Mazagines

When I was a little girl, I would sit for hours with "mazagines" and cut out pictures. I would plop myself on the floor, legs splayed wide and lean over the Sears Catalogue searching for pictures that fit what my imagination had created.

With my rounded tip scissors, I scoured the pages and cut out pictures - furniture, people, toys, jewelry. With my syrupy glue, I squashed the rubber tip of the bottle to paper and slathered each piece. I created vast homes on scrap paper or the scraps of brown paper bags the groceries came in.

I don't recall the actual game I played with the pictures, but the smell of the Sears Catalogue brings me back to the same place. Sitting on the floor, creating a world out of pretty pictures. Dreaming of what would some day be.