as told by rainy

There’s been a little problem going on around here. It was the last thing in the word that we expected to happen but, thanks to Corinne’s astute insight I think we are on to them. This yard is truly magical to us. There is an inexplicable quality about it that captures one’s imagination and heart and we have loved it dearly ever since we moved in.

When we first came here the yard was just a rolling brown dusty plot with miscellaneous fruit trees planted here and there, an odd shaped flat of concrete in the middle which had probably held a gazebo or hot tub at one time and a patio which ran the whole width of the house. Then we sort of divided up the yard so that there was a perfect place for the rich deep green grass sod to be planted, a rose bed, and spaces for wild flowers and even some herbs and vegetables later on. There are all the various kinds and sizes of fruit trees such as the peach and apricot trees that have given so abundantly of their sweet, juicy fruits.

I thought it would be absolutely wonderful to have a wildflower garden meandering around the fruit trees and set about to make that happen. I dug up the earth, mixed in some really good soil and scattered seed from many different kinds of wild flowers. We waited and waited. The seed packages said it would take from 10 to 21 days so I tried to be patient but at the end of that time only a very few seemed to be coming up.

There were still lots of open spaces left to work with while the wildflower seeds were getting settled in to do their thing. And there was the round pink stone pathway leading back to the miniature barn which the owners use for storage. Something beautiful should be done around those.

First we planted sunflower seeds back by the barn because they would be so very tall and beautiful and serve to soften the lines of the barn and that corner of the yard. They were SO happy that they sprang up right away and were growing like weeds... which is what the gardener thought they were. So he pulled them up. Actually he missed many of the other weeds but the sunflower plants were just too big and healthy looking to let go. (They would have probably gotten too strong and deep rooted if he’d left them.) Of course, now that I’m ‘on to them’ I have my own other ideas about it. Oh, I still know that the gardener pulled them up, but I think he was egged on by them and couldn’t do anything else. He was probably looking at the sunflower plants when they said, “Go ahead and pull them. They’re just big old funny looking weeds anyway." And stood around giggling to themselves at him. And since he didn’t know the difference or who it was that was prodding him, up they came.

Then I got flats of Irish and Scottish moss and some beautiful little ground cover called blue star creeper. I planted the Irish moss on the West side of the round pink stepping stones and the Scottish moss on the East. All the little plants sort of met in lovely random patterns somewhere in the middle. Then just beyond the moss was the little blue star. And scattered in at various spots were tiny plants that we’d started from seed of California Poppies and several other little seedling plants. There is another little plant right at the corners of the patio, rose garden and the pink path, whose name I don’t recall, that has beautiful miniature trumpet shaped flowers of a lovely violet color. It fits in so sweetly with the other ground covers and continues that magical quality.

I discovered those great little peat pots that one can use to start seeds in. Once they have a good start you just plant them, pots and all, directly into the ground without disturbing the roots. They seemed to be a perfect answer to all the seedlings. In fact, when the wild flowers did not come up too well we decided to try them in some of the little pots and there they are, instant baby seedlings.

One of the things that I used the peat pots for was seedlings of bachelor buttons. It was exciting to see the tiny baby leaves pop up the very first day so strong and bright. They really seemed so happy to be here with us that I had a talk with the deva of bachelor buttons thanking them for the wonderful job they had done getting the baby plants started and how beautiful they are.

In very short time the bachelor buttons seemed so strong and healthy that I thought it would be good to just go ahead and put the little pots in the earth with some redwood material around them to enrich the soil. I knew that the Mother Earth would help to keep them at a more even temperature and they would be disturbed less that way. And besides, I was watering them all regularly since this is such a dry hot climate, and talking to them every day.

There was an area between the pink path, the rose garden, and the little barn that just seemed perfect for the bachelor buttons. It looks kind of like a meadow with a bit of a slope to it. There were 12 baby bachelor button plants to live in this meadow and a few more cosmos seedlings and California poppies, just to keep the bachelor buttons company and give a little variety to the meadow.

There were, of course, some other things such as 'black eyed susans' and 'baby blue eyes'. The tiny Dahlberg daisies are scattered randomly all around the yard, looking for all the world as if they had always been there. Another little plant called trailing blue sapphire was planted here and there to keep them all company.

One of the things I most wanted were hollyhocks in places along the back fences. As a child I used to make trips to Shenandoah Iowa with my parents and remember the hollyhocks that lined all the alleys there. They were so beautiful and very unusual to me. Then in the city of the Angels, I had a neighbor who planted a few by his front steps. Again it was love. My hollyhocks were also started from seed and sprang up strong and sturdy before anything else. (I thought because they were to be the tallest of flowers they wanted to show themselves first!) They seemed happy just to be here and to be so loved.

A large bougainvillea was added in the corner by the side of the barn and the neighbor’s fence and is bursting with rich vibrant magenta flowers and in the opposite back corner of the yard was planted a small jacaranda tree with its cascading purple flowers.

Some of the things we planted had a very hard time getting started but most all of them seemed to come around sooner or later. This was certainly the case for the Mexican primrose. It seemed to have completely succumbed to the heat and the change of address, but we stayed there with it. Then one day it came into its own and for at least a week it was so glorious that it was honored as “the flower of the week”!

There is, of course, the story of the two rose bushes, ‘Angel Face’ and ‘Just Joey’ which I had dug up to move here with me. Well, I had planted them in the first place so I felt that was all right to bring them when I moved. ‘Just Joey’ was one of the most magnificent roses I had ever seen. Shortly after I had gotten it it sent up the strongest stem I had even seen on a rose plant - almost 5 feet high with a large bud on the end. Every day I went out to look at it and see how it was doing, waiting for the bud to start opening. Finally it began. It was like a gift from the rose deva, or even from Pan himself, a blessing to the world, so tall and strong and beautiful. I was looking forward to the next day when it would be really reaching its perfect bud peak when someone walked by, unseen by me, broke it off and stole it. I was crushed. So when it came time to move I brought it and ‘Angel Face’ with me.

Now this is southern California and some of the days of the move were especially hot ones and the day of the rose move was just such a day. After digging them up I had a few more things to load in the car before driving up. Along the way I realized that the roses were too hot and were struggling desperately. By the time I arrived here they were completely done for even though I soaked them and planted them immediately. While driving along the way I sang songs of appreciation to them and kept telling them that it would not be far... we were almost there... and so on. I reminded them of how much I loved them and that was the only reason they were having to go through such a difficult trauma. It was hard on all of us, making this move but we would all come through it happier in the end. And I was SO happy they were coming with me.

When I got here my heart sank! It seemed that they just would never make it back. Determined that this was not to be the case I did everything I could think of to make it better for them. Then I called on the devas of those roses and the gnomes and everyone I could think of, and ask for their help. I was really asking for a miracle!!!

After a severe pruning and many weeks had gone by, Angel Face sent out a new shoot. How exciting! It has now even had a couple roses bloom. We were delighted but there was still Joey, unmoved and quiet as a brick... but there was a hint of green in the stems and I would not dig him up if there was any color in the stems. I would just wait.

This is truly our magical yard.

Last night I went to see my friend, Lily. We spent a little time in her special room looking at wonderful, magical things collected from all over the world. It was a delicious time, feeling the lovely energies, smelling the potions and looking at the many treasures. I returned home quite late at night and this morning was the only morning I did not have a moment to go out into the yard before scurrying off to do urgent tasks.

When I returned home Corinne asked why I had pulled or dug up the bachelor buttons field. Of course I had not. So the mystery began.

I went out to look and every one of the little ‘pots’ of bachelor buttons had been ripped up from their beds as well as a couple companion cosmos and hollyhocks from the opposite corner. Many of the pots were actually torn and mangled and all the little plants, except maybe one, were done for.

We puzzled over this trying to think of every possible explanation. Both Corinne and I went outside to examine things several times but still no reason was forthcoming. Then Corinne, who is about half fairy/angel stuff anyway and knows about these things, suddenly said, “I know what it was! It was a bunch of wild teenage fairies on a rampage. They got in there and just blew up the whole field. I saw a piece of their fairy wire when I was out there that they left behind.” She went out to looked around again and came back with a piece of the fairy wire that looked sort of burnt on the end. It was twisted just a little bit and was laying right there in the midst of the field. Later she found a couple more pieces, too.

Just the day before, Skylar had brought a piece of it inside and we had thought it was a toy he had decided he wanted inside to play with. It was the same stuff. Now we think maybe he was just bringing some of the evidence to show us, or maybe they left it inside just to mess with our minds.

Fairy pictures by Cicely Mary Barker from   
"Flower Fairies of the Wayside"

The more we thought about it the more we were sure of it! We got out some books with pictures of fairies by their flowers and there they were, teenage fairies and looking, for all the world, like they were laughing at us. A couple of the pictures even showed them holding some of the fairy wire in their hands. We think they were playing being ‘teenage mutant ninja fairies’ and decided to use that meadow as their battleground. They just wired the little pots underneath and then blew them up! ...and laughed and laughed. They’ve been watching humans too much!

Fairies, in truth, are very beautiful beings and never mean real harm! They are NOT malicious beings in any way, and they have a very different way of looking at life than we humans do. Part of what they do is to copy the archetype patterns they are shown. This is how they know what shapes and colors to paint the flowers and such. As the human and nature kingdoms are drawing closer together, they are sometimes tempted to pattern after what we humans do and when they see something, especially a pattern that looks like it might be fun or exciting they will copy it. Fairies will also appear how ever we expect them to, shape shifters that they are. If we expect to see them as Victorian looking , they will, or as the color of the flowers that they are assigned to paint, they will show us that. Sometimes they flit around as tiny points of light which is especially beautiful to see.

We’re on to them! ...

Both Corinne and I have been seeing them in the corner or our eyes a lot lately, as well as the gnomes and other nature beings. Every now and then one of them would dart past... or into a bush or rock. We were amazed and very pleased that they were showing themselves to us and wanted more. We also knew that the fairies, especially, were very tricky and playful. But we never expected this. The more we thought about it and the more we looked around, the more evidence we found of their mischievous activities. They were having the time of their life! But they were also giving us a message. I had been talking a lot with the gnomes, the devas and all the other wee folk, but I think the fairies felt neglected.

While planting the Scotch and Irish moss I had a lot of conversations with my friends, the Leprechauns, and with the gnomes. They have helped so much with this magical garden and are always around. And even though I talked with them, the fairies must have felt left out for some reason.

Even an army of ants found it necessary to come inside while the battle was raging in the yard... although I’ve told the ants that that behavior is totally unacceptable. No matter how wild things get in the garden, they are not to come inside the house. There is far greater danger in here for them than there is out there.

We went to look for our copies of the book, “Lady Cottingly’s Pressed Fairy Book”. Corinne’s was gone! Corinne has a way of just knowing about these things and said, “they took it!”. She just somehow knew it! They had come in and gotten it right out of her stack of books. My copy was sticking out about 1/2” from the rest and I think hey had tried to take it too but must have gotten caught before they could get it out so they left it behind. I’m a little surprised that the small fairy books were still in place, especially since they had pictures of the mischievous teenage fairies with the evidence showing right there.

And now I know it was the fairies that were egging the gardener on to pull up the sunflowers. Gardener didn’t know any better! And the fairies were out for a laugh!

Yesterday I planted some sage, one of the most ancient of plants. It even has “age’ as part of its name and is a very wise, wonderful plant. Sage is a great help for the Earth and serves as healer, protector, cleanser and purifier, as well as seasoning for our foods. I have asked Sage to bring forth its healing powers in this magical place.

Skylar sometimes watches the nature beings as well as the birds and other creatures really hard, and sometimes they try to frighten him. He’ll be looking at something we can not even see, and it will do something that just makes him bolt for the door like a streaking snow white race horse. He holds his own with them pretty well, but then he also knows when it’s wise to back down. Skylar does a great job of keeping vigil over this yard and we really appreciate all that he does blessing the little plants and flowers and checking everything out.

I know he was watching the fairies, too, from my bedroom window and from the window in the front. But again this morning there had been a mini-battle take place and a few more baby plants were destroyed.

This story is not finished. Sometimes things happen just to get our attention. I know the fairies and all the other nature folk are now working diligently at bridging the barriers between us all. Some of us want nothing more than for that to become a reality. We want, with all our hearts, to be able to see clearly all the magnificent kingdoms of life that surround and interpenetrate our world and that have gone for so many eons unrecognized and unappreciated by us. The time for this to happen is now.

People are beginning to see and feel/experience auras, colors and energies as never before. Many Earth changes and shifts are now taking place and Gaia is becoming known in all Her glory. As far as I, personally, am concerned it was written with ribbons of truth and love woven firmly through it with a nod to my friend, Pan, also known as the God of Nature. Pan is striving to awaken the Joy and recognition of all the kingdoms of Nature within humanity. His is a most powerful, playful presence. This tale was presented with a light heart and much love, to be taken for what it's worth. And it's only the beginning.