Crafts: Little Mermaid

Yesterday, after writing my "I" post, the camera broke. My husband attempted to fix it, but it remains in limbo. Actually, it's in pieces on the coffee table covered by a sheet of paper that reads "DO NOT TOUCH." (I've noticed engineers and former engineers only write in all caps.)

So, no J and no K because I won't have a photo for either post.

L is for the Little Mermaid. Not the Disney version, but the true Hans Christian Andersen story and the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen Harbor.

For years I wanted to see The Little Mermaid statue. I was always fascinated by the story--in the Andersen version not everyone lives happily ever after--and interested in how and why political protesters have lopped off the statue's head multiple times. In 2001 I got to be my cousin's companion on a cruise with my parents (long story) and we started and ended in Copenhagen. Right away, before we sailed away, I made us go see the statue. Today, in reading the Wiki page, we could have saved ourselves a trip and just gone to Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas. That would have been cheaper.

Now I should explain that my cousin really liked the Disney version of The Little Mermaid when she was little. So somehow, my grandfather, who paid for the trip, was convinced that she was the one dragging everyone off to see a statue. Several times after the trip he joked that she finally got to see The Little Mermaid statue. She couldn't have cared less about a statue and, if I am honest, seeing a statue is not really exciting (they don't move, or talk, or dance, or sing). It would have been more exciting if a protester had cut off her head while we were there, but I digress. Anyway, it's now a family joke that my cousin finally got to see this statue and now her life is complete.


While walking around Copenhagen, my mother and I found a craft store and got a few cross stitch kits. She convinced me to get this kit because of the sail boats and the ship in the background (as opposed to this one by the same designer--she was right, leaves would have been boring to stitch). To be honest, I can't say I enjoyed stitching it because I started it around September 11, 2001, and finished it while watching news coverage in the days following the tragedy. However, I still like it and I still like having seen the statue and I even like the family joke. And I'm determined to see every MerSomething statue in existence.


If there had been a cross stitch of Singapore's Merlion, I would have purchased it. Yes, I'm that brand of crazy.