Fifty-first

I've started my fifty-first book for the year, Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace!

I love the illustrations by Vera Neville! :)

I've been on a Betsy-Tacy kick for a while now.  I read a few of these books when we lived in Santa Clarita, but the library didn't have the complete series, so I only read two or three.  I'm happy that I now have access to all of them via the Tulsa library system and Mobius. :)  The stories are set at the turn of the twentieth century in Minnesota, and Maud Hart Lovelace, who based these books on her childhood and young adulthood, mentions many now-unfamiliar things (floating island dessert, princesse style dresses, peas in timbale cases, jabots, Magic Wavers, chopping bowl hats, etc.).  I've googled most of these, and my favorite discovery was a set of old postcards or prints referencing Merry Widow hats.

http://prettycleverfilms.com/files/2014/04/The-Merry-Widow-Hat-Card-1.jpg

Haha!  The size is exaggerated, of course, but I love the old picture and the little poem. :)