A Gentle Month of Flowers and Hope

Well hello there, dear ones. Somehow I blinked, and one of my favorite months of the year passed by before I knew it. As I write you this greeting, I'm sitting on my couch in a darkened living room, wood slat blinds squeezed shut against the 90-plus degree blinding sun. Hygge in winter is a lovely thing; romanticizing the blankets and cozy fire in the fireplace...defenses against the cold outside. Somehow it seems less romantic to crouch in a dark room in summer against the heavy mallet of blinding, scorching heat. But it is snug and nice in here with the air from the fans blowing against me, and I’m ready to look back at the month behind.

So what did this past month bring in the life of one Grace Nuth? Well let's see. For one thing there was my birthday. I have a personal tradition to buy myself a new pretty dress every year, and take a birthday portrait wearing it. This year's dress was a surprise to myself and to Tom as well. Usually I go very pastel and “cottagecore dainty summer birthday girl” vibe. This dress, by contrast, is a riot of color, like I am wearing an entire garden in one garment. But oh I love it. It flows and flutters around me beautifully, and it fits perfectly.

Here are the last six years of dresses, so you can see what I mean. ;)

For these birthday photos, I had every intention to drive to Inniswood in Columbus to take the portraits. But I packed my props and sat in the car for a few moments...realizing that I really wanted to take the photos in my own garden. I've worked so hard on tending it, and at the time it was looking especially lush and abundant. The only problem was that I live on a suburban street where all of my neighbors' houses show in photos. Many thanks, therefore, to my brilliant friend Greene Edelwood for editing the photos beyond the fenceline to hide all of those things.

I also made up this silly meme, which got some good reactions on my social media.

The garden certainly has been providing beauty. One of my birthday gifts was a concrete bird bath, and since we installed it, (thank you honey!) I've been meticulous about cleaning it weekly and changing out the water daily. As a result, it has been a joy to see the birds starting to splash around in the shade under Lady Hawthorn. The soft pink runner bean on the obelisk is also starting to grow in earnest, and it has just been a joyful month in the garden.

The raspberries are also ripe, and it has been delightful to share them with the birds (I find bits of berry in the bird bath now, so I know they're enjoying them) and to eat them in my breakfast porridge every day.

On my actual birthday, Tom took me on a surprise visit to a petting ranch about an hour away. We had a private tour with all the animals and got to feed them and hold and pet them. It was a wonderful time, and afterward we went to a new-to-us antique mall with three floors, in an old shoe factory building. I came home with a gorgeous brass Victorian (repro) hand clip for postcards or mail or whatever you wish to display. (I have a bit of a collection started of Victorian hand objects, small factoid)

Toward the end of the month, planning kicked into high gear for outfits to wear to the New York Faerie Festival. This was my first year attending, and there were many little touches to take care of. I had to...

Spend an evening of tv watching drawing jackalopes all along the hem of this dress:

Paint a pair of sun sleeves with brown dry brushed paint, to give them a textured and weathered look much more in keeping with a troll ensemble:

And make troll chatelaines for my friends Greene and Desi, along with decorating extra wooden spoons with troll glyphs (from the Brian Froud book) to hand out to a few close friends:

It wound up being a very active month with very little time to write. But I have written a few things over the last few days. First, this month’s Patreon story was inspired by a character at the New York Faerie Festival, and I’m delighted with how the tale turned out. Sign up at Patreon ($10 plus level gets a free exclusive story each month).

Second, I just posted my blog about the experience of attending the New York Faerie Festival for the first time. I spent about four hours yesterday working on this, between writing the actual write-up, selecting photos, writing captions, and then rewriting them all over again because Squarespace sucks. So please, please feel free to go read it, and comment your thoughts there or below, or in an email to me, or wherever.

And finally, I will be leading a program in a month or so at the 3 Wishes Fairy Festival in Glastonbury!

Here’s the description:

Finding Wonder in the Everyday

This presentation is a call to gentle action, an affirmation of truths you already know, and perhaps a few new tools to help you in your quest to seek beauty and magic among the laundry, day job, washing up, and to-do lists. Together, we will share examples of some ways we surround ourselves with magic in our decor, faeshion choices, and personal actions. Life never stops moving, but we can remind ourselves to dance in the queues. No step toward joy is too small.

Come chat with me on Saturday August 2nd at noon!

Finally, before I go, I want to share a couple of links with you. I usually share a call to action, but this month the action I want everyone to feel the most is to hope. Which I know isn’t easy right now. Therefore, I want to share two Instagram accounts that make me feel comfort and hope and joy the very most.

Meg’s Tea Room is a role play channel where Meg talks to you from across the bar of her tea room. She brews a cuppa for you and listens to your fears. It’s lovely.

And my friend Jonathan Hiebert, who some of you might recognize as the Santa to my Mrs Claus from my role play video I made a few years ago, has become a bit of a personality on Instagram and TikTok for his short and cheerful videos. (He’s the bearded guy with flower crowns and an awesome fashion sense, whose videos just make you feel better about everything.) By the way, he recently mentioned wanting to do another Santa and Mrs. Claus narrative video this year, so stay tuned for that.

Please keep hoping. Please keep creating. Please keep fighting and standing up for justice. And keep being your beautiful, magical selves.

With Faerie Wings and Magical Things,

Grace