The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights

Last Christmas Adam bought me two children's books by John Masefield, poet and prolific prose writer. Masefield was poet laureate of the U.K. from 1930 until his death in 1967. Click here to see a list of his books. Do you know his work? Perhaps you recognize this snippet of a poem: 

I must go down to the seas again,

to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship

and a star to steer her by.

That's John Masefield.

I'd like to tell you about the two books Adam gave me. He bought lovely new hardbacks with fabric spines, a pleasure to hold. Careful attention was given to these editions, crafted by Dr. Philip Errington, archivist of the John Masefield Society. Masefield's original manuscripts were studied and used. Madeline L'Engle wrote an Afterword to The Midnight Folk, noted to be Masefield's favorite book.

Both books focus on the orphan boy Kay Harker, who lives in his family home, Seekings, and is watched by guardians and a governess. Kay has a vivid imagination. In the earlier book (1927), The Midnight Folk, he joins with various animals and toys to defeat the evil enemies (witches and scoundrels), defend his family's honor, and reclaim long-long treasure. In this book, Masefield's accurate knowledge of sailing ships comes into play. The Midnight Folk shows Kay as a little boy without playmates who seems to invent nighttime adventures from the deep wells of his imagination in order to relieve the dullness of his life with a mean governess. In the end though, his seeming dreams and imaginations are proved real enough. To a child-reader, these fine delineations between real and fancy hardly matter. The fun is in the stories themselves, and Masefield keeps his Plot-Pot full and simmering with plenty for Kay to do. 

Will a modern child enjoy this book, with its many "tellings" and histories and games with Rat and Fox and Otter? L'Engle says, "when I was a child such complex interweaving of strands delighted me more than they confused me." Will an adult enjoy a book that seems to meander from one setting and time to another and another? I made myself stick with it and soon discovered it very enjoyable. As L'Engle says, "This book makes demands on the readers, but it is well worth the trouble." I agree.

The later book (1935), The Box of Delights, is perhaps the more accessible of the two. The plot action is more direct, the magical elements take a back seat, Kay's flights of imagination are diminished, and he has companions, the Jones children: Peter, Jemima, Susan, and the precocious Maria. The expected English children's adventure book plays out: a group of adventurous children find themselves in a large country home over Christmas and are given a task to preserve good and defeat evil, in the face of indifference from the adults around them. Their adventures take them farther afield and involve a broader cast of human characters -- and all of it feels firmly set in the real world. The villains are the same, but the emphasis on witchcraft that's so heavily present in the first book is mostly absent in the second, which is a bit of a relief.

They are very different books, and I enjoyed them both -- the first as one would enjoy a movie from which one emerges blinking from the cinema mumbling, "Well! That was unusual! But I do think I liked it." And the second, like a movie that elicits the more common, "That was great! It reminds me of   pick-any-well-loved-action-movie  . I hope they make a sequel."

Masefield was a poet, so I'll leave you with two of the many songs he inserted into The Midnight Folk for the animals and humans to sing at night. This song is sung by Rat, whose lingo is mangled inscrutably, but who longs for bacon-rind to chew. Kay is able to secure him a nice fat haggis (a somewhat offensive Scottish sausage akin to 'chitlins,' for you Southerners). Rat sings happily to his haggis, which he calls a "Naggy":

Of all the foods as good as tart,

There's none like pretty Naggy;

He warms the cockles of my heart,

Though he is so cold and baggy.

What though the wise eat mutton pies,

Or pasties made of staggy,

To all the wise I makes replies,

Give me my pretty Naggy.

Oh let my jaw lay down and gnaw

Until my teeth are jaggy,

Both cooked and raw the Scots whae ha

My ain braw sonsie Naggy."

Toward the end you see Rat must've taken a bite of the haggis because his dialect drifts into Scottish. Masefield even uses internal rhyme for a Rat eating haggis!

If anybody is still reading (haha!), here's another sweet, brief poem that tells the feelings of a man long dead and shackled who's at last been freed to pursue the next world. His description of relief at his own departure is lovely, as he meets someone waiting for him:

After long years alone,

Ironed to flesh and bone,

It is most sweet to pass

Like wind above the grass,

Free ever, and to find

The waiting mind.

Then to set forth together,

To know the new strange weather,

And where the new road leads;

To put old burdens by,

And have the wind and sky,

Light as the wild-duck's feather

Or dandelion seeds.

What beautiful thinking, for a children's book! If you find copies of these two at your libraries or used book stores, do read them. Masefield should be better known in the U.S. as one of England's finest authors.

The Creepy Old House Hunt

I used to be attracted to old houses, but lately I think my interest has degenerated into creepy old houses. A while back I shared this photo with you.

Today we searched for another house I'd noticed. On the way we saw this house.

And this house too.

And just when we'd given up hope finding the house I wanted, tucked back off the road at an angle among tall pine trees .... 

There it was.

 (I want to incorporate this house into a children's adventure story I've just started.)

We hunted and were surprised to find the house closer to our house than I remembered. Isn't it strange? 

People here lift their houses up on stilts after a bad hurricane. The insurance companies give them the money, and they're required to lift the house in order to keep it insured. This isn't an old house. When I walked up I could tell -- it was being built, and was flooded and damaged in a big storm, and they lifted it. But they must've run out of money or something, because then work stopped, and it remains a strange, creepy, weathered monstrosity, elevated among the tree tops.

Our county is scattered with little cemeteries. This one is in Hobucken, a village often quite soggy. Its elevation is 3 feet above sea level. After heavy rain, its cemetery looks like this.

 This gives me pause, as I consider the caskets 6 feet under. How wet are they?

We drove over the ICW bridge. It's strange to find such an impressive structure, out in the back boonies of nowhere.

We think that's a Coast Guard station on the left.

But for boaters and shrimpers, it's not nowhere. That long, wide body of water is what cruising boaters call "The Ditch."

So much for our adventures today. I sold at the farmer's market this morning, although no farmers per se showed up. It sprinkled twice, and then about 11:00 it gully-washed, a true deluge. I hurriedly stuffed everything in the van to keep it dry, shoved my tent, table, and chair in the back, and wrung out my skirt (attention: White Skirt Club members!!) before climbing into the driver's seat (where I'd unfortunately left the window down). I came home, dried off, and took a nap :)

Stay dry out there, folks!

Snipping Tea

This week's rains slowed a bit yesterday afternoon. I went out to clip herbs for tea.

A big basket I found at the thrift store for $2, I think

 Thyme from my newer herb bed looked so pretty, I snipped a bunch for myself. Thyme tea is so good for you.

 These hanging herbs, however, will make tea to sell at the market. I've sold three small tins so far. I'd bought some small tea tins at the thrift store, which kept the cost low for customers, but the profit good for me.

mint on the left, lemon balm in the middle, tarragon on the right

 My difficulty is, I'm unable to find the tins I need to package the tea, at the thrift store. I want small, very clean tins that are pretty. I could order them online or buy them in town, but that would increase the cost of the tea a good bit. I'm considering taking the tea to the market in a very large tin and selling it to customers in small zip-lock bags by scooping it out.

Our storm clouds on Tuesday night

What do you think? Would you likely buy herbal tea that way? It seems I have success making my products, but I'm often stumped when it comes to the packaging. If you have thoughts, please advise. 

Good Reading Ahead of the Rain

 After nearly two weeks of dry weather, on Sunday the rain began. I snapped a few shots outdoors before it truly began to descend.

 I knew those zinnias would be trampled by days of downpours, so I snipped as many as I could before the heavy drops began to pelt me.

 I was inspired to dash outside with my camera by Henny Penny and her flowers.
Here are my marigolds. I sprinkled some seeds there in early spring and forgot about them.

 They've been beautiful for a month now.
Adam got a trenching tool and has been digging a good barrier around our beds to keep weeds out.

 That bed must be the most pitiful; it has only a eucalyptus tree that dies back each winter.
In another bed is a volunteer, spreading vigorously.

 We finally discovered it is a gourd!

 And speaking of stripey things, this little fellow is looking adorable as ever. He is still an only child. 

 Upon examination of the wings, I think there's a good chance it's a she !!

Of course, the bed in the garden where I carefully planted gourd seeds that I'd bought, is producing nothing yet.

 Sunflowers are tall but not blooming yet.

 Loofahs are only just getting going with their growth. We have a long ways yet until we get fruit from them.

 Loofah blooms curl up when the sun goes away, as it's doing in this stormy weather.

 I'm still getting tomatoes, but they're not fabulous.

 I picked the first pepper!

 The cucumber vines are saying, "May we please be done now?"

 This terrible-looking plant is a tomato volunteer from last fall that I over-wintered on the front porch and put back into the garden in the spring. Recently I hacked it back.

 Poor thing. It's certainly given its all. The dry weather though, has made our tomatoes wretched.

Since the rain started, I've been reading. First I read John Masefield's The Box of Delights. Kezzie, I recall you loved that book as a child ... or perhaps the BBC adaptation? I enjoyed it very much. Now I move onto an earlier book by Masefield about the same boy, Kay Harker, The Midnight Folk.

I'm already liking it a lot. I've been a little under the weather the last couple of days, so resting and reading are the doctor's orders.

When I was a girl coming home after school, I remember my mother usually sitting in a comfy wing-back chair, reading a book. She is an avid reader. She also did a good bit of flower gardening (no veggies though), but I believe those were her only two hobbies. She kept a comfortable home and cooked quite well for the family. She went to the grocery store each Friday and prepared her Bible study lesson each month. Generally speaking (to my girl's eye), that's what my mother did.

With that good example, why do I have this constant urge to be Doing Something? If I accomplish all my house chores, I feel a slight sense of panic at running out of Something to Do. If I'm too tired (as I've been these two days) to do energetic tasks, I feel downright guilty. If it's raining outside, prohibiting garden chores, I eventually get this pestering notion in my head that I should be Looking for a Job. 

... All because I am not skilled at being content, as my mother was, with sitting in a chair and reading a book -- after having tended adequately to the house and laundry, and raised the children into some semblance of adulthood. Most of mine are past the semblance and are downright Grown Up.

I am taking up reading again as a result of this pondering. I've been a lax reader, but now I shall return to reading for leisure each day, in those quiet hours. 

Do you ladies (or gents) have thoughts on this? Were your mothers such? How about you? 

Oh -- and I want to start up a book-sending system soon. I'm amassing a few books that I've enjoyed, but will not read again, and they're in good shape. I'm happy to ship them to anybody who would like one. If you can reimburse me for shipping, that's great, but if not, it's okay. Here are the three I have available so far:

Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte
Elizabeth Goudge's The White Witch
Elspeth Huxley's Gallipot Eyes

Leave a comment if you'd like one of those; first comment, first served :) But I don't know why we can't all just keep passing them around until they light on someone's shelf who longs to keep them forever.

I Thought I'd Posted This ...

Goodness, I'm way behind! Remember I mentioned those warming pouches? Here's the one I've had about five years.

The outer cover comes off for washing, which is an excellent feature.

I took mine apart and turned the cover inside-out so I could measure and see how it's made. The pillow-looking thing is the bag with the flax seed inside.

I made four flax seed-filled bags just like that, with cotton fabric.

I sewed that end quite securely.

I chose these three fabrics ("fat quarters," they're called) at WalMart.

I made the elephant one first -- so cute! It sold at the market today, I think only because it is elephants.

I made four. I'm excited about this new item. My own has been such a good thing, I can market them enthusiastically.

My shampoo bars are cut and curing.

I've struggled with packaging my round soaps, and checked on Pinterest for ideas, of which there are many. I tried the large cupcake liners, but that was a failure.

I've been wrapping them entirely in scrapbooking paper and securing it with tape and a round label. Looks nice, but you can't really see/feel/smell the soap.

So I did a mock-up of a pouch-type package with white paper, and I think I like it.
Then I tried it with the scrapbooking paper.

I'll finish the design later, but generally I like the idea -- customers have access to the soap, but the pouch allows for easy handling.

Why shampoo bars, you ask? When I looked at the ingredient list on my Prell bottle, I found a few ingredients I'd rather do without.

Especially those Lauryl Sulfates and Laureth Sulfates. Lots of words I can't pronounce -- that's how I know I have a product that's probably not good for my body, but is great for color/scent/consistency/shelf-life/traveling across the country and sitting in a warehouse for 6 months.

Adam made the scrummiest dinner yesterday! Taquitos with delicious moist/crispy chicken inside, rice with creamy baked avocado. It was wonderful.

Beau says hello from his perch on the back of the couch.

The only-lonely new chick also says hello. He/she is waiting for his/her siblings to be hatched out, but it seems to be taking a long time.

That's because these eggs were laid and added to the clutch over the course of about a week, so they will hatch out accordingly. And some of them were not fertilized, and will turn into nothing.

That's it from the farm! We finished off our week today (Saturday) by having a most delightful couple from church over for dinner, true fun conversationalists with so many stories to tell of their adventures over the course of many decades. We had such fun talking with them -- once, the husband had to leave his beautiful, handmade-by-him wooden sailboat out in the ocean and abandon ship with his crew, somewhere near Bermuda. What a story! For many years, he hoped to hear news of her washing ashore somewhere. Each Saturday evening we're trying to have two or three church folks over for dinner, just to encourage hospitality among us, and to foster friendship and community that goes beyond Sunday morning.

Thanks for dropping in, friends!

A Day at Work

In my self-examination about my work options, I decided one good choice is to devote myself more to my already-existing business, Red Robin Soaps. If you click over, you'll see I don't keep my facebook page as up to date as I ought! 

It's a well-established home business with faithful customers and excellent products. Why turn my efforts to other avenues when this one is already good? 

Today I spent the day making Bee Balm, Healing Herb Ointment, and Insect-Repellent Lotion Bars. These products sell so well, and my customers rave about them. I thought I'd take you through my day today as I made them.

First, Healing Herb Ointment for damaged skin -- burns, poison ivy, scratches and bites. 
Several days ago I collected plantain, yarrow, and dandelion leaves and began infusing them into olive and coconut oils.

 After the leaves are strained out the oils are very green and ready for other ingredients. Adam cut up lots of beeswax for me.

 I have a large collection of essential oils. Four go into this ointment.

 Shea butter and grapeseed and almond oils are also added.

 My little hand-written recipe book contains all the scribbles needed.

 As the Healing Herb Ointment cooled, I began the Lotion Bars. They're made in silicone molds and are 1/3 beeswax.

 The golden oil above is safflower oil infused with dried dandelion flowers. This recipe is pretty labor-intensive and finicky!

 These lotion bars have 7 essential oils that repel insects, and they work wonderfully.
I slipped them in the refrigerator to cool, and began my next item: Bee Balm. More beeswax!

 Bee Balm is a simpler recipe, a lovely lotion for healthy skin. 

 By the time all these products were cooled, packaged, and labeled, it was 2:30, and I was ready for a nap!
Earlier, in the morning, I sorted dried herb leaves for tea. 

 Tarragon, lemon balm, mint, and lemongrass are my tea blend.

 I put tea into little tins that I find at the thrift store and sell them for $2 to $5, depending on size.

If I sold all those products tomorrow at the farmers' market (which I won't ...!) I would make a little over $140 profit. Adam made me crunch the numbers and be sure of the cost of each product I make because he's convinced they are under-priced, haha :) But I do make a profit, and I enjoy what I make. I enjoy meeting and talking with my customers very much. It's satisfying to know my products are beneficial to others.

Last Saturday I sold $98 at the market, a good day. I realized later that I'd have had to teach nine half-hour piano lessons (at my old rate) to make that much money. That's four and a half hours of teaching. Both are good work for good return, and I'd like to teach piano again too. But I get to choose my own hours in my soap business, which is a blessing. We'll see. For now I think I may reconsider finding a desk job that would take me away all day. Jobs like that here do not provide benefits, but they would radically alter our home life. We're having good success at trimming our budget and watching our spending.

It's hard figuring out these priorities and duties at my age, as some of you know! But for now, I'll keep making lotion.