FAIRY DOORS

What better time to think of Fairies than on this Cusp-Night of Summer? We've had a long and lovely relationship with the Faery World, and I've been known for quite some time as the Fairy Lady, to a lot of friends and their children.

And what accommodations, you ask, might there be for the Wee Folk in our area? Well, there are a few of the original dwellings, now mostly tourist sites for traveling Fae, who enjoy looking at the old-fashioned places with much the curiosity that we lend to Mount Vernon or Shakespeare's home. I'm sure that the bark furniture and twig accoutrements are a source of levity and wonder to today's society, so accustomed to their modern amenities.

The Tree-House is closed for the day, the candles snuffed, the shutters drawn, as it awaits another fleet of tiny carriages and charabancs, bumbletaxis and flitting tourists on the morrow:

A more comfortable abode, with very nice tapestries, a large banqueting hall, regal appointments, intricately-carved staircases and quite a lovely view of the countryside:

This is a popular stop for the Michigan tourists, as Ann Arbor is quite a destination for all the visiting Fae; the entire city embraces such distinguished clientele, and hundreds of small doors proclaim their hospitality:

Our own dear Fairy Door below, in the corner of a bookcase; it suddenly appeared there one Christmas Morning, and since we keep it well-stocked with shiny objects and bonbons, it's had quite the traffic since. Perhaps it's the choice of sweets, perhaps our own reputations as good landlords---we seemed to have The Mark, I think, much like the hobo inscriptions on railside houses offering a hot meal or shady place to rest.

This Fairy, created by our own original Fairy Girl, Gracie, has emerged to check on the welfare of the baby-in-the-nutshell; he seems to be slumbering peacefully on the stoop in the mellow lamplight.

Some of the doors are a bit mysterious, with little indication as to the type of dwelling within; still others proclaim their owner's tastes, styles, status or interests. I DO think a very comfy, happy Fairy must occupy this place, with its dainty pinks and delicate flowers and sweet dove over the window. .  Her talents would be music, I think, and perhaps conjuring cupcakes---plump, pillowy ones with billows of icing, and her spells would run to Spring Dewfall and Honeysuckle and gentle dreams.

And this one---oh, this one. It has to be the doorway to a cunningly-laid-out little house, with all built-in-shelves and beds carved from the cedar walls, with feathery mattresses and coverlets of down. The whole house would be shining inside, polished wood and brass, with the gleaming kettle on the hob, always ready and welcoming for tea.

Fairy Tea has its own magic, for it never does run out;

And the flavour you imagine will come streaming from the spout.

For each person at the table conjures up her favourite kind---

Lemon, Thimbleberry, Moonbeam---what the drinker has in mind.

But you never spill it on you, even if you drop your cup;

Its Enchantment keeps it safely; you just reach and pick it up.

And the pot stays warm forever, until washed and put away;

It will last the longest Tea Time, for an hour or a day.

And do YOU believe in Magic, and that Dreams indeed come true?

You're invited any Tea Time. For we ALL BELIEVE---do YOU?