ENID BLYTON - INDIAN SUMMER

Just finished reading The Boy Next Door. It was a suprise charity shop find....not too dear for an Enid Blyton as the dust jacket has a dirty great rip in it....all the Aunty Enid favourites....3 children & a dog, home from boarding school for the holidays, an empty (or is it?) house next door, a mysterious boy & an abandoned house boat....marvellous!
Another plus are the illustrations by Gilbert Dunlop. Some of the illustrators of Enids adventure books can be hit or miss but Gilbert Dunlop is one of the best.

Here are a few of his pen & ink (& brush), black & white drawings...minimal, but with a few strokes he can evoke the brilliant sunshine & deep shade of high summer.

He also does fantastic trees....ones you would love to climb or make a treehouse in....others that look sinister...

Gilbert Dunlop does great movement too!

 Dont know much about Mr Dunlop except he was Scottish, he also illustrated for other authors...anymore info gladly received readers....meanwhile Aunty Enid has reminded me this is supposed to be a food blog!
Next time then, something about food....heres some soup, but im planning on travelling to the extreme extremities of SANDWICH MAKING!

Soup?...In a packet??.....Soup made with powdered tail of a cow? You're having a larf!

SUMMER - GET OVER IT....

I'm reluctant to let go of summer...its been a bit rubbish...but hey, I had a fab holiday with my sister in Switzerland, a couple of National Trust visits (kick Liverpool One into touch, visit Speke Hall!) & I bought a sun lounger ( is Wilkos the new Woolworths?)....Seriously all the kids (& me) are back in school, its freshers week in Manchester & gold & russet reds mingle with green leaves. A few weeks ago one of my oldest Manchester pals Ian Massey (check out his biography of British pop artist Patrick Procktor (Patrick Procktor-Art & life) gave me some 1940s boys interest magazines, the covers reminded me of carefree holidays... of times gone by -when you went out in the morning & didnt come home til dusk! Your mum gave you a sandwich & a bottle of pop ( or money which you could blow on sweets!) & well, you met friends, you got into scrapes, avoided bullies & nasty families, fished, swam, explored, made camps....just been talking to Aunty Enid about it........

Those are the ones which inspired me.... here are a few (a lot) more......

P.S Enid Blyton gets a lot of stick but she is a British icon...shes not racist...Lots of kids developed their imaginations & creativity because of her books.....love you Aunty Enid!