Fairies Make Way for the Dragon

There will soon be a new dragon in the garden, and the fairies have graciously agreed to the removal of their long-abandoned home, to make room for her.  Anyone who is following my ceramics blog may have seen my dragon, she is still in progress, but should be finished in the next few weeks, and ready for the garden :

Today I spent some time cleaning up the garden, and also considering where the dragon will take up residence.  I am grateful to my sister Rose for pointing out that the fairy home is no longer being used by the fairies, and is in a state of serious disrepair, having pulled through 6 winters now.  Here it is in one of its better days (2009) :

Here it is, a couple of months ago.  I'm very proud of how it has held up structurally, considering it was made from cuttings of my buddleia tree connected by wire, but the roof is leaky and the fairies have found other homes.  Besides, at the rate I'm progressing with the ceramics (see my ceramics blog), next time I can make them ceramic homes :

I should have taken a "before" photo before cleaning up this area, but here it is tonight, part way through clearing out the area :

I plan to create a "lake" for the dragon, from blue glass.  The miniature tree will stay, but the beautiful lilies may need to be find another home, too.  Stay tuned.