Fantasy Coach, by Posh Tots

Being pregnant (I’m 9 weeks along on Wednesday), I find my focus strays a lot. When I am able to work sans migraine, I’m often thinking about potato chips, or throwing up, or, most often, how much longer it’ll be ’til I can take a nap. My sister-in-law meantimes, also pregnant (with twins, no less), is already starting the shopping for her little beans. Which of course made me wonder – what’s a fairy tale loving girl to do for baby shopping? I mean, there are jungle themes and sailing themes, hearts and woodland furniture. And sure, there are cute little jumpsuits with fairies and birds on them, and a whole line of winsome Disney Princess things for those so inclined. But what about real fairy tale stuff?

And then I remembered Posh Tots. Don’t get me wrong – I won’t be spending $47,000 on this Cinderella carriage any time soon (, but it does give a whole new meaning to fairy tale baby shopping, doesn’t it?

Fairy Tale Birth Announcement, by bndesigns

And then there’s Etsy. Want a fairy tale birth announcement? Have a look at “Emma”, from bndesigns, an Etsy shop specialising in stationery. Complete with gorgeous scripting, this announcement reminds me of a few illuminated pages just waiting to be read.

Fairy Tale Bassinet, by Celestina Small

Think fairy tale stuff is girly? Check out this princely blue bassinet by the talented Celestina Small. Picture-perfect in a garden setting, it’s easy to imagine a royal baby shower, complete with the “magnificent cover[s] with a case of massive gold, wherein were a spoon, knife, and fork, all of pure gold set with diamonds and rubies,” from “Sleeping Beauty“.

Ah, time to go. I have a sudden yen for potato chips and chocolate milk.

Brooke Taylor over at Brooke Taylor Books is a having a Monster Month of Giveaways Faerie Week!

The deadline is October 30th, and it’s very easy to enter – just comment on her post and answer these two easy questions:

1. In the spirit of How to Ditch Your Fairy (featured in Prize Pack #2!!!)–If you could have a personal fairy, what would their special powers be? (For instance in Justine’s book the MC has a Parking Fairy who makes sure she gets the very best parking spots)

2. Tell me about something that has happened that you believe to be the work (or mischief) of faeries.

Go here to answer (we have)–and make sure you answer both questions! Then come back and tell us about your personal fairy!

A Lion Among Men, by Gregory Maguire

The time came for her to die, and she would not die; so perhaps she might waste away, they thought, and she did waste, but not away; and the time came for her to receive final absolution, so they set candles upon her clavicle, but this she would not allow. She blasphemed with gusto, and she knocked the scented oils across the shroud they’re readied on a trestle nearby.

    –Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men, The Wicked Years, Book 3

Like what you just read? It’s the opening paragraph from Maguire’s new book, as typed up from the signed copy next to me, the soon-to-be-property of some lucky Fees reader.

So–entering is easy. Leave your email address in the comments thread below, and answer the following two questions:

In the book (not the movie) The Wizard of Oz, what colour is the road Dorothy travels along?

If you could have a conversation with one of the Oz characters in Maguire’s books, who would it be and why?

A winner will be chosen by a very complex process involving a hat, some paper, and a possibly irate ferret.

Have Some Tea

Kacchan, the artist, has other fun tea set items in their etsy store, including this delightful I-very-much-now-need-to-go-find-cake strawberry shortcake ring:

Strawberry Cake Ring

I think it’s time to go looking for a cream tea…

Then, during my escape to an air-conditioned coffee shop this morning (it’s 33 C as I write this), I discovered a New York Times Book Review, pages still unsmeared and just itching to be read. Within, a review of the new Rushdie book.

David Geter, The New York Times Book Review:

From the very beginning of his new novel, “The Enchantress of Florence,” Salman Rushdie plunges us into a world of marvels: “In the day’s last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold. … Perhaps (the traveler surmised) the fountain of eternal youth lay within the city walls — perhaps even the legendary doorway to Paradise on Earth was somewhere close at hand? But then the sun fell below the horizon, the gold sank beneath the water’s surface, and was lost. Mermaids and serpents would guard it until the return of daylight.” And sure enough, that’s where he began to lose me. I’m probably not Rushdie’s target audience: in literature, at least, I find the marvelous tedious, and the tedious — as rendered by a Beckett or a Raymond Carver or even a Kafka — marvelous. But if I can upset myself over the plight of a traveling salesman who wakes up one morning as a bug, why did this ingenious and ambitious novel — no less than a defense of the human imagination — leave me unmoved? [more]

Still interested? Read the first chapter here.

Will I still read the book? Probably. Enchantress falls within the looser bounds of fairy tale literature. But, based on the first chapter, I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

spent the better part of today marking up pages for Fees. I’ve never liked tweaking code, but a very fun part of making the pages is finding graphics. While trying to find an illustration, or a piece of clip art suitable for Merrie Haskell’s Rampion in the Belltower (more on this soon, and be sure to keep an eye out for Merrie talking about her experience as a carillonneur interest in carillons), I stumbled upon this site, a clipart library provided by the folks at Florida’s Educational Technology Clearinghouse.

Of genus Amaryllis- A genus of bulbous plants, natural order amaryllidac?, with large, bright colored, lily-shaped flowers upon a stout scape—Whitney, 1902.

All the images are in the public domain, and most of them appear to come from some lovely-sounding old books. This illustration of belladonna, for instance, is from William Dwight Whitney, The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language (New York: The Century Co., 1902).

These images of dragonflies, too, are so pretty that I think I may be actively searching for something dragonfly related soon!

And then there’s the fairy tale art. A quick search yields 78 records for tower, while decorative letters, famous people, and literary characters each have their own category.

Fairy tale, meantime, returns 158 results, including illustrations (see below), borders, and letter art. Images are available as .gif or .tiff, and instructions on downloads and use are provided at the bottom of each page.

And finally, an image to catch your fancy on a late Tuesday night…

The Fox’s Brush

From The Brothers Grimm and Louis Rhead, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Stories and Tales of Elves, Goblins, and Fairies (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1917)