As I have mentioned a few times over the past week, I just returned from a 2-1/2 week vacation on th eMaine coast visiting my family. It is always so wonderful to go back and visit all the places I frequented when I was a child. It's even more special to have the opportunity to share these places with my own children! Today I thought I would share with you a famous Maine tradition that you may or may not be familiar with... fairy houses!
What is a fairy house you ask? It is a small structure made for fairies to visit. They are made out of natural, found objects from the great outdoors. There are some rules for building a fairy house, and they can be very elaborate to very basic depending on the builder's age/skill level. It all began for my family with a special book, "Fairy Houses...Everywhere" by Tracy Kane. If you walk through many woodland parks, the backside of beaches and many other places in Maine, you will find these little fairy houses built by children and it is absolutely magical! And it makes me so happy to see children being so creative!
(as a reminder, you can click on any of these photos for a larger view)
Hannah and I decided to build our own fairy house while we were at the beach one day. We spent the whole afternoon collecting shells, driftwood, feathers & bark to create our special hideaway for the fairies. It is a two-story home with an elaborate garden and outdoor eating area. According to Hannah's research, these were all important things to incorporate into the home!
David snapped this shot while we were hard at work on our creation. I love how you can see all the bits and pieces of the construction materials scattered around Hannah's knees. So cute!
This is a shot of the side garden, complete with a little "pergola" so the fairies have some place to sit and enjoy the ocean view.
This is the set of table & chairs that Hannah created so they had somewhere to eat outside. The backs of the chairs are made from razorback clam shells while the seats and table are made from flat rocks. Hannah even "set" the table with acorn tops to serve as bowls for the fairies to eat from.
Here is a view from the top of the house. You can see Hannah's handiwork with the clamshell path! I have to add that when we went back to check on our fairy house a few days later, someone had built their own fairy house a few yards away from ours. So fun to see the magic pass on! Thanks for letting me share this today! Have a wonderful night!
