Can you believe that these cupcakes aren't real? They knock me out!! They came in the mail today along with a whole slew of treasures from my Vintage Storybook & Bookmark Swap partner Colleen over at Frostings & Sparkles! The package was so much fun to open!!!!!! I was secretly hoping she'd include one of her famous cupcakes and I wasn't disappointed! I love the story hour pennants and am going to keep them on my desk to serve as inspiration as I write. Go to her blog to see more of her edible looking creations.
Colleen must be a kindred spirit!!! This little mermaid is just perfect !!! I'm mermaid obsessed...really. I love mermaids and selkies! I also get a kick out of the sheet music this little lady rests on...mermaid songs really are beautiful and not all mermaids are sirens!
Next out was a bookmark with a Wizard of Oz Theme. I once went to a metaphysical talk where the speaker broke apart Dorothy's journey as a spiritual one and explained how and why we all long for our real home, a space within ourselves. He talked of how Dorothy actually means "Door of Thy"...the door of oneself (no one was any smoking pot I assure you!). So, when I saw the bookmark I just knew that it belonged in the Spirituality (Feng Shui) section of my house. I couldn't get a good picture of it, so I used Colleen's. I love the ruby slippers.
Next, speaking of mind altering substances, you've got to appreciate a swap partner who sends you a children's book written by Aldous Huxley. The Crows of Pear Blossom. The story is humorous, but I must admit the illustrations by Barbara Cooney are fantastic too. It was written in 1944, but not published until 1967. I'll treasure this one always. I didn't even know Aldous Huxley had written a children's story!!!
But wait, there's more!!
1966's Cannonball Simp is by John Burningham (Another interesting choice of author!!! Wow! Colleen must know that I have a thing for men with causes!). Simp is a dog who gets taken in by the circus.
Bedtime Stories because we all need them:
BUT....I must say the biggest shocker in the box was this:
When I saw this Happy Hollister book my heart froze. I couldn't believe it. When I was six and my mother worked at the library in Rockland, Maine, I spent hours and hours in the far back corner of the children's section reading the Happy Hollisters. I loved this series. I read them all and I'm embarrassed to admit that one of the reasons I escaped into them was because of the food.
Mrs. Hollister always made "good food" and by good I mean not the whole wheat bread, co-op peanut butter, nutritious wheat germ cookies, lentil soup fare that my mom was passing off as suitable for children. Nope, Mrs. Hollister made bologna and cheese on white bread, lemonade and brownies. BROWNIES! For no special occasion! Plus, it seemed like those damn Hollister kids got hot chocolate all the time...just because! If being a Hollister meant that I could freely munch on cookies and milk while pondering a case? Count. Me. In. Sorry mom. As an adult, I love and appreciate what you were trying to do with the homemade wheat bread and "keep the sugar consumption low" stance, but as a kid...Mrs. Hollister understood me. Take this section for example:
Just then Mrs. Hollister called the children inside. "Daddy and I have packed a picnic which we will eat at the state park," she said. "Everything is on the kitchen table and ready for you to carry to the car."
This would have had me excitedly wondering if she'd packed her brownies or her chocolate chip cookies and if they might get an ice cream cone at the park. I know. It's sick and I'm sure the bloom has gone off my blogging rose. Have I lost you forever?
In our house desserts weren't a given, so the idea that the Hollister kids got to have a sweet snack because they happened to want one blew my six-year old mind to pieces. I'd become absolutely infuriated when twelve-year old Pete (the oldest) declined a second piece of cherry pie because he needed to go read the mystery note again. How dare he deprive me of vicarious pie eating!!!!!!!! Though, in my poor mom's defense...she made great blackberry pie and Swedish coffee cake. It's just that we didn't get them all that often.
My father began inventing holidays and special occasions to get her to make something sweet. He once planted a seed in my little brother's mind that Lamb-ey (Adam's stuffed animal) just might have a birthday coming up. A terrible thing to do to a three-year old who didn't want Lamb-ey to have hurt feelings if he didn't get a cake. So cruel. Hmm...I wonder who it was who suggested to poor Adam that maybe Lamb-ey's birthday had already been missed. WHAT? Mom got to cake-making pronto! AGAHAHAHA! If I remember correctly, I got on board with my dad's sudden realization that it was Spring Eve too.
Anyway, you can imagine how I felt opening Colleen's package and seeing that book. It took me way back in time. Thank you Colleen...you have no idea how special a gift it is. Though, it's funny because now I'm the whole wheat bread/granola eating/thrift store shopper I swore I'd never be when I grew up!
This swap was perfect. I thank my great partner Colleen and the Polka Dot Pixie for creating and hosting it. I had a blast. i just can't get over how thoughtful Colleen's choices were. Oh! Before I forget...Look at the cool paper (some of it feels like wallpaper) she used to wrap the books!
And off she went to bed...while visions of cupcakes and storybooks danced in her head...
Sweet Dreams Kitchenettes!
P.S. Mrs. Hollister was also a very good detective.
