A river rock fairy in Missouri

Over the weekend, we visited Ava, MO again for a festival my son's family was co-hosting.  While there, I spent some time down in the nearly dry creek bed gathering stones to make a fairy to leave on the beach.  And just like last time I was there, I found one, single, tiny shell for the fairy to hold.

As I played with pebbles, I had a view of the circus rig and could watch the kids practicing up on the bank of the creek.

My grand fairies were giving lessons to the campers' children and at the big performance the next night, all the little ones got to come on stage and show what they'd learned.

I was serenaded by one of my favorite singers. Michael Lay, who was up on the nearby stage. His voice floated down to the shady spot along the bank where I was searching for the perfect set of wings for my fairy.

The stage itself was pretty cool, my son draped it in fabric, and did this string art installation on each end.

Dewdrop and a few friends joined me and created their own magical creatures.  

They helped me put a ring of rocks around my own sprite.  She is placed right by the foot bridge.

There was a larger river on the other side of the campground, where I spent hours walking through the crystal clear water, and parking a lawn chair in the shady shallows to watch kids and dogs splash around.  

As I found the most perfect wing shaped rock, I got excited about making more sprites, and as I waded along, I quickly spied all of the bits that I needed to make another one.  I figured I was on a roll and would have a whole flock of fairies!!! But all of a sudden, the river bed no longer had rocks that stood out as wings, faces, dresses, etc, all of them started to look like plain, old rocks  and nothing stood out to me. 

I decided to pocket the pieces I'd found to make the second faye, and brought her home to assemble in the mosaic I'll be doing in front of the fireplace.  After all of the beach fairies that I've left behind on various shores, I figured it would be fun to have one in my own home.  I think she'll be very happy living here with us, and I'll have pictures to show you when she is grouted down.  Although, I do feel a little odd about locking her in place, all of my previous fairies have been thank yous to the  beaches I've loved spending time on.  I guess I'll think of her as a love token to my home instead, and a memento of the weekend with family in Ava.