... and really can't remember when my husband, Guy, slid this one past me! He probably said that he was taking a photo of the view outside our little Trillium's window.

When we're camping, it's not uncommon for me to cart along more paints, pencils, books, CD's, magazines and various hobby supplies than clothes! (You can always wash out the few clothes you've remembered... but just TRY to find a purple magic marker in the middle of nowhere!) You also need to understand that I rarely go a week without heading into a book-shop and fortunately, on this particular trip, we were never too far from one.

The book you see on the table is 'The Merchant of MARVELS' by Frederic Clement. This beautifully whimsical story had found it's way to a remaindered pile that we stumbled upon while on our trip... and it offered just the inspiration I needed. The story of Frederick Knick-Knack is told in the manner of a Victorian illustrated letter, with a miscellany of illustrations, photos and etchings, dotted throughout pages of assorted fonts. M. Clement's brilliant imagination reveals Mr. Knick-Knack's wonderful shop, where he offers "Tear Liqueur of the King of the Crocodiles... a single drop on the end of the nose transforms great sorrows into great gray cats with green velvet eyes and a pale smile like a crescent moon"; "two of Puss-in-Boots whiskers" and "... in a chestnut chest, a fresh shadow, well ironed at the neck and the cuffs". If you have the opportunity, I heartily recommend "The Merchant of MARVELS and the Peddler of Dreams" by Frederic Clement. ISBN: 0-8118-3294-5