Whimsy

♫Dream of Flying♫

Whimsy:  Playfully quaint or fanciful behavior

Cicely Mary Barker "Lavender Fairy"

Cicely Mary Barker was born in Surrey, England in 1895.  She was frail as a child and suffered from epilepsy.  Her father, an artist himself, encouraged her artistic talent.  At first she took a correspondence course in art and later when her epilepsy abated she attended the Croydon School of Art.  When she was 17 her father died, financially strapping the family.   She was already selling her art for greeting cards and eventually to magazines and books to help the family's finances.  By the time she was 27, in 1923, she was able to sell her illustrations and poems to a publisher.  Her first book, Flower Fairies of the Spring, was published.

Here is a glossary of some of the fairies....

Click to enlarge

Fairies were very popular after the long, destructive years of the first world war.  People were ripe to be taken away from the real world into fantasy.  The popular Peter Pan had been around since 1906 and even Queen Mary helped popularize fairies by sending fairy postcards to friends.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1922 The Coming of the Fairies, which included photographs of the Cottingley Fairies, helped to keep people interested in fairies.  Cicley's eight Flower Fairy books were very popular and are still in print today.  There was a delightful movie made about the Cottingley Fairies on 1997.  I've included the trailer at the end of this post.

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I remember believing in the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny, and, of course, Santa Claus.  I don't remember when I found out the truth or whether or not I was disillusioned when I did.....maybe I was and that's why I blocked out the memory!  The make-believe that I remember best is playing house and being a mommy to my dolls.  And since I grew up to do exactly that, I have to believe in fairy tales! 

I'd love to hear what your make-believe was as a child and did any of them come true?  ☺

If Cicely Mary Barker interests you be sure to explore the Flower Fairies™ Website for some delightful activities for children and information about Cicely Mary Barker (click on the Grown Ups button).

You can find the story I wrote in 2002 about a Forest Fairy here:  Leona Belle--Forest Fairy Dream-Keeper

If you enjoy Celtic music, check out this preview of Old Celtic & Nordic Ballads about Elfs, Fairies, Trolls, Dwarfs, Dragons, Mermaids.  Another, full-length ballad, is The Elfin Knight.

And NOW for what you've all been waiting for....the winner of Fairyopolis!  I decided to let the faeries in the Enchanted Forest pick the winner this time, so I sent Sarah out with the basket of names (with tiny scones in the bottom of the basket).  She approached Faerie Land very early this morning.....

....and left the basket at the door....

When she returned later in the morning the scones were gone and a name had been drawn....

She also found a little note from one of the faeries....

This is who the faerie chose....

Congratulations, Sharon Calvert!  Send me your mailing address and I'll have Fairyopolis on to you right away.  You can find my e-mail address link in my Profile or send me a private Facebook message.

A side note:  In rereading Fairyopolis I discovered the little stone bench is held up by Dwarfs, not Gnomes because it's Dwarfs who turn to stone if they come above ground during daylight hours.  I suspect we won't be troubled with Dwarfs in the future during daylight hours at least.  The bench should be a reminder to all who venture above ground at night to get safely back under before dawn!

Lastly, if you haven't had your fill of faeries yet check out the movie trailer for Fairytale:  A True Story....