The Good Housekeeping Fairy

8:30 a.m.--This morning I grudgingly invited the Good House Keeping Fairy to help me. I must confess that between August 15 and October 29 I have approached house keeping with a minimal level of commitment. I shall call it surface cleaning. 

We returned last night from five days on the road visiting Fredericksburg, Texas and Round Top, Texas with our Watt family from Seattle. The days were hot humid and cloudy, and that was fine with us. The key word for me is hot. If it is warm this woman prefers the outside.

Arriving home last night to "old man winter" I slept fitfully. During the wee hours of the morning I awoke to read AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman. At 3:30 this morning, while waiting to go back to sleep I traveled with my shadowy leading figure somewhere in the north country of Wisconsin fighting the bad guys. No,  neither he nor I know who the bad guys are, but 300 pages into the journey we are still searching and dreaming. I returned to bed.

I awoke a few hours later to a new buzzing noise. Jack had misplaced his phone and hit his find phone button. Waking to an alarm I had never heard gnarled my mind slightly. 

The sunshine and the cold morning alerted me that it was time to I climb out of bed. Still in my soft comfy pajamas I began to read, legs covered in a warm blanket and a heating pad on my back, I stepped inside the black Lincoln with Shadow and Wednesday, and traveled to San Francisco  to meet another illusional character. Traveling through time in illusional ways takes my mind away from the sadness in the world today. Neil Gaiman likes to think of it as warping time, creating space for more, or in my case more to do. 

Somewhere, in my reading mind I looked at the dusty window blinds and wished for the Good House Keeping Fairy to show up and clean those dusty gray brown window blinds. NOTE TO SELF AND AUDIENCE: When reading a book by Neil Gaiman do NOT make wishes.

Suddenly, the house cleaning fairy fluttered between the pages of the book in my lap and explained that it was time to get up and clean. I pleaded, "I'm warm and comfy and it's cold outside. Let's wait till another day." In a flash of light she beat her wings in agitation and flew away.

An hour later, after breakfast while I was innocently washing the dishes and cleaning the counter tops, she returned with her team of Good House Keeping Fairies.  Before I knew what had happened I had completely dusted the tile floors,  was cleaning the bottom dusty edges of the refrigerator. In the air I could hear the fairies chattering about the old days when we had to defrost the Ice Box.  The chatter improved my mood and I began to hum a tune from childhood.

One misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather

I chanced to meet an old man, dressed all in leather.

He began to compliment and I began to grin.

How do you do, how do you do

and how do you do again.

I continued cleaning in under and around the refrigerator, as my mind wondered back to The Blue Barn Antiques and clothing fair at Round Top, Texas. While trying on a dress, the saleslady helped me with choices  and somehow our minds drifted to a common childhood of wearing our winter pajama bottoms under our dresses to keep us warm.  Being a cloudy moist day she began to hum and I began to sing the words.  We laughed and loved our commonality. I bought the dress. 

Like 'Touch Magic,' the cleaning of the black refrigerator is complete. My hands dry and wrinkled, my pajamas damp. Jack and Murphy returned from their walk and I took a moment to change clothes and be ready for the day. 

11:32--I am really quite irritated with this house cleaning fairy, but all the while I am laughing out loud at myself. By 11:00 a.m. I dressed in jeans and a warm shirt and begin the laundry. Whether I can give thanks or blame to  Mother Goose for doing laundry on Monday's is beyond me now.

Suddenly, Jack finds me and says with his head bowed, "Don't let Murphy in."  I followed Jack to the back door and there stood the muddiest dog on earth. Even he felt ashamed of his appearance. I overheard the cackle of the fairies in the background. Now, how to add a Murphy bath to my long list of chores.

The dishwasher is unloaded and I discover that my dry tennis shoes must have been mudded from the rains before we left on our Texas tour. Below and behind my feet I see a trail of mud chips, from the closest to the bathroom, back through the hallway and to the kitchen my shoes have left dry mud blotches everywhere, which means I will be vacuuming the bedroom and hallways. 

12:40 Laundry going full blast and two more rooms to vacuum. Lunch will be a nice break. 

1:15--We step outside to decide Murphy's fate. Then I realize that I can tackle a gardening project, while Murphy plays behind my back. This will help to dry him and I can take time to rub him with the towel and brush him, in between digging up plants.  Luckily, Jack helped with the heavy lifting and keeping Murphy occupied while I groomed the geraniums, plumbago, and ivy.

2:55  I am now forced to sit outside in the sunshine and read. 

With the plants ready to come inside and Murphy drier I will happily sit outside and read while he continues to sit nearby for occasional  brushing and combing.  Forty pages read while wrapped in a warm blanket.  So far to go and so little time....

4:47 Plants tucked into the back porch in hopes of sunning themselves for a few more days outside. Murphy is dry and brushed but smells of dirt. He goes to the groomer on Wednesday.

Last spring's frozen chili is on the stove and I am ready to sit back down on the heating pad. My eyes may close for a few minutes. 7, 543 steps and never once did I leave the front door for a walk. The fairies disappeared when I sat down to read in sunshine, but I am sure they will be back tomorrow as the dusty gray brown window blinds still have my wiggly finger lines showing. 

I do not understand why folklore tells dozens of stories about fairies and elves helping people, yet my fairy brought in helpers and they only seemed to create more work for me? 

Dream Fairies

The red-throated hummingbird fluttered around the nearby feeder, as the couple gazed curiously.  “Look,” she said in a whisper, “there are several dull brown ones near that bush, and one male with a pinkish-purplish head.  Gayle was right when he said we could sit in the plaza and be entertained by the hummingbirds.”

The bottle of wine and plate of cheeses arrived as Jim opened his book to identify the birds.

Time passed slowly for the couple who spoke more through their eyes and actions than in words. Each waiting on the right moment to see a new bird or to capture a photo.  He walked the plaza, and wandered down the avenue to the park where he sat near a Palo Verde tree leaving his wife alone in the solitude of her imagination.

A sudden motion caught her eye and she turned to see the hand and index finger of a little girl pointing at her face.  The high pitched voice of a dark curly haired girl startled her, "Lady, you have a pretty fairy bird dancing by your ear." The little girl's eyes danced like her feet as she jumped in excitement.

“Oh, you see my earring don't you?" The woman reached for her ear and removed the earring.  "Look at this. It's not a fairy; it is an earring that looks like a hummingbird. I wear them for good luck." 

The little girl brushed up to the lady's lap. "May I touch it?"

"Of course." Then she handed the earring to the child. "Here you may hold it if you like."

The plaza was still, no traffic entered, and the lazy day seemed to rub off on those walking by.  At last the little girl sniffled and looked at the woman. "I don’t think it is true." The woman's eyes searched the child for answers. The child continued, "My mother used to tell me that whenever I saw a hummingbird then I'd have sweet dreams.  She said they were the fairies that delivered dreams to children at nap time." 

"What a beautiful story. I've never heard that story. I bet with your eyes the color of the skies you see many hummingbirds all around, and enjoy plenty of sweet dreams."

"No."  Then she backed away still holding the earring. "No, I don't have sweet dreams. My daddy says I scream in my sleep."

The woman noticed a man a few tables over nod as if to say, I'm watching. I'm here with her. Don't worry.

 "Do you like to watch the hummingbirds?" the woman asked.

"Yes, my daddy brings me to the plaza sometimes to help me remember, so I won't cry in my sleep." 

"Come here. Let me show you something." Then she pulled a chair up beside herself for the child.

"Maybe you just need to hold a hummingbird fairy in your hand to help you."

The little girl tried to giggle through her sniffles, "You are silly. No one can catch a hummingbird because they zoom front and back, even sideways.  That's why my mother used to call them fairies. No one could catch them."

"Your mother was right. No one can catch them, but I have an idea." Then she reached for her bag, colored in flowers of spring.  Digging around, she eventually pulled out a stack of square cut paper.  "Let me make you a hummingbird that you can carry in your hand, or put it in your pocket." 

Turning in the lady's lap and squealing with happiness she cried, "Come here daddy."  The man sauntered over and sat down across the table. Before he could speak the older woman held her hand up in a pause. 

"It is ok, I like to make things with my hands.  Just watch."

The green square paper turned to a triangle with a simple tear along the diagonal, then from a diamond, to a hexagon. No words

were spoken, but two pair of eyes watched the women’s hands fold the paper over and over until at last a tiny bill appeared with wings that flapped. The woman held the bird on the palm of her hand. "Would you like to hold this little fairy bird?"  The child nodded, as did her father. The woman smiled. 

"Please make one for my daddy, so he can have sweet dreams, too."

Jim walked up beside his wife as she handed the father the paper bird. He saw only the tears in the man's eyes as he held that tiny green hummingbird in his hand. The little girl's blue eyes beamed with delight. His wife, too, saw the joy, and said, "Maybe holding the tiny bird will give you sweet dreams like your mother promised." 

“Thank you. Thank you.” The father and child replied in unison.


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These links below provide instructions on how to make origami hummingbirds, and there are many books at the public library that will help you 

Origami hummingbirds 

Origami birds