Hey, has anyone noticed that that whole Harry Potter series thing has gotten really popular? I think I have a theory as to why. Instead of using this powerful knowledge to launch my own mega-successful line of books and films, though, I'm going to share this theory here in this blog post (you're welcome!). I think it's that whole "muggle" thing. In these books, as in most whimsical children's fiction, there is an implication that most of the grownup world is dull and unmagical and without imagination—they just don't get it—and that only a chosen few are sensitive enough to know magic when they see it. So every reader has the chance to say to themselves (or out loud, if they are reading along someplace or else exceptionally unmuggly and free-spirited), "But I get it! I would believe! I would understand!"

And yet, most of us don't make nearly enough space in our lives for the whimsical.


Of course not, we'd love to but we just don't have time, between all the muggle stuff people expect us to accomplish every day: I'd love to lounge in a forest drinking dew drops and having butterflies land on my eyelashes today but you know, I have to pick up my dry cleaning. So for those extra-dry-cleany-unwhimsical days, there is Lissy Elle's Flickr photo stream, "Let's Play Pretend.



A tea party in an enchanted clearing. A swirl of fireflies. Girls who seem to be flying out of books. The care with which Lissy Elle sets up these gorgeous images is apparent—they are as lush as they are well-composed. And just one or two should help imbue your day with the appropriate dose of magic...while letting you still get home in time for dinner.

Visit Lissy Elle's site for more of her dreamy photography.

Read More:
Cooking with magic
Magical realism in a nutshell