What I Found in My Searching

I have been quite bored lately. I have not had any luck finding work and with the recent bout of contractions, I have been advised to "take it easy".

Taking it "easy" merely brings about ennui. Though I have many tasks around the house, I chose to procrastinate because I have (seemingly) all the time in the world. Why get all these things done at once when I can wait - or when I need my hubby's help to move things?

Alas, one thing I have been working on is a birth announcement. I ran across my hubby's birth announcement from the late 70's and it was rather cute. It was a little card with a stork on the cover, and when one opens it up, the stats are on the left and a picture of the baby is on the right in a pre-made frame (one slips the hospital picture).

I recall having one of these as well, but I don't know where it went. I assume my mother still has it. I don't know if hospitals still take pictures and give parents these cards, but I would like to do something similar and simple for our baby's birth announcement.

Thus began my Internet searching for vintage stork images for the cover. I found some rather cute ones and some truly heinous ones.

I never wondered where the idea of the stork bringing the baby came from, but nevertheless found images that explained the mythology (somewhat). Some pictures had babies emerging from the water with a stork waiting to wrap it up on shore. Other pictures had the babies blossoming from waterlilies with a stork attendant nearby. Further research did not really illuminate the myth - it just seems that popular European culture believed that the souls of unborn children lived in marshes. Why? That idea is not fully illuminated, but it does seem that storks mate for life and have been symbols of good luck from Roman times.

Regardless, there are some hilarious Victorian images that I found related to the stork myth.

I found this image of a stork chasing down an "old maid" quite hilarious considering that one of my cousins told me last Christmas that I "can't wait forever". Don't get me started on how he started his own parenthood at age 16.

Here the stork is the villain - and he looks so friendly. Yet, I completely understand this woman's urge to hit the stork with her ensemble-coordinated umbrella.

From these images, I gather that women have constantly been in battle with the "stork" - either wanting his presence desperately or avoiding the bundle he carries.

Yet, I did not find images of women chasing storks. Make of that what you will!

I don't think either will do for a birth announcement, but they are rather funny.