I visited the Norman Lindsay Gallery in the Blue Mountains today.
There was a festival being held to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of
The Magic Pudding. Little children were running everywhere across the
lawns, chasing the Magic Pudding and trying to protect it from those sneaky
pudding thieves.

And I wondered ... what was it about this story that it still kept children
enthralled 90 years after it had been written? What was the recipe behind
the success of The Magic Pudding?

Was it that the artist had been true to himself? Lindsay wrote the book
because he believed that children cared more about food than fairies.

Was it the cheekiness of the characters? The children today were drawn
just as much to the pudding thieves as they were to the pudding.

Or was it the pure joyfulness of the story itself? Lindsay's artwork
illustrates his free spirit and his story embraces that free spirit.

Walking through the gardens of Lindsay's estate I could see how he would
have been inspired by the bush surrounding him and it made me dream of
what it would be like to live such an unfettered and creative existence.

One day ...