It is hard to trash a place! Literally, it is hard to wreck a perfectly nice place. I know. That was my job today. Why? The answer is simple...the clue hunt, of course! The greenhouse always seems to be involved in the clue hunt. It is one of the easiest places to use as an outbuilding without a lot of "moving out" of stuff. During the summer months, the greenhouse is basically empty other than a few empty flower pots, some potting soil and maybe a few tools. Plus, it can be transformed into just about anything that is needed. So far, it has been a blacksmith's home, a conservatory, a boathouse and...get this...a greenhouse! This year, it is to be a swamp witch shack. With the clue hunt just a couple of weeks away, the decorating has begun. To become the shack, the idea was to cram as much stuff into the the place as a swamp witch may need. She definitely needs things like herbs, gourds, traps, pots, pans, a wood-burning stove, utensils, a few skulls, maybe some lichens and mosses and ferns, and, of course, a bunch of oddities that make folks scratch their heads in thought. I have those...all of those. Getting all of that stuff crammed into the little greenhouse is a trick, in itself! I have resorted to hanging stuff from the ceiling!
The chore is almost done and I cannot share the "big reveal" but, for now, a quick snapshot before a thunderstorm trapped me in the greenhouse for the entire afternoon was all I could get! So...here is to trashing the greenhouse in preparation for the clue hunt and all its fun!
The weather did not cooperate with plans of a bit longer hike with the old dog. He had a good night and I thought perhaps he might wish to amble about the place. Instead, a steady rain put a nix on that idea. I did manage to slip out to the greenhouse to putter for a while but he stayed on his warm bed which was probably for the best.
Just beyond the greenhouse, stands a live oak tree. It was a small limb that caught my eye this rainy day. The branch had been broken in the recent winds and landed squarely on the back deck of the greenhouse. What made it interesting was the fact that it was covered with moss and had a lovely little fern growing where a twig had once been trimmed. It did not take long for this chunk of wood to capture the imagination and send those wheels in the brain to flying. I could use this! If it is at all possible to keep this whole little "garden" alive until October, it will be perfect to use as a prop for this year's Clue Hunt on the Bayou! (Yes, that event is always on the forefront of my brain as preparations begin in January of the event of the year that happens in October!) This year's theme calls for the greenhouse to be transformed into a swamp witch's hut. Mosses, ferns and lichens will all be needed to do the deed! In a sense, I will be landscaping my greenhouse!
The wildly flying imagination could see just how the transformation will take place. It has to begin now so each part looks perfectly natural. My plan is to be on my own clue hunt of sorts as I search out each item that will soon be growing in the little hut! This make believe world will probably be my favorite yet since the onset of the clue hunt some seven years ago! (Oh, my! It is hard to believe that this will be the Seventh Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou!! Fun times!) So...rainy weather is my friend. It will aid me in my efforts to transform the greenhouse into a moss, lichen and fern covered dwelling! What an undertaking this will be and, to think, it all started with a fallen branch!
