Spring Fever

The seasons always seem to come sooner than their official date on the calendar, and this is precisely what's happening with all the woodland creatures at Castle in the Air today. Our gnomes, usually content to stay near the pine needles and mushrooms on the forest floor, have been behaving unusually, riding their dragonfly friends in races and jousts, and floating down from high places with green leaf parachutes.

It being March, all the hares are kicking and leaping about. All of them, that is, besides the ones who are just content to sit, stare, and nod. Maybe they're shaking off their winter stupor!

Spring Classes Are Here!

Although the official start of spring is still over a month away, we've already got spring fever at Castle in the Air. If you do too, you'll want to take a peek at the classes lined up for this coming March through May in the Studio for the Imagination. We've posted them all to the Online Shoppe, and have also put up a PDF download (1.84 MB) of our Spring 2010 class mailer, which is at press now and will be available at the store around the end of next week. If you're on our postal mailing list, please know that after the Spring 2010 mailing, we'll only be sending out the class schedule via the Castle Crier email list. So if you haven't yet, please sign up!

Why don't you go...

...fly a kite! This morning, John McRae rode the west wind into Castle in the Air with a bundle of wonderful Chinese kites under his arm. Our May Queen let go of her pole and took up the spindle, flying the kites on a magical breeze.

Squirrels, or Something Worse?

Mr. Marsh brought us another video from his neighborhood, where Spring was in full swing this morning. He said a plump robin let him get very close to her as she sat atop a stake at the end of his strawberry patch, and when he walked out his gate onto the sidewalk, he found it full of saucy squirrels!



Artist and fairyland ambassador Tony DiTerlizzi has often compared goblins to squirrels. Maybe the goblins that were in the walls at Castle in the Air are migrating to Mr. Marsh's neighborhood!

Spring is in the air!

John's nearly finished making all of his giant crepe-paper flowers. But don't take my word for it!

The Colorful World of Mariaelisa Lebroni

When it rains in the spring in Berkeley, like it has been for the past few days, all the trees and streets and houses take on darker, richer, glossier colors. The blossoms brighten up, everything looks so fresh, and it feels great to be alive.

I get that same wonderful feeling every time I look at Mariaelisa Lebroni's artwork. We sell her xilographia (handmade woodblock-print) journals, photo albums, address books, and other delights at Castle in the Air. They've just debuted on our Online Shoppe, too, in the new Xilocart section. Take a peek and maybe you'll feel that same rainy day elation!

Mad March Hare

"For though this summoner were wood as a hare,
to tell his harlotry I will not spare."
--Chaucer, "The Friar's Tale"

With winter's rains behind us, maybe for good, Berkeley's quickly falling under the spell of spring fever. There's a fidgety March Hare who lives in the back room at Castle in the Air, and he came leaping out a few days ago to frolic and play in the sunshine and make strange faces when no one is looking. The prim Easter egg vendor near the front of the store pretends not to like him, but I think she does.

His reappearance got us wondering about the origin of the phrase "Mad as a March Hare." Apparently, the first popular use of the phrase was in the quote above from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The "harlotry" spoken of in the poem is probably a comparison to the antics of British hares in their mating season, which lasts from February to September. During that time, hares of both sexes can be seen leaping straight up in the air and boxing at each other. (It's said that the females will sometimes push away frisky males with a quick shove of their forelegs.)

Of course, the most famous mad March Hare is from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His jaunty outfit in John Tenniel's illustrations is topped off with some straw on his head. This was thought to be a sign of madness in Victorian days. Between his eccentric dress code and his conviction that any time of day is the perfect time for tea, we could probably all learn a thing or two from Mr. Hare.