Longing for fairy land.

Yesterday was C.S. Lewis' birthday. We watched the movie version of The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, mainly for Mr Tumnus... well, for me, anyway. And he is one of the high points.
Anyhow, I have a wonderful biography by Walter Hooper which is my go-to for anything Lewis-ish, and, knowing his obsession with "fairy stories" and "fairy land", which I'm sure we in modern America would re-name immediately, I turned to the chapters dealing with his inspiration and beginnings of Narnia.

I absolutely love that imagery of the enchanted woods, and the longing for "he knows not what". It's the Now vs. the Not Yet.

A few days ago was the anniversary of Mr Lewis' death. Apparently he was overlooked in the news, as he died the same day as President Kennedy.

Very blogworthy in her own right is the original illustrator for the Narnia books, Pauline Baynes. No matter how old her drawings get they are forever millions of people's memories of these books. I think she is wonderful, and have included just a few of her illustrations here.