Fairies live here!

To me, fairy gardens are my childhood thoughts of a world of friendly tiny people and creatures, being happily playing around one another. Whether they are set up at the bottom of a tree or planted in pots, these miniature environments promote imagination, creative play and nurturing behaviours.

My basic fairy garden with a fairy door attached to the tree stump. 

After I updated my fairy garden, I took a photo and posted it to my friends. One of them, Antoinette asked, " Have your written about your upgraded garden?" 

I replied, "Not yet". 

She said, " Then you should. Look at the lights and the flowers. They really looked like something fairy's would like to frolic in. So you decide, why not turn it into a fairyland. You never know.... You may see a miracle! "

I have never thought of writing about my little fairy garden 😂, but she gave the motivation to start on. It was through friends' conversations that always gave me ideas and words to write my stories in my blog. 😅🤭

When I first began my fairy garden, it was meant to amuse my 6 yrs old grandson.

The idea started when I visited one of my friends, it was at Jennifer's home.
Her space for a garden was so limited but through her clever and brilliant ideas, she created a very neat and easy to care, garden.

View from the back to the front.

View from the entrance of her home

Different types of Succulents

Varieties of mini catus

Beautiful collections of her Jade plants 

Air plants

She has little cute figurines on her plants which made her narrow garden so beautiful and lively.

Cute little monks

This frog which I gave to her as a gift, she brilliantly created a scene of a frog relaxing under the hot sun with a glass of iced lemonade.😁

Cute little Shaolin masters with their Kung Fu stance. 😄

My ex-classmate, Richard gave a nickname to her cute garden, "Japanese garden" because it was such a  cute, clean and tidy little precious area with full of little Bonsai and succulent plants. 

Whenever I visited her "Japanese garden" I can capture the essence of nature and inspire quiet reflection.

The name "Japanese garden" fits nicely since Japanese garden is a traditional style of landscaping that captures and idealizes nature in a miniature , symbolic form like the plants, rocks, gravel and figurines of monks.

I was so fascinated by it that I too, started to create a little space of my garden calling it, " My cute corners". Jennifer has given me a few succulents plants as a start up with my little corner in the garden. 

 I started to buy miniature animals like squirrels, frogs, cats, and tortoises. 

The beginning of my "Cute Corner" in my garden looked like a tiny magical world. 

This video was created by my neighbour, Connie who was captivated by it. 
Thank You, Connie.💓

Then one day, my grandson gave me a present, a cute little elf to place at my cute corner. That's how my idea to turn my little cute corner into a fairy garden!

 Then I started adding a few fairies, elves, and gnomes.  The fairy garden look more magical and real. It brought pure joy to my grandson.❤️ 

Bit by bit, my grandson and I added new DIY items such as a little well or climbing ladders to this small spot. 
We made colourful little doors together, to attach to the trees, as imaginary fairy houses. We collected twigs from the trees and bought hot glue gun to make the miniatures easily. Other low cost items like the thin rustic rope, popsicles sticks, etc, we got them from the stationary shops. 
The complete set up spark a childhood wonder as he watched a tiny hidden world came to life.

The advantage of Google and U-tube has taught me a lot on how to build those doors, and giving me ideas of how to add more DIY fairy items such as a balcony, bridges, benches and so on. 

A penguin, tortoise and squirrel enjoying a swing together.😂

Sign post of a Fairy village

This was how my initial fairy garden was born.
But due to heavy rainfall, some of the miniatures were destroyed.

So I relocated my fairy garden to my so called bonsai Feng Sui tree, the Chinese Bayan tree. 

Relocate fairy's home to a coconut tree trunk😃

Another at the bottom of the Chinese Bayan Bonsai😄

Relocated blue fairy sitting between our DIY mushrooms 😂

While yellow fairy was relocated to the branches of the Chinese Bayan Bonsai.

A balcony with table and chairs for tea!😁

As time went by, a fairy wonderland was created.

Each morning, my grandson would take a peek to see any signs of fairy frolicking in the fairyland.  
I noticed that creating a "small world" allows children ( including me!😅 ) to engage in open ended pretend play and build endless narrative stories.

Actually, we are never too old or too young to set up a fairy garden. They are great for all ages.😂
For the children, small figurines are fun for playing pretend in the garden  while to the adults like me, it provides a peaceful connection to nature and brings joy to our life.

Ice kacang

 

Once upon a time, there was a machine called "ice kacang" machine. This machine can make children and adults of all age happy just with a simple dessert, shaved ice with syrup, that cost only 5 cents in the 1950's and 60's and those with more ingredients ( jelly, red beans and evaporated milk) was 10 cents per bowl .

Such a simple desert brings pleasurable memories to our generation, and even up to  this new era they still make the younger generation feel good and happy, especially on a hot day like these days where weather temperature is about 32 degrees Celsius, but including the heat factor, it feels more like 42 degrees C. Except nowadays there are more varieties and more expensive compared to our era in the 50's and 60's.

When I saw this machine posted in Heritage SG memories by Kevin Khoo, I remembered my late father used to own one too in his coffee shop. The shop was just right in front of the High Court in town along the walk way from kampong Air to Gaya street. 

When I was young, I used to help my parents look after the shop as early as 11 years old. I recall my father would put a block of ice on the shaver and then he clamped the block of ice tightly at the base plate of the machine before rotating the handle like wheel, which was on the right side of the machine to produce shaved ice, that ice was collected on the base plate. That time the shaver could only be performed manually. 

Due to those fond memories and experiences I had, I decided to buy this toy ice shaver gadget online for Rm23.50 😁

And started to make my DIY (Do it yourself) ice kacang😁

Red beans and jelly like I used to have in my younger days.

And covered with shaved iced made from my toy ice shaver.
Honestly, I was so excited to see the shaved ice coming out from my toy ice shaver😂.
Then I drizzle the shave ice with syrup and evaporated milk and start digging.😋
I finished it within minutes😅 and went for 2nd round😁

Hubby didn't want to be left out, so he created his dessert too, Vanilla Ice cream with chocolate kit kat and biscuits.

When we asked our grandson which would he prefer, he opted for the ice kacang 😂 and hubby's face went ☹️ hahahaha... 🤭 

Ice kacang without shaved ice, just ice cube taste equally yummy but with shaved ice its more  prettier and exciting to dive in for😋😁

Transferring my childhood beloved nostalgic treat of ice kacang to my 6 yrs old grandson 😂 

Even in this high tech era, where the younger generation like my grandson, are still keen to learn some of our old ways and skills. I was surprised that when I bought this toy shaved iced gadget, it lit up the eyes of my grandson, making him so excited and happy and what more, looking forward for another session of ice kacang activity 🤭 

Grandson concentrating seriously on his task to get shaved ice😂

But he preferred ice balls more, which was just shaved ice and red syrup. He too had his 2nd round of ice balls😅

While me, I preferred the original ice kacang that consisted of shaved ice, red beans, jellies and drizzle with red syrup and evaporated milk 😂 

When I posted this to my friends, many started to reminisce about this popular dessert in our era of the 50's and 60's.

One of my friends Peter, reminisced about his fond memories of buying a small bowl of ice kacang in Gaya street market stall for 10 cents in the 60's. A simple ice kacang in a small bowl that has sweetened red beans and jelly,  covered with shaved ice and drizzled with red syrup. 

I shared the same fond memories of these dessert , probably we had bought from the same stall. I remember there was an old lady who sold these sweets helpings in her small stall at the Gaya Street wet market.

Again when i was young, I walked to this market which took me about 7-10 mins. Towards the end of the walkway there was a Cathay cinema of the left side and facing the cinema was the big Gaya Street Market.

Memory map of my morning walks to Gaya Street Wet Market to help my parents do the marketing errands each morning during school holidays😅

Another friend Christine, shared her childhood experiences of buying ice-baĺl for 5 cents from a stall on the street before cycling to her school. It was just a simple impacted shaved ice with additional red syrup all over it.

I was pleasantly surprised that my grandson showed an interest in helping me make the various varieties of this old dessert, he enjoyed eating it as much as I did.

Reference

Ice balls

Ice Kacang

Ice kacang macine

Heritage SG memories