Dragons and Tigers

On the surface, my neighborhood may seem like the normal garden variety all-American place to live. It has shady, tree-lined streets. There are beautiful gardens with blooming azaleas and Chinese Maple trees.

In Spring, there are iris and lambs ear, magnolias and cherry trees blossoming.

Most passers-by are fooled into thinking my neighborhood is just another pretty place to live. A place where the neighbors plant rock roses and iris around the stop signs. A place where the kids are picked up in carpools for school, and cars are given a wash on the weekends.

But they would be wrong........ We have a secret. We have people that are extraordinary here. And we have creatures that are strange and beautiful.

There are dragons here with red and golden wings, and cobalt scales. They breath fire from mouths agape with sharp white teeth.

We have white tigers with ruby red eyes that stand guard to protect us from any who would harm us.

There are fairies with gossamer wings of opalescent glass who look from the windows.

There are griffins and flying fish.

There are hobbits in holes.

And we have miniature gardens for the gnomes and brownies that gather here.

And the people here are artists and magicians. They can create new worlds from the clay of the earth. They can entrance and mesmerize the lucky few who chance upon their handiwork.

Not an ordinary neighborhood, this.

The owners of this house have been working to create handmade tiles to adorn their house since long before I moved here over 16 years ago. Every year there is some new treasure to discover. There is a glimpse of some scaffolding in the far left of the last picture indicating there will soon be more to capture the imagination.