In the Land of the Fairies

In the Land of the Fairies

Do you remember the movie The Full Monty? Even though its 24-years old, it is still a favorite. In it was Tom Wilkinson, one of the great supporting actors with 131 acting credits to his name on IMDB, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Valkyrie, Michael Clayton (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Batman Begins, The Patriot, In The Bedroom (Oscar nomination for Best Actor), and the series John Adams (Emmy winner for Best Supporting Actor). As Gerald in The Full Monty, he is a middle manager who has lost his job and hasn’t told his wife. One of his affectations is that he has little garden Gnomes that the other guys make fun of and break. Part of the pathos of the film is that his pals end up feeling bad about making fun of his Gnomes and end up replacing them. It’s a funny bit as much for the fact that a grown man would have a hobby of keeping garden Gnomes. Well, I’m not unemployed, but rather retired and I have taken to making a little Fairy Home in a rock nook. Yes, a grown man buying little miniatures to outfit his little make-believe fairy house in the rock for seasonal holidays.

To begin with, my first wife, Mary, collects miniatures and has for as long as I have known her. She is a serious collector and has large printer’s type boxes that she has refinished to keep and display her miniatures on the wall. She is very selective about her collection and these have to be very miniature for her to consider adding them to her collection. I know her mother got her started on the program like my mother started me on coin collecting, but I believe she is still at it though I’m sure she only dabbles in it at this stage. The point is, I’ve been aware of the miniatures subculture for some time and am not at all surprised that there is a sub-subculture for Fairy scenes in the miniatures world.

What got me started with all this was that once we had cleaned out the Eastern side of the garage to make it our new garbage bin area, I went about making it as nice as possible. I laid down pavers so that we could roll the cans in and out with ease. I also cleaned out all the plantings other than a few large agave century plants at the back corner and a few 4-5 foot high jade plants which I moved to get them out of the a garbage bin path. Once opened up there was a natural barrier to the east side, which was one of the many large boulders, or, to be more precise, several boulders stacked on one another. This stacking created a natural cave in the rocks right at eye height. It looked ever so much like one of the cave dwelling spots down in Canyon De Chelly or Mesa Verde, where the Anasazi Native Americans lived years ago….only in miniature.

That all got me thinking about what a nice surprise it would be for my granddaughters for when they come out here if I had created a little Fairy world to spark their imaginations. I didn’t have a grand plan or anything, but I just went with whatever flow came to mind. The size of the cave in the rocks was the only real constraint. So, I started by buying a box of moss. That’s right, moss. I laid the moss all in the cave area giving it a fertile feel. I also put moss on every outcropping and ledge to make it look like the whole rock was fertile wherever soil and grass (moss) might collect and grow. It looked good and it looked natural and somewhat inviting for something small enough to live in that cave. I had no interest in small critters or birds taking up residence. I was creating a Fairy world where the Fairies were never to be seen, but always seemingly around the corner.

I then found a nice little house made of green and brown sticks that was just the right size to fit snugly into the cave. It was actually a bird feeder with a side that was fully open. This suits the space very well since it is a lateral cave. Once I set it into the mossy cave, I assessed the space I had left. I had originally intended to carve steps into the rock to make it look like there was a pathway/stairway to the house. It was simply too hard to conform the carving of the granite. If it had been sandstone or some other sedimentary rock, it might have worked, but a big old igneous boulder was not very cooperative for an small-time amateur like me with a few simple chisels and a hammer. So, I used more moss to make the path and felt that it looked pretty convincing anyway.

It was time to shift gears and leave the moss and outdoors websites in favor of the miniature websites. To be clear, there are many miniatures websites. It’s actually a very big sub-culture. I found the Fairy categories less interesting than I wanted, so I just scoured the outdoor furniture and holiday categories. At first I found a right-sized white picket fence, which went very nicely in the side yard of the cave. My intention is to find some miniature farm animals for the corral. I then found a nice porch swing, which I thought would work very nicely in the lateral opening of the house. In some ways it established the house as less a primary residence for Fairies and more a vacation hut of sorts. It was the kind of spot that a Fairy would come to sit and swing and watch the world go by. Then I added some colorful bushes and a stone walkway that made the house look more and more real.

I was running the risk of overdoing it when my oldest son, Roger, emailed me and said that what I really needed was a cornstalk and a cornucopia to give it a real autumnal feeling. I found both in several forms and also got a basket with pumpkins and gourds that looked very autumnal. I now have perhaps thirty mini pumpkins and gourds clustered around the house with corn stalks on either side. Included in all that are two ceramic jack-o-lanterns and proper mini cornucopia. I have only put out about two thirds of the pumpkins I have and am already at great risk of having overdone it. They will all go in the plastic bin I have had Kim purchase for me and where I will keep all my off-season items awaiting the appropriate holiday time to set them out.

Based on all the out-of-stock Items I saw, I began thinking it might be smart to stay one holiday ahead of the demand. That got me looking at Christmas stuff since Halloween and Thanksgiving are so similar. My one concession to Thanksgiving is that I have a wooden sled at the side of the house ready for that first snowfall. At this point I have stockpiled the Christmas items I will put out just after Thanksgiving. Right before Thanksgiving I have a little added inter-holiday surprise. I won’t describe it exactly (mostly because until I do it, who knows if I can pull it off), but let’s just say that I have enough extra moss and a jar of synthetic white snow so that I plan to put that sled into action. We’ll see how crazy I go with the fake snow, but I suspect it will look nothing short of spectacular.

I will leave the holiday trimmings with the colored lights, Christmas tree and wreaths for early December. I haven’t yet decided what comes after the Christmas holidays. Do I dare do a Valentines Day theme or do I wait for Spring and Easter and then go all out? I will mention that I have found several Highland Cooos to put in the coral. For those not familiar in the Scottish ways, that would mean I found two Highland Cows with their chubby long-haired look. If they are sized right (miniature manufacturers seem to avoid their specifications in great detail) they should look very much at home in this mossy enclosure. Now that I am in the land of the Fairies, I have no idea where this will end.