Rocks and Fairy Gardens

[ajahbean]

We took a walk today, for the first time since Maggie passed away. The weather has cooled off quite a bit this past month, and we've rarely spent any time outside except to go to and from work. It was nice out today, and I didn't want to spend all day inside in my chair, drooling at the computer, or in bed feeling depressed, so we went outside. I keep forgetting that Autumn is around the corner, so the greenery and the flowers won't be around for much longer. Yellow leaves have already started scattering across the ground, mushrooms have been popping up, but in less quantities than last year, it seems. It's been raining a lot, but I'm grateful for it because last year and the year before, it barely rained at all and the grass was dry and yellow for most of the summer. So it was nice to go out, feel the breeze, see the flowers and sit on the grass before I'm too cold to go anywhere.

Husband and I love looking at the houses around where we live. They're all very similar, but also very different. A lot of them are big, with lush gardens and string lights on the porch. We look at them and plan for a future in a big house with a garden, a conservatory and old trees, where our chosen families come to visit for the holidays and we sit on the porch when it rains. However, we are painfully aware that the housing market is no longer built for the "American Dream" and that eventually we will be priced out of one bedroom apartments altogether, and may never own a home of our own. But that's a bitter pill to swallow for next time.

We walked to the park at the end of the neighborhood, it's a quiet and serene little place where we used to walk Maggie every other day. I would take her there when it was nice out. I would sit under the trees with her partially in my lap. Hugging her Torso and resting my head between her ears as we listened to the birds and smelled the breeze. Of course I'd take a few pictures. She hated the camera, but at times she would suffer it for me. We would visit the rock/fairy garden in one corner of the park, where there are various stones painted in different patterns and colors, and fairy garden items left scattered around. I would hold the stones up to her and she would sniff them, curiously, and then we'd carry on. The last time I visited, shortly after she died, there was a heart shaped stone lying in the middle of everything else, crowned by dandelions, a flower (yes, I said flower) I associated with her. The universe often sends me hearts when I need it the most, so it was a little comforting to see. I left it there, to be painted by someone else. I didn't see it yesterday but maybe it's sitting on someone's desk or in their garden with a fresh coat of paint, making someone happy. I hope so, anyway.

My favorite stones, however, are the ones with faces:

I love them so much. They all have such different personalities! ♥

And look, whaddya know! A cluster of heart themed rocks lol. It reminded me of a Valentine.

☆And, lastly, there was a fairy door~☆



As a fairy garden lover, I do have some criticisms of fairy gardens I've found out in the wild where I live. They are, of course, very cute and I'm happy to have found them, but I do not like when they are made primarily of plastic or glass items, left for the local fauna to break and possibly ingest or hurt themselves with. Last year, it looked like someone, perhaps a class or some other group of young people, had a project of some kind, and left a TON of fairy garden decor around the base of the tree where these things are gathered. There were so many random bits of plastic, something that looked like a shattered mirror? Tiny beads and things left strewn about. And a nail someone hammered into the tree to hang things from. I left a complaint about all of the things I regarded as "garbage", not in an unkind way, but basically reminding them that animals do live here and that they could easily die in large numbers if they ate any of the sharp pieces. It has been cleaned up since then, the last time I visited was in April, so I hope they took my words to heart. The fairy door on the tree is more naturalistic, the rocks colorful and organized, and on the far edge of the garden, there lies a piece of structure that looks like an effigy of Pan, at rest and I suppose watching over the local fairies.

I think a fairy garden with plastic, miniature decor, is fine if it's in your home garden, where it can be managed and observed frequently, in a section of your yard where flowers do not grow and animals do not forage in. Perhaps even a roombox or shelf in your home where you can decorate it and change things around without displacing any critters that might have made it their home. I think, if you're going to do it in the wild, you should leave natural items that are made from nature, are biodegradable and aren't an eye sore. "Leave No Traces", as they say. This doesn't include crystals which, unfortunately are often just bits of decorative glass, and the ones that aren't can't get wet and certainly won't be channeling any positive energies from a squirrel's stomach. I guess you could argue that the animals will find shiny shit anyway, especially birds, and bring into the forest. Even hoard it in their nests. But we humans have encroached on so much of their world, the least we can do is leave some of it for them. And if they steal a spoon or bit of mirror from your windowsill, then that's just dumb luck, I guess.

Anyhow, I was glad to see the fairy garden in good shape. I assume the school and churches nearby leave the stones. It's in the middle of a neighborhood, so it's probably well looked after. I have a box full of fairy garden things that I intend to go through and donate a portion of. I considered leaving it there for people to decorate with, but most of it I think is plastic or mdf so it would not be feasible to leave out in the weather. I used them mostly for miniature pictures in my parents' back yard. I'm a Borrowers fan and love miniatures, so I would often decorate different mystical-looking corners of the yard and take pictures, haha. Here are some:

Anyhow, that's all for now! If you made it this far, I appreciate you as a reader and I hope you enjoyed the entry! It has been a while since I've done something like this, so I feel like years of the writing itch finally coming out has really taken over. I'm sure I'll burn out at some point (I hope not though), but I'm having fun! This was meant to also include a short excursion at a local antique store but this entry is already too long, so I'll save it for later, haha.

🌿Here's a present for you!🌿



Until next time...