"Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest."
~ Henry Van Dyke

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nothing like a challenge.....

Last week I discovered Margot's blog through a challenge she is hosting for this year. As some of you who read my blogs regularly may have realized, my favorite books or writers influence some of what I do in my house and garden. Remember my showing you my own version of The Secret Garden which influenced how I created the garden we have? I had already planned to blog about Louisa May Alcott but being part of this challenge to do so over the course of 2010 will be great fun. And I hope to learn more about her along the way...

The All Things Alcott challenge:

If you accept this challenge, please follow these guidelines:

  1. Between May 1st and the end of the year (2010), choose one or more Alcott related things to do (see #2). In the spirit of Louisa May Alcott, each participant will set his/her own course in this challenge. You choose one or as many Alcott related items as you wish.
  2. You will also determine the contents of your challenge. As long as it is Alcott related, you may choose books, audiobooks, DVDs, movies, TV shows, a play or live theater. Anything by or about Louisa May Alcott is the intention of the challenge.
  3. It’s not necessary to compile a list at the beginning of the challenge. I’m hoping this will lead me to discover new items I haven’t even heard about.
  4. It’s perfectly okay if this challenge overlaps with other challenges.


“I will do something by and by. I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t.”

~ The words of Louisa May Alcott


Recently, I had picked back up an old stitching project to finish. I like to try and link my reading to my stitching or quilting. I decided it was finally time to take my book "Flower Fables" off the shelf and read it as I stitch. If you want more glimpses of the stitching, you can go here to my other blog.

This was Louisa's first published book in 1854. She gave advance copies as Christmas gifts to friends one of whom she dedicated the book. The dedication reads...

To
ELLEN EMERSON,
For whom they were fancied, these
FLOWER FABLES
Are inclined, by her friend,
The Author
Boston, Dec. 9, 1854

And what a joy these fairy stories are to read! The excite the child in all of us. Sweet tales of goodness and the beauty it creates. There could be no better read as Midsummer Eve arrives in June which is a time full of fairy magic.

There are 34 beautiful illustrations to this little edition. When I purchased mine, a portion of the proceeds were to go to Orchard House which is the Alcott house. I understand the book is scheduled to be back in print again this year.

Excerpt from "Fairy Song":

"The moonlight fade from flower and tree,
And the stars dim one by one;
The tale is told, the song is sung,
And the Fairy feast is done.

The night-wind rocks the sleeping flowers,
And sings to them, soft and low.
The early birds erelong will wake:
'Tis time for the Elves to go."

This book is a must for children, young and old...
for those who love Louisa May Alcott...
or for those who love fairy stories in the summertime!

Click on the sidebar challenge button to find more blog posts about Louisa May Alcott...

9 comments:

Caroline said...

Heidi,

How I missed reading your blog... This post is such a good example why I started reading it in the first place.
That is a very interesting challenge, I only ever read Little Women, I did not knoe about the flower fable book, that looks beautiful!

Have a lot of fun and do not get too stressed about moving!

Love,
Caroline
P.S. I adore the little depression glass disk in the previous post, you should definitely go to that rommelmarkt more often ;).

Littlebit said...

I recently stumbled upon your blog, and what lovely posts..Like Caroline, I have only read Little Women--and seen the movie dozens of times. What a treasure to have that other book!

Anonymous said...

This challenge is interesting. I use to read all the books by LMA that I could get my hands on. I even owned one of her first books, but don't know what happened to it these many years later..."An Old Fashion Girl".

I just found your blog and will read on!

Nancy said...

okay, no challenge for me, I have enough to do. Good luck, I bet lots of people will do it.
Love you, Mom

Jenny said...

I love Louisa May Alcott and have read all of her books, at least I thought I had...grins... I had never heard of Flower Fables until I read your stitching post. Now I really must look for that book....Over the weekend I read a book about Louisa May Alcott and really enjoyed it ( I wonder where that idea came from?). I read about Flower Fables and also how she volunteered as a nurse to help the wounded soldiers of the Civil War. She was very much loved by the soldiers but the long hours took a toll on her health and she became very ill and her Father came to Georgetown to take her home. All the soldiers that could came to wave good-by to her train.Hope you are having a good week Heidi.

DonnaTN said...

What a fun challenge. There was a PBS program about LMA earlier this year. It was really interesting and informative!

Simple Home said...

What an interesting challenge. A couple of years we used a curriculum with my daughter that centered around Anne of Green Gables. It was wonderful, studying art, history, music, poetry and literature based on the book. I'm sure you'll enjoy this, and I hope you blog about it too.
Blessings,
Marcia

Margot said...

I'm so glad you joined the Louisa May Alcott Challenge. I think your blog is a perfect fit for her works. I'm looking forward to seeing what you will do next.

Susan in SC said...

Louisa May Alcott would be honored to have so many people interested in her. She would be flattered over your stitching which I think is perfect for this challenge! I love her too!