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Secret Garden Adventureland
The other day I was looking for a garden shop to visit. Something to inspire me to get started on making Bug’s birthday party invitations. For those not in the loop: Bug’s requested a “seed” party. It’s a bit odd but I like a challenge. I think I’m going to spin it in a garden direction.
I didn’t know where a local garden store was so I asked Twitter. Twitter is so wonderful. Within minutes I had two locations to visit. One of them was City Farmer’s Nursery. While it wasn’t all that helpful with my birthday party inspiration, it was a super fantastic adventure. This place is huge! And it’s right in the middle of the city! Talk about a secret find!
There are twisty paths everywhere and something new to discover at every turn. Everything is delightfully overgrown and decidedly unorthodox. One of their claims is that they carry the plants that big-box garden stores won’t. I believe it. I didn’t get to meet the owner but I hear from the employees that he’s quite a character. If I lived closer I could easily be inspired to buy something new and different to grow.
As you can see Bug had a great time. There were new friends to meet and a playground to play on. We could have stayed all day. Bug wanted to. She turned me into a regular nag trying to get her to go to the store so I could buy a seed packet to base my birthday-invitation design on. If I was more familiar with the place I would have just let her run wild but there were ponds to fall into and mud to be played in so I kept her close by me.
Cats, chickens, turkeys, turtles, fish, worms, twisting turning paths, a playground and a hundred places to hide…it’s a kids’ paradise!
And lots of plants too, of course.
After all that adventuring, I needed a cup of coffee. Guess what?! There’s a cafe next door. How cool is that? It’s a bit of a dive but I love dives! Coffee-shop coffee might not taste gourmet but it packs a nice caffeine punch. And get this: their credit-card machine was down and I didn’t have a lot of cash so I just ordered a cup of coffee for me and some bacon for Bug. Next thing I knew, the cook came over and gave Bug a little bowl of banana slices that he said he found in the kitchen. Five minutes after that he “found” an extra pancake with butter and syrup and gave that to Bug too. It was the sweetest thing. I’m glad I did have enough cash to give him a big tip.
Not bad for a day’s adventure. Thanks for the lead Urban Housewife!
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The sad story of the unfortunate Christmas milk jug angel.
Phoey. This craft was a real pain in the butt and doesn’t look half as good as I wanted it to. I told you not all my ideas are good. It was fun to make but it took entirely too long and at the end of the day it looks like a trash fairy on top of the tree instead of the Christmas Angel of Recycling.
I’m not even going to write a how-to because I have no clue what I did. I just pulled out my trusty glue gun, Glubert, and made it work. I’m thinking there could have been a better way. Like maybe some of my cuts could have been inverted to create the wings…maybe some better dart cuts to create a better bodice shape… I don’t know. I challenge someone to make it better! Surely there is someone out there just as crazy as I am with a glue gun.
Seven hot glue burns later I obliterated four milk jugs and created something foppish to sit on top of Bethany’s tree. I decided she wasn’t an improvement over the bouncy star Bethany had up there and demoted her to the kitchen.
She makes a pretty good kitchen fairy, I think. Besides, I like leaving behind artwork for Bethany to look at every day. It’s sort of my inside joke for me, since I know half of it will magically get lost in the move when they are relocated to Washington DC this coming February. (Bethany’s husband, Troy, is in the military and he got a promotion! Though yes, we will miss them fiercly.)
I’m sorry poor Kitchen Fairy. I don’t think you’re going to make the cut. But enjoy guarding the dish rack while you can!
