Pink Saturday ~ Goodbye To A Few Favorites!

I have two posts today!


My Daring Baker February Challenge and Pink Saturday.


My first post is for our host Beverly of the How Sweet The Sound blog's delightful and popular Pink Saturday blogathon. Be sure to click on the link to Beverly's blog and see a list of all the blogs participating in Pink Saturday this week --it's lots of fun to be in the pink!


I'm sorry but this is a sad Pink Saturday post. I'm sure many bloggers got a magazine delivery recently with this sad notice attached to it:

Another loss in the wonderful world of women's magazines! I subscribed to Country Home for many years, always enjoying the many stages and trends of country decorating, antiquing, artisan crafts, and country recipes.

It followed the demise of two other magazines that I also had subscribed to -- Cottage Living and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.


But the next magazine, which I just recently heard had published it's last issue, really broke my heart!

Here it is with its last cover in all its pretty bright pink splendor:

It was a magazine filled with warm, uplifting and interesting stories about the true substance of our lives --our families, friends, communities, and our traditions and celebrations. I tried so many of the wonderful heirloom recipes that were accompanied by their background stories, and I enjoyed many of the wonderful crafts that the Lifestyle editor Amy Palanjian developed. The snowmen and valentines in this issue are adorable!

I believe the magazine website will be taken down after March 6, 2009, so hurry and download all you can for your records! Perhaps if you've also been a fan of this fine magazine send an e-mail wishing the staff the best of luck!

Hallmark.com and the greeting cards we all know so well, are not going out of business, only the magazine. I hope the wonderful editors, Amy Palanjian, Kate Slate, and Helen Rogan will be able to bring their wonderful talents and abilities to other publications.

I know many have said to me in the past, when I blogged before about my favorite magazines, as to "why buy magazines when we have so many beautiful blogs to read and enjoy?" But there is still something wonderful about going to the mailbox and seeing a fresh new copy of a favorite magazine that you can spend some free time relaxing and reading and being inspired and informed by it. You can carry it on an airplane or to a doctor's office or the school pick up line and pass it around to family and friends. No need for a computer, and you can tear out the recipes and have them in front of you as you cook, and save the glossy photos for a collage project or use the resource page to find where to buy that lamp you like so much in the page about the pretty pink bedroom.

More than 525 US magazines ceased publication in 2008, and 40 have already folded in 2009 as the downturn in the economy continues to heavily impact most forms of print media, according to MediaFinder.com. A blog which updates which magazine is slated to cease publishing can be found at this link.

There are many wonderful reasons to own a copy of a magazine and every loss is like losing an old friend. Let's hope there won't be many more that disappear and maybe hopefully some of the favorites will be able to make a comeback someday soon!