tarzan (or Jane) pales into insignificance against the dining room wallpaper.
Back in Time for the Weekend Episode 2.The 60s BBC Documentary 2016;
Have you seen Back in Time for the Weekend or do you have a favourite decade?
Allyn M. Stotz is a children’s book writer who has just released her fifth picture book, Cookies for Punch, published by Guardian Angel Publishing.
This might be her fifth book, but it’s actually the first story she ever sent in for publication which was way back in 2009. Why so long you ask? Well that’s a long, not so interesting story. (She wipes her sweaty brow, and hyperventilates as she becomes exhausted thinking about the difficult journey she’s been on to get it published).
That’s why when people come up to her and say, “I've always wanted to write a children’s book. Is it difficult?” she has no clear and easy answer.
Every author has a different journey and every manuscript travels on different adventures to get published. Her first picture book, The Pea in Peanut Butter began with a title. She knew she wanted to write a story about peanut butter but wasn't sure what she wanted to happen in the story. So she thought of a catchy title and wrote the story from there. And I can tell you this for certain … that title stirs up a lot of attention!
Allyn isn't the typical writer who dreamed of becoming a published author all her life. In fact, she never even thought about it until she turned 52 yrs. old. (Lesson learned … it’s never too late!) One day, her brother (who is not a writer but certainly has the talent for it if he wanted it) posted on his blog a story about a computer game he was hooked on. His writing was fascinating with such vivid details of the fantasy world in the game that it made her think to herself how much fun it would be to write a fantasy story. She immediately thought of a game she and her siblings used to play as children. She sat down at her computer, began typing the story and her fingers have not stopped writing since!
That’s when she realized she had never enjoyed herself so much as when she typed up the first few chapters of that story. She quickly went online and researched how to write a story for publication. At that time, she decided she wanted to go for the gusto but still didn't know what type of book she really wanted to write or what genre. After finding a class online, she signed up and discovered it was small children she wanted to write for. She has always loved the little kiddos, but never was blessed to have any of her own. She thought writing books might be a way to reconnect with them.
And she was 100% correct! So to answer the question of “how do I get started being an author” my first answer would be to discover what kind of book it is you want to write, first. Then research, research, research. There are all kinds of rules to follow when writing a book and different sets of guidelines for each publisher.
Allyn believes that becoming a published author is one of her greatest accomplishments. Although it’s very difficult and really tests your patience, it’s very rewarding at the same time. Seeing people’s faces light up when they realize you wrote a book is truly amazing. But even more than that, Allyn feels tremendously rewarded by the fact that after she became published, her 83 yr. old mother (another example of it’s never too late!) and one of her sister’s decided it was time for them to fulfill their lifetime dreams of writing a novel. They have teamed up together and published three mystery/romance novels and just released their fourth book, Holiday Connections, which is a collection of short stories.
If you’d like to find out more about Allyn’s books, visit her at
www.allynstotz.blogspot.com. All of her books are available online and at Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, LA.
Thank you so much for agreeing to write for my blog Allyn. It was fun finding out more about you and your delightful stories. Barbara
Do you believe in fairies? Valentine's Rene Cloke Postcard number 3930.
Posted to an address in Sloane Court, London in 1941.
Message reads ... Dear Virginia I hope you were very good in the car. Don't forget to tell Nanny that your blue pram cover is in the bottom drawer in the day nursery lots of love Nanny.
What do you think about when you read those words sent to a little girl in 1941? I imagine a large town house with a staff of uniformed nannies residing over a nursery located on a floor somewhere far away from the rest of the family. I’m thinking of the days when children of wealthy families were kept 'out of sight and out of mind' other than at set times when they would be brought down to see the mistress of the house. Or is it possible the card was sent by the child's grandmother in the hope it would be seen by her other grandmother? Have I been watching too much Downton Abbey perhaps?
Secrets. Valentine's Rene Cloke Postcard number 4619 - undated and unused.
The Pixy School. Valentine's 'fine art' postcard Number 3715.
Sent to Miss Dashwood of Ealing, London in September 1949.
Elfins of the Brook. Valentine's 'fine art' postcard number 3931.
This was sent to the same little girl as the first card this time the message simply reads - See you at tea time xxx
The Dream Fairy. Valentine's Rene Cloke postcard number 4621.
Sent to 'Shirley' with love on her birthday.
Fairy Artists. Valentine's Rene Cloke postcard no 4729 posted on the 21st December 1951.
The Basket Maker. Valentine's Rene Cloke Fairy Series. Posted in 1954.
Sent to a Miss Harris with heaps of love and kisses from Uncle Glynn & Auntie Anne xx
The Little House Beneath the Trees. Valentine's Rene Cloke Fairy Series number 5110.
Sent to 'Sarah darling' unfortunately the card has suffered some water damage, and the message is illegible.
A Song of Summer. Valentine's Rene Cloke postcard no 1330 - undated and unused.
The Fairies go Marketing. Valentines Rene Cloke Postcard No 3332B
Posted on the 1st December 1950 and sent to Darling Angela. Message reads...I thought you would love to see these little fairies going to market. Can you dance as light as a fairy? Love and lots of hugs and kisses from Mummy and Paul xxxx
Can you dance as light as a fairy? I certainly can’t I have two left feet and absolutely no coordination.
Today I'm pleased to welcome author Sarah Hill as my guest contributor. Sarah is a children's author and a small animal Vet. She gained her Veterinary Medicine degree at Bristol University in 1999 and worked in practice for 10 years. At that point she had her second daughter and soon after, she decided to take a career break. She was writing her children's series, 'Whimsy Wood', at home in Wiltshire (with her husband, their baby son, two daughters, two dogs, two cats and "a partridge in a pear tree"!) for a good 2 years, before her work was taken on by Abela Publishing, based in Sandhurst, UK.
There are 35 books in the Whimsy Wood children's series for 5-8 yr olds. These are divided into 5 sets of 7 books. Each book is written specifically for a month in the calendar, so the flora and fauna within the wood, change as you read through the series. Finally, there is a proverb hidden within every story for the reader to find, giving it real meaning. Please note that 10% of book sales is donated to The Wildlife Trusts, UK.
Book 1, 'Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle', was published in July 2013. Book 2, 'Posie Pixie And The Lost Matchbox', was published in November 2013. Book 3, 'Posie Pixie And The Torn Tunic', was published in February 2014. Book 4, 'Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party', was published in May 2014. Book 5, 'Posie Pixie And The Christmas Tree', was published in October 2014. Book 6, 'Posie Pixie And The Snowstorm', was published in February 2015. Book 7, 'Posie Pixie And The Pancakes', was published in June 2015.
Why did you decide to write the Whimsy Wood Series?
Well in truth, I didn't! I went to Bristol University here in England to study Veterinary Medicine and I qualified as a Vet from there in 1999. I then worked in practice for 10 years and at that point our second daughter was born. My husband was travelling overseas quite a lot with work then and so I decided to take a career break to stay at home and raise our very young girls. Within 6 months of being at home, 'Posie Pixie', the main character in my first 7 'Whimsy Wood' books, appeared in my head and she wouldn't go away. She's terribly persistent! So I really had no other choice but to start writing about her adventures in 'Whimsy Wood'.
After 3 years of writing, editing, submitting to publishers, writing, re-editing and submitting some more, I finally received my author's contract with Abela Publishing in January 2013. 'Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle', book 1 in my 'Whimsy Wood' series, was published in July 2013. Book 7, 'Posie Pixie And The Pancakes', was published in June 2015.
Do you consider your book character-driven or plot-driven?
I don't consider my books to be either, as each of my 'Whimsy Wood' books is written for a specific month in the calendar, so the flora and fauna changes as you read through the series. If anything, they're driven by the time of year that I'm writing the book for.
What makes Whimsy Wood Series unique compared to other book series for kids?
My 'Whimsy Wood' books are unique because they bridge the literary gap between picture books and chapter books. They are read to and read by children of all ages and this is evident by the children's comments on the back of all the 'Whimsy Wood' books.
There is a proverb tucked away within every story for the reader to find and at the back of each book, is a 'Whimsy Wood' map for the child to complete using their imagination and what they've learnt from the story.
Do you plot ahead of time, or let the plot emerge as you write?
I tend to do a bit of both. I always use a mind map prior to writing the next book in my series. The title always goes in the middle - I may not have the actual title name until I've completed the book, but that's where it goes when I'm mind-mapping! I have the month that the book is written for coming off that central title. Then there's trees, plants, flowers, animals that would all be out and about during that month in a UK wood.
How did you develop the names for your characters?
l I like alliteration, so the 'Whimsy Wood' characters' names tend to reflect this. Eg Posie Pixie, Raspberry Rabbit, Wibble Woodlouse.
Posie was always called this and I had no doubt over hers or Raspberry's names. Wibble I was initially unsure of so I asked my oldest daughter Olivia. I gave her a choice of 'Wibble' or 'Willow'
for Posie's Woodlouse best friend and Olivia immediately decided on 'Wibble'. So that was that!
Mr Bilberry the blackbird, Whimsy Wood’s postman. Image
Sarah Hill
How did you decide on the setting for your books?
Again, I didn't purposeful choose my books to be set in a woodland, or indeed 'Whimsy Wood'. My imagination had decided, right from the start, that this was going to be where 'Posie Pixie' (the main character for my 1st 7 books) would come to live. She didn't initially live here, as you will learn in book 1, 'Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle'! I'm guessing though that my imagination and subconscious have been heavily influenced by my own childhood books. These being the 'Faraway Tree' books by Enid Blyton and 'Jill Barklem's 'Brambly Hedge' series. We are also keen dog-walkers as a family and are often outside, exploring woodlands and the beautiful Wiltshire countryside where we live. I'm sure these have all been factors in my imagination creating the enchanting 'Whimsy Wood'.
Do you have a writing mentor? If so, tell about them.
I have a writing coach called Suzanne Lieurance who sends me (and many other writers) positive, supportive and constructive daily emails called 'The Morning Nudge'. Writing can be quite a solitary existence, so I find these daily emails really helpful. I am also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). This is a fabulous group of like-minded literary folk and their annual UK conference in Winchester is always brilliant.
Front cover Fearne Fairy and the Dandelion Clocks. Image Sarah Hill
What’s your writing schedule? Do you have a favorite place to write?
I have 3 young children aged 7 and a half, 6 and 2 and a half years old, so I tend to write when the girls are in school and Monty our son is in nursery (2 days a week currently). I also write when the children are all in bed asleep 3 nights of the week, as my husband is also out working during these evenings.
I have to be very strict with myself during the these times that I set aside to write. Like all creative activities, you can't force writing. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it just doesn't. On the days that it's not flowing, I'll still sit down and try to write something. It doesn't matter if initially it's not brilliant. At least I've got something down on paper and I can them go back over it, edit and rewrite it and the time that I've had to write hasn't been wasted.
As for a favourite place to write, well I seem to write best in our office above the garage at home. But I'll often get ideas and thoughts when I'm not sat down writing, so I always have a notepad with me to write these down in.
What’s next?
Book 8, 'Fearne Fairy And The Dandelion Clocks' is next and is due out this March! This book is the beginning of the second set of 7 books in my 'Whimsy Wood' series and sees the introduction of a new main character, 'Fearne Fairy'. Now she's not your typical pink and sparkly fairy. Goodness no! She has flaws just like the rest of us and as for what she's really like? Well, you'll just have to find out!
Whimsy Wood Books. Image abela publishing
Anything else you'd like to add?
My first 5 'Whimsy Wood' children's books have all been awarded the '5-Star Seal' from 'Readers' Favourite' over in America. 'Posie Pixie And The Snowstorm' and 'Posie Pixie And The Pancakes' (books 6 and 7 respectively) have both been awarded the 'Story Monster Approved Award' and were recently tied winners in 'The Royal Dragonfly Book Awards' again in America.
Have you read any of the Whimsy Wood books or would you like to?
Potter Pinner Meadow is a recent addition to my bookshelf found at the Oxfam Bookshop in
Shaftsbury, Dorset. I was lucky enough to buy this and a second book by the same author for just a few pounds. I've uncovered a few hidden gems from this charity shop so if you are ever in the area, it might be worth calling in.
Gold Hill, Shaftsbury
Dating back to the Saxon era and boasting amazing views of the Blackmore Vale Shaftsbury itself is well worth a visit. Gold Hill is a steep cobbled street in the town famous for its picturesque appearance. You may well recognise it as the setting for a film version of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, and advertisements for Morrisons and Hovis bread.
Filmed more than 40 years ago the Hovis advert is now one of the most famous scenes in British TV history. Image:
Mail Online
Anyway, I digress;
Potter Pinner Meadow by Mollie Kaye with decorations by Margaret Tempest Published in 1937 by Collins, London.
Mollie Kaye also known as M. M. Kaye is best known for her immensely popular novel The Far Pavilions. I’ve added some factual information about her and the illustrator Margaret Tempest at the end of this post.
Mr. Pricklewig was by no means the only inhabitant of that very select neighbourhood. The Whiskertips, a family of aristocratic field mice owned a smart apartment on the sunny side of the hawthorn hedge. Mrs. Beatrice Brownwing, the speckled thrush occupied a cosy nest, while Timothy Tidmarsh the Dormouse lived in a small but cosy house among the roots of the big Elm tree.
The fly in the ointment came in the guise of Farmer Wraggs and his dog Tatters. Farmer Wraggs had a sour face, a mouth that turned down at the corners and a fringe of sandy whiskers. He also had a habit of poking around among the tree roots and slashing at the hedges with his stout hickory stick while Tatters growled and barked.
Whenever Farmer Wraggs came stumping up the meadow everyone locked their doors and pulled down the blinds. Even Mr. Pricklewig put out a Not - At - Home sign and closed the shutters when farmer Wraggs was about. However, there was one person who didn't mind at all because he was nearly always fast asleep in his bed.
While Timothy Tidmarsh slept the rest of the inhabitants of Potter Pinner Meadow attended an Indignation Meeting to complain about the state of affairs. Wonderful plans were discussed, and long speeches were made beginning with “Tatters Must Go” but all Timothy ever said was “SSSNOORE”.
One fine spring evening Timothy woke from his afternoon nap put on his second best coat, and set off to buy his supper. When he arrived at the shop it was full of customers all complaining about Mr. Waggs. Not wishing to get involved Timothy decided to enjoy a little snooze. “That Dormouse has no public spirit said Mrs. Beatrice Brownwing. I was telling him only yesterday how dreadfully I have been disturbed by that farmer person and would you believe it all he said was I don’t see much of him myself!”
When Timothy woke up he was rather bored by all the talk of farmers and dogs, so taking up his basket he started off for home. He was hardly more than half-way up the meadow when he heard sounds of barking. He stood still and listened. The barking seemed to come from the direction of the big elm tree. Continuing with caution he was faced with a dreadful scene! For where there had been a cosy home for a dormouse, there was nothing but a broken mess of bits and pieces. Of Timothy's beautiful furniture and his comfortable four-poster bed there was not a trace.
Timothy put his pocket hankie over his nose and wept most bitterly. The sounds of his woe were so loud that everyone in Potter Pinner Meadow came hurrying to see whatever was wrong. At first, they all said "I told you so" and "serve you right," but afterwards they were sorry. That night Timothy slept on Mr. Pricklewig's sofa and the next morning all the inhabitants of Potter Pinner Meadow, including Timothy attended another Indignation Meeting.
This time it was decided that Timothy should make his way to Black Bramble Wood and consult Old Madam Mole. It was already afternoon by the time Timothy came in sight of the wood the sky was cloudy and dark, and a cold wind was rustling through the grass. Black Bramble Wood looked damp and dark and dangerous. Timothy shivered in his shoes and wished he was snug in his comfortable bed, but when he remembered he no longer had a comfortable bed it made him so angry he got quite brave.Old Madam Mole rocked backwards and forwards in her rocking chair and began to think. “Fetch me the little green bottle from the cupboard” she said. “The next time you see Farmer Wraggs, empty the contents over him. Be careful not to miss and remember the effect only lasts for one day.”
Back at Potter Pinner Meadow, Timothy and his friends were busy building him a new home when a young rabbit came dashing down the meadow crying “He’s coming!” quick as a flash Mrs. Brownwing circled high above Farmer Wraggs and sprinkled the magic potion over him. At once, he began to shrink and grow smaller and smaller until eventually he turned into a frog! Tatters began barking at his former master. “Down, Tatters, down!” cried Farmer Wraggs but “croak, croak, croak” meant nothing to Tatters who kept on barking. The poor farmer became so frightened he jumped high into the air and landed in a bed of nettles.
As soon as Tatters went away the animals began to lecture Farmer Wraggs on his disgraceful behaviour. He was made to spend the day mending Timothy Tidmarsh’s broken china. He was also forced to darn Mr. Pricklewig’s coats and iron his waistcoats. It didn’t take long for Farmer Wraggs to promise to mend his ways, and that was exactly what he did.
~~~~~~~~~~
M.M. Kaye, (born Aug. 21, 1908, Simla, India—died Jan. 29, 2004, Lavenham, Suffolk, Eng.), British writer and illustrator who captured life in India and Afghanistan during the Raj in her immensely popular novel The Far Pavilions (1978). The daughter of a British civil servant working in India, Kaye spent her early childhood there. She was sent to boarding school in England at age 10. After graduating from art school in England, she found work as an illustrator and soon began to write. She married a British army officer in 1945. Before achieving worldwide success with The Far Pavilions she wrote a number of children’s books (as Mollie Kaye), several detective and historical novels and three volumes of autobiography. [Encyclopaedia Britannica.]
M. M. Kaye dedication from Potter Pinner Meadow.
Margaret Mary Tempest, (May 15, 1892, Ipswich, Suffolk, Eng. – died 1982, Ipswich, Suffolk, Eng.), British writer and illustrator attended Ipswich Art School and later moved to London to study at the Westminster School of art from which she graduated in the summer of 1914. She went on to the Royal Drawing School but was already planning the formation of a society of women illustrators with twenty other talented girls from the School of Art. Between 1919 and 1939 they put on annual exhibitions and ran a successful business, selling their work and producing commercial material including Christmas cards. She began illustrating Little Grey Rabbit books in 1929 and continued to do so into the 1960s, by which time 34 titles had appeared. [I’ve included images of all the Little Grey Rabbit books in three previous posts –
here,
here and h
ere] Margaret also wrote and illustrated children's books of her own, with characters called Curley Cobbler and Pinkie Mouse. She illustrated books by M. M. Kaye, Rosalind Vallance, Elizabeth Laird, and many other authors. She also found time to design postcards for the Medici Galleries. Between the wars she lived in London during the week, and apart from her illustration work she taught drawing to the children of most of the aristocratic houses in London. In 1939 Margaret returned to the Ipswich area and married her cousin, Sir Grimwood Mears, a former Chief of Justice in Allahabad, in 1951. Sir Grimwood died in 1963 at the age of 93. Margaret died in 1982 aged 90 and by then she had become afflicted with Parkinson's Disease and could no longer draw. [
The Ipswich Society.]
The title of this post might be a slight exaggeration but Karen, Steven and the girls did travel from Australia to England via Dubai before visiting France then back for a whirlwind tour of England and a return trip to Australia all in the space of forty two days. I realise they didn't exactly go around the world, but they certainly crossed it a couple of times.
We have hundreds of photographs so choosing the ones to share is proving difficult, but I hope you enjoy this selection. If you would like to see more, please visit my
previous post.
Paris - Karen, Zoe, Steven and Lilly
Lilly's pose was entirely spontaneous, but I wonder if the inspiration came from her favourite Disney film.
Queen Elsa starring in a Frozen Sing Along at Disneyland Paris. Notice anything familiar in the pose?
Zoe had difficulty remembering the name of the Eiffel Tower but pointing first at her eye and then her tummy (Eye Full!!) did the trick.
These two photographs make me smile, I love the way Lilly is copying her daddy with a sad and happy face.
Is it just me or does anyone else think Lilly looks a little like Audrey Hepburn?
Lilly on the left Audrey Ruston (Hepburn) on the right
As Zoe gets taller, I get shorter!
From Paris, it was back to London.
Karen and I enjoy a glass of champagne as we walk around a Christmas market alongside the River Thames.
We stayed at a hotel close to the London Eye, but the girls were more impressed with the playground (London Eye in the background)
Steven and Lilly
Zoe having fun
Why are playgrounds made for big people when I'm only little?
London by night
Fortnum and Mason all decked out for Christmas
Back at home and Zoe is very excited to see 'Postman Pat’ pulling up outside. The girls are more used to seeing the postman arriving on a motorbike.
An Australia Post Postie
(Flickr:
Vanessa Pike-Russell via
News)
On the move again…this time it’s off to a hotel in Basingstoke to join more of our family.
L to R; My sister Sue with her husband Brian and daughter Jackie, me with our two grandsons Kip and Tris from our son's first marriage, Terry, Karen, Paula (my niece and Sue's daughter) holding Zoe, Steven, Jean and Fred (my husband's parents), Dave (Paula's husband) and Lilly in the front.
Our two little granddaughters treated us all to a surprise performance - don't they look adorable in their tutus.
Lilly on Christmas morning
Zoe with her half-brothers Kip and Tris, the boys returned to England from Australia a few years ago so this was an emotional reunion.
Zoe and Kip getting to know one another again.
Steven taking Nanny for a spin around the dance floor.
With the excitement of Christmas behind us it was time to return home.
Now I understand why adult colouring books are so popular there is something very therapeutic about getting out the paints and crayons. I loved ‘colouring in’ with the girls and also enjoyed sticker books and magic painting, something I hadn't done since our grandsons were small.
We were delighted to see this little chap while out walking.
We couldn't be with Zoe on her actual birthday, so we had an unbirthday birthday tea a few days before they returned to Australia. Happy fifth birthday Zoe.
Happy New Year everyone!
Karen, Steven and the girls arrived from Australia on the 6th December, and life took on a different pace. We enjoyed a trip to Disneyland Paris, a few days in London, Christmas in a hotel with more of the family, a pantomime, numerous days out plus lots of time for simply catching up. Our son and daughter-in-law haven't changed a bit in the two years since we last saw them (
Malaysia 2013), but the girls have changed a great deal. Zoe was five on the 21st of this month and will be going to school soon. Lilly will be four in May, and they both appeared very grown up in comparison to when we last saw them.
Thanks to my hubby Terry and daughter-in-law Karen we have hundreds of photographs. Picking the ‘best’ is proving difficult, but I hope these and those in my next post will give you a flavour of the fun times we shared.
Knowing how arduous the journey from Australia to England can be we decided to stay close to home for the first few days.
Visiting
Sherborne Abbey. The Abbey has featured on my blog in previous post (The filming of Far from the madding crowd)
here and (A Royal Visit)
here .
Inside the Abbey
Back row L to R Terry, Karen, me, Steven. Front row L to R Zoe and Lilly
Zoe so loved the Christmas tree in the Abbey she had to give it a kiss!
The sun came out to greet our visitors, but rain is never far away in England much to the delight of two little girls from Australia.
This and the previous photograph were taken on the site of the old railway line that used to run through Henstridge. As you can see the girls were beginning to feel the cold so it was time to hurry home and warm up.
A couple of days later and time for a trip to the
City of Bath, it's getting colder now but the family are suitably dressed. Shame I didn't think to wear a hat it was pretty nippy around the ears.
Karen & Steven enjoyed a little light shopping. I don't think they intended the bags to be in the photo but Terry and I decided to keep hold of them – you can never be too careful! :-)
A Few days later it was time to catch the train to Disneyland, Paris. We spent four days at Disneyland and a further day in Paris.
We boarded the train at St. Pancras and it wasn't long before Zoe and Lilly made friends with a little girl called Delilah. The three girls spent almost the entire journey together. I'm enjoying all the attention especially the hug from Lilly.
Disneyland, Paris.
More holiday photos next week.
Feeling very sad when the family left I decided a little Joanne Harris would be the perfect pick me up and Gentlemen & Players didn't let me down! In the words of Anne Marie over at
Beetles, Bikes and Books ...
a very dark tale of events centred around a boys' elite Grammar School. Strange things happening relating to an event 13 years or so ago. I love trying to work out who dunnit! but I admit to being stumped. There's always something you miss in a book like this. If you're a Joanne Harris fan and haven't read this - do so.
Did you enter the
Joules Design a Welly Competition? If you did you might be interested to see the winning design...
The boots will be on sale at Joules.com later this year. To find out more visit Joules Facebook Page. The winner was a lady by the name of Andrea it would be nice to think she read about the competition on my blog!
Thanks for your visit I hope to catch up with all my lovely blogging friends very soon.
By: Barbara Fisher,
on 11/22/2015
Blog:
March House Books Blog
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My bookshelf holds two versions of The Glass Slipper. The first is a children’s play written by Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon.
The Glass Slipper - Illustrations by Hugh Stevenson.
Published by Allan Wingate, 1944.
The play was commissioned and produced by Robert Donat and performed at the St James Theatre, London in 1944 and 1945. Hugh Stevenson who illustrated and decorated the book also designed the scenery for the stage production. Geoffrey Dunn, John Ruddock, and Betty Baskcomb were all members of the original cast.
Illustration by Hugh Stevenson
~~~
. Snow outside. A grandfather clock, a broom, a tap, a fireplace, a pump, a string of onions, a kettle, a rocking-chair, a table, a sink, fire irons, unwashed cups and dishes. Cinderella is asleep – a cock crows. The stage lightens a little. Cinderella sits up and rubs her eyes.
Oh! Oh!
Silly old rooster!
Crow, crow!
Shrilly old rooster!
Every morning Crow, crow!
“Time to get up!”
I Know!
Fire to light,
Kettle to boil,
Lamp to polish
and fill with oil.
Ashes to sweep
Up in a heap,
Oh Dear!
I’d ever so rather go back
To
Sleep!
In this the second version the play has evolved into a story with illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard.
The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon
Published by Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1955.
~~~
Outside the kitchen in the falling snow, the Rooster crowed: 'Cockadoodledoo!' Inside the kitchen in her narrow bed, Ella pulled the thin blanket over her ears and tried not to hear him. As well as being thin the blanket was short, so when she covered her head it left her little feet bare. They were not only the prettiest, but the littlest pair of feet that any girl of sixteen was ever blessed with; but when they poked out of the blanket they were blue with cold. The kitchen was a vast dark stony room, more like a cellar than a kitchen, which is often the cosiest room in a house; but nothing could make this cold vault cosy, even when the fire was lit on the wide open hearth...
~~~
Illustration by Ernest H. Shepard.
I'm a fan of Ernest H Shepard's artwork and while the price of an original illustration from Winnie the Pooh is beyond my budget, the following was more affordable;
Auction catalogue entry - ticks and scribble added by me in my excitement!
I'm also lucky enough to own a letter written by Eleanor Farjeon, which reads “Darling, I expect you know this already in its other form. If not – here it is – if so, here it is again. Love and blessings on you all from Eleanor! The letter was found inside the front cover of the book on the left of this picture.
The story of Cinderella and the glass slipper is familiar to most of us, while Eleanor Farjeon is perhaps less well known. If you would like to find out more there is an excellent piece about her here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As many of you already know our son, his wife and their two little daughters are spending Christmas and the New Year with us. They arrive on the 6th December and return to Australia towards the end of January 2016, which means I will be away from my blog for a few weeks.
But … before I go I'm sending you a message, wishing a wish or two.
To let you know I'm thinking, this Christmas tide of you.
Kind thoughts
and Yuletide greetings
I'm sending loud and clear.
To wish you a Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year.
I am very grateful to everyone who visits me here, thank you. I hope this coming holiday season brings you all much joy and happiness.
I hope to see you again in 2016.
With love, Barbara xx
I have got to let you know that my long-awaited and sought after treasure,'The Adventures of Be-Wee the Gnome' arrived earlier this week! Monday to be more precise, so I have been enjoying it immensely with its entire complement of 20 full-page colour plates by Lilian Govey! She and Anne Anderson did a great deal of works which had similarities in many areas, and I guess this is why I just am so besotted with them both as illustrators! Their Black and White drawings are just as gorgeous as their colour illustrations, which I do find to be such a real talent. Charles Robinson and his brother W. Heath Robinson also had this extraordinary talent with their illustrating skills! I never cease to feel extremely fortunate to have so many amazing treasures in my extensive library of old children's books!
Be-Wee,though,is just SOOOOO cutesy and adorable, even if, or maybe even because, he has a very cheeky streak to his personality! I actually just added all the photos from the listing where I managed to purchase him from, to my
Pinterest page "In Books I Own!!!' as I recently decided to start a couple of pages after it was suggested by so many folk I have come to know through buying on-line from all over the world! I must say that I do cheat by googling most of my beloved subjects and Pinning from there as the photos are usually so good! The problem with Pinterest though, is that you can so very easily lose an hour or several every time you go into it!! It certainly has opened my eyes very wide to just how many precious and extremely special books I DO have, and I feel very humbled indeed to know that I am able to pluck any one of these off my shelves whenever I feel like!
Again I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing my snippets with your blog readers, Barbara. I have been so thrilled to read such kind and genuine comments left by many of these people who I have never met! We do share so many common interests with others all over the world, and being able to link up this way is almost like magic in its own way! I am not the most computer literate human being on the planet, so if you would like to add my Pinterest page's
Be-Wee pics to your site so that they may be shared and enjoyed by your book loving community, I think that you will also fall in love with this timeless little fellow! And maybe it will encourage more of us to hunt down and read about Agnes Grozier Herbertson’s Fairy Folk from so long ago!!! Even as an adult, I am always finding and enjoying lots of the now lesser known authors' works which were a staple in the huge Annuals of days gone by! In fact, it was in one such volume that I first met Be-Wee and his friends from the Happy Common, and other similarly named places! I now also have the gorgeous 'Hurrah for The O-Pom-Pom’, Cap O'Yellow' and 'Bob-along, The Brownie Man' in very early
editions and featuring similar characters to my adored little Be-Wee!!
A later edition of Bob-along-the brownie-man by Agnes Grozier Herbertson
Loving the way this author wrote, with her additions of sweet little rhymes throughout, I then went on to discover more of A.G.H's books such as 'Lucy-Mary (or The Cobweb Cloak)' as well as 'Teddy and Trots in Wonderland' both of which are delicious and original fairy tales with delightful illustrations. The latter was originally published chapter by individual chapter in the Ward Lock & Co 'Wonder Story Books’, during the late 1800's, and then finally all were re-published as a complete book of those adventures and illustrated by Thomas Maybank who also did the fabulous endpapers to the afore-mentioned annuals well into the 20th century .He also was the initial illustrator of Oojah, that wonderful elephant who had his own very appealing annuals in the 20th century! My copy of Teddy and Trots is from the 1920's, and is in extremely well-read condition, but I still could never part with it! Lucy Mary is illustrated by Margaret Tarrant, so to see her early colour plates is a real treat and I often look through it again, even if not re-reading the book! And of course, I simply love going through my numerous large old annuals and being delighted to re-discover the stories and poems by this favourite author about her little gnomes and pixies as they get up to mischief! I never get tired of seeing the various characters, especially when accompanied by their very own Lilian Govey pictures!
Teddy-and-Trots in-Wonderland by Agnes Grozier Herbertson
I am blessed, truly I am, to have gotten to know such wonderful stories, even in my adult years. The more of these old children's books I discover, the more I find life still has to offer!! And being able to enjoy and then share, makes the experience all the richer!
Until the next time I am able to share my thoughts with you all, which shall be after Barbara has spent a well-deserved and long, most enjoyable break with her family, I thank you for reading and enjoying my little ramblings from Australia; and I wish you a truly special Festive Season doing your favourite things with your favourite people.......
Many warm smiles always, Julie and the Fur Babies here in Oz. xoxo 'Wu-u-uff!!!'
https://www.pinterest.com/browndogsfriend/
**All images Pinterest
Thank you so much Julie, I look forward to ‘chatting’ with you again in the New Year. Barbara xx
Thanks to everyone who takes the time to call in – you are all wonderful! Barbara xx
You may be wondering what fruit cake and flower girls have in common but read on and all will become clear …
It's a lovely sunny morning ...
The recipe looks straightforward, so I'm sure it will be OK. Whoops - please excuse the blob, I softened the butter a little too much!
Plain Fruit Cake
Ingredients 150g (5oz) soft margarine (I used butter), 150g (5oz) castor sugar, 2 eggs, 275g (10oz) mixed dried fruit 225g (8oz) self-raising flour 1 level teaspoon mixed spice, 100 ml (4 fl oz) milk.
(
One) Preheat oven (150 deg C, 300 deg F, Gas 2)
Castor sugar in the bowl and flour in the scales - we are under way.
1 level teaspoon (and a bit extra because I love it!) mixed spice
(Two) Put all the ingredients together into a mixing bowl (told you it was easy) & stir well until the mixture is blended to a soft dropping consistency.
(Three) Turn into a prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 2 hours until firm to the touch.
(Four) Turn out and cool on a wire rack.
(
Five) Try to decide between a pretty plate or one that tells it like it is!
(
Six) Settle for the one that tells it like it is.
(
Seven) Sit back and enjoy.
In recent years our Christmas cakes have come from Marks & Spencer but this year I want to make my own hence the practice run before tackling the real thing. My sister kindly sent me her foolproof (never had a failure) Christmas cake recipe, and that will be my next challenge.
Our son, his wife and their two little daughters are coming over from Australia. We have all kinds of things planned with a trip to Disneyland, Paris and a few days in London at the top of the list. We also have a big family get together and a trip to the pantomime to look forward to. We are counting down the days until the 6th December when they arrive. It will be two years and one month since we last saw them.
Zoe Rose and Lilly Grace when we were last together.
Malaysia 2013.
Zoe Rose and Lilly Grace last weekend (with thanks to their mummy for the photographs)
Zoe Rose
Lilly Grace
Don’t they all look adorable?
I promise not to bombard you with lots of cookery inspired posts – books will be back on the menu very soon! However, I must just tell you about my Madeira cake ... no, not really!
After I published Julie’s previous letter Diane from
Always Crave Cute left a comment suggesting that Julie needs a blog of her own I agreed with Diane and asked Julie about it. This is what she said; You asked if I have ever done a blog, and truthfully, I haven’t as yet! But I adore the written word and have even written articles for magazines over the years. Many folk have asked if I am a writer by profession, and it always makes me smile. What a huge compliment!!
Now for the next instalment - over to you Julie;
August, 2015
So ... is the weather still gorgeous over in UK? We have been in the throes of a rather chilly snap which has affected the southern half of Oz as well as most of the Eastern coast. We are far enough North that it has not affected us up here! Thank heavens as the cold and I am not fond bedfellows at all. So many youngsters have been seeing and touching snow for the very first time in their lives this weekend. Amazing! Brrrr....
Cobweb in Julie's garden.
It's beautiful Julie but did I ever tell you about my fear of spiders? I can only imagine the fearful eight-legged nightmare that built this.
I am smiling as I think of your family members in Adelaide. My step mum, Adele, is from the Adelaide Hills and snow is so very rare in that area. The news reports were filled with children who were having such a fabulous time as they made their snowballs and even Snow Men. The huge smiles on their mesmerised faces was a real delight to see, after all the awful and sad stories which the news has been filled with for what seems like ages. Of course, though rather chilly here in the tropical area of North Queensland, it is gorgeously sunny, so the early-morning temperatures climb very rapidly to the mid 20s, and it is just wonderful at this time of year and quite heavenly really! I know what you mean about the warmth you are having, which means that a raincoat is quite a nuisance. And to think that our idiot Prime Minister (who no one admits to liking) keeps on about there being no such thing as Climate Change!! (Julie wrote this when Tony Abbott was in power. Malcolm Turnbull, a former investment banker and lawyer, is the new prime minister.)
Our seasons have changed so radically in just the past three or four years, that even the fruit crops such as Mangoes, don't know whether it is winter or summer. A good thing about the lovely, if weird weather though, is the amazing strawberries which are available at the moment so cheaply in Queensland. I can easily live on them! I love all sorts of fruit and with everything growing to perfection here, I feel so lucky. We have got passion fruits on the vine at the moment, but my banana tree decided to curl up its toes recently!! I chop up my strawberries and then scoop the passion fruit pulp all over them, with just a small amount of sticky brown sugar. Too Yummy! And I love stewing the winter apples with a few strawberries tossed in too.
Another visitor to Julie’s garden
The weather the whole world over is just mad ... I think you and I had almost identical temperature ranges the other day, from what I saw on the World News! Your poor dahlias seem to be suffering the mixed up signals from Mother Nature, just as all the plants here are doing with the summery climate we are having during our winter. The mango tree which is in my neighbours yard, but overhangs into my yard is FULL of fruit and blossoms all at the same time! We do not usually see even the start of its flowers till late September for December fruit. It is totally bizarre! The Fruit Bats are not even aware of their favourite fruit being there so these mangoes are actually seeming to grow without being destroyed, unlike when they are on the trees at the normal time of year.
My girls are all out lazing in the sun right now. Bless their hearts.... They felt the chill earlier on, that's for sure! It was MUCH cooler than yesterday. We had just 6.5 degrees at 6.30 this morning. However, it had climbed to 14.3 by 8 o'clock, and now at 9.30am it is already 18. We should get to the mid 20's by lunchtime and stay there, till late afternoon hopefully. Mmmmm...Beautiful! My big chairs have lovely fleecy throws on them so it is little wonder that the Fur Babies love curling up on them early in the morning and late at night. Well dear Barbara, I shall head off and have a nice hot cup of tea. I think that going out on the veranda with the dogs and enjoying the warmth sounds like a good plan.
Much love and many smiles too, Jules xoxoxoxo
PS The wrinkly teddy bear is LouLou, my almost totally deaf Shar Pei. The big dog with the floppy ears is Georgie, who was so badly abused that my vet had to keep her over for four months to get her well enough for me to adopt. The small dog with the pointy ears is Koo, who has adopted us by coming over from next door after she decided that she loved the company and being allowed to sleep on my bed with the other two every night when she stayed for a weekend when Kylie and her sons were away. The boys still come to play with her all the time and it works out perfectly for us all.
All photographs courtesy of Julie Drew
Previous letters from Julie
here and
here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A follow-up from Julie
I too had a shocking fear of spiders as a small child, and was cured of it by my darling dad! One evening there was a huge huntsman spider up in the corner of my bedroom and I was beside myself with fear, screaming for Dad to kill it! He flatly refused, instead catching it and putting it in a lovely big jar. He made me catch insects for it and basically have it as a sort of pet, telling me that it would be far more afraid of me who was so much like a giant to it, than I had a right to be frightened of IT!! I did release my new friend into the garden after a few days, by the way!! My dad is such a clever man to have thought of such a thing!
Well, it worked, and ever since I have had a healthy (if respectful where venomous ones are concerned) fascination for these amazing critters. I even did a long assignment when at high school, all about their web-spinning abilities!! I love to see the very delicate little webs in my garden as the sunlight catches them. They truly are beautiful and so amazingly complex.
Thanks so much Julie, I'm sure readers of this blog will enjoy hearing from you again, just as I do.
Love Barbara xx
This talk of spiders reminded me to wish you all a Very Happy Halloween.
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