I forgot to mention in last night’s post that the version of “The Fox” we listened to is by David Jones, off his wonderful Widdecombe Fair album. Mr. Jones is a familiar figure at South Street Seaport and at folk music festivals around the Northeast: I had the good fortune to see him at the […]

There is a brief article about the Reifendrehen style of woodcarving, with a mention and picture of our friend Christian Werner, in the December/January issue of German Life. Be sure to look it up!

It is the first real November night. The moon is just past full, and it was coming up as we went to the train station to pick up Mami. We were listening (and singing along) to “The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night”, a most appropriate song for this time of year. It was […]

I was sorry not to be able to see the Salzburg Marionette Theatre this Sunday, when they presented “Hansel and Gretel” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It would have been a wonderful experience for the kids, I am sure, and I love marionettes and puppet shows. There remain some tour dates […]

We’ve been reading the The Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime, which inspired me to take this picture as a play suggestion with Ostheimer figures. It turns out that I’m not the only one with this idea: a customer told me the other day that her kids always refer to the Ostheimer lion as “Aslan”. It […]

Tho’ Halloween is now two weeks past, we continue to sell the wonderful hats and cloaks by Fairy Finery, and other dress-up items we stock. I’m glad, for from our own experience as parents, I know how much pleasure these costumes bring to our boys year round. They are, in fact, the most indispensible and […]

A customer wrote to ask questions about the Stockmar Modelling Beeswax she had purchased. I was happy to redirect her to the Stockmar site, where along with an overview of the wonderful art materials they produce, they offer manuals to advise and inspire users of their crayons, paints and wax. These instructions may be downloaded […]

We had some friends–the parents of two young boys–over last night for dinner, and the conversation eventually turned to toys and what our kids play with. They have just moved, and though the toys are finally unpacked again, they found that their children’s attentions were held for hours by the moving boxes. We agreed […]

As I was putting our youngest in his car seat, I discovered that a toy he loves to play with there had broken. It is an old toy (a mouse with rattling rings around his body) and has already been through two brothers, so it really isn’t a surprise–his favorite thing is to bang it […]

A friend has just returned from visiting the Frauenkirche Dresden, which will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2006. She brought us a brochure from the cathedral’s shop, which is featuring a wonderful new collection of figures by Siegfried Werner. Herr Werner was hard at work on these pieces when we visited him in July, and […]