snow white in new york

Fiona French's vibrant, creative rendition of the classic tale Snow White,

in which Snow White plays the "poor little rich girl," the evil stepmother is an attention monger, the seven dwarves are seven jazz players, the "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" is the society section of the newspaper, the poison is a cocktail cherry, and prince charming is a reporter.

Not to mention the illustrations are fresh, lively, witty, and riveting.

to the mysteries of the world...

Grandfather's words of wisdom to Little Willie in Gardiner's classic story Stone Fox:

"If your teacher don't know-- you ask me. If I don't know--you ask the library. If the library don't know-- then you've got yourself a good question!"

food, folks, and views...

In my absence from blogging and work overload the last few weeks, I took a few fun breaks. We helped give a crawfish cookout with 50 pounds of fresh crawfish. Yes, I meant to type 50 pounds. Needless to say, we took home a whole pot of leftovers. Husband ate them on the deck the following day; Khan was eerily interested in the whole process:

That's a look of desirous contemplation if I ever saw one! He took no notice whatsoever of the camera in his face.

In other news, my thumbelina zinnias have done well this year. I still need to figure out how to keep them pretty for longer. I keep planting them because I just love the name: thumbelina zinnias. Any suggestions on keeping zinnias pretty all summer?

Also in terms of our garden, we have discovered the secret to perfectly red, round, juicy, bug-free tomatoes. And how to eat them.

The secret to growing is:

-Put leftover coffee grinds on/in the soil (the ones left in the filter after you brew a pot of coffee). We learned this trick from my parent-in-laws. More on this here and here.

The secret to eating them:

Slice thin and pile onto lightly toasted pumpernickel bread spread with mayonnaise. Salt and Pepper to taste. All the Caprese salad in the world can't beat this classic, down-home combination! We just love the flavor of the sweet pumpernickel bread with the acidic tomatoes.

And last but not least, we've found a new favorite place:

It's a private college campus on the outskirts of Greenville that doubles as a park. We've spent many afternoons there, relaxing and debriefing our weekdays.

I'll leave you with another quote from The Secret Garden:

"It's magic," said Mary, but not black. It's as white as snow."

.........

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world," Colin said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment."

Of course, the "Magic" they are speaking of is simply and profoundly LIFE; and nestled as the nucleus of those terms Magic and Life is, in my opinon, the Holy spirit of YHWH.

the immortal soul...

From the perspective of the classic Children's novel The Secret Garden:

"I shall get well! I shall get well!" he cried out."Mary! Dickon! I shall get well! And I shall live forever and ever and ever!"

One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun-- which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in some one's eyes.

-Francis Hodgson Burnett

an overdue check in

I've been absent from Blogland.

My summer graduate courses began this week, and I've been busy organizing notebooks and calendars, reading about some amazing teachers and how they make learning fun, searching library archives for articles from research journals and reading some pretty amazing classic children's literature, including:

Pippi Longstocking, the classic lovable, hilarious little Swedish train wreck of a child, who constantly seems to be drinking coffee of all things.

This weekend husband and I plan to explore, read, relax and create, so hopefully I will have more to share next week. I am thinking now would be a good time to get back to my Julia Child cooking...

roxaboxen, if you haven't already

This book is illustrated by Barbara Cooney, author and illustrator of this blog's namesake: Miss Rumphius The Lupine Lady.

It is a book about the power of imagination and shows how something merely imagined can become a memorable, impacting experience.

Without spoiling the book: Roxaboxen is a town.

And Marion was mayor, of course.

There were shops, bakeries, ice cream parlors, and houses of jewels.

(Adults will enjoy this one, too :)

In other news:

I loved reading all of your First Blog Experiences yesterday!

Thank you for sharing.

A few new blogs I found through you:

Inner City Observations

From the Narrows

Sweet Sassafras

Soule Mama

Jane Brocket

the first blog I ever read....

was Tollipop.

Well, technically it was the second. The first blog I ever read led me to it, making it the second.

But who's counting?

The author of Tollipop
draws these enchanting porcelain children called "Tollipops" and sells them in her etsy shop.

However,

what originally drew me

to this blog was not the Tollipop art,

but the little masterpieces of

phrases, sentences, and paragraphs woven and manipulated by the artist/author.

She is a master of language--

its richness, its movement, its beauty and scape.

She rekindles heirloom language to a blaze that leaves you poised and rosy as the little Tollipops themselves.

She currently has a project underway called the Hundred Dresses Project. Basically, she is writing 100 little stories to go with 100 different Tollipop girls in different outfits. And the stories are wonderful. She also has a collecion of Tollipop stories aside from The Hundred Dresses Project here.

This little project is based on the book by the same title. If you or a young lady in your life is unfamiliar with The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, familiarize swiftly. It's a well-loved classic that teaches a timeless lesson in a lovely way... for girls, young ladies and women of any age and era.

Oh, and if you start keeping up with the Tollipop blog, you'll soon learn that the author's daughters are amazingly accomplished musicians. She posts videos of their performances, which I usually watch more than once, green with envy and racked with regret for not devoting myself more to music in the earlier days of my life.

What was the first, most impressionable blog you remember reading?

What got you started blogging... or reading blogs?

From Classic Book to Contemporary Film

A book that unfolds a world of fright and wonder,

and of surprising possibilities;

a book that redefines "foreign" as something very near to our deepest nature and inner selves:

Sendak describes the unique elements his classic masterpiece possesses as simply "peculiar."

And this "peculiar" book is becoming a movie which will be in theaters this October.

"And they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all

and made him king of all wild things.

'And now,' cried Max, 'let the wild rumpus start!'"

(words from the book)

What do you think?

Do you still see the world Sendak created in this image from the film?

And in this one?

I do. I think I will like this Book-to-Movie.

If you're interested, here is a very good interview with author and illustrator Maurice Sendak and the film director/artist Spike Jonze... and lots of sneak peaks of the film.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is also coming to theaters September 18.

Watch the previews here.

Alice in... Trouble???

One of my favorite tales of all time is The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

If you only know Disney's version, consider it your current obligation to some of the greatest children's literature of all time to read the original tale. Lewis Carroll is wacky and ephemeral and beautiful and grotesque and full of values all in one.

Disney's Alice touched nicely on all these elements, and it's certainly eye candy to any viewer, young or old. But, for me, it failed to engage as many senses and inspired fewer brain bursts of a vivid Wonderland than Carroll's mere pen and ink.

(Well, Carroll may have utilized a little more than pen and ink, if you know what I mean, but we won't speak ill of the hobbies and pursuits of the dead on this blog,

which is one of many reasons I haven't mentioned ole' Michael J.)

Now, Tim Burton has me nervous. On one hand, I do see the artistic significance of a Tim Burton Alice and I realize that two visions of Alice are better than one, since that will keep us grounded in the mystery and ultimate unknown of Alice and her Wonderland (because I always thought it was more hers than that mean old Queen's or hurrisome, paranoid old White Rabbit's). Plus, two interpretations will not allow Disney the hegemony of the visual Alice.

But my concern is that Tim Burton, being Tim Burton and all, will only be able to pull from the grotesque and eerie of Carrollism.

I give you Exhibit A:

In the film, sweet Anne Hathaway's character looks, as first glance, like Gwen Stefanie (and no offense to Gwen, but I cannot picture her in Carroll's Wonderland). And not only Gwen, but Gwen dressed up on Halloween as C.S. Lewis's Ice Queen from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Plus, in visually overstimulating films such as Disney's and Burton's, it's easy to miss the witty remarks that are laced throughout the original text. Go here to read some.

My latest theory is that Tim Burton is somehow from the same bloodline as Roald Dahl: a bloodline of dark genius that's somehow been channeled into an urge to create childhood fantasia. I appreciate them both. But they both leave me feeling a slight pessimistic dishevel.

Well, the film is coming in 2010, whether I am okay with it or not.

SO:

What do you think Burton will do for the visual Alice?

Will he help or hinder or have no effect on the Alice of heirloom Carrollism?

Or, do you think Burton will more closely connect with Carroll's Alice?

That's certainly a possibility. Maybe Carroll would be so happy with the film he'd share his "pen and ink" paraphernalia with Burton for creating such a perfect interpretation of his Masterpiece. Maybe I'm just being overly sentimental... maybe I should let it be modernized... and Burtonized... oh dear.