I realize that what I am about to say will make me sound unhinged. Truthfully, I was feeling a bit lost once, but I assure you I am focused and more at peace than I've ever been. My hope is that by documenting my findings one day, others will come to truly see things clearly and perhaps witness the wonders of what I have affectionately named "Gnome Hollow."

I would not have believed it myself, and likely would have missed them all together, were it not for the perfectly laid out patterns of the simple button mushrooms. I had to look up what those little white mushrooms were called, I admit. I am no mycologist, just an amateur bird watcher with a penchant for numbers and patterns. Which is why these perfectly placed fungi caught my attention, and brought me back day after day.

Honestly, I thought it would give me a way to make sense of the world, but it left me with more questions. At first I measured the circles in an attempt to find some pattern, but in the process I ran roughshod over the area and stepped on a few of the mushrooms. The more I attempted to decipher the patterns, the more erratic they grew. I believe my presence is what threw off the natural order... though, in hindsight, magical might be a more accurate term. I decided to stay back and watch patiently from afar as any birder should have known from the start. Yet what I saw was no mere Stellar Jay. The creatures that appeared to correct my clumsy intrusion into their hallowed grounds, shook me to my core.
Gnomes exist.

Believe what you will, but I know what I saw. What you read in these pages is my account of what I learned and how my world was forever changed.