Home Sweet Home

Lars has been indoors for about a year since his accident last summer.

Lars, broken up, and the note

He's been healing up.

But he wasn't himself--you wouldn't be if you were still covered in Plaster of Paris.

After his first "remont" session

In fact, we have been considering checking him into a place for some true recovery.

So we did.

There's this place in our neighborhood called Quail Lane Rehabilitation--it helps with all sorts of ailments...for garden gnomes specifically.

Lars finally came back to us. His counselor brought him home. Her name is The Tall One.

The Tall One and Lars

She's also an artist, so she does all that art therapy stuff to help broken gnomes back to health. We heard she was good, but we didn't know she was this good.

I opened up Lars from his protective wrapping paper.

And there he was.

All better.

And also better.

Let me remind you, this was Lars before the accident.

Lars and happier days

He's cute. A pipe smoker. Red boots. Nothing too fancy.

But this is what he looks like now.

Ta-da!

Whoa!

Lars is fancy pants now! And look how happy he looks!

We went out into the garden to take pictures and so Lars could get accustomed to his home again. The Tall One showed us what she did.

First of all, she put a permanent bandage on his hat as she wasn't sure his hat would actually fully heal, since it is just a hat.

It's a bandage for his hat!

He was looking more grounded also--his base was fixed and repainted. He now has a name plate too.

Lars' nameplate...in case he forgets his name

Along with the physical healing, The Tall One also helped with a few issues he's been having emotionally and socially.

Before his accident, Lars had been feeling alienated from us since he was spending so much time in the garden, mostly smoking who knows what in his pipe.

Lars smoking in the garden

The Tall One is a miracle worker because Lars no longer smokes! He is into blowing bubbles!

Lars loves blowing bubbles from his bubble pipe now!

And now that he doesn't smoke his pipe (we're not smokers and have not been terribly pleased about his habit), he started feeling closer to us. He wanted to show he was part of the Redds again, so he got himself a watch with the help from The Tall One. It's even red!

He's a Redd now...he's got a watch...a red one!

We are SO proud of him!

We were told that he also wanted a reminder of us, so he had this done to his base.

Lee + Winter

The most amazing thing is that once Lars started to be healthy, both physically and emotionally, he began to be concerned about the welfare of those around him.

For one, he was worried about Lee, especially how often he loses his wedding ring (you can read more about his ring here, here and here), so he requested help from The Tall One to make a special place where Lee could always find his ring.

Lee's ring, halfway buried and saved for the future, behind Lars' right boot

Wow! That Lars and The Tall One are so thoughtful and wonderful.

I couldn't believe how good Lars looked.

You could tell that he was feeling so good...his eyes had a sparkle (they're now green!) when he finally was placed back in his spot in the garden.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Thank you, The Tall One. You are truly a miracle worker!

The Tall One and Lars

Welcome home, Lars. It's good to have you back.