Art: Cicely Mary Barker (thank you, Lili Matthews, for the correction)
I happened to hear from Hannah this week. We went to the same schools from age 4 through age 13. We’re in touch from time to time but not regularly, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Hannah mentioned she remembered “playing fairies in the wonderful fields behind your house.” Although I don’t have a mental picture of the two of us playing fairies there, I am not surprised to learn we did. Fairies were a big part of my childhood. Even now, I occasionally catch myself wondering if they could be real.
Hannah got me thinking of other imaginative play in childhood: tea parties with cinnamon toast in an attic closet with Carole, the woodland path where Patsy and I walked without speaking because of deep magic, plans with Ursula to perform “Snow White and Rose Red” before the movie at the Lafayette Theater (if only our brothers would cooperate and play their assigned roles), nefarious scheming with the Jukes kids on the roof of a small building, outdoor theatricals with the Cummings kids.
You will say we must not have had television, but in fact we had the first tv in the neighborhood, and kids from all around gathered to watch Disneyland on a tiny black & white screen on Saturdays. And you can bet that whatever magic Walt dreamed up was magic I believed.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I love these kinds of nostalgic memories and they prompt me to remember my own. Grimm’s fairy tales fed my imagination–funny how people nowadays think the stories aren’t appropriate for children.
I read all the fairy stories collected by the Langs — the orange book, the rose, the blue, the green — you name it. “Snow White and Rose Red” was from the Grimm brothers. I don’t remember a thing about it.
Every summer my granddaughters come to my house in VT for Grammie Camp. This year I saw Fairy Cottages created by kids at the botanical garden in Austin TX, and was entranced. I found a beautiful pop-up book about fairies at the bookshop there which I snarfed up. Next week we’ll be building fairy cottages and of course dressing up (they are 8 and 11).
I can imagine Hannah and you playing fairies at your country house. I wonder if I ever joined you?
Warmest regards, Catherine
Catherine! What a treat to hear from you — and to picture you building fairy cottages for Grammie Camp! I particularly remember playing dolls with you around age 5. My doll at the time was called Susie. Funny. My daughter is Suzanne. This blog, where Suzanne gave me free rein, is actually for her birthstone-jewelry company, Luna & Stella. We hope the blog reflects relationships and adds to the trust the company has built. By the way, I also remember staying with your family when my parents were away, making “pink milk,” and your mother reading us *Mary Poppins.* And when we were older, I remembering lying on your living room rug and each of us reading a comic book.
PS The Arthur Rackham fairies are THE prototype!
🙂
Sorry to correct you but that illustration is in fact Cicely Mary Barker’s from her anthology of flower faeries, not Arthur Rackham. I understand the confusion – they both use the art nouveau style of drawing with watercolour and use very similar wing shapes and palette, but Barker’s is slightly softer. Having done a major project on this illustration style I can understand this miscaption – love the blog theme by the way
Oh, really? Gosh, thanks.