Flights of Fancy at Wallden Pond

“When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.  And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy.  So their ought to be one fairy for every boy or girl.”

Peter, Act 1, Peter Pan by James M. Barrie

Fairies…what is so very fascinating about them?  When have you given Tinkerbell a second thought?  I am not really a Tinkerbell kind of girl, but I do enjoy simple pleasures and building Fairy Gardens and Fairy Houses are indeed simple pleasures.  There is charm in simple things.  As Laura Ingalls Wilder said ” You will be surprised how much of an adventure can enter into ordinary things.”  Also Oscar Wilde said “Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world.”  Building a pleasant  and beautiful place for my imagined guests is a source of amusement and delight.  I am guessing it is all part of having the gift of hospitality…on steroids.  As you will see in the photos I have provided hospitable garden places to attract the most fairies possible.  I am thinking I could host the fairiy convention in our water garden area.  It is planted with all their favorite plants, ferns and soft cool mosses that offer cushy places for tired dancing feet to rest.  It is said in England that fairies do not wake up from their winter slumber until they hear the blue bells bloom.  Last year, I planted my first Spanish blue bells and I am confident they woke fairies and pixies alike from their winter naps.

No effort has been spared to make them feel welcomed and at home.

 

Here are a few fairy facts you may not know…

                Never expect to actually see a fairy.  They only come out at night to                       dance and party in the spaces you have carefully crafted for them.  They disappear over the hill with the daylight in hopes of more adventures.

Expect a big party on Midsummer nights eve!  This is the night they are most active.

If you can find a rock with a hole all the way through it, you can look through the hole and see fairies. This is a exception to the above

If you ever hear the wind in the willows, it is the fairies whispering in the ear of the poets.

                They sometimes leave pixie dust behind.

                I made this one up…but I think fairies are somehow pals with hummingbirds as they are equally fascinating.  Any maybe wild rabbits too.

                Fairies perch on toadstools and  use spider webs for lassos for catching rides on butterflies.

                A baby tree is prized among the fairies like the young of all living things.

 There are two distinct types of Fairy Garden/House builders.  One believes they must be made with all natural materials as in the fairy villages built on Mackworth Island off the coast of Maine.  An entire industry including an online store has developed promoting the natural only fairy houses.  No glue is even allowed.  You can tell from my photos that I am in the 2nd catagory.  I am all about durability although I do have all natural fairy houses at our mountain house in North Carolina.

There is nothing glamorous about natural houses, except the exquisiteness of their naturalness.  Each are entirely unique made up of interesting treasures found in nature.  The heart of building any fairy garden/house is in the hunting and gathering of natural items to adorn them.  These include bits of bark for walls and roofs, sticks for framing, shells, pebbles or stones for pathways or seating, acorn tops for dishes, mushrooms for tables or seats and berries for color.  The hunt for these items is the most fun part.

You get to think like a fairy…what would they like in their garden/ house? If you choose to be in the only natural group, you will need to check your house daily to make repairs from the parties the night before.  See why I am all about durability.

 

Nancy Wall, Wallden Pond, Somewhere in GA

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