Hazel Peabody
No. 49 in the Cobblestone Circle Series
People often wonder how traditions get their start. The details of how Hazel Peabody, otherwise known as The Egg Lady, began selling her eggs door to door in Cobblestone Circle are inescapably etched in her memory.
It was a Tuesday and she was in the antique shop, Memories and Dreams, selling some “treasures” Mr. Willoughby had spied in her family’s shed during one of his evening chats with her husband. Mr. Peabody was unaware of his wife’s dealings, but then Mr. Peabody was unaware of quite a few things when it came to finances. Just as she had completed her business with Mr. Willoughby, Mimsy Shrewsbury blew into the store in her usual flamboyant manner, kissed Hazel on both cheeks, then arm in arm proceeded to ooooh and aaaah over the store’s contents with Hazel in tow.
Hazel still remembers holding back a laugh when she corrected Mimsy, telling her the wire object she was admiring was not a strainer for a horse trough but an old fashioned egg basket. And she can just as plainly remember that familiar twinkle in Mimsy’s eye ~ the one that told you it was no use arguing because you were going to do exactly what Mimsy wanted you to do. Anyone who has ever been involved with her Annual Show for the Arts could tell you just how persuasive Mimsy could be.
So it was the next morning that Hazel found herself walking to town with the wire egg basket filled with fresh eggs from her hens. Let the townsfolk say what they might about Mimsy’s eccentricities, she knew what appealed to them ~ and the nostalgic notion of having fresh eggs delivered to your door was right up their alley.
Hazel could hear her before she could see her ~ and found herself in a cloud of dust and Oh no’s as Mimsy skidded her bicycle to a stop almost knocking over both of them. “Hazel Peabody! Just tell me how blue jeans, sneakers and sunglasses evoke the aura of nostalgia! Oh no, this will never do. Hop on. ” And seconds later Hazel was in naught but her undies standing on a chair in the back room of The Needle Works as Eleanor Thistlewhitte and Mimsy Shrewsbury draped lengths of fabric over her shoulders.
“Haven’t you got something more farmsey, Eleanor? Something that says Egg? ” Eleanor snapped her fingers in the air, pulled down a set of stairs that led into the attic of the shop and quickly emerged blowing off a layer of dust to reveal the loudest floral print Hazel had ever seen. Oh to be sure ~ it screamed EGG! And the screaming only got louder when the companion gingham was found.
An hour later Hazel Peabody was standing on the steps of Mrs. O’Dooley’s Bed and Breakfast making her first of many sales.
Sold April 2009
Hazel is made from golden brown sassy smokey long pile mini bear fabric. Her tail is pale yellow satin cording and she measures just under 3 inches to the top of her head.
Hazel is wearing the Egg Lady ensemble her friends were kind enough to whip up for her. They used that farmsey print for the skirt and sleeves and tucked a touch of lace for a bit of camisole peeking out from under the apricot colored vest. The peplum was Hazel’s idea ~ an effort to minimize the amount of skirt showing. And the crowning glory of course is the orange gingham bonnet.
Eleanor and Mimsy also felt that bloomers
would add to the air of nostalgia.
The egg basket was made of wire mesh and has a wired handle with wooden grip. The tiny eggs and raffia are permanently attached. It measures 1¼ inches to the top of the handle. Three colors of eggs were used to represent the color variation you see in farm fresh eggs. I am told these color variations are due to the hens’ diets.
