Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
Long ago I was often inspired to do crazy research on passing thoughts and ideas. Smelling Books and Chromolithography and the mystery of Henri and Anita LeRoy, on why certain books smell the way they do and who was really the artist behind common chromolithography prints, respectively, are past products of my ardent desires to answer a question. It’s been a long time since I’ve given myself time to fall down that rabbit hole, but I am feeling the inclination once again. I have a list of curiosities I wanted to return to. Melusine is on that list. For better, or worse, I’ve only geared up to capsule research. The ridiculously extensive posts may still come.
The story of Melusine is a fairy tale legend wherein a fairy queen and the king of Scotland had a daughter. Melusine angered her fairy queen mother by imprisoning her father and was cursed to turn into a half-snake beast on Saturdays. Her beast form is often depicted as a two tailed mermaid or something more akin to a naga, a creature from Hindu mythology that has the bottom half of a cobra.
I could not find any more food to feed my passing thought that Melusine is a rogue Naga Kanya, if the Naga Kanya are in fact an entire race of fairy creatures instead of one. I did find that several pinterest boards have noticed the similarity in the two tailed stone depictions of Melusine and those of the fertility goddess Sheela Na Gig. These similarities intrigue me. While poking around in the easily locate-able online sources, I did find that stories of a half serpent, half beautiful woman can be found across Albania, Germany, and France.
In the most well known story from France, Melusine married a nobleman and brought agricultural advances and fortune to the people over which he ruled. But, curiosity became too much for her husband, leading him to break the promise he made to leave her in seclusion on Saturdays. He spied on her, witnessing her changed form. Upon learning of this, Melusine sprouted wings and flew away, never to return (British Library – European Studies Blog).
Most interesting is how, before her husband’s transgression and her disappearance, Melusine bore several sons, making her a founding mother of European nobility. This fairy lineage would eventually be referred to as dragon blood, referencing Melusine’s final winged form. Of course, her split serpent tales has become familiar to many of us as an image of the commercial depiction of Starbuck (Ancient Origins).
I was inspired by images from road-side America, and went digging through more photo collections to find more magic in Florida. I really hope that this mini-golf course still exists, though I imagine it’d be awfully faded by now.
I heard from my informants that social media has thing thing: 10 movies to know you, and I was inspired. These are the 10 movies, and then 10 books that have shaped me (in no significant order).
“I’ve gotta wrinkle that’ll turn your Friday face to a giggle-mug”
What was that now?
WRINKLE: an idea, or fancy: an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a wrinkle a posteriori (Cab Calloway’s Hepster’s Dictionary)
FRIDAY-FACE. A dismal countenance. Before, and even long after the Reformation, Friday was a day of abstinence, or jour maigre. Immediately after the restoration of king Charles II. a proclamation was issued, prohibiting all publicans from dressing any suppers on a Friday. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)
GIGGLEMUG: “An habitually smiling face.” (1909 Passing English of the Victorian era : a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase by James Redding Ware)
So, basically, “I’ve got an idea that’ll turn your frown upside down.”
The interwebs makes it easy to believe that there is a general interconnectedness of all things. So, when I adopted the handy term NOS from RetroRenovation for some of my ebay searches, of course I thought it was a term that lots of people know. In case it is not, let me clarify. I am not searching for Nitrous Oxide Systems, National Occupational Standards, or promotional material from the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. I am looking for New Old Stock.
For a mid century house like mine, finding a seller with a stash of house accessories obtained by a closed down factory store is gold! NOS is the best way to obtain those temporary, delicate, things like plastic light switch covers, garishly patterned drawer liners, and plastic ruffled shelf tape. Oh, there are plenty of NOS listings for bathroom tile and drawer pulls – things that could survive being used and reused. But there is magic in those things meant to be used up and thrown away.
First off, even if hair tape is still a thing, it is a thing I never imagined existed. I love that it was produced by 3M. 3M is all over the place at my library.
Unused note cards might be the best thing ever!
And these would be the icing on a retro-styling tea party!
The Public Domain Review has a timely article on two PSAs about spreading germs. Still totally relevant.