Royally Ready for the Holidays

Take a heaping spoonful of upheaval in the financial markets, mix well with the change of seasons, cut in the cacaphony of the political scene and sprinkle with a dash of ' time flies ! ' and voila - ! No wonder my nostalgia is springing warm from the oven of my memory.

How I long to be at my parents' house this winter, nestled in the bosom of my green Vermont home cuddled white with snow... with my husband, my brother home from college, the sounds and smells and hugs of the holiday season all wrapping themselves in layers around me.

As I was losing myself in pages of Italian travel magazines this evening, I found these great illustrations from a Harpers' Weekly Christmas Edition from 1895. As the Rare Posters site describes, "Very scarce and early Maxfield Parrish front and back covers . . . The front is decorative and shows a baker, the back advertises Royal Baking Powder. ". I adore Maxfield Parish, and was delighted by the happy smile of the baker and the buoyant dough steaming with tasty goodness - not to mention the ornate yet balanced detail of rolling hils and quaint towns through the leaded windows in the background.

I don't know what I'm longing for more - the confection or the countryside . . .

Bon Vonage, Imaginary Me !

There is something about the Fall season that fills me with wanderlust. My mind can't quite focus, my feet carry me down streets I don't usually tread, and I find myself suddenly lost in my imagination.

This afternoon, instead of doing work for Loop, I turned down a couple of e-passageways and took a stroll online to find some images to soothe my yen for a voyage.

I found a fantastic collection of travel publications from the '30s, the covers of which beckoned the footloose to be fancy-free in a different region of Italy every month. Oh ! To be in lulled in Lido, romanced in Rome, treasure-hunting in Venice. . .

Please visit David Levine's amazing online repository of these images, and others from all over Europe . . .

FIRST : Travel Brochure for Venice, published in 1933 by the Ente Nazionale Industrie Turistische (ENIT - Italian State Tourist Department). Signed "Treves - Treccani - Tumminelli."

SECOND : Rome, 1933. Published by the Ente Nazionale Industrie Turistische (ENIT - Italian State Tourist Department) and the Ferrovia dello Stato (Italian State Railway). Unsigned, designed by "Novissima - Roma.

THIRD : Travel in Italy, 1934. Signed "Retrosl," designed by Pizzi & Pizio - Milano-Roma. From the Ente Nazionale Industrie Turistische (ENIT - Italian State Tourist Department).

FOURTH : Travel brochure for Venice Lido, 1934. Published by the City of Venice. Signed "Tanozzi," designed by "Tridentum - Trento," published by "Soc. Acc. Stamperia Zanetti - Venice."