As I wander through my garden each morning, there is always some new mystery to discover.

Blossoms awakening confident in full bloom; older ones fading, just as lovely in their departure as young ones are in unfolding.

 

 

 

 

 

Early one morning as I walked about my garden, lovely Doe and her daughter Fawn wandered the periphery of my flower borders intently gazing towards the center of the garden saying, “Now what have we here?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My very best friend, Old Horse was waiting for me as he has been every morning for almost forty years. Old Horse kept a watchful eye on me as I peered into the greenhouse and by the way he was looking, indicated that something new and unusual was about to greet me in the garden that morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I entered the greenhouse not sure what to expect. Fairies had left a sprinkling of fairy dust from the evening before, however this was not unusual and I could see nothing amiss. Everything in the garden seemed as it usually was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dory – Anna Dove was quietly nested in a Camper-down elm tree beside the greenhouse, typical for this early hour. However her attention did seem unusually focused on something just like Doe and Fawn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Horse remained insistent there was something in the garden that I was missing, so I wandered over to The Fairy Wardrobe Chamber where children change into fairy dresses I sew, but there too all was as it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

As I closed the wardrobe door a flickering pinkish light caught my eye. This could mean only one thing, that the Home Place Fairies had brought me my yearly gift of fairy dust. As Seamstress to the Fairies I sew fairy dresses for human children to wear as costumes and real fairy finery for Fairy Folk. On the last day of Spring each year fairies deliver a fresh supply of fairy dust made from stardust which they grind precious and fine. This dust I use for enchanting their garments. Although I appreciate and always look forward to receiving this very special gift, it is one I have come to expect.  Old Horse knows this so why his persistence in insisting there was something entirely different about the garden today?

 

 

 

 

 

Slowly, I walked through the orchard, deeper into the garden, seeking, looking, searching… but for what? I did not know. I looked beneath the kiwi arbor; below grape vines and above to the swallow’s house. I searched under Lady’s Mantle and behind roses. Everything was lovely, morning birds had begun to sing, butterflies were awakening and bees were buzzing.  Old Horse lingered in the background, persistent in his nagging that there was some new addition to the garden. I  had looked everywhere and had found nothing new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually it occurred to me that though I had looked high and low and here as well as there, I had not looked into the very center of the garden, where shimmering all pink and silver sat my yearly gift from the fairies. A bottle of Fairy Dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behind this bottle of fairy dust was a hand carved wooden sign. A beautiful sign!

The sign’s beauty was enhanced by the glimmering starlight contained within the enchanted jar of fairy dust. What an amazing gift, but from where and whom did it come? Clearly it had been lovingly carved and painted by a skilled artisan. I looked upon the gift in wonder as once again Old Horse began to snort and whinny. Loudly he stomped his right fore leg and tossed his mane suggesting that I look more closely; so I did and before me tucked behind some spearmint was another sign!

 

 

 

 

 

Over time I came to discover who had left the signs honoring the Fairy Folk. His name is Johan and he wanders the wilderness reveling in the natural world. Comfortable with all things wild and wonderful he was able to enter into the garden undetected by me and humbly leave his offering. I have known Johan for many years …as an artist, a woodland wanderer and a friend…but I had not known he crafted fine signs.

 

 

 

 

 

Searching throughout my garden looking intently for something new and different that morning I had neglected the expected gift of fairy dust. In my eager anticipation to find the new I had overlooked this generous yearly offering from the fairies. I had wrongly believed that any addition of significance to the garden was to be searched for when all I had to do was look within.

People are like gardens, there is always more to discover.

The Fairies and I thank you Johan! What a wonderful surprise!