After being interrupted for over a year by the Covid panic, summer programs have resumed at our local library. In the interest of minimizing possible exposure to disease, the powers that be have requested that activities be held outside as much as possible. So the local librarians set up two pop-up canopies in front of the library and brought out tables and chairs for participants to use. According to the forecast, the canopies would be providing shade from the sunshine. But, as is so often the case, the forecast was wrong and the canopies kept us dry during intermittent rain showers.
Sixteen people showed up to participate in the fun, about twice as many as were expected. Librarian @jacobtothe was kept busy fetching additional supplies and another table and chairs, troubleshooting uncooperative glue guns, and being generally helpful. He even brought out coffee and cups!
The plan was to make a fairy house, or fill a clay pot with dirt and plant some seeds, or both. There were pieces of bark to use, chunks of moss, acorn caps, assorted pine and fir cones, twigs, and lichens. Non-natural materials were also available, including fake moss in many colors, artificial leaves, tiny plastic animals, pipe cleaners, shiny "stones", and a few bits of fabric. Some pasteboard and wooden boxes and cylinders were on hand as well.
Folks were obviously delighted to be getting together and working on crafts again. There were grandmothers, young parents, teens, and children all working on projects, exchanging ideas, and getting acquainted. After I was finished, I stayed just to visit and watch everyone else working on their projects and admire the creativity.
This is the fairy house I made. I might add a few more bits of moss from our own yard, and I'd like to add a bird or a mouse peeping out of the hole, if I can find something appropriate. My plan is to prop it up against a tree trunk in the yard, in hopes of it looking like an entrance to a fairy home inside the tree.