Born in a Story Garden

Born in a Story Garden 
Our daughter Sophia had her baby. She named her Eloise Victoria. Born 6 lb. 9 oz. she is a tiny baby still - a month later. (I announce it here for those who missed reading the comments added to the previous post.)

Eloise Victoria  - Great Grandma knitted the pink blanket

Baby Dear

Victoria, her middle name, marks the victory of her birth - after a difficult pregnancy and high risk delivery. The name Eloise is in memory of illustrator, Eloise Wilkin, whose storybook pictures influenced Sophia's ideals more than I'd ever stopped to consider. I am seeing the fruit of this influence now. How - when a little girl - she collected the images of the pages I read aloud to her 30 years ago.

Into her imagination and she stored them - held them there for safe-keeping - dreams for her adult life - like a carefully stitched patchwork quilt is held in anticipation in a trousseau.

Sophia even decorates her house like the rooms pictured in Eloise Wilkin's illustrations.

The simplest of books can influence our lives with profundity. A picture book, for instance, has this power because it invites us to look closely at a portion of life. Simple it may be, yet it is never without an opinion.

Baby Dear - feeding time

Could Eloise Wilkin have foreseen that what  she drew in the 1960s would become a boost of needed encouragement to mothers half a century later - mothers of this multiple-screen age? This encouragement is especially appreciated for some of us who are having to re-invent motherhood - to form a picture of its tenderness and daily-patient-care in our minds. We welcome images of a gentle, cheerful and relational mothering.

Baby Dear - walking with our babies

Some of us are having to re-invent childhood, too. Those images of an old-fashioned childhood - when children were free to be playful, carefree children - and not be introduced to the adult world so soon. These happy childhood images can still be had through old books. They seem absent in the major media, unavailable in modern society - or in neighborhoods where, during the day, no one is at home.

Baby Dear - singing to our babies

And, too, we crave reinforcement toward upholding the value of homemaking. Therefore, what was drawn as a mirror of home-life and childhood in the 1960s is being tapped into by today's busy mothers who secretly desire a career at home. If you are looking for a picture book with a worldview that celebrates the traditional family Baby Dear will be a welcome resource. It is included in the Golden Book collection, Eloise Wilkin Stories. We Help Mommy can be found in the collection also.

Yours Truly, 1963

A Resemblance 

When my mother handed me an old Kodak slide taken in my girlhood, I couldn't help notice how my outfit resembles those worn on the pages of Eloise Wilkin's We Help Mommy - puffed sleeves and all. At first I thought: What an uncanny coincidence.  On second thought I realized: Why should there be anything strange about it? I am a child of the 1960s and this photo is proof that little girls really did dress in a white blouse and red skirt-jumper for playtime - in the days when Eloise Wilkin drew her pictures.

Books That Pamper my Opinions

As stories influences our lives, the flip-side is also true. An author's lifestyle often finds its way into her writing. Diaries, in particular, disclose what the writer is moved to jot down.

The same week my daughter emailed me some new photographs of her tiny Eloise I had The Painted Garden  open at my summer leisure. It is the diary of the gardener Mary Woodin.

In this book I can walk down Mary Woodin's garden path. Among her brief notes of sowing and harvest, blooms and fruits, birds and butterflies, are selections she uncovered from other gardener's diaries - mostly those from the 19th century. I am amazed at how skillfully she uses her watercolor brush to beautifully portray what is alive and growing in her garden. If you are looking for nature diary inspiration you will find it here.

With my book open to the month of August I see a quote from Mrs. C. W. Earle's  Pot Pourri From A Surrey Garden, 1887.

"Of all the months in the year this is the one in which the keenest amateur can best afford to leave home, and if I do not go away, it is the one I can best spare to my gardener for his holiday."

Immediately following comes a sweet surprise. Mary Woodin writes:

A bit of a lull in the garden - an opportune time to give birth! Reuben Charles entered the world safely in the midday heat. He has quickly become accustomed to being my garden companion - his pram [baby carriage] neatly balancing my drawing board, sketching stool, and the jam-jars for water. Parked under a tree he happily applies himself to the subtleties of cedar, oak, or ash. Or sleeps.

I love babies, summer sunshine, and flowers. I love books and the snapshots they give us. I don't mind reading books by those who have a different worldview than I have. I can find them interesting.
I can't help, however, to prefer books that pamper by own opinions. Have you found this to be true of yourself, too?

Thank you
For you convenience I linked to Amazon: Eloise Wilkin Stories and also The Painted Garden.

Recently, Dean headed out for the post office with his arms full of boxes. Therefore, I want to give you an extra thank-you here. To tell you that I very much appreciate your purchases of Parents' Review, the Lavender Strawberry Kit and the Mother Culture CD this summer. I hope each brings its own form of uplifting sparkle to you..

News
This month, at a blog friend's prompting, I hosted a luncheon in my keeping room for some home teaching mothers. I fussed over the preparations for a week beforehand with Dean's help, even buying two new plates to add to my Butterfly Garden set. When the day came, sitting at the table, chatting in the company of kindred spirits, it ended up to be a mini vacation for me - without leaving home. I hope we can do it again, Ladies.



I talked about children's chores in the post: We Help Mommy.

Rosey-cheeked and Resourceful is a blog article that explores the sadly missing phenomenon of safe neighborhood-play. In the days of neighborhood play attention deficit was at an all time low.

Thanks for letting me share this bundle of news, memories, books and articles with you.

Karen Andreola

Post Script
Oh. I've been meaning to tell you. Between posts, from time to time, I give articles to The Old Schoolhouse magazine to help spread abroad the good news of Miss Charlotte Mason's practical philosophy. Here are two links to TOS that relate to today's subjects.

A Nature Notebook 

The Power of a Picture Book