Wizard stores/ Starving artists/ Fav. Children's books/ Various things

[Scott]

Hi everybody! This is the third time I've typed this message (my 
computer keeps messing up.) I've been visiting family for the past 
few days which is always fun. (sigh) Don't get me wrong I love them, 
I really do!, but that house is only big enough for two and there 
were seven of us... :-)

Ebony wanted speculation about wizarding "super"stores, and she's 
certainly got some good ideas. What I want to know is why we can't 
know the name of the store. (Let's see...Lightfoot's? Nah.) Anyway 
what about toys? For instance dolls/action figures that move own 
their own (i.e. Malinda's Cho doll), or toy broomsticks that only fly 
a few feet off the ground (we see these in GoF right?).

I'm still curious about food, b/c I don't think that it's generated. 
I want to know whether, for instance, wine comes from wizarding 
vineyards or muggle ones. What about cheese etc? I'm itching to 
know...I get the feeling no one else is that curious.

Oh Amber shall you take me under your wing? (I can do my own laundry.)
People always ask what I want to be when I grow up, but it sounds 
foolish and impractical to say a "starving artist". As romantic as 
the concept seems to be I don't *want* to starve. :-)

Simon and Catherine wrote that they didn't know many of the books on 
that (young) children's reading list, but truth be told neither did 
I. I'd read about half of them, but some of the others were strange 
to me. 

My favourite picture book had to have been "Harold and the Purple 
Crayon". Long before I could read I had memorised this book. 

Somone mentioned "Goodnight Mr. Tom". This was such a good book. I 
read it years ago, but I remember most of the story. I'd almost 
forgotten about it. Thanks for reminding me, I might just go re-read 
it.

The wizard toys thread reminded me of the "Indian in the Cupboard" 
which were some of my favourites as well. The movie however would 
have been *so* much better if they'd just set it in England. Maybe it 
*was* set in England and I've gotten it mixed up with another book/ 
movie.

Before I could read my mother had read classics like "Tom Sawyer" and 
"The Wizard of Oz" to me. The Oz books that Baum wrote are good, but 
I never could get into the rest of them. (Just like I'm sure no one 
could ever write about Narnia like Lewis did to add to a recent 
thread.)

Heidi I'm glad you are enjoying the Moulin Rouge CD (can you guess 
what I'm listening to right now?) ;-) Did I say I like Moulin Rouge  
Elephant Love Meledoy is by far my favourite track. I'm listening to 
Hindi Sad Diamonds as I type. Sort of loud, but I like Hindi music 
anyway.

Scott