Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival. One June day, an old book arrives on Simon’s doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of “mermaids” in Simon’s family have drowned–always on July 24, which is only weeks away. As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could…
A bit of eclectic for your day. The inspiration for Alice in Wonderland! Interesting that the story’s image of Alice is a matter of dispute. Obviously, it is not the illustration of the original Alice. Lewis Carroll sent a photograph of another child friend, Mary Hilton Badcock to the book’s illustrator, but whether or not the artist actually used it is cloudy. A letter Carroll wrote suggests the illustrator did not. Either way Alice Liddell had a life of adventure and helped to establish stories we know and love. Read more about her here. Alice Liddell, age 7, photographed by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1860 Liddell dressed up as a beggar-maid, photographed by Lewis Carroll (1858)
I saw this meme on Facebook today and it made me laugh. Posted it after lunch hours ago and it already has 12 Likes. That will change because the Likes will tick up as people get it. It’s amusing yet says a lot in limited words. Wish I could embody this meme. I worry a LOT and ALL the time about everything. Some days are better than others. It’s a struggle one deals with and tries to control, although at best you have days where you keep it at a minimum. Yes, I know the many reasons why one shouldn’t worry, but that’s easier said than done for us natural born worriers. How do you not care what others think? We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do. Olin Miller, Author, Humorist, Poet Found an article from a few years…
Excited and thankful to be a part of VoyageATL magazine’s series: What’s the Most Important Lesson You’ve Learned Along Your Journey? The magazine’s mission is to value communities, small businesses, and artists. Mom and pops. I posted a photo of the boutique hotel we stayed in this past June in Savannah as part of a blog post. VoyageATL saw it and asked to publish it as part of a series about artists. When you click on the series page, I am lucky #13. So honored to be part of it!! “Accordingly our mission is to build a platform that fosters collaboration and support for small businesses, independent artists and entrepreneurs, local institutions and those that make our city interesting. We want to change the way people spend their money – rather than spending it with the big, cookie-cutter corporations we want them to spend their money with the independent, creative,…
https://youtu.be/OvRYVNMnE7E This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, Poe in Wonderland will earn a small commission for the referral at no cost to you. Two weeks ago we drove to Rabun County, Georgia to hike the trails at Tallulah Gorge State Park to see some of the six waterfalls. It’s an easy drive from Atlanta and beautiful once you get up towards the park. Here’s a description of the park from Atlanta Trails. Tallulah Gorge State Park is one of Georgia’s most stunning and popular hiking destinations, and indisputably one of the most scenic of Georgia’s State Parks. The turbulent flow of the Tallulah River carved this enormous, steep-walled gash in North Georgia’s Rabun County. The gorge stretches an astonishing two miles long and dives 1000 feet deep. Deep inside Tallulah Gorge, the river cascades over enormous rock outcrops, creating Tallulah Falls, a stunning…