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Musings: to meditate, think, contemplate, deliberate, ponder, reflect, ruminate, reverie, daydream, introspection, dream, preoccupation, brood, cogitate.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Little Red Riding Hood/Pickety Place

The story of Little Red Riding Hood has been around in various forms for centuries. . . .
The version we are most familiar with is the Grimm Brother's version.  As a child I found many of the classic fairytales rather disturbing.....probably because I tended to take everything literally.  Now I can see the value in fairytales for they impart a moral to children and adults alike.  In the case of Little Red Riding Hood one could say the moral is "Do not talk to strangers!"  And in this version, all is put right by the Woodsman.....but it never made sense to me that grandmother and Little Red were not injured when the wolf ate them.  Other interpretations have been offered for this tale that you can read about here.

I recently visited the charming, hidden-in-the-woods, 1786 cottage that Elizabeth Orton Jones used as the model for her version of Little Red Riding Hood. . . .

It is now Pickety Place, a just as charming shop and restaurant.  Christie Jones Ray, whom many of you know through Facebook and her web journal Grammy's House, has visited and posted photos of this shop.  Since I would be close by while on my foray through New Hampshire to seek out the village Tasha Tudor used in her illustrations for her Corgiville books (I will write about that next month on Take Joy Society), I set my GPS for Mason, NH.  And I'm glad I did.  I lost the signal for the GPS map, but, thankfully, the voice commands were still directing me through the woods to grandmother's house....otherwise, I would have had to stop along the way to ask a stranger the way. . . . .

My 1948 Little Golden Book copy of Elizabeth Orton Jones's Little Red Riding Hood is in well-loved condition.  I've made a slideshow of the book and of my photos of Pickety Place so you can take the journey with me into the woods to this charming cottage. . . .
            
Book:  "Little Red Riding Hood", ill. Elizabeth Orton Jones, Simon & Schuster, 1948    
Music: "Wondrous Love", Bob Bellamy & Wendy Barlow, Always Home 

             
Photos:  Cathy Gilleylen Schultz   Music: "Scarborough Fair", Anùna, Celtic Origins

While at Pickety Place I bought this Bay tree with the hope of growing one like Tasha Tudor's. . . . .

Yankee Magazine had an article with more photos of Pickety Place.

.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•
Take Joy!



17 comments:

  1. Your slide show and video are so lovely of Pickety Place and with one of my favourite songs too! When I was a child one of my favourite places to visit in Germany was a woodland that had scenes ( a bit like your first picture) showing scenes from fairy tales. Sarah x

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    1. Sarah, do you know if it's still there? That must have been so much fun!

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  2. Cute opening scene! Thanks for the slide shows, Cathy; I enjoyed the illustrations of Little Red, as well as the happy ending that I don't remember hearing before! Pickety Place always appears to be so isolated in the photos I've seen by Christie and others; do they have many visitors at one time, or only the occasional drop-ins? Good luck with the bay tree; I've tried a couple of times to grow them without success.

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    1. It is isolated. The last road you turn onto is a dirt road! The Yankee article said that even on a Monday in January the restaurant had several guests. You have to have a reservation to eat there so they probably only serve lunch when they know they have someone coming.

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  3. How charming, Cathy! I'm glad you didn't get lost in the woods. The fairy tales by the Brother's Grimm are quite dark. I remember buying an old book when I was pregnant with my first child. As I began reading these tales to my unborn child I had to pause and choose another children's book to read. ♥

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    1. Yes, getting lost was a real possibility. When I left I went in a different direction which was a more direct way to get back to the main road.

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  4. Fairy Tales are so often dark and quite frightening, even for grown ups! I have recently started, but put down again in favour of a lighter read, "Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and I'm sure you will know this book. Maybe it is time to pick it up again.
    I loved the illustrations of Little Red Riding Hood. I think it is the intensity of the colours that drew me in especially. Dark, deep colours for a dark, deep tale of warning Red Red Red!
    You would not want to use your Sat Nav here! Someone did a test of hers and had to stop before being directed 600 yards into the ocean before making a left hand turn down Ramsey Sound!

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    1. Yes, I've read Estes' book and in fact wanted to check it out from my library again but found they no longer have a copy! I love the little girl in Jones' rendition. On the back roads i Vermont my GPS had me turning left, then turning around and going in the opposite direction (which was the correct way). I always look at a paper map first, but it's hard for me to keep track, while driving, when there are too many turns.

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  5. I've always wanted to go here- hopefully I will someday!! Love the slideshow of the book, Cathy. It was so charming I immediately set out to find a copy of the same book, which I have done! :)

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    1. I'm so glad you found a copy! Is it a 1948 edition?

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  6. A delightful post! And a place I didn't know existed but now I feel like I've been there. Thanks, Cathy. The book looked vaguely familiar. I shied away from reading this to the grandchildren, but I like your take on the lesson in it! I loved the story myself when I was a child.

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    1. Dotsie, IKEA sells a Little Red Riding Hood doll complete with a wolf and a grandma. What is disconcerting is you can stuff the grandmother into the wolf's mouth and then un-velcro its shirt and pull her out. I know all this because my granddaughter has one. I did not buy it for her....

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    2. Oh my. Maybe a little too realistic. :-)

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  7. How do you find these great places, Cathy? I mean, these days I know we can Google for virtually anything and up it pops in 2.3 seconds or whatever. But I know you were finding and visiting interesting, off-the-beaten-path spots long before the Internet came along - how did you do it? You probably just kept notes of things you saw on your other travels, things you wanted to be sure to go back to. Well, however you did it, you're very good at it. Great photos as always - obviously there was no drought in New Hampshire this Summer. Just like us - everything was green all along. I love that because that means the complex where I love doesn't activate their in-ground sprinkler system, and I don't have a water-spotted car all Summer long. Loved the long videos today too - especially with "Scarborough Fair" which has been a favorite since the late 60s when I first heard it. And I love that "Pickety Place" has a resident cat. More businesses should do that, with cats OR dogs - if it's practical anyway." I think it brings them good luck and good vibes. PS - at first glance, I thought you'd found a Little Red Riding Hood outfit for Olivia when I saw your first photo. She sure would look adorable in one - and just in time for Halloween! Take care and talk to you soon...💛

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    1. Hi Janet. Before the Internet I would write away for travel brochures and check out books from the library. As for Pickety Place, I found out about it from Christie, whom I follow on Facebook. Speaking of Scarborough Fair, Simon & Garfunkel are who introduced me to the song first in the 60's. Ken and I saw them in Valparaiso University's basketball gymnasium in 1967 for $2. Can you believe that?!

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    2. No kidding! Wow - $2. I wonder what a ticket would cost these days? For either one or even both of them? If you still have your 1967 ticket stub, and somehow that would not surprise me LOL, you should save it for a future 'Antiques Roadshow.' 🍁

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    3. Janet, you KNOW I do, right?! You can see it on this post: http://cathy-morningmusings.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-love-story.html#more

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