A Flight of Faeries

Yep, that time of year again--pizza and faerie houses!  The theme this year was around-the-world.

Danish paper cutting--with tiny scissors hidden in the spider web.

Little doors are my favorite.

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Japanese temple, complete with tiny singing bowl.

Ireland, one of my favorites

Also Ireland.

My favorite location, along the now-dried creek bed.  This year the houses were embedded in the roots.

Can't remember--this might be Norway.

Pisa

A hidden butterfly

Mesa Verde

In the here-and-now section, where visitors made their own houses.

OUR FAVORITE!  

With a Harry Potter door

And Sherlock Holmes

And of course Doctor Who!!

Fall Faerie Fun

It's Faerie Village time again!  We've been for four years now, exploring the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum in search of all the little faerie houses tucked away (2009, 2011, 2012--we skipped 2010, which was scarecrows.)  This year, the theme was the "Wizard of Oz," more from the book than the movie, which was fine because we'd read it a year or so ago.  The kids are older now and so we let them rn and roam around on their own, knowing they wouldn't wander off or touch anything.  As in earlier years, my favorite houses were those made of natural materials, those tucked into the shapes of trees or the land, and those under the giant oak.   The kids aren't as particular or predictable in their preferences.  

After enjoying all the faerie houses, we went for lunch at Pizza Works, the train station pizza place.  And Sis actually ate pizza, which has long been a food she wouldn't touch.  But she ate three slices of bacon cheeseburger pizza!  We were so excited, even though that pizza isn't always available.  Bud and Mama shared a bacon clam pizza while I liked pesto mushroom.  There was chocolatey Derby Pie and caramel apple pie for dessert.

See Dorothy's house on top of the tornado?

"Follow the Yellow Brick Road . . . . "

I loved the Munchkin village under the big tree, which was made by local elementary students and their art teacher.

More doors and ladders . . . .

My paternal grandfather would dry gourds; Goo has, too.

Can you see the tiny pincushion?  There was a checkerboard elsewhere.

A Magical Day

On Saturday, we cavorted among the faerie houses (again) at the Florence Griswold Museum.  If you're in Connecticut this month, definitely go visit!

We all liked the first house, a Japanese tea house.  Bud even sketched it.  Can you find the blue teapot?  Each house stop on the map had a seek-and-find question.  We found most of the items, going back again to the houses where we couldn't find the treasure immediately.

Another one that piqued our curiosity as this one, complete with burnished emblems on the stumps.  Can you find the reindeer?

I really liked the faerie houses that blended in with the trees or rocks or grasses.  This Autumnal Fortress is spread out through lots of nooks and crannies. 

This house was nestled next to the tree, with numerous ladders and doors all around.  I think the doors and ladders were my favorite detail of all the faerie houses.

This was one of the kids' favorite houses, the Dew Drop.

And just several random details I liked from other houses.

We walked through the grounds by the Lieutenant River at least twice, admiring all 30+ houses and finding five of the "fringe faeries," or faery houses not on the original map, which were hidden in plain sight.

One of the last houses was the Pearl Palace, nestled next to a stream, which was lined with houses in the bank, another of my favorite houses.

 After a wonderful lunch on the veranda of the museum (wild mushroom bisque, butternut squash and apple soup, spinach salad, mushroom ravioli, chicken pot pie, apple crisp, and a trio of ice creams--peach cobbler with gingersnap, hazelnut with milk chocolate and seville orange with basil, so yummy), the kiddos built their own faerie houses "beyond the beyond."

Bud's teepee-shaped house with a thatched pine needle roof.

Sis's lean-to with a pine roof and a table laid with "bread with honey" (a rock with sap) and other delicacies.

We ended the day with a visit with Tracy Kane, the author of several books on faerie houses.  She signed her new photographic compendium, Fairy Houses--Unbelievable!, and her new mystery novel, Forest Secrets, for us.

We headed home through the pouring rain and dried off at home while watching Fairytale, about the girls who took the Cottingley fairy pictures in 1917.  

Then today, after the yard dried out, Sis and Bud built 10 houses in a village in our yard, providing a map for us and a personally-guided tour, during which we were asked to spot the hidden treasures.  Just like at the museum.  That is why we go on these outings:  not just for the initial information and enjoyment, but for the inspiration and imagination that follow for days and weeks to come.   May the magic of the faeries be with us for a long time.