Catching a Fairy

The warm spring weather brings out all sorts of lovely beings. We celebrated the Spring Equinox with a spring treasure hunt. Some friends and their children helped us look for green shoots, flowers, singing birds, and other early signs of the season. One little girl brought glitter to "magic" my garden. Now the crocuses and tulips twinkle! We even found a large owl pellet, with the intact but fragile bones of its former dinners. I could see a tiny ball joint sticking out of the mat of hair and bones. The guests also enjoyed kite-flying, stories, playing, and a tour of the Manor.

Yesterday, Faerygirl and Squirrelboy enjoyed a vernal pool that was created when the Lord of Dragonwood experimented with building a pond. We often find tracks around the pool. This year, the children found it brimming with life. Squirrelboy came running into the house for a jar, which he delivered to his sister. The girl was calf-deep in the pool, squealing with delight about the "fish" she was trying to catch. Not long after, my muddy-footed offspring proudly presented me with a jar of pondwater, algae, and many small creatures. I immediately identified several tiny leeches, only a few millimeters long, and a beetle that uses a bubble of air to dive. There was also an incredible pinkish-orange creature fluttering through the water. It was absolutely fascinating. Upon further investigation, we found out it was truly a fairy. Here's a link to a picture of some of its kind:

http://cfb.unh.edu/CFBkey/html/Organisms/otherarthropods/GEubranchipus/geubranchipus.html

These little fairies are quick and colorful. They live for a brief period in vernal pools. The rest of the year, they exist as eggs that withstand drying out, freezing, and all sorts of weather. Only in the spring do they hatch and live out their brief lives. They are truly magical creatures. I am delighted that Faerygirl was able to catch one so that we could see it up close. Also, now we have real evidence that fairies live in Dragonwood!

If I find a picture that I am legally able to share, I'll try to put one up. Or we'll have to try some underwater macrophotography that I'm not sure our little digital camera can handle.

Midsummer's Eve`

Traditionally, this is the time you may see faeries. On the summer solstice, we stay up late because this is the longest time of daylight in the year. This Midsummer's Eve, my family harvested the sweet black raspberries that grow in our woods. I suspect the bees may have had something to do with the massive amounts of juicy ripe berries tempting us to delve ever further into the thorns and poison ivy. Wild berries do not yield their treasures easily. They are guarded by fierce mosquitoes, cruel thorns, and weedy neighbors. Yet to the intrepid, they are full of sweetness, such beautiful temptation that you stain your lips and fingertips dark purple. A day or two before, Faerygirl and I brought home over three quarts of hard-won juicy goodness. Ice cream topped with black raspberries and smoothies soon followed. Delicious!

This is also the time of lilies in the garden. Their bright colors and bold shapes remind me of stars or fireworks. I love the spiky yellow ones; my children like the ruffly pinker ones. My mother-in-law collects daylilies like some people collect knick-knacks, and I am the blessed recipient of several fabulous varieties from her garden.

This season has been quite hot and humid, unseasonable (as has been much of the year). It seems to me that everything in nature is happening about a month earlier than it used to. We've had terrific thunderstorms, and the puddles are full of tadpoles and mosquito larvae. Squirrelboy is keeping a few tadpoles as pets.

Dragonwood will start showing up at the Farmer's Market in July, so this month is full of creative work. Faerygirl is making new faeries to sell, and I am busy harvesting, drying, and mixing herbal products. Look for our goods at the Kokomo Farmer's Market. We'll have honey, too.

The Lord of Dragonwood has hired a young man to help with all the work required to build our Manor. Together, they are priming and texturing the drywall in the upper part of the house. It looks so beautiful. Soon, the Lord and I will be picking out colored paint! This is quite exciting, especially for the children. Their rooms will be done first!

A Winter Picnic

When Faerygirl was wee, I used to take her out for winter picnics. Sometimes we would slip into the kayak and paddle down the creek to an island. There we would find a log to sit on and have a snack. This was when we lived along the Wildcat Creek, so it was only a short trip...but always exciting. Today, I felt gloomy being stuck in the house for so long by winter weather and illnesses. So I decided to seek adventure. I put on my flashy earrings, bought last summer at the farmer's market, a jingly-jangly bracelet made for me by my girlfriends and some outrageous costume jewelry. I bundled up Squirrelboy and packed my dad's old army backpack with surprises. Then I donned my favorite leather jacket and my cloak. We set out into the snow. Squirrelboy is not very fond of the snow and the cold, and truthfully, neither am I. But sometimes you have to face discomfort to find what you need. We explored a little, worked through a tantrum (sigh), and then found a destination worthy of our expedition. In the woods, Faerygirl has built many "hollows". This particular one, her latest, is woven of branches and still-living trees bent over. It looks like an igloo. Being a grown-up, I had to dig into the snow just to create an entrance I could slither through on my knees and forearms. Squirrelboy enthusiastically followed. Once inside, I could sit upright, bundled in my cloak. Then I opened the bag and shared the clandestine treats I had packed. Oh, I did it right! Peanut-butter crackers, dried fruit and nuts, marshmallows, and kool-aid mini-packets to dump in water bottles (from last year's birthday parties). It was wonderful to sit in a woven shelter looking out at the snow and enjoying a forbidden treat (yeah, we don't eat a lot of sugary snacks here in Dragonwood). But it was so appropriate, and we were happy. As we finished up, we left a nut for the squirrels and marshmallows on sticks for any snow sprites that might be around. The moment I mentioned "snow sprites", a bunch of snow fell down right on my head!! I hope they like their marshmallows. Fingers burning from the cold, I managed to follow Squirrelboy out of the igloo and wander towards home. It was a short outing, but a merry one. I highly recommend a winter picnic to anyone who is feeling the winter blues.

From the Pit

Just hauled Squirrelboy from the La Brea tar pits, where he was playing with a fairy and a dinosaur. Sadly, the fairy had to leave early because "she had to be home by eight o'clock". Even though it's pretty chilly out, the boychild dug himself well into the mud. His snow pants and coat are thickly covered, and his hands looked as if he'd made himself brown gloves. All this happened while the Lord of Dragonwood, his royal parents, Faerygirl, and I were busy trying to finish the downstairs wiring.

Oh, and when the Lord checked yesterday, all four beehives were alive!! I picked up sugar to make sugar-water for them to eat. We want all our dear hives to be alive and well coming into spring.

Once Upon a Time...

There languished a small bit of woodland in the middle of the cornfields. Once, it had been part of a wild marshy forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was home to deer, wolves, wild cats, hawks, owls, herons, ichneumons, tiger beetles, and mosquitoes. Some of these creatures still haunted the forest, but some had been killed off. Over time, Abraham Lincoln surveyed the land, and gypsies camped among the great trees. Lovers carved their initials into a beech tree. Many generations of men came to hunt game and harvest from the abundant sugar maples. As the years passed, the forest was logged, and trimmed back until it only covered a few acres. It became surlier as habitat disappeared and humans left their rubbish all over. Grumpy gnomes brooded in the stumps along the roadsides. The Pookahs perched in the trees, gleefully terrorizing anyone who dared to overnight in the forest. The pixies and Faeries misled wanderers with their barely-heard music. And the Dragon slumbered and dreamed of another world...