The Magicians

Guess what, we’ve official entered the shopping season. It’s that time of year when acquisition fever seizes us all. The only way to duck all the buy, BUY, BUY commands is to go into a coma for the next couple of months. Mind you, this'd be quite restful BUT it’s a bit extreme, even for me.

Given that the vast majority of us will shop, whether it’s in bricks and mortar or virtual stores, I ask/suggest/plead that y’all buy local. Invest in individuals and your community by spending your hard earned wads at independently owned booksellers, clothing emporiums, toy and home goods shops versus the big chains.

OR purchase your prezzies direct from the creator whether they’re in your town or online. By creator I’m talkin’ about the artists, craftspeople and authors themselves.
Today, if you’re not already aware of her, I want you to meet Linda Baker-Cimini. I happened on her work while in a small gallery in the Berkshires this past summer. I’m wild about her odd creatures and their captions. Magic simply rolls off them. If  Neil Gaiman or Ransom Riggs had an illustrator or ghost writer, it’d most def be Linda Baker-Cimini.

Here’s her tremendous bio:
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Linda Baker-Cimini was born in the year of the wooden dragon. This CAN be a fire hazard and exacerbates a predisposition to an assortment of phobias and generalized neurosis. Other than that she's very well adjusted. Just make sure you don't touch her feet. Ever. Also of historical significance: it was a time when a certain species of Beatle infected young girls with mass hysteria. Then came the Rolling Stones and so on. Many other things were happening simultaneously.

Linda was unaware of all this. She was busy having staring contests with cows, reading 'The National Geographic' magazine and dragging large, interesting things home to store in the pole shed for further study. They didn't have a T.V.  She was omnivorous in her choice of reading material and WAS, if truth be told, VERY much influenced by a book's cover. She grew up on a dead end road. The town was proud of its obscurity and was known as the smallest community in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, USA, population: 176. It was beautiful.

Linda didn't have a lot of playmates that were of the same species,(besides her brother), but she had LOTS of imaginary friends and there were seasonal friends... mud puppies and toads in the neighbors fire pond. You could never skate on it because the chickens walked all over it the minute it started to freeze and made the ice all lumpy. As a child, (and as an older child), she had a strong aversion to organized scholastic pursuits and most other activities that involved speaking to or making eye contact with other children. She did however like to watch them from the safety of the playground's observation blind.

Linda wishes she was born with a prehensile tail. She loves coffee. She's allergic to wool,(nasty rash is what happens). Her favorite color is Safety Green. She believes that having large feet increases ones stability.

She presently resides in Pittsfield, Massachusetts with her pet caterpillar, Hugo. Her pet night crawler, Bill, has gone missing. Her mother has a worm farm in New Mexico. Maybe Bill went there to visit.
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Where can you see more AND buy Linda's awesome work?

The Saint Francis Gallery
1370 Pleasant Street, Route 102
South Lee, MA 01260

Lenox Local, LLC
55 Pittsfield rd.
Lenox, MA 01240