More dreams of summer

More snow in the forecast .... time to remember a gentler time of the year. I made this wee house for the Garden Faeries. The whitish twigs holding up the roof were collected along the river. They are willows and all had been cut and peeled by beavers ! The window treatment is a willow stem. The door is made from bark of the golden birch, with trim and handle done in cherry twigs. The arched edging along the door frame is from a plant called Purple Loosestrife which some consider an invasive species... I think it is just Nature trying out new combinations of plantings. The stone bench has a heart shaped stone given to me by my niece....she is especially skilled at finding these on the beach. For the house I collected stones from another spot along the same river, a place where there is a stretch of sandstone in the landscape...finding small enough stones to build with takes time, the river tends to grind the soft stones up pretty quickly. It took several days to find enough to build this structure. It is all dry laid construction, just as a real stonemason would use. There is no glue holding this together... just patient laying on of one stone after the other.
I loved making a special place in the garden just for the Faeries. It has been such a delight to come back during the changing seasons and see how it has a different look each time. The first snowfall was especially magical as the next night there was a full moon...the snowflakes glittered like fallen stars all around and over the house... very magical indeed !
The house is buried now...under so much snow that I can't even tell exactly where it is... but I'm sure the Faeries still can !