One of the other wonderful things about Monhegan is the fairy house tradition. A woodland path dedicated to making homes for fairies (a nice book is here). Little mica walkways, pinecone dance floors, lean-to's made of fallen sticks and bark. The idea is that no living item is uprooted or torn off to create the fairy home.
If we visit again in future years, will my oldest boy still participate? Did you see that photo, the first one of this post? I love it that at 11.5 he's still interested in careful placement of twigs and pinecones. I remember so well when he was not even two, these little cones were a favorite thing for him to collect. We'd be on our little walk and he'd be pointing out every little pinecone he saw, insisting that we collect them all. When we got to the end of our walk we'd find a little spot for him to leave most of the cones, but I would always let him hang onto two (one for each chubby little hand).
The good people of the island used the perfect Maine summer weather, dry and breezy, to dry their clothes outside. Island clotheslines! Swooning!
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Oh, the beautiful fairy houses! We have done that in my family, too. My kids are too old to be interested now, but I think I'll do one myself, somewhere, this summer. :)
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