Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 65

singing in the garden

for the yard fairies from moss and sticks.
As I grew older, I lost something important: my sense of wonder. I'm working
on finding it again.
Which brings me back to the fairy
houses. My yard has no place for fairies
to linger over lunch so I'm back in the
business of building houses for them.
I started with cast-off bird houses that
I bought at thrift shops. It doesn't take
much work to repurpose them for fairy
houses. To complete the illusion, I decorated their tiny yards with some doll-

house chairs and tables that I picked up
at junk stores.
Then, after spending some time on
Pinterest, I discovered I could build my
own fairy houses from gourds, old flower
pots and even small stones glued onto
plastic bottles. I was also reassured to see
that I am not the only fairy-struck adult
in this world. There are pages and pages
of fairy houses and directions for building them on the internet.
I hit the jackpot when I discovered
hypertufa. It's a mix of moss, perlite and

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Portland cement. When combined with
water in the right proportions, this mix
is the same consistency and weight as
papier-mâché, but when it dries it looks
like, and is as sturdy as, concrete. And, it
can be shaped and carved.
I made some small house forms using ¾-inch rigid foam insulation (not
my own idea...you can Google it). Then
I tucked and patted the hypertufa in
and waited for it to dry. In a week I had
houses fit for fairies. They cried out to
be placed in the woods, along the trail
where I first discovered the toadstools.
So, now I'm a contractor in the business
of building houses for fairies on Fairy
Trail Lane.
I may seem like a crazy old lady to
you, but I'm guessing that any future
grandchildren will be as enchanted as
I am. Unless, they are all boys. Having
raised only boys, I am familiar with their
Godzilla-like tendencies. Perhaps I had
better build a miniature fairy construction zone for them... just in case. 

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MOUNTAINS
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Country Club

Blue Ridge
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HEALTH AND
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July/August 2017 65
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Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017

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