Well, the fun has ended for another year. The last run of the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou was last night with most of the team members being of the original group for which the hunt was started. My grandniece had always wanted her birthday party to be held at my house but since her birthday in February, it just wasn't going to happen. I am not a cutesy, heart and ruffles type person. So, the clue hunt came into being and has been going strong for these past five years. Hopefully, it will be able to continue for many more years.
For the fun event, several spots around the Bayou are totally transformed to fit the theme. This year, the greenhouse became a blacksmith's shop complete with tools and a makeshift "forge". It took days to make the transformation but, today, it became a greenhouse again in just a matter of minutes. Necessity called. Our weather has taken a turn to the cooler side and I have a couple dozen potted plants that were shaking in their boots at the mere mention of cold. Out with the blacksmith's stuff and in with the plants! In a way, it feels good to be getting stuff back to normal...whatever that is around here.
Now, on the cold days that are to come, I can putter around in the relative warmth the greenhouse offers. The old dog, PJ, can get fresh air and sunshine without having to be miserably achy. His arthritis does not seem to appreciate bursts of wintry weather. He did, however, enjoy basking in the sunshine that poured through the greenhouse windows. All that is needed is a nice rug for him and the wicker chair for me and we shall be set!
While most of the year, my greenhouse is just that....a greenhouse. It is a place that houses plants from tiny seedling to sprawling tropicals and anything in between. But, come late September, the greenhouse suddenly transforms into a magical place. This past month, the place was stripped of everything greenhouse related and filled with an odd assortment of things that one (using one's imagination) might find in a blacksmith's shop, Anything iron or metal was hauled into the tiny building and proudly put on display. Chains, pulleys, tools, buckets, anvils and old farm equipment were all lugged out of sheds, attics and from any place that I could find that had unusual chunks of metal. Why would I go to all this trouble to turn my perfectly good greenhouse into a shabby, wannabe blacksmith shop? All of this transformation was for the Fifth Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou, of course!
With the theme being Medieval Times, a blacksmith just had to be included in the hunt. Well, that and I needed a forge....or at least a place for our teams to melt candles. So, I figured that we may as well go all out and pop for an entire blacksmith's shop as well as a forge. No problem...except if you ask my tropical plants. The weather has taken a jaunt to the cooler side and the plants are shivering in their boots! I guess that forge is just not putting out enough heat! Stoke that fire! Fan those flames! Brrr...it is chilly! The plants will probably be real thankful come this weekend and the hunt is over for another year!
