Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you dear readers which ever celebrations you honor this week. This week is special to me here at SurLaLune because it is also the 13th anniversary of SurLaLune on the 28th. Here are some pictures of my poor tilted tree this year with many fairy tale ornaments on it. I never got the other ornaments dug out of the garage thanks to a few mishaps the past few weeks which has also lead to my relative quiet on the blog. But in its simplicity, the tree has still delighted. I hope your holidays are as delightful through the new year.

Here are some close-ups in which you can identify some of the illustrations and fairy tales if you like, there are many more, but this is what my camera agreed to capture without overexposing...

Nutcracker and Mouse King and The Tale of the Nutcracker

It's that time of year, time for the Nutcracker. If you are interested in reading both of the stories that inspired the ballet, I highly recommend Nutcracker and Mouse King and The Tale of the Nutcracker by E. T. A. V. Hoffmann (Author), Alexandre Dumas (Author), Joachim Neugroschel (Translator) and Jack Zipes (Introduction).

The better news, discovered when I was looking up the book again, is that it is currently bargain priced in the paperback edition for $5.60 (the cover image is wrong) and it is also available in ebook format, but that isn't bargain priced right now.

Book description:

The original stories behind everyone's favorite Christmas ballet

It wasn't until the 1950s that seeing The Nutcracker at Christmastime became an American tradition. But the story itself is much older and its original intent more complex. This eye-opening new volume presents two of the tale's earliest versions, both in new translations: E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker and Mouse King (1816), in which a young girl is whisked away to the Land of Toys to help her animated nutcracker defeat the Mouse King, and Alexandre Dumas's 1845 adaptation, The Tale of the Nutcracker, based on Hoffmann's popular work. Irresistible tales of magic, mystery, and childhood adventure, these timeless delights and fresh interpretations about the importance of imagination will captivate readers of all ages.

I bought this one when it was first released and recommend it for the introduction and inclusion of both stories. It's an easy way to learn more about a holiday tradition.

Ghostly Wood by Wedgwood's Fairyland Lustre

Happy Halloween!

I wrote about Wedgwood's Fairyland Lustre at the end of August with two posts. During my research for images and history, I discovered this piece owned by The Victoria and Albert Museum, Ghostly Wood. How perfect for Halloween, I thought! And then I realized I would be at the V&A either on Halloween or the day before. Even more perfect! So today, with best wishes for a safe and fun Halloween, I share images and information about the piece while I hope I am having a safe and happy one during my travels. The rest of the information in this post come from the V&A website.

 

Fairyland lustre jar and lid. Jar has bulbous body, with small neck and close fitting lid. The decoration is inspired by the illustrations of 'The Legend of Croquemitaine' by Gustave Doré, with woods, ghosts, fairies and goblins.

Daisy Makeig-Jones's fascination with fairies, following such illustrators as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and the Danish artist, Kay Nielsen, proved very popular in the 1920s. Wedgwood have always produced a huge range of styles to capture different market tastes. The cosy drawing room and nursery atmosphere of the decoration of these works, and the monumental forms, contrast sharply with the modernist works being produced at Wedgwood's in the same period.

Targeting the luxury end of the market with these pieces, they represent one of Wedgwood's most extraordinary technical achievements in the ceramic industry. The richly coloured ornament of Fairyland Lustre was extremely popular throughout the 1920s as expensive collector's pieces. But by the 1930s the appeal of lustre was waning and the collapse of the American market had a noticable effect on the demand for ornamental wares. Fairyland was gradually phased out in the 1930s as Keith Murray and Norman Wilson were taken up. Fairyland was considered too expensive and old-fashioned.

[Susan McCormack, 'British Design at Home', p.113]

 

I'm hoping I will see some of these pieces in person, but one never knows what will actually be on display...

Jar and cover, Fairyland Lustre, 'Ghostly wood', des. Daisy Makeig-Jones, man. Wedgwood, 1916-1932

Happy Michaelmas!

If you have spent any part of your life reading the classics, you have read about Michaelmas. Or perhaps you celebrate it now in your own observances. I myself was introduced to it through multiple readings of Jane Austen and others, but it appears often in Austen's works and I remember when I was younger and sans internet wondering what it was.

Well, today is Michaelmas. If you celebrate, enjoy! If you don't and want to know more, there's a helpful entry on Wikipedia. Yes, it has been primarily a religious holiday, but it is also strongly associated with the autumnal equinox--which I neglected to post about last week--and is often observed along with that, too.

I also found this website helpful about Michaelmas where you can read about customs, history, etc. And yes, I count this as pertinent to SurLaLune as part of customs and traditions with associated folklore, albeit they are primarily religious traditions which have a heavy influence on folklore.

St. Patrick's Day Storytime

  

I've received a few emails recently about my SurLaLune Storytime pages hidden away on the main SurLaLune site. Apparently the area has many fans of its own. The pages are webpages from my personal notebook of the odds and ends I gathered when I presented several storytimes a week as a children's librarian. I haven't updated it very often with new titles, but it is filled with songs and finger plays as well as book suggestions for many, many storytime themes. I had never posted the St. Patrick's Day page so the emails were searching for it since it was missing. This week I programmed it and now it is online.

I found some more books that appear suitable for toddler and preschool, but when I was doing storytimes, I mostly had to stick with a color green theme because most of the books are either too small format for a storytime setting or way too wordy for a young audience. Hooray for St. Patrick's Day! (Lift-the-Flap, Puffin) was fine for toddlers, for example, but it's a small book and was horrible for reading to a group of people.

  

Despite all my best efforts genealogically, I haven't a touch of Irish blood in me although we believe my husband has some way back--most of his family is Pre-Revolutionary War--so we're talking way far back. Still, so many of us enjoy the day who have zero blarney blood. I'm sporting green nail polish this week (well, I do most weeks if it's not blue) and I am already anticipating at least one meal or more of corned beef and cabbage. Believe it or not, my favorite rendition in recent years was at Cracker Barrel where the cabbage was not so overcooked it was disgusting. Besides, my friends and family are not obliged to eat the same dish if we eat out. Apparently, not everyone is a fan of cabbage which I rather adore if it is cooked well. I cook it it in other dishes but prefer not to cook corned beef myself since I don't do it often enough to be competent. Although I am tempted when I see it in the store, I just don't cook a variety of meats often enough. I'm not a vegetarian, but a lot of my cooking imitates one.

  

So here are some books, many of these pictured here are not for preschoolers, as well as the link to the storytime page if you are looking for some inspiration for celebrating the day with a young one or ones next week.

Looking Back: Fairy Tales and Romance

Last year I produced an entire week of Fairy Tales and Romance leading up to Valentine's Day. I considered doing the same again this year, but to be honest, most of what I thought up was just a rehash of last year's entries. I try not to repeat myself too often. However, the blog's readership has also doubled in the past year, so I wanted to direct you to those many entries if you are interested in reading about fairy tales and romance.  Here's a list of the entries:

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Valentine's Day (Greeting cards)

Fairy Tales and Romance: East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: The Prince's Diary

   

 

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Weekend Reading

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Fairy Tales as Story Outlines

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: All That Fairy Tale Nonsense

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Fairy Tale Romance Novels

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Jennifer Crusie

Happy Valentine's Day: Cinderella Roses

Happy Valentine's Day to all you wonderful readers. I admit that my husband and I don't do much to honor the holiday in the way it is promoted. Our special romantic day comes a week a later with the anniversary of our first date. So I tend to use Valentine's Day to celebrate all types of love with little emphasis on the romantic.

Still, when one thinks of the commercial aspect of the holiday, chocolate and roses are de rigeur for many. So I decided to give all of you Cinderella Roses today, at least digitally. They won't wilt. They won't need to be thrown out in a week either.

It is probably no surprise that there are many flowers named for Cinderella. I am most familiar with the roses so went hunting for images of them today. These images came from Rosesuk.com which sells the roses to the British Rose Group exclusively.

One of my favorite jewelry lines is Silver Seasons by Michael Michaud. One of his earlier creations for the line, now long retired, was a necklace of Cinderella roses. I ordered it several years ago, but alas, I really didn't like it in person (unlike most of his creations which I adore, especially the fruit ones and some of the other florals) and sent it back. So I don't own Cinderella roses in any form, but I like these pictures well enough and they aren't cluttering my jewelry drawer. Here's an image of that Cinderella rose necklace which came in two colors, pink or yellow.