Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Fairy Tale Art

Cookbook donation yesterday. Homemade Ice Cream and Cake by Food Editors of Farm Journal, 1972.
I think I will bring it home for the fun of reading ... not going to make any of the recipes because I would EAT THEM ALL. I love fluffy jell-o parfaits and the like. They're not like food at all!


I leave in fifteen minutes to meet a friend--my second get-together in 24 hours. Both of these friends are from my days in the art college library.

Before I leave I need to hang the curtains I brought home---temperatures are high (around 90) and I need to block the sun to keep the apartment cool. Luckily temps are still dropping at night to comfortable sleeping levels. I don't like the heat but as long as I can sleep at night I'm not turning on the a/c.

We're steaming in the back at work, because the large donations door is open all the time. Another stupid thing at work--there's nothing done to block the inflow of hot air, such as hanging plastic strips like grocery stores do.

I'm complaining a lot about work, but I'm really very happy there and more so lately, as I've stopped expecting anything from management (not that I don't still roll my eyes).
Last night I was talking to my art librarian friend Allan about how we work around  (under/over) management. Our former boss at the library hated Allan and cut his hours in half. Allan continued to work as much as ever for half the pay, because he loves his work. He took on more and more independent projects for staff and students.

Now at 76, Allan's still there--his current project is digitally scanning  a collection of thousands of vintage postcards with illustrations of fairy tales, belonging to fairy tale reseacher Jack Zipes--retired from the UM here.
They will go online, to be shared for free.

Zipes says,
Fairy tales "serve a meaningful social function, not just for compensation but for revelation: the worlds projected by the best of our fairy tales reveal the gaps between truth and falsehood in our immediate society".

I've been interested in fairy tales in the last couple years--flowing from my growing interest in toys and magic animals--
I told Allan about a Little Golden Book I have on display at my apartment--he immediately guessed the illustrator--Gustaf Tenggren. We ended up stopping at my place before he went home so I could lend it to him.
 From 1955:


Must dash!

3 comments:

  1. i'd be eating all of those also! ice cream and frozen desserts in the summer are the best!

    i so miss those days of homemade ice cream when you'd pack the metal insert with ice and salt and then turn for hours! until it froze. the anticipation of that first bite!!!

    my mother at one point bought an electric one and made ice cream quite often. although one time she told me the ice cream was chocolate but it was coffee. yuck, not a coffee drinker.

    kirsten

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  2. We should get our ice cream maker out and make up a batch. Perhaps when the peaches come in.
    I love that Little Golden Book illustrator.

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  3. I remember this Little Golden Book!

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