World Wide Gnome Association April 2007 Newsletter

The Mushroom Lane Hospital^©is the residence of Nurse Dimpletoes and Dr. Dimpletoes. All gnomes learn to care for sick and injured gnomes and Mother Nature's creatures. Sometimes gnomes require extra care and when necessary they stay at the Mushroom Lane Hospital^©and are cared for by volunteer gnomettes and Nurse Dimpletoes. The Mushroom Lane Hospital^© is a cheery place with lots of windows to let in both sun rays and moon beams which aid a gnome's recovery.

Small creatures often make their way to the Mushroom Lane Hospital^© where Dr. Dimpletoes will attend them outside the hospital. Young frogs are regular patients due to their competitive nature -- always trying to out hop one another over fallen logs an other obstacles.

I hope you enjoyed this episode from the new series, The Gnomes of Mushroom Lane. Mushroom Lane© is a registered trademark of Cornish Heritage Farms. The mushroom homes used throughout this series are part of a set marketed as rubber stamps. Each stamp is approximately 4 x 5 inches and can be ordered by contacting liz@cornishheritagefarms.com or by visiting the Cornish Heritage Farms' website at www.cornishheritagefarms.com

Book Review - Uffe the Gnome and the Tree of Light

Recently a member bought a little book (actually it is only a booklet) off the Ebay Auction site and sent it to me. If you see this booklet for sale on Ebay; it is a little self published pamphlet produced by members of the San Francisco Movement Studio & Workshop. It is about 4 x 5 inches and contains a nice, well written poem about an adventure to experience the Tree of Light. The pamphlet consists of little 7 pages. The inside front page says, "An Uffe the Gnome Movement Adventure" by Michael Garrett and Valerie Baadh and illustrated by Rose Garrett, 2005. It also has a their web site www.sfmovement.com . This pamphlet is available from their web site for $5. Here is some information obtained from their home page:

San Francisco Movement Studio & Workshop

San Francisco Movement Studio & Workshops, specializing in classes and consultations for children and adults and is located in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District. An on-going class is also offered at the Fourfold Healing Clinic in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco. In Berkeley, its East Bay program is hosted at Studio Grow, and in Vacaville, at Meridian Physical Therapy and Hippotherapy Center.

San Francisco Movement Studio & Workshops offers enlivening movement experiences that enhance health, learning, vitality, flow, alignment, flexibility and strength through dance, gymnastics, games, exercises, movement study and practice.

The Studio is operated under the direction of movement educator Valerie Baadh, with the cooperation of Valencia Street Gym. Valerie is a certified practitioner of the Spacial Dynamics approach to movement health which is featured in the groundbreaking book, The Fourfold Path To Healing by Dr. Thomas Cowan.

Adults can experience increased health and wellness in workshops such as Freeing the Shoulders, TMJ Relief, Fourfold Healing Movement Maintenance and Spacial Dynamics.

Parents can learn and experience healthy movement for young children in workshops such as Movement and Learning, and Games Parents Play.

Children's dance and tumbling classes are designed to meet the developmental needs of each age, from 2 - 10 years. Live harp music, stories and spoken verse support imaginative movement, dancing and tumbling for young students in our Uffe the Gnome Movement Adventures classes. Little ones and parents share Mommy (or Daddy, Nanny, or Grampa) and Me classes. Classes for older girls develop dynamic movement skills with rhythm, form and technique in Natural Ballet, again blessed with live harp music. Older boys can freely romp and wrestle in our new Ruff 'n Tumble classes. For advanced ballet students, Valerie also teaches at the Academy of American Ballet in Redwood City.

Monthly Gnome Contest Draw...

Due to the loss of our beloved family pet no contest was arranged for this month. For those of you who have lost a pet you can understand the grieving that we are experiencing. Alias was with us for almost 12 years. QueenGnome & Family.

This charming story is based on the 'Six Thinking Hats' by Edward de Bono. The story shows the individual use of the hats and their effects as types of thinking. Perhaps this is just the beginning and readers will add further chapters to this story or write similar stories embodying other thinking tools and frameworks. It is my wish that we can gather a large number of stories that are suitable as 'bed time stories' which people can then download from the site and read to their children. Any volunteers to create some illustrations? Please send your contributions to me at edwdebono@msn.com.

The Magic Hats By Lorna Santín

A long time ago, in a beautiful village with small straw houses, something happened which I'll tell you about.

About a hundred people lived in that place . There was a bread maker, a locksmith, several miners, a teacher and many more men with different jobs. Each of them lived with his family - his wife, his children ... There were younger, middle aged and older children.

Some of these children liked playing near a waterfall just outside the village. Of course their parents didn't like the idea at all because they thought this sort of fun was dangerous.

Near, very near that waterfall, there were some little bushes. And right beside the bushes there were some small mushrooms. And beneath these mushrooms, lived Adao.

Adao was short and stout; so was Gabo. Adao had red hair and freckles; so did Gabo. Adao used a hat; so did Gabo. And both made their own clothes. Yes, with a small sewing machine that their mother had given them as a present just when they told her of their idea of living on their own, far from their father's home.

Adao and Gabo were identical. So much so that anyone would be confused as to who was who. Well, they were identical on the outside, not on the inside. They had a very different heart. They behaved differently. They even behaved in almost opposite ways.

Adao, for instance, was always thinking about how to help other people. Gabo, in turn, lived to have fun, and was capable of doing anything that would make him laugh, even if that behaviour got others into trouble.

One night, Adao had gone to bed early, and Gabo thought of a plan to have some fun. He went to their small "thread and needle workshop", where he and his brother had that sewing machine that their mother had given them. And once there, he started making more and more hats. He made one for each person in the village. But he only used six different colours: some hats were green as plants, others white as paper; still others, red like fire; he also made some blue as the sky, others yellow as the sun and, to end with, others black as the night.

Apparently these were hats like any others, but the interesting thing about them was that they were invisible to the human eye.

Only the gnomes, the fairies, the wizards, the witches and other fantasy beings could see them. But that was not all: what made them more special is that, using any of these hats, something very strange happened to anyone who was wearing it ... And it was this happening that made Gabo enjoy himself so much.

Once he finished making all those hats and while everyone in the village was sleeping, Gabo paid a visit to each house, and placed a hat on each inhabitant's head. Each and every one of them was wearing a hat: the parents and the children, the grannies and also the babies. But as these hats were invisible, no one noticed.

The next morning, when the villagers woke up, something very strange happened. Fermín, an adventurous boy, all of a sudden didn't want to come out of his home. When his friends came to invite him to play, he replied: "I'm not going out; it's very dangerous, I can fall in the river ...". Fermin's mother didn't understand what happened to her son as he usually was too daring and he was frequently in trouble. The usual thing was for him to invite other children to go to the dangerous waterfall ...

The woman's attention turned to something else because right at that moment her neighbour, Doña Beatriz, came crying bitterly because she had burnt a cake that she was cooking for her husband. And she said: "I'm good for nothing; it'll be better if I'm left in the woods for bears to come and eat me".

"My neighbour crying?", thought Fermin's mother. "She who never worries about anything?" Beatriz was such a balanced person, it even looked, sometimes, as if she didn't have feelings. She was never seen in anguish, or sad, or happy either. It looked as if she lived with a motto: "Everything is as it should be". But today, what was happening to her? It looked as if her feelings of sadness were pouring out and overwhelming her.

That scene was also interrupted because an explosion was heard and Fermin, his mother, and Doña Beatriz ran to the place where they thought the noise had come from. Of course they found other villagers there. Many had come to that place, shocked, trying to find out what had happened. There they found Arturo.

Arturo was known to all as a quiet, shy and lonely boy. He didn't seem to take an interest in anything that was happening around him. But today there was no trace of that personality. All of a sudden he had felt a curiosity to learn about the world and had started experimenting up to the point of causing an explosion. Arturo was covered in ashes, to such an extent that some didn't recognise him at first. One thing was certain: he was seen to have an urge to go on investigating more and more ... He didn't look worried about the mess he had created.

Very near him was Rodrigo, his brother, a usually distracted and forgetful boy. Some said Rodrigo could even forget his own name. But not that day. There he was, near his brother, uttering the names of each and every one of the inhabitants of the village, and their birthdays, and then publicising the favourite dish of each one and also their favourite colour.

Nobody could explain what was happening. It was simply obvious that something was happening. If they had paid a little more attention, maybe they would have discovered Gabo, behind the bushes, trying not to show he was laughing.

Adao immediately knew what was happening. He could see the hats because they were not invisible to him. And he guessed at once that his brother was involved in the trouble.

Adao knew very well how to help people. If they only knew they were wearing hats! Then they would know they could take them off. But Adao knew it was not easy for people to notice this, as people seldom see themselves.

Adao thought he should act but didn't want to be seen by humans, so he decided to wait until nighttime. He stayed around in order to avoid further problems.

Close to six o'clock in the afternoon, some miners were heard returning home, after a long day at work in the mine. There were Fermin's father and Doña Beatriz's husband. They came along singing happily and chatting about how wonderful it was to work in the mine ... Their wives couldn't believe what they were hearing as they had always complained about how dangerous and unpleasant it was to work there.

Late at night, when everyone was sleeping, Adao went into each of the houses in the village. Whispering in each person's ear, he said to each: "You are wearing a hat - you must realise that". The next morning, when they woke up, before saying "Good morning", they were all repeating "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Even the babies - well, they couldn't speak, but they moved their little heads and half-sung a tune.

Several people joined together in the central square of the village and, instead of saluting each other, they said at the same time: "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Just then, they put their hands on their heads and, at that very instant, the hats took shape and colour.

People noticed each of the hats had something written on them: on the white hats the word "Information" was written. Rodrigo and many other villagers were wearing white hats. Arturo and other people were wearing a green hat with the word "Creativity" on it. The black hats said "Problems" and, for sure, Fermin had a hat of this colour. Fermin's mother had a blue hat with the name "Observer" on it. Her neighbour and other people were wearing a hat on which you could read "Emotion" and which was red. The miners and others had a yellow hat with the word "Optimistic" written on the front.

Fermin's mother suggested they could all swap hats among themselves, but she decided to keep the blue one, in order to observe the others. Straight away it became obvious that people changed their behaviour as if controlled by the word on each hat.

After making these changes several more times, they all decided on something important which changed their lives for ever.

Right there and then, they made a huge coloured hat of clay . Then, with a hammer and a chisel they wrote something on a stone, which they left at the foot of such a monumental sculpture.

_If you want to understand your neighbour, you should wear his hat._ _And if you want to solve conflicts, you should control the hats._

Since that day the villagers lived together happily, understanding each other and with the certainty that any situation can be understood if you look at it from different points of view.

GNOME SUGAR COOKIES: by Jean Fenstermaker

Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla. Add egg; beat till light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Sift together dry ingredients; blend in creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Chill one hour. On lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch. Cut in desired shape with >> cutters. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees about 6 to 8 minutes. Cool slightly; remove from pan. Cool on rack. Decorate. Makes about 2 dozen.

What makes such a big hit with my gnome cookies is their overall appearance. Once upon a time I bought a gnome-shaped cookie cutter through a mail-order catalog named Gooseberry Patch. Then, by decorating the cookies with the typical gnome-colored icings in a detailed time-consuming manner, that's what puts the attractive finishing touch to the them. To make a batch of about 2 dozen cookies from start (making the dough) to finish (applying chocolate eyes and buttons after the other icings are on) takes me an average of two 2-hr. shifts.

Mushroom Lane© School House Lessons

It's four o'clock and Lojor is explaining to his class all about the paper on which they are practicing their letters.

Lojor's wife makes the paper and shows them all how it is done. Not all gnomes will pursue paper making however those who do not can obtain it from Lojor's wife at the local Mushroom Lane Store.

For beginners smooth texture is best and papers that do not bleed will help them to produce fine letters.

Lojor hands out four small pieces of removable tape and has them use it to tape their paper to their writing boards. As a precaution, the sticky side of the tape is first touched to their caps, this helps to ensure the tape will pull off their paper, without damaging it. Erasable lines are drawn on their sheets to keep their letters uniform.

Lojor says, "Get out your pens; insert your nibs. Now, dip your pen into the ink; holding it straight up above the ink, pause a moment, allowing a drop of excess ink to fall back into the inkwell. Dip the pen in just far enough to cover the nib and not the handle! This is especially important when using metallic inks."

Lesson Two

These Roman letters derive from letters used in ancient Rome.
The serif on this alphabet is often varied. Let's practice nice narrow serifs.
These are accomplished by holding your pen horizontally.

If you do not have time to practice your letters (calligraphy) and want to use them for scrap booking or card making. Simply print off a couple of sheets of letters onto card stock and cut them out as needed. Those who have access to photocopiers and computers can even resize them! This set is particularly good for large display lettering.

TIP: Use zip lock baggies to store your letters in; use twist ties to fasten them on clothes hangers making them easily identifiable and accessible!

Feature Artist Rien PoortvlietRien Poortvliet (August 7, 1932 – September 15, 1995) was a Dutch draughtsman and painter.

Born in Schiedam, he was best known for his drawings of animals and for "Gnomes" in the famous series of books published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. of New York City.

Being a plasterer's son from Schiedam, making a living as an artist did not seem an option for Rien Poortvliet. His parents were strict Dutch Reformed and were opposed to the idea of their oldest son going to an art academy.

Rien's aptitude for drawing showed early on. After primary education the young Rien worked at an ad agency, where he could make some use of his talent. He unmistakably also had talent for the advertising profession, because after he had completed his draft time in the Navy he rose to senior manager at Lintas, Unilever's ad agency.

Yet Rien took more pleasure in the work he did on the side for several publishers. He illustrated various books, among them works by Jaap ter Haar, Leonard Roggeveen and Godfried Bomans. He was also a passionate hunter, which led him to drawing various nature subjects.

At the end of the 1960s Poortvliet had made it to where he could resign as a publisher and start as an independent illustrator. However, he did not have enough work, so to earn enough to make a living he made a book out of his drawings and watercolours based on his hunting experiences. Later on, he also made a similar work concerning the life of Jesus Christ.

Poortvliet saw himself as a characteristic narrator. His drawings told the tale, at most he added a short caption.

For years his works were published by Van Holkema en Warendorf in Bussum, where his "Leven en werken van de Kabouter" (co-authored by Wil Huygen, English title is "Gnomes", pictured above) saw an astonishing 59 printings. With the Gnomes series Poortvliet acquired international fame. While he was alive, but more so after his death this series took on a life of its own, and was turned into an animated series.

His books were translated into French, German, English, Swedish, Finnish, Italian and other languages.

Fame and Recognition

The general public were delighted with Poortvliet's drawings. Critics thought Poortvliet hypocritical since he painted beautiful nature scenes, while being a fervent hunter at the same time. Yet the draughtsman himself was elated to be the centre of attention. He did well on television with his goatee, his corduroy trousers and his chequered jackets. For a few years, Poortvliet was a panel member in "Zo Vader, Zo Zoon" (a Dutch game show).

Poortvliet found recognition when Prince Bernhard opened the Rien Poortvliet Museum in 1992. This museum stood in the old, historic Town Hall of Middelharnis, "Fortunately far away from the modern art gang in Amsterdam" as Poortvliet said in an interview. However, the Rien Poortvliet Museum has now closed its door its doors to the public, starting december 18th, 2006. Because of sharply reduced visitor numbers the museum could no longer meet its financial obligations.

Rien Poortvliet died in Soest in 1995 of bone cancer at the age of 63. He was married to Corrie Bouman and they have two sons.

Works

Jachttekeningen (1972) ISBN 90-269-4801-8
...de Vossen hebben holen (1973) ISBN 90-269-4949-9
The living forest: a world of animals (1979) ISBN 0-8109-0911-1
Hij was een van ons (1974) ISBN 90-269-4947-2
He Was One of Us: The Life of Jesus of Nazareth (1994) ISBN 0-8010-7135-6
Te Hooi en te gras (1975) ISBN 90-269-6296-7
The Farm Book (1994) ISBN 0-8109-0817-4
Leven en werken van de Kabouter (1976, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-269-4958-8
Gnomes (1977) ISBN 0-8109-0965-0 (20th Anniv.) ISBN 0-8109-5498-2 (30th Anniv.)
Het brieschend paard (1978) ISBN 90-269-4968-5
Horses (1996) ISBN 1-55670-430-5
Van de hak op de tak (1980) (autobiographical) ISBN 90-269-4306-7
Dutch Treat: The Artist's Life, Written and Painted by Himself (1983) ISBN 0-517-41535-6
De oproep der kabouters (1981, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-269-4799-2
Secrets of the Gnomes (1982) ISBN 0810916142
De ark van Noach, of ere wie ere toekomt (1985) ISBN 90-242-3206-6
Noah's Ark (1992) 08-109-1371-2
Langs het tuinpad van mijn vaderen (1987) (about his ancestors' supposed lives) ISBN 90-242-4800-0
In my grandfather's house (1988) ISBN 0-8109-1126-4
Het boek van Klaas Vaak en het ABC van de slaap (1988, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-242-4499-4
The Book of the Sandman and the Alphabet of Sleep (1989) ISBN 0-8109-1524-3
De tresoor van Jacob Jansz. Poortvliet (1991) ISBN 90-242-7171-1
Daily Life in Holland in the Year 1566 (1992) ISBN 0-8109-3309-8
Braaf (1992) ISBN 90-242-6903-2
Dogs (1996) ISBN 0-8109-8140-8
Aanloop (1993) (about man and nature throughout the centuries) ISBN 90-242-6937-7
Journey to the Ice Age: Mammoths and Other Animals of the Wild (1994) ISBN 0-8109-3648-8
Kabouter Spreekwoordenboek (posthumously in 1996, Gnome Proverbs, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-242-7882-1
Het Kabouterkookboek (posthumously in 2003, Gnome Cookbook, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-242-8977-7
Tussen gaap & slaap (posthumously in 2003, revised edition of Het boek van Klaas Vaak en het ABC van de slaap) ISBN 90-435-0753-9
External links
Rien Poortvliet at the Internet Movie Database
Rien Poortvliet Museum
Website with an English language video on the museum

NOTE FROM QUEENGNOME: I am trying to locate these two books:
Kabouter Spreekwoordenboek (1996, Gnome Proverbs, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-242-7882-1
Het Kabouterkookboek (2003, Gnome Cookbook, with writer Wil Huygen) ISBN 90-242-8977-7

If you are able to locate either of these books, I would be most interested in purchasing copies of them. QueenGnome

Someone asked me what a Gnome does when angry …

I said I'd check into it. When I started stirring my brain, and thinking of all the messes in our beautiful world, I realized that Gnomes must be even more frustrated than us humans.

The book "Secrets of the Gnomes" contains many examples of Gnome frustration with the world's situation. Try to get a copy if you don't already have one.

I can see a little Gnome or two, stamping feet in a woodland area, when happening upon something that angers them - but only until they can come up with a solution of some sort. Surely, they act fast and don't waste time stamping their feet when another Gnome or animal is in urgent need.

Gnomes don't fool around when an emergency presents itself! They wouldn't waste time displaying aggravation when a crisis needs to be handled. They'd maybe privately act out feelings later, but they don't have bad tempers to begin with. A sincere show of consternation - maybe. A display of bad temper? I highly doubt it.

Any Gnome's frustration would be used toward coming up with a solution to a problem. Remember that they have regular get-togethers for discussing whatever is important.

Because Gnome children start out on the right foot with their parents, there are no discipline problems to cause anger in their parents. There are the usual parental concerns for children to always do the right thing and keep themselves safe from harm - but I've never heard of Gnome children deliberately engaging in willful disobedience.

Bulletin Board

Can you help this gal?

I was wondering if you had any idea where I could find two gnome table bases to hold up a glass coffee table. I saw a gnome coffee table in the movie "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and haven't been able to get the idea out of my head since. Basically, they're just two cute gnomes, one balancing the table on his (flat) head, and the other one with his hands up, holding the table up. If you know of anything, please pass along the information. Thanks so much!

P.S. If you've ever seen the movie, or want to see what I'm talking about, it's the scene in the last 3/4 of the movie where they go to the pink haired girl's house.

Hello, thank you for contacting us. It is nice to hear that our website is getting some attention :-). Regarding visiting our showroom, we are flattered that you think we have one. We don't, but we have been thinking about it because we do get questions like yours frequently. But at this time, Skyecrafts is an online business, done from a regular residential home where the gnomes are hanging out between the diapers and the toys of our kids before they get sold :-). We have a real gnome-plague in our garage, too.

For what it is worth: We are located in Port Richey, also just off of SR 52. If we did have a showroom your driving directions would have been very simple to follow SR52 West until the end, turn three corners and you're at Skyecrafts HQ. With a 2 month old baby, a 2 year old and a 6 year old we are definitely not set up to receive customers though, sorry!

We are not part of any Association. We did stumble upon the World Wide Gnome Association during our research phase (when we were trying to figure out if our idea of a gnome store was doable). What does this association do and do you think we could be of use somehow? Of course, our focus would be to get our gnomes new yards to hang out in. We are also researching if it would be possible to make our own gnomes. Are there any crafty people member of this association, that you know of? We would be very interested to see a gnome maker at work before taking the plunge ourselves.

Even though we do not have a showroom, I could send you some info on the newest gnomes we have. Right now it's gnome buying season for us and many gnomes did not even get on our website yet. Alternatively, we also list on Ebay and Ecrater, and those sites are more up to date. On Ebay our ID is hermitwolves20. Our Ecrater website store can be found here: http://skyecrafts.ecrater.com/ If you do see something you like, let us know.

We also have done "gnome ware parties"... :-) They take some setting up but can be lots of fun. In that case we come by your house and show you our gnomes. Just like a Tupperware party. If you wish to do something like that, let us know and we'll talk more about how to do this. There are a lot of gnomes out there that we haven't met yet ourselves.

Shopping Basket

I just found and purchased this crocheted gnome pattern on etsy com. Here is the link:

"Amigurumi" is Japanese spiral crochet and VERY easy to do. I have been doing it for several months. I can't wait to make this little fellow. Maybe this is an item for the newsletter? Amy Gaines, the designer, writes clear and wonderful patterns and I know she would love for everyone to make crocheted gnomes!

Good Morning, My name is Patricia and I have just inherited some figurines/gnomes by Thomas Clark, they all have the "Cairn" copyright date, the artwork name, the Thomas Clark logo as well as the creation date and the mold edition number, some of them also have Thomas Clark signature on them (autograph). The dates on most if not all of the figurines are dated back in the 1980..........................If interested, please e-mail me at pmontana@mchsi.com

Artwork Name	Year artwork completed	Item #/mold	Artwork signed by T.C	Sale Price
Hazel	1984	20	Yes	450.00
The Dove School Bus	1986	79	Yes	270.00
Biscuit, Wick and Butch	1983	29	Yes	325.00
Woody & Chane	1983	62	No	109.00
Eureka	1985	59	No	214.00
Tooth Fairy	1985	27	Yes	215.00
Brother, Sis and Dad	1987	48	Yes	225.00
Fine 7Up	1984	62	Yes	1,200.00
Jay And Martha	1983	40	Yes	225.00
Spock	1984	87	No	270.00
Miles	1985	74	No	270.00
Clamentine	1985	87	No	225.00
Shen	1984	70	No	285.00
The Wiz	1983	24	No	229.00
Pockey	1983	51	No	180.00
Shadrach	1984	87	No	209.00
Yule		90	No	295.00
Sage, Thyme & Parsley	1983	25	No	280.00
Santa	1983	84	No	320.00
Mum	1990	91	No	220.00
Skipper	1983	40	No	225.00
Arthur	1987	65	No	100.00
Bride & Groom	1987	75	No	100.00
Couch Potato		81	No	110.00
Oreo	1986	86	No	235.00

Kimmel Gnomes have a special on - if you purchase a gnome you get something free!
Check it out by visiting their site and sign up for their new gnome announcements.
www.kimmelgnomes.com

Item 312-50-50486 on page 6. - "Sitting Pretty Fairy" -- $9.99 - www.collectionsetc.com in Illinois --

It's a little fairy perched on a Gnomes head ! He rests flat on the ground w. hands next to his face -- eyes looking up at the fairy on his head. She's tiny and looking down at him. Says Polyresin - 7" H x 6 1/2 W. His red hat and hands, etc., are very cute. His nose is large, but he's still special.

Says he's rising up from the ground to find a friendly fairy perched on his forehead. His eyes are great.

April 1	Gnome Sighting Day
April 8	Wool Sampling Week
April 22	Bird Day