Mussolini is a Weenie

I have to introduce this post with a Diana Nutter story. That's my mom and I have started telling my kids goodnight stories from her childhood. The most popular so far is titled, "Mussolini is a Weenie." Once upon a time there was a girl named Diana who was five years old in 1941. At that time all the houses and schools had gardens as a war effort to make sure everyone had enough food. One day when Diana Nutter was bravely fighting the bad guys as a soldier with her other five year old friends, something terrible happened. She was crawling up and down the garden rows being so careful not to be caught by the enemy or smash tomatoes. As they marched they sang, "Mussolini is a Weenie! Mussolini is a Weenie!" Just then her mean teacher named Mrs. Bigger looked out the window and saw Diana. Well, she was just sure Diana had smashed valuable WWII tomato plants during her "Operation Weenie" march. She told the whole class that no one should play in the gardens especially during a war and sent her home to tell her mother. Luckily, Diana never forgot how mean Mrs. Bigger was and told her kids all about how Mussolini was a Weenie. The End.

The moral of the story is that kids LOVE to play pretend in a garden. Longwood had a whole slue of doable kid spaces. This stuff was really amazing and it's all about scale. This is a little wickiup made of wild grapevine and surrounded in big leafy kale. It was just big enough for three little chairs and a couple of little people. It didn't provide any shade but could easily be covered in burlap or a shade sail.

This little house frame was surrounded in soon to be sunflowers that will grow up to be the walls. It looks simple until we looked closer and realized it was genuine Amish peg construction with beveled edges. We thought it would be even better if it had a willow stick roof covering the structure. It wouldn't be the same with out the weather-vane and colorful furniture. (I asked how they took care of the outdoor furniture and they said they just slap a colorful coat of paint on it every once in a while.)

There was also a section featuring lean-to kinds of play structures. The frames were solid log construction on which kids could pile up sticks and limbs. This used cheap burlap for walls and dividers. It's a great idea for a kid friendly material that last just one season. They also had lots of thin log slices to use as pathways that were light enough for a kid to manipulate yet heavy enough not to be used as a flying saw blade to be lobbed at your sister's forehead.

This final structure is definitely more of a commitment but holds lots of winter possibilities. It is an octagon constructed out of metal (a new chapter for the 3 little pigs perhaps?) with several arches for entry. The shade is provided by four different honey suckle vines growing over the top. Can you tell my museum brain is on the loose? I instantly thought of how cool this would be in the winter covered in packed snow. Our own back yard igloo might be the thing to ease the sting of moving back to Utah this fall. One thing is for sure, none of these kid's spots will work our .03 lot in DC.