“Going Is Song”

Happy International Women’s Day.  I guess technically it’s over now, but I’m going with it.

It’s been kind of a dodgy year so far for those of us with the old XX chromosomes, but I’m grateful and proud to know some phenomenally impressive, kick ass ladies.  One dear friend was accepted to grad school today, another is getting married soon, and two have birthdays tomorrow — and that’s just this month.  To those of you who are nearby, I’m so grateful to have you around, and to those who’re far away, I love and miss you.  ♥♥♥!

“Sheela-Na-Gig”

I feel like I’ve been through the wringer, and for no good reason at all.

Tomorrow, on my first day of post-daycare leisure, I may try to go swimming.  Or maybe I’ll just nap.  We’ll see.

Here’s an awesome piece of folklore miscellany: 500 long-lost fairytales have turned up in an archive in Germany.  They’re from the collection of a local historian, Franz Xavier von Schönwerth, of whom Jacob Grimm said, “Nowhere in the whole of Germany is anyone collecting folklore so accurately, thoroughly and with such a sensitive ear.”  Pretty high praise!  Says the Guardian:

While sifting through Von Schönwerth’s work, Eichenseer found 500 fairytales, many of which do not appear in other European fairytale collections. For example, there is the tale of a maiden who escapes a witch by transforming herself into a pond. The witch then lies on her stomach and drinks all the water, swallowing the young girl, who uses a knife to cut her way out of the witch. However, the collection also includes local versions of the tales children all over the world have grown up with including Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin, and which appear in many different versions across Europe.

Damn, I want to read that pond story!  It’s like somebody made that up just for me!  ♥!♥!♥!

five things:

NPR, pretty things, folklore, Ben Edlund, the fact that Jazz is nice to me even when I don’t want him to be

“Long-Forgotten Fairytale”

Today was Tell a Fairy Tale Day!  In honor of the day, I’ll tell you all the same story I told over on my folklore blog project thing, a version of the Grimms’ “The Golden Key,” which has become a favorite of mine of late (Linnaly, I’m looking at you!):

A boy is in the winter woods gathering firewood.  When it’s time to head back, he decides that, rather than return home cold through to the bone, he might as well build a small fire to warm up a little.  So he brushes back the snow to start laying down the wood, when he sees a golden key in the snow.  Figuring that where there’s a key there must be a lock, he searches around until he finds a box.  This box is sealed up tight and at first he thinks there’s no way to open it, but at last he find a tiny keyhole.  He puts the key into the lock and it fits perfectly, so he turns the key.

… And as soon as he’s opened the box, we’ll get to find out what kind of wonderful things are inside.

Man, I love folklore! ♥ ♥ ♥

5 things:

The relaxing bath I took last night, nice-smelling things, folklore, not wanting to tear my hair out, Supernatural on Netflix

“Simple Girl”

What a marvelous day: beautiful weather, a nice afternoon at daycare, a painless trip into DC, a wonderful reading, and then a delicious dinner with LiAnn while we cooked up some exciting new schemes.  (Side note: so many adjectives!)

Could it get any better?  Pretty much no.  Oh, wait, it did.  I came home and read Antigone, and remembered just how awesome it is.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Sometimes there’s just no other way to express my joy than a ♥!