Dwellings

Our front garden was graced with a new fairy house yesterday. The girls and I spent a long afternoon scouring the yard for items to decorate a new space for visiting fairies. Selby set the rules for gathered materials: nothing was to be picked and everything must be natural. (Exceptions were made for two pink plastic heart rings hung from a stick, and a small broken fairy figurine.) It was magical work, and apparently much appreciated, as this morning the dwelling was covered in a sprinkling of pixie dust that shimmered in the early light!

During our hunt yesterday, two fallen birds' nests were discovered. We carefully tucked them both into the branches of a bush that holds an earlier found nest. The girls delighted in filling all three with leaves and flowers to "fix them up" for the birds. The birds in our yard have been particularly active the past few days and I feel pretty confident some new nest-making is about to take place. This week, we'll repurpose the three fallen nests into a nesting station, filling them with a sampling of materials the birds can use in creating their new dwellings.

It's such a blessing to watch (and join) my gals in their exploration and play around the outside of our home. Some of my fondest childhood memories were born in my backyard... baking orange blossom frosted mud pies, retreating to a secret clubhouse high in a grapefruit tree, running barefoot through the grass without a care in the world. There's still nothing better for a child than a slow sunny day with nowhere to go beyond the endless possibilities right outside their own dwelling.