Fredgie Fantasy Character For Kids of All Ages

12/22/2023

Next year Dan Tana’s will be celebrating 60 years in business! Here’s a vintage postcard from 1965. We believe in staying true to our original roots! Some things should never change.

12/04/2023

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. - Albert Schweitzer
Welcome Yule! Light a candle, string lights on a tree, & make time to share light amidst these long dark nights! The Heirloom Gardener - John Forti (...and thanks to all of you who light the flame within me) 🌟🧙🐱🐁✨Artist: Lennart Helje

12/03/2023

Happy Saturday 🫶

12/03/2023

This picture reminds me of my childhood in so many ways. Us kids were always playing outside whether it was summer or winter. Oh the memories ~

*Photo from Pinterest

11/19/2023

Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.

Someone you haven't met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.

Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.

Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God's children.

A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, "nourish them."

Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you.

Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favorite food is, and treat you to a movie.
Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.

Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.

The next great song is being rehearsed.

Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.

Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.

Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they'll be thriving like never before. From where they are, they just can't see it.

Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to arrive, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in its reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all "So worth the wait."

Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.

Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.

Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe.

Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.

Someone is regaining their sanity.
Someone is coming back from the dead.
Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.
Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.

~ Danielle LaPorte via Mary Standing Otter
Artwork by Painting Woodland

11/18/2023

There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition.

Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family.

Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying.

Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

The practice of telling the bees may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between our world and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, all you had to do was tell the bees and they would pass along the message.

The typical way to tell the bees was for the head of the household, or “goodwife of the house” to go out to the hives, knock gently to get the attention of the bees, and then softly murmur in a doleful tune the solemn news.

Little rhymes developed over the centuries specific to a particular region. In Nottinghamshire, the wife of the dead was heard singing quietly in front of the hive,

“The master's dead, but don't you go; Your mistress will be a good mistress to you.”

In Germany, a similar couplet was heard,

“Little bee, our lord is dead; Leave me not in my distress”.

But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond superstition. It’s a fact, that bees help humans survive. 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population rely on bees for pollination.

Without them, these plants would cease to exist and with it all animals that eat those plants. This can have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain.

Losing a beehive is much worse than losing a supply of honey. The consequences are life threatening.

The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect.

Art: The Bee Friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924)

11/16/2023

And, one day
We shall look back and see
It was always those little moments
That mattered the most
Those little fleeting moments
Of innocence
Of happiness
Of laughter and dance.

A little poem written by Athey Thompson
Picture is of Tasha Tudor, American Author & illustrator. Photograph taken by Nell Dorr.

11/13/2023

‘The thinner tree was cut years ago and the big one has been holding and feeding it since then. They "wake up" together in the spring and "go to sleep" together in the autumn’

Inosculation is a natural phenomenon in which parts of two different trees, commonly but not exclusively the same species, grow together, self grafting and sharing nutrients

The term emanates from latin- ōsculārī, to kiss

📸 Rebecca Herbert - Environmental Journalist, Tired Earth

11/13/2023

11/13/2023

"The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave it, and it feels even better to come back." ~ Wendy Wunder 🧡 📖🔥🍷

Artwork by Chiara Franceschetti. 🍁

11/12/2023

Magic is all around
Just waiting to be found
A secret it shall be
Until, you choose to see.

A little poem by Athey Thompson
Taken from A Little Book of Poetry.🍂
By Athey Thompson.
Art by Artus Scheiner

11/12/2023

I just love this picture so much. Reminds me about myself and my cat (we are just 2 of us and this is how we spent most of our holidays when we are at home).

The image is from a Swedish children's books called Pettson and Findus (Pettson och Findus). The books features an older farmer and his cat Findus who live in the countryside around 1950's

There is also animated films made from the books.

(Teemu)

11/09/2023

I shall sit here and wonder
Wonder for a while
For all the things I’ve yet to do
And, all the things I’ve done
Why, I shall sit here
And wonder
Wonder for a while

A little poem by Athey Thompson
Picture by Cristian Casiadi

11/09/2023

Robert Redford screentested with Candice Bergen for the part of Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate" (1967), but was finally rejected by director Mike Nichols. Nichols did not believe Redford could persuasively project the underdog qualities necessary to the role. When he told this to Redford, Redford asked Nichols what he meant. "Well, let's put it this way," said Nichols, "Have you ever struck out with a girl?" "What do you mean?" asked Redford. "That's precisely my point," said Nichols. Redford told Nichols that he perfectly understood the character of Benjamin, who was a social misfit. He went on and on about his ability to play the part. Nichols finally said to him, "Bob, look in the mirror. Can you honestly imagine a guy like you having difficulty seducing a woman?"

Dustin Hoffman felt wrong for the role, and worried that his screentest was not going well. In a questionable effort to lessen the tension, he patted and pinched Katharine Ross's behind, which angered her, and she audibly berated him for it. As he left thinking he didn't get the role, his awkwardness was just what Nichols needed for Benjamin Braddock.

Nichols said he felt bad for the gentle and very shy Hoffman, who became an instant celebrity after the film. Nichols would see Hoffman's great discomfort and reticence while being interviewed on television. "He seemed exactly like the boy [Ben] in the picture."

Bancroft loved Nichols' description of Mrs. Robinson as someone who was angry with herself for giving up who she really was, in exchange for wealth and security. This was the aspect of the book (written by Charles Webb) that really captured his interest. When they shot the scene where Mrs. Robinson and Ben discuss art in the hotel room, Bancroft had forgotten Nichols' initial revelation about the character, but managed to capture that anger and regret on subsequent takes. Nichols thought this was very important because he really wanted to drive home the point about the character having bargained away her life. "That seems to me the great American danger we're all in, that we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it."

Nichols realized one reason he had so much difficulty casting the role of Benjamin Braddock after he read a "Mad Magazine" parody of his film. One of the jokes in the parody was Benjamin's asking his parents why he was Jewish and they were not. Nichols, who is Jewish, realized that his film had a subconsciously autobiographical element about being an ethnic outsider in a privileged WASP society. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Mike Nichols (to the left of the diving board)!

11/07/2023

11/03/2023

WELCOME NOVEMBER…

There is something about November that says ‘keep going’.
We are not quite through the year, yet the finish-line looms.
We are plunged into darkness by Mother Nature.
We are faced with the ‘season of joy’,
and yet many of us wonder where we will find it.

And I think November is a great time to take a little peek behind you,
and see just how much you’ve done.
To take stock of your achievements, your endurance,
your survival.
To rest, reinforce, before the festivities envelope us all.
Before beautiful new beginnings.

And most importantly, November is a time to seek out light.
As the natural order darkens, we must find it ourselves.
We must do whatever we can to brighten our day,
our home, the world.

Seek out light wherever you can my friends,
and pay no heed to those who condemn your sparkle.

You are much-needed.

Keep showing up, in that special way only you can do.
And show up for yourself too
(which can sometimes mean not showing up at all).

This year has been hard.
Again.
But beautiful.
Again.

As is the way of life.

As is the way of life.

Donna Ashworth

Art by Bettina Baldassari - BettiPigna

11/03/2023

And, I shall wait for you
For you to come back home
For my life is not much
Whilst you are gone

A little Poem by Athey Thompson
Picture taken by my lovely friend Dominic Moriarty. Please take a little look on his page, he captures quite wonderfully, the magical moments in Ireland.🌀
I have this print and it’s Absolutely beautiful, it would make such a lovely Christmas gift.. but I’d hurry up if you would like to order, because this print sells out very quickly.

11/02/2023

11/01/2023

On her broomstick, high she flies,
A mouse witch with sparkling eyes.
Through the moonlit night she soars,
With her magic wand and mystic spores.

Whiskers is her name, a witch of cheer,
Bringing joy to all far and near.
With a flick of her wand and a twirl of her hat,
She casts spells that leave you in awe, where you stand.

She flies over forests and fields of green,
With her furry friends, unseen.
They gather herbs and berries bright,
To brew potions and enchant the night.

Oh, Whiskers the mouse witch, we love you so,
For your magic and your heart aglow.
May you forever fly on your broomstick high,
And bring us joy beneath the endless sky.

11/01/2023

By Artist Annie Stegg

10/31/2023

Art by Margaryta Yermolayeva