Tuesday, May 25, 2021

May Days Flying By

The garden is about done except for weeding and maintenance.  The red door hides the narrow side yard where tools are supposed to be stored, if I don't forget and leave them out.  Behind the fountain at top left, you can see part of my compost area.  

I was watching a Korean Drama, when the main character gave a Nightmare Catcher doll to the love interest to help with her night terrors.  Huh?  Right away, I dashed upstairs and began gathering scraps and miscellanea (because I have a lot of both) and planning my own Nightmare Catchers.  


Since we are still having lots of rainy days and weeding is never done, 
these eccentric characters have become a wonderful antidote 
when I'm unable to work in the garden and much more fun than household chores.  


They have little "backpacks" filled with lavender sachets to catch bad dreams 
and convert them to good ones.  Each "nightmare catcher"  is an experiment, 
every step of the way--"what if I ...do this, try that, use those?"
The lack of perfection and auditioning scraps from other projects has been fun!

More in progress; I have loads of failed projects and scraps that will be perfect for these strange little characters.  And lots of lavender for their backpacks or to stuff bodies.

I listened to Neil Gaiman's Art Matters while working on them:

  • “Credo”, his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings
  • “Make Good Art”, his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts
  • “Making a Chair”, a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come 
  • “On Libraries”, an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers.

All of these were good and listening to Neil Gaiman's voice is a pleasure,
 but my favorite was "On Libraries" and the importance of fostering readers.




16 comments:

  1. Nightmare Catchers!!! Isn’t that creative. And yours definitely are. Are their “backpacks” their bodies that are filled with lavender? These are so sweet. I can’t wait to see more of them!

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    1. When I saw the one in the K-Drama, I was reminded of Junker Jane's monster dolls. The one in the show had a basket, but I've sewn little pouches to the backs with tiny lavender sachets tucked in. Each one has taken off in a different direction as I experiment :)

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  2. Nice projects, and useful in a positive fun way.

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  3. Ooh, I like that red door leading to your side yard. You have such a lovely garden!

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    1. The red door brightens up what has been a dull, but useful area! Thanks, Les!

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  4. Love the dolls-and your photo of your collection of scraps and things. Your garden is absolutely gorgeous.

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    1. Thanks, Debra! I love the cosmos which have reseeded and are taking over. A chaos of cosmos!

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  5. JenClaire, your garden looks so wonderful! I love the red door idea!

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    1. Thanks, Sherri! The red door is a bright spot that hides a lot of not so attractive items! :)

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  6. I can just see so many more eccentric little characters popping up here...

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    1. :) Easy, primitive, and fun to make.

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  7. I got my garden weeded about two weeks ago and then the rains started. It rained every day here for twelve days. We got more than a foot of the wet stuff in total. Now you couldn't tell that I had ever weeded.

    In my garden, I have the traditional southern bottle tree that helps to keep the "haints" and evil spirits at bay.

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    1. I feel as if we live in Oregon (or Oregon before climate change; a friend there is praying for rain). I am so tired of rain. Good for the flowers, yes; good for weeds, yes; good for mosquitoes, yes.

      ;) If only bottle trees kept weeds and mosquitoes at bay!

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  8. Of course you have a red door in your garden, I love it! Always finding you and I have such similar taste and love a bit of whimsy. And your garden looks magnificent!

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  9. Your garden looks so pretty! I hope you've been enjoying time outside, and not just working in the garden, but also hanging out. And your nightmare catchers are awesome! They look like they are up to taking all nightmares away.

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Good to hear from you!