Hello Lovely Observers,
Did you know that foil wrappers from chocolate bars make the most lovely bookmarks? This brand works especially well if you want to feel as though you’ve got a golden ticket.
Speaking of golden tickets, I’ve been down a complete Roald Dahl Rabbit hole. This happens every year or two. But this time, I’m indulging a bit more.
No no, I am not revisiting childhood favorites. I mean Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was/is a favorite movie. However, I’m sad to admit that I did not read his books at the appropriate age. I was too busy trying to be old-er. Racing through the Sweet Valley Twins series to reach for Sweet Valley High. And then, dear reader, I cringe, it was on to getting caught up in V.C. Andrews (if you know, you know). (At least I didn’t try to do a book report on Flowers in the Attic at my Christian school in 6th grade. That was my younger sister. We have some great stories between us).
Back to Dahl. I suppose it began when I clicked a link to see a lovely writing shed. I’m always looking for ideas for my (imaginary, one-day, some-day) writing shed. I was surprised to see it linked to an interview of Roald Dahl from 1982. A fascinating one which I watched about a year ago. In this interview, he shares his setup and process (sharpens six pencils, and writes for four hours).
I, then, remembered seeing that Wes Anderson had done some new Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix. I indulged last Friday afternoon and began with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, and to my surprise, the first scene was of Mr. Dahl (played by Ralph Fiennes) in his writing shed- taken word for word from the 1982 interview.
Now, I will not go on and on to explain the magic formula that is Roald Dahl + Wes Anderson except to say that if you love art and you love beauty and you love story and you love creativity, well you best have a watch of Henry Sugar. I couldn’t think quickly enough about whether my attention should be directed toward design and art direction or the story itself. The story acted and told (in a way only Anderson could pull off) was quite a story. I was reminded what a storyteller Dahl was and found myself extremely inspired by the genius story within a story—which literally had me googling, at end, to see if it was true (I kid you not).
After my Google search, I headed over to the bookshelf that is the keeper of imagination in our house. The husband, said the other week, “We should pack these books up because we do not have little kids anymore.” The husband does not understand the joy and inspiration I find in simply walking by the imagination of the greats. I wondered what Roald Dahl books I possessed. A few, actually. “Boy, Tales of Childhood” is the one that I pulled (where did this one even come from? It doesn’t matter, it’s for me now at 46 years old). It’s not an autobiography, as he says, but rather stories from his childhood. Stories that, I can see as I’m reading, inspired the stories he wrote.
And so I’m reading.
And I’m thinking.
And I’m wondering how my stories might morph into other stories.
I do not know, but I am inspired.
To tell stories, to write stories, to live my story, to look for stories, to listen to stories.
I always wonder what made authors such great storytellers in older times. What are we missing these days? I cannot say for certain, but I think of how people lived in times gone by. And I mean just that, they lived embodied lives. They were out there in town, in the country, at the shops, at work, at play, and so on (they were screen-free). When you live and spend time among people you have so many more stories to tell (and characters to collect along the way). I think of how storytelling was a common practice—a way of life—stories, folklore, and fable were passed down from generation to generation, and often used to teach a lesson or a moral. Imagination was not just for children, or the creative type or artist, it was a tool used by everyone, a skill to be honed, a way of life. And beauty, beauty was a value! You can see it in architecture that still stands to this day. The attention and craftsmanship given to art, trades, penmanship, food, clothing, and even conversation was something to behold and told of.
In my reading, I was taken by what Dahl wrote about his father’s theory of developing a sense of beauty:
“He harboured a curious theory about how to develop a sense of beauty in the minds of his children. Every time my mother became pregnant, he would wait unitl the last three months of her pregancny and then he would announce to her that ‘the glorious walks’ must begin. These glorious walks consisted of him taking her to places of great beauty in the counryside and walking with her for about an hour each day so that she could absorb the splendour of the surroundings. His theory was that if the eye of the pregnant woman was constantly observing the beauty of nature, this beauty would somehow become transmitted to the mind of the unborn baby within her womb and that baby would grow up to be a lover of beautiful things. This was the treatment that all of his children recieved before they were born.”
Magical, right?
A theory about how to develop a sense of beauty.
It’s clear that I’m extremely inspired by observing creatives, their works, their writing spaces, and their practices.
I wonder who and what inspires you? (do share in the comments).
What might send you down a rabbit hole of observations, curiosity, and a desire to add more beauty to your world?
I’m not sure how long my Roald Dahl Rabbit hole will go this time around but I will tell you that I have an appointment, next week, with a man called Clinkscales. I asked the receptionist to repeat the spelling twice. “Oh, Clink!-scalessss”, you say?” Right-O. Sounds like a Roald Dahl character to me, and a name to add to my collection.
Let us all grow up to be lovers of beautiful things . . .
P.S. Beauty is such a favorite topic, I wrote a book about it.
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
—Roald Dahl
The chocolate bar I buy every week.
I once bought a cookbook by Roald Dahl’s granddaughter (here’s her video recipe for Flapjacks- a very British-y thing to make)
If you fancy more on the writing life & writers sheds, have a look here.
Things that inspire me... the love my grandmama left me that I never knew was so rare until after she had passed, the holy scriptures and their wonder, El Roi, sunlight in water, sunlight not in water, my son's eyes, the fearlessness in creativity of my children, the human body's ability to heal, the birds in my yard, the veggie tales story "A Snoodles Tale" [go watch it, please], the children's book "Morris Lessmore", intricate things, sunsets, old mansion tours, the wind and the list goes on..... ✨️
Excellent share - chock full of yumminess. I’m a Lindt fan as well. I wasn’t familiar with Rould Dahl and wow that was fun seeing his writing space. I look forward to checking out your movie, etc. recommendations. My Inspiration visited me yesterday starting with a 4-point buck walking into my stare and my backyard to much on pears. It was perfect synchronicity from Nature and God, bringing me the answers I really needed. The second inspiration was a beautiful hardbound book I found at B&N titled “Still Life” by Doan Ly. The color she uses is luring me back to the canvas! 🩷