Resting in the Fruit Bowl

We’ve had so much rain that today was the first day I was able to take Elfie out for a walk along the lane without the fear of disappearing into a bottomless puddle.   As I walked along I spotted this little fellow standing on a gatepost, looking at the sheep in the neighboring field.  

He seemed to be enjoying the view but a few minutes later I found that he was following us along the lane, exploring the hedgerow as he rushed to keep up with us.  

The leaves are off of the trees and bushes now except for moss and ivy.   He looked like he was having a wonderful time climbing among the bare twigs and moss-covered rocks.   

He’s a house faery really and I was surprised to see him outside.   He was obviously content with a short adventure because he came home with us but insisted on sitting on the bird table for a few minutes, communing with the bluetits.

I think they must be very gossipy birds -but I may be doing them an injustice.   Anyway, the little fellow is back indoors, resting in the fruit bowl with the plums before he joins his companions again.   At least he’ll have something to tell them.

A Month Long Adventure in the States

Well we are finally home from our month in the states - and what an adventure it turned out to be. 

I expect that most of you have seen the photos of our time in New York over the past month – a wonderful opening of the “Trolls” exhibition and other events around the city. What you may not have seen or known about are the two tiny trolls who came with us and shared some of our adventures. They usually spend their time in the garden, taking care of the flowers that need tending in the Spring and Autumn. I’ve caught them at their work before and you may remember them uncovering (and then quickly covering again) the primroses this past Spring. 

They decided that they wanted to see more of the world and knew that the best way would be to accompany us on our trip to New York. I had my doubts about the wisdom of this adventure - after all, they are very small and not as worldly as some of the other trolls, but they persuaded me to let them come along and as it turned out, they had a very exciting time. 

We took them to a restaurant where they were intrigued by the packets of sugar. They ate far too much of it and had to rest for a day before they were ready to come out again. (I DID warn them). 

We (Brian, Toby and I) were invited to join a reunion of students from our Belcastel workshop weeks, along with Heidi and her daughter Cat, at a great Chinese restaurant, just before the opening of the exhibition. The tiny trolls definitely wanted to come along, since they had enjoyed their previous restaurant experience so much. They felt quite at home using chopsticks (I think they were comfortable with them because they were wood) and we had to stop them from spending the whole meal riding on the turntable. 

They joined us for the gallery opening and luckily stayed away from the wine. 

The next weekend they joined us again at the Abrams Books booth at Comic Con. They were very proud to be representing the Trolls book and had their photos taken with a great many fans and book buyers as well as the lovely people working at the Abrams booth. I’m not sure that any of us were expecting quite so many people crowded into one space. Comic Con was quite overwhelming - but we did enjoy our panel discussion, hosted by the wonderful Ellen Kushner, who guided us through it with ease and wit and grace! 

The tiny trolls were quite exhausted by this time and decided to hibernate in our friend Guy’s apartment until it was time to return home. 

Returning home proved to be far more exciting than anticipated because we were on one of the last planes out of JFK on Sunday night before the storm hit. 

We were SO lucky and we are SO grateful to be home safely again. We truly feel that the faeries were with us. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the monster storm. Please know that we are thinking of you all and will continue to send healing energy to everyone over there. 

Yesterday the tiny trolls hopped downstairs and on to the table for a last photo before they headed back out into the garden to resume their duties as keepers of the flowers. I expect I’ll see them out there some time soon, covering up the tender plants and bedding them down for the Winter. They are very excited because of course - now they too have tales to tell.