Tea and a little honey.......

Twitch, twitch, kick, jump - Archibold was reliving all of his dance moves in his sleep. 'Bother his dreams' sighed Hortensia 'I'll just have to go downstairs and to sleep'. She had tried pushing him, blowing in his ears and her best emergency-last-resort action - pinching his nose -  but all in vain, Arcihbold happily continued with his dreaming and snoring.

Hortensia padded downstairs bringing baby Harriet wrapped in her fluffy shawl, 'now that I am up, perhaps a pot of rose petal tea might be just the perfect thing help me get to sleep'. Hortensia smiled as she saw the jug with her little posy of wild flowers that she had brought back home and that were looking especially pretty on the kitchen table. Archibold had pinned their two rosettes (for the best wild strawberries and preserve) in the middle of the mantle piece, 'what a day we had, so many delights and so much fun'.

The truth was that the whole of Persimmon Heights echoed and vibrated to Archibold's snoring. Hortensia know of old, that once awake, rose petal tea and a teaspoon of honey were the only things that would ease her back to sleep. So she settled down in her rocking chair and covering her knees with a little blanket, sang a little song to baby Harriet, and sipped her tea until she fell into a soft and welcoming slumber.

Twilight and butterflies of joy........

Isabel lifted her arms, looked up to the golden light and sang in the twilight.......she sang of the beauty of Spring, of hope blooming anew in the heart, of a baby's smile, of the radiance of blossom against a blue sky and of flowers.......all the abundance and colour and joy of flowers. As she sang the gnomes lifted their eyes to see the golden light filtering through the green leaves of the pavilion and knew themselves blessed indeed. Just when it seemed impossible to imagine anything more beautiful, Archibold and Stephanotis, who had climbed up and hidden in the canopy, released a cloud of butterflies from their baskets. As the iridescent butterflies fluttered free, Isabel began to sing an old favourite and soon everyone was joining in.

'Time for The Revels - time for dancing!' Uncle Humperdinck was beating time with his stick and a little band of concertinas, fiddles and the odd flute and zither were assembling on the podium. Stephanotis bowed low before Isabel and taking off his new courting hat, asked her to take to the floor for the first dance. Well that was that, when everyone saw Isabel agree, hats were thrown in the air and soon gnomes were leaping and pirouetting and promenading with gusto and glee - a grand dance was taking shape!

'I'll just have a little sit down for a minute, what a song, what a song - and Stephanotis's hat giving him such confidence'. Aunt Mildred was feeling overwhelmed again, but very pleased. She settled down and began to watch the dancing, keeping time with one of her feet and gently sucking on her pipe.

So all was well and the little pavilion was alive with joy as the stars began to shine through the blue of the twilight - very well indeed..........

Prizes and delight....................

'Well, well, well - just so exciting!' this was an understatement as Hortensia would never forget the sight of Lupin flying through the air off a bunny's back. He had volunteered as one of the first to try out the rodeo. No one (not even Humperdinck) had thought about how excitable bunnies can be, so for the first several tries all the gnomes had been sent flying. Eventually the bunnies succumbed to boredom - and perhaps Aunt Mildred's camomile was having an effect, at any rate the end of the rodeo was quite a sedate affair compared to the wildness of the start. Lupin's pride had been a bit hurt, but he had received so much sympathy that he had quickly cheered up again. The whole family were elated when Archibold won first prize for his wild strawberries and Hortensia for her wild strawberry preserve - a double triumph that made them glow with graciousness.

Hortensia was feeling a bit puffed - quite literally as she had had to play the trumpet to announce the prize giving and the start and finish of all the events (and sometimes to drown out Uncle Humperdinck's snoring). All in all it had been a triumphant day and Aunt Mildred was radiant with happiness at the success of her grand idea and having been able to wear so many of her hats in succesion. Archibold's pavilion of living hazel was the wonder of the day, so much so that he had been carried around on the gnomes' shoulders and hailed as a Hero and The Gnome of the Day. 

Just now they were all lying on a mossy bank resting (and burping a little) after a sumptuous picnic. Hortensia had excelled herself and her nasturium flowers stuffed with soft cheese and herbs had been utterly delicious as had her meringues with preserved sweet chestnuts and cream. They were all sucking mint leaves and preparing for a little day dream and snooze - soon they would be dressing up for the Revels and all were looking forward to a wild evening of dancing and frolic!

Posies and Foot Balm.....................

'Oh my, what a to do' it was late evening and Hortensia had finally settled baby Harriet to sleep and was beginning to prepare the picnic hamper for the next day, 'plates, cups, forks, spoons, bread knife, ooh butter dish, table cloth......' she bustled about muttering and humming a little tune, 'my trumpet, blankets and cushions'. The list seemed endless, and then there were all of her preserves and chutneys, her seedy cake and her extra light angel-wing meringues -  all ready to face the judges' steely gaze -  and her piece de resistance - her spring posy soaking it's stems in a small jug waiting to have it's ribbon attached in the morning.

She had prepared little posies of flowers for Isabel and Harriet (and of course herself) to attach to their dresses and little flower twists for Archibold, Stephanotis, Horatio and Lupins' buttonholes. 'I wonder - should I take the rocking chair for Aunt Mildred in case she faints again when Isabel sings?' Fortunately for him, Archibold came in at that moment and firmly squashed the idea on the head. 'Plenty of mossy banks My Dear and lots of cushions - no need to worry about bringing the chair '. He had enough to worry about with the carrying of the picnic and helping the boys pull the little cart with all his prize vegetables and fruits and Hortensia's preserves and baking  - without thinking about carry a rocking chair to the Pavilion.

Hortensia made them all hot camomile and honey tea before bed so that they would sleep well. She was just dozing off herself when when she suddenly remembered Archibold's foot balm and lept up to pop the jar into her emergency supplies basket - Archibold could be very grumpy if his feet hurt and as they had been looking forward to the dance since last year, she thought it best to be prepared.

All of a flutter.................

Every where that Aunt Mildred went was a bustle with serious activity; jars of jam were being dusted, flower buds were being coaxed into bloom, vegetables cosseted into a final growth spurt and at the main Pavilion an air of serious - almost fever pitch bustle - prevailed. 'Must remember to bring my basket of tinctures and balms on the big day' thought Aunt Mildred ' you never know what can happen with all this excitement'.

Poor Uncle Humperdinck had been given the challanging job of training the Bunnies. As Aunt Mildred's husband, and because it had been her idea, the responsibility for persuading the bunnies to take the rodeo seriously and to hop on request, had fallen on his shoulders. Uncle Humperdinck was a tall, thin gnome of Nordic descent, his hair was particularly wispy and even with all of Aunt Mildred's skill as a milliner, his hats were always at a rakish angle, so much so that he had great difficulty keeping a hat on his white and wild curls at all. The bunnies had been playing him up at first (anything to eat more free carrots and parsley) but his inherent kindness was winning them around and he in turn was forming a firm friendship with several of the older bunnies - of an evening he and some of his new friends had been found to enjoy a wee snooze together - Uncle Humperdinck was very old and a bunnies fur so particularly soft that a snooze leaning against a bunny's warm soft tummy was proving irresistible.

The arena for the rodeo had been enclosed with posts and ivy-rope trellis and surrounded with mossy banks for the spectators and judges to sit on. Uncle Humperdinck had been encouraging the bunnies every day for the past few weeks - he had of course had to resort to bribery, and several times poor Archibold and Stephanotis had to rush off on a carrot hunting mission.

Hortensia had taken to playing the trumpet whenever possible and her whole household was having to adjust to early morning trumpet calls summoning them to breakfast. She was all of a flutter too for another reason, her sons Horatio and Lupin were coming home on Sunday from the garden centre where they had been working learning vital young gnome skills. Busy as she was, she had found time to polish the buttons on their best waistcoats and to embroider a silk sash for each of them.

'Steady does it, grass grows all on it's own - trust and dance with the flow' Aunt Mildred was singing a little song to calm and inspire as she went out and about. The Midsummer Revels were a chance to frolic and play (she was looking forward to a dance or two herself) but savouring each moment made the day even more special when it finally arrived and some of the younger gnomes were in danger of exhausting themselves with over excitement well before the day had dawned. 'Tea Darlings? A wee tisane to steady the nerves and bring a bloom to your checks?' Aunt Mildred was dispensing kindness and calming teas as she went, she wanted all the gnomes to be on their best form for their special day.

A little snooze under green leaves.........

'Ooooh Archie, it is just so beautiful, it's like our own special forest, oh Archie I do love it so....' Hortensia was standing inside the pavilion that Archibold and Stephanotis had made. Archibold puffed out his chest and he and Stephanotis glowed with pride. The pavilion really was something special.

Several months previously, as he had been pondering how to build this year's pavilion, Archibold had remembered something from many years before, something that he had seen when he had been in training at a garden centre as a young, dashing gnome out and about on missions. He had remembered how to plant young hazel branches and then as they grew, how to weave them into a living trellis. This year's pavilion for the Midsummer Revels was a living arbor of green leaves and woven hazel branches, all arching up into a leafy dome - Archibold's masterpiece. 'Couldn't have done it without Stephanotis, he is so limber and good at climbing, we would never have finished the top without him.'

Hortensia, Archibold, Stephanotis and baby Harriet all laid down on the mossy bank and stared at the twilight sky through the green leaves of the pavilion - 'just heaven Archie, just heavenly' and with that thought in mind they all fell asleep for a little celebratory snooze.

An evening stroll..........

Archibold and Hortensia were out and about in the forest enjoying an evening stroll. Archibold was carrying baby Harriet, and was enjoying himself greatly, he was showing her all the different kinds of leaves that he could find. Hortensia was singing a happy heart song to encourage all the plants and trees to grow  - and to cheer herself up. It wasn't that she was very grumpy, just that she felt a little distracted and overwhelmed by all the things that she had to do before the Midsummer Revels. Hortensia knew that sometimes singing a song from her heart could ease a sense of perplexity and renew her sense of fun. Soon she was making a buttercup posy for Harriet and relishing hearing her giggle as Archibold lifted her high in the air to give her a piggy back - she found herself laughing even more when Harriet reached for his special-extra-durable-daily-wear red hat - and pulled it off!

Archibold was feeling rather proud of himself, it was a beautiful summer evening - full of golden light and he felt so grateful to be alive - but most of all he was proud of having hidden a surprise from Hortensia for a whole week. The evening walk was a ruse to lead her to where the surprise was waiting in all it's splendour - Stephanotis of course had been left in charge and was nervously awaiting their arrival.