Gnome Tales

The gnomes seem to have taken on a life of their own around here. They started out as a kind of joke after we saw the movie "Amalie" in which Amalie sends photos (blips?) to her father of various locales around the world which feature, not her, but a garden gnome. The gnomes began appearing in our garden after that and we didn't have the heart to banish them.

When we moved from Berkeley and were in heartless cutting back and paring down mode, somehow these little guys survived the cut, so we put the box outside, and told the grandkids they could be in charge of placing them around the new estate. Given the range in age and temperament of said grands, it is not surprising that this fellow was found face down in the bottom of the odd water feature in our patio. (We've taken to calling it the "footbath" since that was apparently the way the previous owners, who installed it, intended it be used.) It's been far too cold to even sit outside, much less put our feet in the icy water, or our glass of wine on the little ledge. Someone took pity on this little guy and put him up there instead.

Another gnome (the one with the wheelbarrow) turned up next to the meditating Buddha. OilMan, for reasons even he wasn't too clear about, thought this was an inappropriate juxtaposition, so he has migrated to a spot under the palm tree with his wheelbarrow. Several others have turned up in the upper reaches of the hill where the vegetable boxes are, or out on the "lanai" near the bird feeders.

They all seem quite happy here and we're quite happy that we brought them.