Daydreams

Rene Cloke

Rene Cloke (1905-1995) was an author and illustrator of stories for very young children. She also illustrated several books for Enid Blyton, which included the Three Golliwogs, Brer Rabbit, Mr. Meddle, Mr. Pink Whistle and the Amelia Jane books. All of which still remain upon my library shelves.

However, she was possibly best known as a painter of fairy subjects, which were reproduced by a number of publishers, including Medici (greeting cards) and Valentine (postcards).

I have long been an admirer of her fairy paintings along with those of Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959), Hilda T. Miller (1876-1939), Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (1888-1960), Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973) as well as other illustrators of their time with similar styles and interests.


Margaret Tarrant

Strangely, these women were all British apart from Ida, who was Australian. Ida was born in Carlton, Victoria, the youngest child of four and second daughter of the Rev. Dr. John Laurence Rentoul, an Irish-born Presbyterian minister and his wife Annie Isobel, née Rattray.

Ida's first illustration was published by New Idea magazine in 1904 when she was just 15 years of age, accompanied with a story written by her older sister, Anne Rattray Rentoul. In the years that followed, the sisters collaborated on a number of stories and after her marriage to Grenbry Outhwaite in 1909, she also collaborated with him on The Enchanted Forest (1921), The Little Fairy Sister (1923) and Fairyland (1926).


Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

I grew up reading hand me down books like The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley, Dulcibella & The Fairies by Alice Raiker and borrowed Cicely Mary Barker picture books, so I guess it's little wonder I became such a dreamer at school.

Still, I'm sure it was those very same books, which helped develop my very vivid imagination, without which, I would never have enjoyed such a successful and varied career.

This fondness I have of fairies, elves and other fictional creatures, is perhaps also the reason for my loving my tiny Fairyland dolls so dearly. In my opinion, my precious Puki Fees along with the newly introduced Real Fees truly capture the qualities of the fairy and elf beautifully.

Cicely Mary Barker

Hilda T. Miller

Tales of fairies, pixies and other creatures of the forest bewitched me as a child and I'm afraid, even after all these years, the realm of fantasy still has a strong hold on my daydreams and my heart. It's the happy part of my life which holds no sorrow, nor regret.

Happy daydreams to you all!
X

There are elves at the bottom of my garden!

Poor Patsy

I thought I'd share someone different today, she is a doll from my childhood which I discovered in a box, (recently delivered to me from my mother). There were three and this is the one who is most in need of tender love and care.

 

She is a 15 inch Palitoy Patsy drink and wet baby doll from the early 1950's. Her head is marked, "MADE IN ENGLAND PAT. NO. 535811" and her torso is marked, "BRIT. PAT. 600270, MADE IN ENGLAND, AUSTRAL. 135724, S.A. 813/46, CANADA. 466981".

The doll's head is made of hard plastic and her body a soft rubber. She used to drink, cry and wet, however, this is no longer the case.

Patsy has brown moulded hair, a very cute face with light pink rosy cheeks and a feeding mouth with faded pink lips, nice eyebrows and blue sleep eyes. I think her eyelashes are missing, but maybe they are just pushed in and could be pulled out with tweezers to normal length. Her eyes are pushed back slightly into her head and could use a little adjustment.

Patsy's cute, chubby rubber body really needs a good clean, her crier is missing from her back, but her fingers and toes are good. Although she's a little a worse for wear, I think I will give her a bath and knit her some pretty clothes. I might even have a go at fixing her eyes.

Lazy Days and Daffodils

I have been feeling like I needed some R&R this week, so today hubby and I decided to take a drive through Gippsland to one of our favourite towns . . .  Yarragon. It has some lovely shops, amongst my favourites are Candleberry Country where you'll find a  vast array of pretty fabrics to tempt even the most discerning sewer and Carousel Cottage a lovely shop full of decorative items for the home. Needless to say, I made a small purchase from both of them. :)

We then lunched at Gippsland Food and Wine, where my sweet little Pippin (LF Pipi Girl ~ Tan Skin) became very curious about everything.

After lunch we drove down roads we hadn't travelled before and came across the Blyth Brothers farm . . . and what a spectacular sight to behold it was!

Row upon row of magnificent yellow daffodils and fragrant jonquils. It reminded me of William Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".

 I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Little did we realise that this beautiful farm in Ellinbank is Australia's largest daffodil growing business, family run and dating back three generations to 1947.