Ellie@Home by Nicole Kapise-Perkins

We had a visitor this evening! (I think it may be a faerie!) Fairy Day is a day for fairies, magic, and wishes to come true. For one day, put aside the cycnicism of the modern world and embrace the possibilities of the unknown, and believe in fairies…June 24 is International Fairy Day. It’s a holiday for fairies and the humans who want to celebrate them. June 24 falls during the holiday of Midsummer, which is associated with the summer solstice (or winter solstice in the southern hemisphere). Although the solstice actually falls on June 21, the Midsummer celebration extends a few days before and after the actual day. According to Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973) artist, poet, and author of several fairy books, “Summer is a very busy time of year for the fairies. However they do make time to have fun at Midsummer to thank the sun for shining its light and warmth on their flowers, helping them grow.” Midsummer is one of the most magical times of the year, and it is an...

 I've read this before, though I do not own a copy...yet. While my finances are not, and thankfully have never been in as dire a situation as Sarah's were at the writing of this book, I , like so many other people all over the world, do live under the shadow of debt, and quite often my family is living paycheck to paycheck. Sarah's tips and advice for sorting out debt, rearranging and re-managing spending, and tucking away 'pin money' are interspersed with beautifully written essays of real-life living, sparkling wit, and good humor even in the face of debt collectors. I highly recommend it, whether you actually need it or not. :) Scathing. Witty. Amusing. Enlightening. Alice James' diary is everything you expect a diary to be, and more. Her entries near the end, dictated to Katharine Peabody Loring because James could no longer write them are especially noteworthy. She knew she was dying, and she took that much more time to closely observe the world around he...

Thank you!!!

It's 9:30 PM, I'm tired and just this side of grumpy, but I promised at least part of the List, and here it is! Peace and Plenty by Sarah Ban Breathnach I love all of Sarah's books; her essays are beautiful, thought-provoking, and inspirational. Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady by Kate Summerscale 'The story of a true-life Madame Bovary and the scandalous trial that rocked Victorian England by the bestselling author Kate Summerscale.' Well, that got my attention. The Diary of Alice James Having read her biography, I'm interested to read the thoughts she recorded for posterity. Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity Through the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Alic To quote my son Henry "Because SCIENCE!" but really, because women in history...and science. Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley Victorian lady traveler? I'll be travelling to West A...

I'm behind in formatting this summer's list, as last year I had it ready to go on Memorial Day. I will post it for real tonight (I hope!) but for now, here's a list of some faboo-sounding titles as reviewed by Graham Joyce via The Guardian : Graham Joyce's top 10 fairy fictions From Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus to Alan Garner's The Owl Service, Graham Joyce chooses his favourite books in which the Fair Folk find themselves in fresh landscapes Still from the film Pan's Labyrinth Photograph: 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc/PR Graham Joyce I'm very careful to avoid the "F" word. They don't like it. And anyway, I've stepped away from the obvious "retelling of fairytale" candidates. Recasting fairytales has become a publishing sub-genre in itself, and has been done both well and to the point of entropy. More interesting are those works where the structures of fairytales are abandoned but t...

not that I ever should have left, but sometimes those repeated rejection letters and emails just get to me, and I take a break. Tonight I submitted three stories to three different magazines within one publishing group. I shall keep them nameless at present, but will venture to say that this publishing group has a hugely successful readership, and publishes for several age groups. Hence, three different magazines. (They publish more than three, but those were the only ones my work was appropriate for. At present, anyway.) Tomorrow I'll print another to send via snail mail (yes, some publishers do still accept hard copy. Amazing.) and in coming days will try to finish and subsequently polish a historical romance I've been working on for a couple years now so I can get that off into the ether as well. And for the record, I do not read romance, historical or otherwise. Anyone that knows me will tell you that not only do I not care for it, I LOATHE it, and think it is a waste of ...

     I have just started reading Ruth Finley's The Lady of Godey's: Sarah Josepha Hale, and though I find the writing style a bit outdated (published in the 1930's), Sarah Hale herself is an incredible figure in American history. All I knew of her was that she was the editor of the Godey's Lady's Book magazine for forty years. I did not know she embraced educational reform, women's equality in both the workplace and education (she was one of Elizabeth Blackwell's most ardent supporters. Don't know who Elizabeth Blackwell is? For shame. America's first lady doctor, she is.) as well as a successful author, among many, many other noteworthy achievements. Essentially, she was one of the first (respectable) professional women in America.      Widowed just before her fifth child was born, Sarah Hale remained a single parent, saw one of her sons off to successful military service, though he died very young while in service; her second son became a succ...