Leaving magic behind. Or litter. Depends on who is looking, really.

in Random Crap

If you’ve read here before you may know that I often leave handmade, tiny ferris wheels or miniature houses on sidewalks or in trees for kids to find, like a lazy Boo Radley.  Yesterday Hailey and I took this to a new level when we decided to make a small fairy room in the park nearby.  The park is filled with trees and it always seems a bit magical so finding fairies there wouldn’t be out of the question:

Hailey, listening for fairies. Also, playing Pokemon Go. We're mult-taskers.
Hailey, listening for fairies. Also, playing Pokemon Go. We’re multi-taskers.

I pulled out a chair from my dollhouse and a tiny book that I’d made and we came up with this:

Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 11.11.45 PM

A closer look.
A closer look.

And it went well aside from one guy who came up on us and was like, “ARE YOU TOUCHING BIRDS?” which is a weird thing to say because WHY WOULD WE TOUCH BIRDS?  WHAT SORT OF WILD BIRDS LET YOU TOUCH THEM?  And also WHY ARE WE YELLING?  So we told him that, no, we were not touching birds (because that would be weird and this isn’t a disney cartoon).  We were creating a reading nook for tired fairies who needed to chill.  And he seemed confused (and maybe disappointed?) and left.

The tree is on the backside of a hiking trail and not very easy to spot but I assumed it would be gone (or smashed to the ground by angry squirrels) by today but this morning we hiked into the woods and instead we found that others had added to it.

Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 11.12.31 PM
The thing on the left is a seed pod, I think?

And it reminded me of the magic of small things, and of hope and silliness, and made me feel a bit brighter so I thought I’d share it with you.

PS.  Don’t touch birds.  I don’t even know why I’m having to clarify this but if you  can touch a bird that’s a pretty good indicator that the bird is very sick and doesn’t want you poking at it.  Except once my uncle found a talking bird that followed him around the backyard while he was mowing and turns out it was someone’s pet parrot who needed help.  So I guess it’s okay to touch birds if they can specifically ask you for it.  Or if the bird is being a real asshole is attacking your dog.  Then you can hit it with a shovel.  That’s why I carry a shovel when I walk Dorothy Barker because suddenly there are birds of prey all over my neighborhood and my dog isn’t your snack, birds.  I mean, I super love birds but I will take a motherfucker down if they fuck with my puppy.  That’s just how I roll, birds.

PPS.  Sorry.  Got off on a tangent there.  Stop thinking about birds eating dogs.  Go back to the happy, whimsical fairy thoughts.  Much better.  Sorry.  Those birds are assholes.

PPS. A few people were asking how to make the tiny books so I made a tiny tutorial here.

243 thoughts on “Leaving magic behind. Or litter. Depends on who is looking, really.”

Read comments below or add one.

  2. What a cool pastime. I’ll have to remember to try this in the woods near us. Right now, I just geocache. 😀

  4. We have hawks that eat squirrels and chipmunks, and probably my cats and my dog if they were especially hungry. But we have alarm protection, because the crows keep a lookout and scream up the wazoo if a hawk is around. Then I scoop up the cats and call the dog. The squirrels and chipmunks are on their own, but I send good thoughts their way. And leave the garage door open.

  5. I hate birds too…fyi the guy probably meant bird eggs. but still. he seems odder than you and I mean that in the best possible way. for you, not him.

  11. I really love this so much. And your park is very lovely, as is your fairy daughter. Thank you so much for your post(s).

  12. You hit birds with shovels? I’m disturbed by that but still loved the fairy hangout

    (I’ve never actually hit one, but I’m prepared to if it picks up Dottie. ~ Jenny)

  13. I love this idea! I am loving the fairy doors I’ve been seeing on the Internet. Also, I have a fairy tea set that would be great in your nook, but since I’m in Florida I’ll have to send it by bird. I’m going out to find a bird I can touch, give it to him/her and shoo him/her your way. No promises.

  14. I should never be eating while reading anything from you. I am choking from laughter. You are the best! My dog is outside chasing birds in the backyard. Both are little so its a fair fight.

  18. I hate birds too…fyi the guy probably meant bird eggs. but still. he seems odder than you and I mean that in the best possible way. for you, not him.

  19. I love going on walks and spotting things just like this. I take my camera with me everywhere i go because you never know what you’re gonna miss if you don’t. Stuff like this is exactly the kind of thing I don’t want to miss.

  20. That is so cute and makes me so happy. =)
    I mean the fairy respite. Not touching birds. Although I do really want to know why that was a concern that guy had.

  26. There isn’t enough whimsy and eccentricity in the world any more. There are more than enough shouty ass-hats though…

  27. I touched a bird recently. In my defense, it had flown itself straight into my glass door so I was making sure it was alive. It would’ve been nice if I could’ve given it a handy tiny chair to sit in and tiny book to read, but it just pooped in my hand a couple times then flew away.

  28. My mother carries a wiffle ball bat at night in case a raccoon/possum/fox/coyote decides to eat her dachshund. I don’t think something that light weight will do anything but piss them off though.

  29. I love that someone added to it. Also love your double tasking adventure. Omgod. They need to come up with Fairie Ring, GO!!! 😮

  32. In my town a couple of years ago, someone started creating fairy worlds along a lovely walking path. They were amazing, and people were enchanted. They were there for a few months and then the city made the creator take them down – silly bureaucracy. The story was documented in The Gnomist, which you can find on Youtube (it’s 17 minutes long). It makes me teary whenever I watch it. The goodness of people is amazing.

  33. The only time I’ve touched a bird that wasn’t a pet was when I was 14 and jogging around the high school track and some bird started jogging behind me. True story. It was bright yellow cockatiel which everyone agreed is not native to Texas. Probably escaped from a pet store. So I grabbed an empty McDonalds bag from under the stadium, jogged back around the track, grabbed the bird we had by then named Carl (after Carl Lewis who’d just won gold at the ’84 Olympics, so now you can have the math figure out how old I am) and took him home. He loved sit on my dad’s lap and get scritches behind his head and neck feathers and trot back and forth on top of his cage and sign. Until he laid an egg, at which point she became Carlotta. Still liked the scritches and singing though.

  34. I get not touching, like, baby bird in a nest or whatever. My husband picked up a hummingbird that had (we guessed) concussed itself on our sliding glass door. It wasn’t moving at all, and we initially thought it was dead, but once he picked it up we could tell it was still alive. It eventually hopped on to his finger and stayed there for a few minutes until it opened its eyes and flew away. I guess we could have just left it on our patio, but one of our dogs (or, lbh, our 2yo) could easily have gravely injured it.

    Here’s the groggy little guy with his eyes still closed:
    https://twitter.com/grad_nauseam/status/747913171382370304

  35. I touched a bird recently. In my defense, it had flown straight into my glass door so I was making sure it was alive. It would’ve been nice to have a handy tiny chair for it to sit in and tiny book for it to ready, but instead it just pooped in my hand twice and flew off.

  36. Bird touching sounds kind of pervy. Love your reading room idea, and I may borrow it for our park too. I usually use ribbons and sticks and shells to make swinging platforms with flowers and fruit for sleepy faeries.

  39. That’s awesome, I love the fairy idea!! I’ve never touched a bird but I did accidentally touch a bird’s eggs one time and was quickly informed that once you touch a bird’s eggs, the bird can smell the human scent and they leave the eggs; no longer caring for them. All in all, it was a depressing day for me and the motherless eggs.

  40. Awesome. The hiking trail behind our neighborhood has a fairy tree that people have maintained for at least the 20 years that we have lived here. We also leave little bits of bread and honey for the fairies, and bits of wool roving for them to spin into yarn to knit warm clothes and blankets for our cold snowy winters.

  41. I love that people added to it. I think it will be a permanent fairy hangout and word will spread and people will just keep making it more magical! Love for this whole post!

  43. You brought me out of my Monday funk and reminded me to look for magic. Even on Mondays!

  44. I wish I could show you a fantastic picture of me touching a bird, because it exists and I have it. The bird in question was either incredibly smart, entering my Fort Knox chicken run like some kinda ninja, or incredibly stupid for failing to get back out again. I called him Kevin. My three year old entirely failed to be impressed.

  45. I love this! I should make some more fairies for you to leave out there!
    reference: i gave you one in Dallas 🙂

  49. That’s a great idea! The fairy spot, I mean. Not the bird touching – or the bird dog-eating. It’s whimsical, magical, and really quite beautiful! Again, I’m talking about the fairy spot. Just the fairy spot.

  52. We are all totally going to do that in our nearest park now! I would have lost my shit if I found that when I was a kid. I think I needed it. Maybe I can make something special for another lost soul out there!

  53. We have asshole birds! They poop on you and steal your picnic AT THE SAME TIME. hmmm. Clever asshole birds.

  54. OMG once I was in a park with my kids and there were peacocks roaming all over and these other two kids were trying to get close to the peacocks and somehow they DID get close and they reached out to touch a bird so I yelled “move away from the birds” which of course scared the birds AND the kids and then the other mom yelled at me for yelling at her kids and I was thinking “lady, have you ever seen a pissed off peacock? How stupid are you anyway for NOT FUCKING PARENTING your own kids?”. I just muttered “sheesh, some people” and we left.

    Love the fairy set up though.

  55. We have asshole birds! They poop on you and steal your picnic. AT THE SAME TIME.

  56. I’m confused – did the pet parrot need help or did the owner of said parrot need help? Also, love that people added to this.

  59. Can I be adopted, please? I get horrible sunburns in Texas in March, but it sounds totally worth it if it means making fairy rooms! Also, the equally awesome people who contributed to it are an added bonus.

  60. I am not able to “like” someones post because I have no Word Press account but I need to say that comment #30 has a link that is beautiful, magical and amazing! Thank you for posting that link.

  62. I think a mini-Bob Ross painting should be hanging behind the chair, and maybe a spinning wheel in the corner for all the moss? Building fairy houses in forests should become the new yarn-bombing, methinks.

  64. I love this so much. But I have a MIGHTY NEED to know what the title of that book is. I really need to keep up with what fairies are reading these days.

  67. Did you ever consider that maybe the ‘someone’ who added to it wasn’t human-sized? Maybe a fairy found it and decided to make it her spot and is fixing it up for her (or his) self!

  68. Love this. The fairies will be well pleased. What level are you on Pokeman go? I will check back later, but right now I have some eggs to hatch. And no, I am not touching birds. Just hatching eggs here, move along.

    (Level 25. I’m a little obsessive. ~ Jenny)

  69. Birds of prey can absolutely be assholes. When my son was in preschool and our town was much less wannabe suburbanish than it is now, I was driving to pick him up and had a turkey vulture CHARGE MY CAR.

    Like, he was in the middle of this little one lane asphalt road having a snack and I didn’t want to hit him, so I stopped and honked the horn. And honked the horn again a few minutes later when he didn’t move.

    Which is when he decided ‘Oh to hell with this. IMMA DEFEND MAH SNACK!” and rushed at my car, wings outspread, making this weird hissy noise.

    I’ve never been so scared of an animal in my life.

  70. I love this…Now I want to create a fairy haven…and I love that people added to it and didn’t destroy it..this just made my day…

  71. Michelle Davis, the whole birds smelling your human scent thing is a myth (that we were all told when we were young). The only birds that have any sense of smell are vultures (for obvious reasons). So reassure your younger self, the momma bird came back once you were gone and that little egg was hatched just fine.

  73. Can you order tiiiiiiiiiny copies of your books? Because then you can be marketing while building fairy houses. Also, I think fairies would enjoy your books. It’s a win-win.

  76. This gives me hope for humanity. The faerie nook, of course, not the smashing birds with shovels, although agree that birds of prey are heartless, feathered serial killers who would take your dog or cat without remorse.

  77. I often get shit on by birds when I visit Boston. I hear its a good luck thing. To be shat on by a bird flying over head. Some Asian thing. You may smack those birds with your shovel.

  78. I LOVE that you do miniatures!!! I have lived for years in shame with the secret that much of my high school leisure time was spent making teeny tiny vegetables and pot plants and kitchen dressers with full sets of china. I feel free at last… and I’m off to find my box of doll’s house goodies in the garage…

  79. This post is so lovely.
    Thanks for sharing the fairy cuteness and the bird touching education.
    You are the best.

  80. Blue jays are the worst! They would attack my chiweener dog all the time. I must stop reading your posts at work as my cube mates are beginning to wonder why I’m snorting. You make me laugh! Note to self . . . buy shovel . . . if and when I get another dog.

  81. I love your tangentalness. I feel so at home. As are, I imagine, the fairies — who wouldn’t want a beautiful chair to read in? You and the parklings deserve medals. Or books. Or books made out of medals? The other way around? But leave off birds; the big ones will try to snack on Papillons while the small ones are just ornery.

    Sorry I can’t find my glasses to proofread this; spellcheck is giving me a lot of red. Stop giving me guff, spellcheck.

  82. Kristy, comment #72, what a lovely reassurance to post for the fearful lady whose inner child was still haunted by the chastisement she received for touching a birds egg. And Jenny I love the fairy garden. I would love to stumble on something like that in a park. A definite Great-niece Emma idea.

  83. Love the fairy rooms. When we were little, be created these in the gnarled roots and crevices of a tree down the street. I miss that tree a little, so would love to stumble upon your creations in a park. But stumbling on your blog is just as good– a little whimsy each day is so good for the soul!

  85. I’m inspired to do this in my neighbourhood. Ken and I already have a “little library” for the neighbourhood kids–it’s been operating for a year and hasn’t been vandalized yet so I’m pretty confident a fairy room will also be appreciated:-)

  86. I love how wonderful and whimsical that is! I may have to create my own little fae nooks. <3

  88. Welp. I now know what I’m doing with my free time. I love this idea more than life itself!

  89. Lovely. The fairy nook, not hitting birds with shovels, although I am on the fence when it comes to defending loved ones. I do have a skeleton that has been following me around this summer. My friends and unknowns find this funny and, on occasion, endearing. You never can tell.

  90. Jenny, I will touch birds if I want too. And guess what? You live in TX, I live in WI. You can’t stop me! (Runs away, laughing manically. Looking for touchable birds.)

  92. You’re done. You don’t have to wonder or worry about your contribution in this life. You’ve checked that off your list with these installations.

  93. You’re done. You don’t have to wonder or worry about your contribution in this life. You’ve checked that off your list with these installations.

  94. I had to touch a bird a few weeks ago because if I didn’t a huge horrible spider was going to eat it. It was also a (in this case, baby) hummingbird. I had to stick my hand into the horrible huge hairy spider’s web. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it. Then I cleaned the huge, horrible, hairy, hideous web off the tiny bird and sat in the lawn with it on my palm until it regained it’s courage and flew away. It was a close call. But I saved a hummingbird, so it was worth it.

    Then I washed my hands.

  96. But you should have added the picture of a very fast Hailey in panoramic mode!! I’m sorry – Instagram – making us all look like stalkers.

  97. What a lovely idea, and I love the way people are adding to it.

    Just a note, please don’t touch baby birds or eggs that are in a nest. But if you find a live baby bird and know where its nest is, it’s okay to put it back. Most birds have no sense of smell, so they won’t notice that their little one has been handled. I learned this from my Elder Daughter, who spent the spring and summer working with bluebirds; sometimes she got to hold the very small pink babies while their nest box was being checked and nasties like Easter grass were removed.

  99. Too cute for words!! Would you tell me where this park is? My daughter just moved to San Antonio and is looking for places to go. This seems like a magical place.

  101. Jenny this is gorgeous and just perfect.
    Can you tell us how you made the book, I love books and I think it would help me if I could create them too

  104. You are so awesome! There needs to be more of, well, you (as a substance) in the world!

  105. Haha, that’s awesome. Also, you aren’t wrong about birds being assholes. We have a lot of birds of prey here, and I have little dogs. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said “fly away, you beady-eyed fuck. I will destroy you.”

  106. In Alaska you have to be careful because the Eagles will swoop in and carry your dog away. No kidding. The Eagles are real assholes.

  108. I touched a bird today, too, but he was in my house and asking for it. Also, he is my parrot, and he actually was asking for it. and an almond for a snack.

  109. I know a group of fairies who make fairy doors and leave them on trees and around. They make all sorts of cool things like that, dress up as fairies and have picnics in parks for everyone to have fun with. I love that you do that. Also – birds of prey! Holy shitballs, NZ doesn’t have that for a problem, only shakey ground that sneakily fucks us all up.

  110. That is way cool. I loved the photographs. Imagine if you could set it up much higher.
    The man concerned about touching birds may have been concerned about you. Birds can carry ticks and other arthropods that can be vectors of microorganisms that cause human diseases.

  111. Wondering if I should make little bird-sized “no means no” t-shirts to help prevent non-consensual bird touching? Is this an untapped market? Then again, my neighbors feed the birds around here and then they come over and poop on my patio (the birds, obviously, not the neighbors…thank god), so I am frequently tempted to touch them repeatedly and forcefully with a shovel (the birds or the neighbors. Either way.). So I may not be too inclined to save birds from bird touchers.

  113. Last year, I slowly scooped up a stunned sparrow off the ground in front of our building’s entryway. It must have flown into one of the glass panes above. For 10 or so minutes it sat lightly between my hands, dozing and limp, as I gave it Reiki healing. I felt a hot pressure, like a big ball of energy, opening up around it, pushing against my palms. When I pulled my hands apart, the bird stared wide-eyed at me, jumped away, and flew. That was a good day.

    Your tree hole fairy’s reading-room is beautiful and I love that someone else added to it.

  114. This makes me so incredibly happy, I can’t even describe how much. Seven year old me would have been over the moon to find this in the woods.

  115. Linus used to pat birds on the head, and Lucy would yell at him to stop. Which I think is actually a good argument in favor of petting birds. Because Lucy, let’s face it, was kind of a bitch.

  117. OMG, You are so funny. What an awesome post! Sometimes I am discouraged about my own writing because you write the way I like to write but you do it so much better! Still, nothing but love for you.

  118. This reminds me of a time we wrote “BAD WOLF” and “Saxon for President,” two semi-obscured Doctor Who references, on the giant white board wall at the local frozen yogurt shop. We came back the next day and the wall was COVERED in more Doctor Who references, drawings of fezes and Tardises, and all the other glorious things that make Whovians smile. It was so magical, I welled right up with tears! I wanted to find everyone who had added something and give them a hug and a high five. I never expected to find that!

  120. Your words are magic!!
    …”And it reminded me of the magic of small things, and of hope and silliness, and made me feel a bit brighter so I thought I’d share it with you.”…
    The best of the best!! Thank you for sharing your talent!

  121. We had a bird make a nest in a really crappy tree last year and a rainstorm knocked one of them out. It was cold and almost dead, so I picked it up, warmed it in my incubator and made my son climb a ladder to put it back. I later found out birds were carrying some horrible germs and I had probably contaminated all my chickens by saving it. The chickens were fine and the birds fell out of the nest again a week later and just hopped around, hopefully to freedom.

  122. Wow, maybe it’s just the way it was posed, but in that first picture with Hailey, I was looking for the white rabbit.

  123. Lots of Fairie talk lately 🙂
    And decor.
    I’ve been recommending this book:
    http://www.fairie-ality.com/
    over the last couple of months, so, I suspect, like Adult Coloring and Pokemon Go, we might have a majikal and mysterious ‘fad?’ with all the recent fairy research going on.

    Yay Faeries 🙂

    Don’t you LOVE how you can spell ‘fairy’ a whole bunch of ways and spellcheck can’t do anything about it?

  124. This is great! I have never seen anything like this in Barcelona.
    Have you seen FairyTale: A True Story? I guess you might like it. Best regards from Spain,
    Marta

  126. I don’t love the fairy garden trend, but I’d be pretty excited to randomly find one set up in a tree. I can only advocate for cat touching. No birds.

  127. This was a lovely idea. Please keep us posted with picture goodness updates!

  128. This reminds me of the mailbox at the beach, and is wonderful. Bird guy might need a tad less coffee. I suggest a tiny suit of spiky armor to keep Dorothy Barker safe!

  130. Oh, I would so touch a bird right in front of him and then I’d help the bird pull out the guys nose hairs cuz I’m a bird whisperer and then I’d read to the fairy

  132. Google “Lake Harriet Elf House”. Someone put a little fairy door in the side of a tree and you can drop off letters and have the elf respond. Super cute!

  133. I love this idea! But I am kind of a hoarder when it comes to my childhood things. I like miniature anything, and I could never part with any of it.

    Where I live, we have a fairy festival every year, and they sell the most wonderful things for fairy gardens. A couple of years ago, they added a fairy garden at my zoo.

    Fairies have it easy these days, if you ask me. In my day, fairies didn’t sit on chairs. They say on rocks, and they were GRATEFUL! If we’re not careful, they’ll go the way of our kids and get very spoiled and spend their days playing video games. And then the next thing you know, there are fat fairies, and fairy diabetes, and Fairy Weight Watchers.

  134. Absolutely amazing! You are so talented in so many different ways, I am extremely jealous. That picture of Hailey in the enchanted forest is simply stunning!

  135. I LOVE this so much so, that I may have to start walking around in parks looking for (or making) fairie nooks!

  136. The park does look magical, rich with fairies and Pokémon alike! And handsy (beak-y?) birds bent on assaulting your canine friends. I’m not magical, but would love to park myself in a nook like that and read til my eyes simply couldn’t see any longer into the evening.

  137. The buzzards here are pretty big…more than once they’ve started to swoop down on my dogs (and a couple times me) before getting closer to the ground and making a hard turn upwards. Given my dogs are 85 lbs each (and I’m 5’10”) I think we’re good but I’d hate to get hit by one of them (they’re well over a foot tall).

    Guess there’s a place in western NY that has a fairy sized phone booth and door (to a pub maybe? perhaps it’s leprechauns). For the most part here it’s just red squirrels and chipmunks and mice that eat through Toyota wire insulation.

  139. Love this idea. We have some dollhouse furniture that my husband swears will sell in our online store, but if it doesn’t, this is what I will be doing with it, for sure.

    BTW, my shrink bought and started reading LPTNH and is loving it. At her office they put coloring mandala pages out in the waiting room with pencils to pass the time, so I was sure to tell her you had a coloring book coming out next year. 😉

  141. My daughter LOVES fairies! There is a whole little fairy village in my backyard made of found things. She would lose her ever-loving mind if we came across something like this on a walk!

    And, I hate birds so I am covered there.

  142. That is an adorable little nook for the fairies. Talented, is what you are. And thoughtful, too.

  143. Well, you just KNOW that if you say “Stop thinking about birds eating dogs'” it’s gonna’ be all we can think about. Like purple elephants. or was it pink?

  144. I wish we had woods. We have a park that used to be an olive grove, so there’s lots of nifty-looking old trees, but I don’t know if it’s all that magical a place, sadly. Although I have seen people playing Pokemon Go there. And disc golf, because that’s totally a thing.

  145. What an awesome idea, I think you should make a little fairy door and put it at the base of the tree, like they do in some places in Ireland, I’m gonna start making little fairy items to leave for kids, except I will have to go someplace where kids are so I can leave them there. I live in the middle of nowhere so no kids around here. Thanks for the ideas!!! It will bring me joy to have a craft to work on 😁

  146. I hope you see this because I want to tell you so badly that I fucking adore you. You make my world brighter with your words you wonderful fairy creature!

  149. That is so awesome! I have got to give this a try and see what happens!

  150. Where do you find time for all this amazing stuff? Cripes! I haven’t even made my bed today because I was concentrating on my own blog post. The Viking will be lucky to actually get real food for supper.

  151. You really are amazing, in the most wonderful way. 🌹🌷🌼🌺🌸🌻💐

  152. Your daughter look like Alice in Wonderland!
    By the way, do you think you will come in Quebec onde day?😬

  153. There’s a really cool video on YouTube of an eagle throwing a goat off a cliff before devouring it. They don’t show the devouring part though. Sorry, if you’re into that.

  154. I LOVE the fairy room and am inspired to do something similar where I live.
    Grad–thanks for the beautiful hummingbird photo.

  155. Birds eating dogs reminds me of a restaurant near my college that made “Bird Dogs” – a chicken tender in a hot dog bun with honey mustard and a slice of melted cheese. And now I’m hungry. Mmm…birddogs….

  162. I carry a giant MAG light when I walk my wiener dog, Lola. There are too many unleashed dogs and a girl has to protect her fur-baby.

    Lola is also afraid of birds. I think the hummingbirds have buzzed her.

  163. I only touch birds who have given their informed and legal consent. I’m surprised that prime fairy real estate has not been snapped up by some trendy fae.

  164. Thank you for the smile and the reminder that there is beauty in unexpected, small things. There is magic in the world and a lot of it is found here with you and your family and this community. I needed that reminder tonight especially as my heart reels from a hours-old break-up. <3

  165. well of course you’d have issues with birds attacking dogs. We all still miss Barnaby. You protected him. You’ll protect Dottie. You are a fierce mother warrior!

  166. I keep a water pistol in my back yard to shoot ravens. They’re big and scary and used to attack my dog all the time. Only used the water pistol once and now they stay away BUT only if the water pistol is where they can see it.

  167. Why do you think another person added to it. How do you know it wasn’t fairies? I made a pretty little fairy garden in a planter of my backyard and the squirrels did regularly toss the place. I think they just might have been bitter that the furniture was all too small for them.

  168. If it’s such a problem they should put up a sign, “Please don’t touch the birds”.

  170. Ohhh, people touch birds alright! We’ve had people PAINTING White Ibis here in Florida. And Gopher Tortoises. I think there is a special place in hell for these types of asshole people. I love your little fairy resting spot and how others have added to it.

  172. I’ve always known that you were awesome, but now I’ve learned that you leave actual magic in your wake—-you ROCK! You are truly spectacular & Hailey is so lucky to have a mother who demonstrates such whimsy & awesomeness. <3

  175. Also once my neighbor’s chicken got out and was on the wrong side of the fence and couldn’t figure out how to get back so I helped it scoot over. And I was freaked out because you’re not supposed to touch birds, but then I thought, “This is my neighbor’s pet chicken. My neighbor wouldn’t keep diseased chickens. That would be weird.” And I haven’t died of bumblefoot, so that was a time it was okay to touch a bird.

  176. The last time I touched a bird, I ended up with a whole shitload of teeny tiny bird mites crawling on me and even after I washed my hand and arm with soap and water for like three minutes I was still kind of freaking out about the feel of hundreds of near-microscopic bugs on me so then I rubbed my hand and arm down with paint thinner, because nothing can survive paint thinner, right? Just agree that it’s right.

    Anyway, that’s my way of saying I definitely agree that you shouldn’t touch wild birds.

  177. Oh my God, I love that little chair. I had a strange thought. What if you found a miniature toilet and put it in the same spot with a mini roll of toilet paper?… (God, never mind, I need a cup of coffee this morning)

  178. This really is magical. I used to make fairy houses with a girl I babysat in her backyard. I love the idea of taking it to the park for all to enjoy and add their own touches! But my favorite part of all of this is the picture of Hailey. I hope you will print that out and frame it. It’s a magical picture, and captures such a wonderful spirit. Enjoy each other. <3

  179. I can’t even tell you how much finding a little fairy reading nook would have excited me when I was a child. Now as an adult, it would be almost as much fun. I believed in fairies and tiny tree folk.

  182. That is really awesome. That people added to it instead of defacing it was even awesomer. I hope it remains a long time.

    On the crasser side of my brain… I have a friend who calls her VaJayJay a bird. She doesn’t want me to touch it either.

  185. So besides being too freaked to EVER touch a bird, here’s what is on my mind: Love the thought. Love that someone else had enough magic in them to add to it:). Keep that magic going for us, Jenny Lawson. The world could sure use it.

  186. You can touch birds in Mendon Ponds Park (outside of Rochester, NY.) The chickadees will eat out of your hand. It’s neat:)

  189. So freaking awesome! Now I want to go out hiking and make a fairy reading nook!

  190. Sometimes a bird has it coming.

    I mean, I assume there are birds who are jerks. Statistically speaking, it would be weird if none of them were jerks.

    Like these grackles we have in downtown Houston that attack everybody on the street. One attacked my mom once and knocked her glasses off.

    I wish I were kidding about that.

  191. If you get the opportunity to visit Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor. There is a special section of fairy houses! My husband waited patiently as I spent over an hour looking at (and for) the numerous magical houses. I added one before I dragged myself away.
    http://www.mainegardens.org/

  192. Your Boo Radley tendencies are awesome. You rock. I want to be an elf taking a rest in that little tree nook.
    And I appreciate your how-too video. Yet I find myself getting distracted by the fact that you seem to have as many brain-health issues as I do yet your have perfect nails. This does not make logical sense to me. Yes, I know that the world is not full of logical or sense, but sometimes I look for it anyway.

  193. That is so cool! The tiny chair and book I mean! The crazy bird-toucher guy was very uncool! So creepy! I think the fact that you create these tiny fairy scenes for people to find while hiking in the woods is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen! If one of my children found one of them they would be so delighted! Imagine the stories they would make up to explain it! Such a wonderful way to feed the imagination and creativity of others! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

  194. I can’t believe people added to it, how cool!!

    The forest in the Edinburgh botanic gardens has little faerie doors nailed to the trees, they’re all hidden and they’re all intricate and different. This reminded me of that. Love it.

  196. My sister lives in Alaska, and will attest to the fact that eagles and other large birds of prey can, and do, carry off cats and small dogs; there was also a video online within the past few months showing an eagle feeding a kitten to her young. Yes, it’s nature and the circle of life and all that, but at a hardcore cat person, I sure as hell wasn’t going to watch THAT…
    On the other hand, there are plenty of nice birds out there; I for one was named after my mom’s favorite bird (because robins are pretty birds with a lovely song who are also wonderful parents, you see). I picked up a fledgling robin a number of years ago that had fallen out of a tree and hadn’t quite gotten to the point where it could fly, and turned it over to a wildlife rehabilitator; she took it outside the next day to see how it was coming along, and it took off and flew away–it just needed that one more day to get stronger, and clearly being handled by two different humans didn’t hurt it in the least. Maybe the fact that we were kind humans did the trick?…
    Re: the fairy room–where the hell were you when I was kid, damn it? (Oh, right…you hadn’t quite been born yet. sigh) I was always hoping to find fairies or something similar lurking around trees or the rock garden near the neighbor’s house, and wanted to find a hollow tree in case some kind of magical creature was living in it, and wished the Borrowers really existed because I wanted to spend time with them, and, well, pretty much wished I was anywhere and anyone other than where and what I was…but if I’d come across something like your fairy room, I think I might just have fainted from sheer explosive joy at having a pet fantasy come true.

  197. I was enjoying your post until I got to the dog part and the language really disappointed me so instead of sharing it, I deleted it.

    (Ah. You must be new here. No worries. This place isn’t for everyone. ~ Jenny)

  198. Love this! And that others have added to it. It brings back memories of the time we came across a fairy village someone had created in a tucked away secluded spot at the lake, and had a glorious time adding little rock roads and bridges to it. We weren’t able to go back and see it again, but I hope it brought as much joy to others as it did to us. I always thought it would be neat if the person who created it came back and saw how it grew past what they started.

  199. Are you taking applications for adoptees? 41 year old adoptees? I am so tired of adulting and this all sounds so much better than my day to day.

  201. I discovered your first book a few years ago, which I laughed all through and enjoyed so much, and have followed your blog ever since. I am continually impressed by your humor, your writings, your photos, your drawings and the way you see beautiful, magical things wherever you are, through all your good and hard days. I can’t say I share your struggles, but when you come out on the other side, your mind is open to the amazing things that are around you and then you share them with us. You never fail to make me think, make me see things I didn’t see before in ways I hadn’t seen, but more importantly, you make me laugh. I just wanted to say thank you…….

  204. You are pure magic, Jenny. Truly. I’m pretty sure Hailey has the best damn mom in the whole wide world.

    Also, birds ARE assholes. Until you get to know them. Then they’re funny assholes.

  205. I HAD to touch a bird once with my entire (ignorantly ungloved) hand to unstick it from the side of my house. I couldn’t just let it die like that, besides, rotting corpse dangling from house = very unpopular with neighbors.
    Meow meow meow

  206. It doesn’t look like all that much was added to it by human hands. Are you sure a fairy didn’t just find it and take a break there? The book is moved and she’s added a sign, kind of like claiming her spot. I’m sure it was a fairy.

  207. Makes me feel warm inside reading that. Wonderful idea. Going for walk this avo and going to do this also.

  208. I love this idea! Wish we had woods to do something great like this! It’s kind of like the little libraries people are leaving in strange places. Also, the pictures from my pink dress (had to be pink) are on my blog for you to see how far your red dress moment has traveled. Thank you, Jenny. I loved both of your books and have preordered the next one.

  211. I adore this idea…it makes me want to go out and buy tiny furniture and walk through the woods and find places to set up tiny, fairy rooms for complete strangers to happen upon while walking through the woods themselves.
    Your magical- you and your thoughts and ideas.

  213. OMG. Laughing, just laughing….because it’s so awesome to read the randomness in another person’s mind. Thank you creator of fairy reading nooks and defend or of dogs for crazy birds.

  215. What a lovely thing to do :-). You might have started a fairy nook revolution, Jenny! By the way, has your dollhouse changed much since you last posted about it? I love miniatures too (you inspired me to revamp my childhood dollhouse) and I’d love to see more pictures.

  216. This is adorable and magical, and makes me happy. Where I live we have a Facebook group where we paint rocks and hide them in parks to be found and “rehomed” or hidden again, and it’s amazing how far these pretty rocks can travel! I just love the whimsy of it all. There’s just not enough PURELY GOOD in the world so every chance I get to see some or contribute some makes me feel a little lighter. <3

  217. Thanks for spreading magic! The world needs more.
    And I touched a hawk two days ago – he was injured and i was the only one not scared to get him to the bird rescue. So take that grumpy yelling guy!

  218. Thanks for spreading magic! The world needs more.
    And I touched a hawk two days ago – he was injured and i was the only one not scared to get him to the bird rescue. So take that grumpy yelling guy! Oh and freeing a baby when it had it’s leg stuck in a birdhouse. (Then fixed the house so that wouldn’t happen again)

  219. Magical idea and a wonderful thing to read this achy evening. Speaking of birds though: when I was about 4 years old my mother told me and my brother (who was a year and three days older) that if we shook salt from a salt shaker on a bird’s tail it would render the bird immobile, opening up the possibility that we would then be able to pick up and cuddle said bird whenever we wanted to. No birds would be harmed because the birds would be able to fly away, good as new, as soon as we brushed the salt out of their feathers. How hard could it be? As you might imagine, we spent hours & hours trying and failing to do this. So many hours, in fact, that after a few weeks I quit, discouraged, and vowed never to try to shake salt on a bird’s tail again because it might look easy, but it wasn’t. I totally believed it would work if only I was better at it. Not until I was in my 30’s and we were all sitting around reminiscing at some family gathering did my mother finally tell me that she’d totally lied to me when I was a child just to get us out of the parental hair for a bit. Ah, the good old days.

  223. Pingback: Weekly Round-Up

  224. I now know what to do with all that old dollhouse furniture. AMAZING. This is way cool. Go you! And how magically delicious is that room in your dollhouse that happens to get shown on the video? LOVE the decor in there! 🙂

  226. I think that’s a radish on the side. According to Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter reference), radishes help clear your head so you can be more in tune to the spirit world, or something like that.

  230. I just wanted to let you know that this made me smile. I’ve been having one of those really bad weeks where being an adult sucks and it made me happy to see that you are letting children know that there is magic in this world. Also, I’m totally rereading Furiously Happy because this being sad shit sucks! Thank you for having a place that people can stop in and laugh and share a smile, and learn that magic and kindness still exist even when we sometimes forget.

  231. Jasminetiger52 (comment #2), this post reminded me of geocaching too! Like Pokemon Go but with real little treasures to find, hidden with love. If I could visit your fairy nook Jenny I would add to it too, and upload the coordinates because this is just the thing people would be delighted to find. A geo-fairy cache: magic, definitely not litter. 🙂

  233. I was feeding my tortoise and heard a bird literally sliding down the avocado leaves and land on the grass. I approached it and saw fuzzy hair jetting out the sides of its head and realized it was very young and the mother had probably kicked it out of the best to teach it to fly; or the bird was an a-hole. Not sure. It let me pick it up and I put it in a basket on top of a trash can so the neighborhood wild cats wouldn’t get it before it had a chance at life. He sat frozen for as long as I watched so i went and showered and when I came back it was gone. Felt good to help; although it’s mom wasn’t happy with me. Get over it! Some youngins need help.

  236. A) This is awesome – what a gift to find a fairy rest stop in the woods!
    B) People are idiots – evidently there are people who LICK BATS THAT THEY FIND IN CAVES! So if they do that, there are no doubt people who touch birds.

  237. I touched a bird once. I saw something YELLOW on the side of the road that looked alive…
    It was a cockatiel. Outside. In the woods. In January.
    So I looked at the fox, coyote, and hawk filled woods and said. “GUESS WHO’S COMING HOME WITH ME??”
    He was very polite in the car, and didn’t even poop on the seat.
    We already had a cage bc my sister had cockatiels when she was younger. So we got him all set up at my Sisters and the 2yo named him Butter.
    But I am not a bird thief, so we put up a bunch of ‘found bird’ posters, and after a bout a month we got a call about a woman who’d lost her bird in October. That’s a LONG time for a bird to be outside, but when she showed up, the bird SHRIEKED and flew across the room to land on her chirping and generally wigging out with joy. She had named him Nacho, and lost him moths ago in the woods a few miles from where I found him. We assume someone else must’ve taken care of him for those months.
    Long story short, this is how the one time picking up a stray bird in the woods led to me bringing a feathered baby home to his people.

    Also, I adore the fairy tree. It makes me want to create something like that around here. We have a few little hollows surrounded by trees. The neighborhood kids might get a kick out of it.

  239. I am IN LOVE with that picture of your daughter in the trees. Not in a creepy sort of way, but in a “That’s a really great picture” sort of way. Nice job!

  240. I know better than to be eating or drinking when I read your blog. I laughed out loud. You are the best!

  241. Jenny – if you ever get to come to Canada you must visit Dickson Falls at the Bay of Fundy. It is, without a doubt, inhabited by fairies. Google it. 🙂

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