{"id":2333,"date":"2005-01-25T16:55:20","date_gmt":"2005-01-25T21:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2022-10-09T15:47:40","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T19:47:40","slug":"after-many-many-many-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2333","title":{"rendered":"The Bimulous Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After many many many years, my search is finally over.<\/p>\n<p>I have waited, I have been <i>creative<\/i> in my search, and <i>patient <\/i>&#8230; I have kept my eye on the ball &#8230; I have left no stone unturned &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I have waited a long long time.  I have <i>dreamt <\/i>of this moment.  And I cannot believe my own triumph.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=tf_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=thesheivari-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=1939017475&#038;asins=1939017475&#038;linkId=DP4WWF75274H7UTF&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what happened.<\/p>\n<p>I have a VIVID memory of being about 4 or 5 years old, and of LOVING (yes &#8211; LOVING &#8211; more like OBSESSING OVER) a picture-book that had to do with something called a &#8220;bimulous night&#8221;.  [<i>Correction:  My father told me I was in the 7 or 8 year-old realm &#8230; due to the publication date.  There are many many benefits to having a librarian for a father.<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>What &#8220;bimulous&#8221; meant, in the book, was one of those magical summer nights, when you&#8217;re a kid, when ANYthing can happen.  When it feels like animals can talk to you.  When it seems like grown-ups don&#8217;t exist.  Like a midsummer bimulous night&#8217;s dream.<\/p>\n<p>The pictures, as I remember them, were amazing watercolors:  purple raggedy clouds in the sky, with a full moon beaming through, trees tossing by the lake &#8211; I can see those watercolors in front of me right now.  They made a huge impression on me.<\/p>\n<p>What happens on a &#8220;bimulous night&#8221; is quite extraordinary.  First of all:  there must be a raggedy purple sky.  Second of all: the otters start to sing.  Third of all:  you MUST eat spaghetti.  That&#8217;s all I remember.  In the book, we follow three little girls, who all are in white nightdresses, and all have long blonde hair &#8230; they lie in their beds, in the middle of the night, fast asleep.  It is dark.  A purply dark.  And then, the &#8220;bimulous&#8221;-ness of the night wakes them up.  The otters are singing by the lake.  The sky is ragged and purple.  The moon is full.  They sneak downstairs and cook a vat of spaghetti.  Because, of course, that&#8217;s what you must do.  And then they race outside to cavort through the woods and by the lake, reveling in bimulous-ness.<\/p>\n<p>This is all from memory, I assure you.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a picture book, so I had to be a wee girl when I read it.<\/p>\n<p>And then I moved on with my life.  I left the bimulous night far far behind.<\/p>\n<p>But I never forgot it.<\/p>\n<p>I could not remember the author or the title of the book, but I was sure the book was called &#8220;On a Bimulous Night&#8221; &#8211; I mean, what else could it be called?  And so &#8230; at various times in my adulthood, whenever I would remember the book, and remember WHILE I was in a bookstore, I would ask a clerk: &#8220;Do you have a children&#8217;s book called &#8216;On a Bimulous Night&#8217;?&#8221;  The answer was always, sadly, No.  And so then I kept my eyes peeled in second-hand book stores, at flea markets, and I would periodically check at the Strand.<\/p>\n<p>On a Bimulous Night?  Do you have it?  No?  Okay, thanks.<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea why this book suddenly came into my brain again last week, but it did.  And, duh, like I SHOULD have done long ago, I googled the phrase &#8220;bimulous night&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>And OH.  MY.  GOD.  It came up.  I found it!<\/p>\n<p>Only it is NOT entitled <i>On a Bimulous Night<\/i>, like I thought.  It is called <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1939017475\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=1939017475&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=thesheivari-20&#038;linkId=BETTMBLKQV32VCHS\">When the Sky is Like Lace<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=thesheivari-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=1939017475\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><\/i>.  The author is Elinor Lander Horwitz and the stunning watercolors are done by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ortakales.com\/illustrators\/Cooney.html\">Barbara Cooney <\/a>(whose work I have recognized in OTHER books, thanks to my sister &#8230; who ALSO loved <i>Bimulous Night <\/i>when she was little).<\/p>\n<p>Barbara Cooney rocks.<\/p>\n<p>My breath literally caught in my throat, when the Amazon link came up, to this long-lost book, this book I have dreamt of since I was 5 years old.<\/p>\n<p>There it is!!!<\/p>\n<p>I bought it immediately.  And, heavens and saints be praised, it just arrived.  It&#8217;s sitting next to me RIGHT NOW.  I can&#8217;t believe it.  I haven&#8217;t read this book since I was three feet tall, and here it is.  I remember some of the illustrations exactly.<\/p>\n<p>The watercolor of the three little girls cooking spaghetti in the middle of the night, the linoleum, the old-fashioned stove &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The purply-dark nighttime, with the three little girls fast asleep in their bed, but outside the window you can get a glimpse of the bimulous-ness starting &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>And the last illustration, of the three girls running down the front lawn, towards a lake, with a purple lacy sky above, and trees swaying in the wind &#8230; That one I used to REVEL over, when I was little.  I wished I could somehow dematerialize from THIS plane, and step through the pages, into that watercolor.  It LIVED for me.<\/p>\n<p>And so now.  I have it!<\/p>\n<p>Thrilling.  I&#8217;ve been dreaming about this book for 30 years.  Which is pretty scary, if you think about it.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the cover:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/01\/bimulous.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"385\" height=\"475\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-178251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/01\/bimulous.jpg 385w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/01\/bimulous-162x200.jpg 162w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/01\/bimulous-324x400.jpg 324w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/01\/bimulous-81x100.jpg 81w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><p>\nI LOVE this book, and I&#8217;m so happy to be reunited with it.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=tf_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=thesheivari-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=1939017475&#038;asins=1939017475&#038;linkId=DP4WWF75274H7UTF&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After many many many years, my search is finally over. I have waited, I have been creative in my search, and patient &#8230; I have kept my eye on the ball &#8230; I have left no stone unturned &#8230; I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2333\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[664],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178252,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/178252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}