How Far that Little Candle...

When I was setting up this blog, I created a category called "Things that Inspire Me" with Small Meadow Press in mind, but I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. This is due in part to my urge to gush for pages about Lesley Austin's beautiful notecards and illustrated quotations—I keep drafting posts that turn into novels. And really, I don't need to say anything at all: Lesley's lovely offerings speak for themselves. Her new "Notes on Gratitude," with quotations from Shakespeare, Chesterton, and others, have got me looking forward to every opportunity to write thank-you notes, so delightful are they. I ordered her "Jane Austen Missives" stationery set to give to my niece for Christmas, and once I had it in my hands, I had to get quite stern with myself in order to give it up. I plan to tuck one of Lesley's charmingly named "Small Useful Books" into my daughters' Easter baskets—they'll be perfect for our nature walks this spring.

See, I'm doing it again! I can't help it! And I haven't even gotten to the so-perfect-it's-uncanny illustrated quotation I ordered in honor of Scott. ("What a dreadful thing it must be to have a dull father," by Mary Mapes Dodge—accompanied by a sepia-toned picture that makes my girls, whose father is anything but dull, grin every time they glance at it.) I'll stop now and let you see for yourself.