Author Archives: Horace

About Horace

I’m that gnome who always thinks the lawn is greener on the other side. Sure, I’e practically had life handed to me on a silver mushroom, but still I feel that he is missing out on something great that I should be. My destiny is not being fulfilled within the confines of this spirit that I cannot accept as my own. I recently lost 0.04 ounces since I set his New Year resolution. I’m trying to stay motivated to work out and stop being a Fatty MaGoo. Recently I’ve has taken up rock climbing. Stay tuned…

Gnome-Themed Breweries & Restaurants Worth Visiting in the U.S.

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As we continue to travel around the country we have noticed lots of businesses have begun adopting gnome themes. Obviously, this is awesome! Obviously, we are big craft beer fans, and we’re certainly not one to turn down a delicious meal!

So, here are the gnome-themed breweries and restaurants that we’ve come across so far. After all, there’s really nothing better than dining and drinking with your little red-hatted companions!

Hopping Gnome Brewing is based in the up-and-coming Douglas Design District of Wichita, Kansas. Using a 5 BBL brewing system, 8 fermenter vessels, and 2 Brite beer tanks, this brewery has many styles of beer on tap. It offers brewery tours each month and hosts lots of fun events throughout the week, including art shows, local food vendors, coloring book nights, and yoga classes.

There’s another gnome-themed brewery in the Sharpsburg area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania worth checking out. It’s called the Dancing Gnome, which specializes in hop-heavy styles of beer and often has food trucks onsite. Like Hopping Gnome, this brewery sells fun gnome-themed merchandise, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats.

If you’re traveling through Fort Wayne, Indiana, make sure to stop by The Hoppy Gnome, a restaurant with a diverse menu and that serves locally brewed beer from the GnomeTown Brewing Co. Their fun logo is a gnome hat over a hop bud, and there’s even a kids’ food menu so you can bring your little ones along for a gnomish adventure.

The Happy Gnome in St. Paul, Minnesota describes its experience as a craft beer exploration and culinary adventure. There are 89 beer taps with different breweries featured every month, and the chef creates fresh and delicious fare for lunch, happy hour, dinner, dessert, and Sunday brunch. Another exciting destination for gnome lovers is Denver, Colorado, where The Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe & Brewery is located.

Not into beer? No worries! There are some great gnome-themed restaurants around the country for you to enjoy.

For example, the Gnome Café serves healthy vegan cuisine downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Platypus and Gnome, located in Wilmington, North Carolina, is also vegan/vegetarian-friendly but serves American favorites like burgers too.

Have you discovered a gnome-themed restaurant or bar that didn’t make our list? Share with us in the comment section below so we can stop in next time we’re in town!

The Strange Connection Between Opossums, Brazilian Folklore & Gnomes

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Opossums, Brazilian folklore, and gnomes seem like three very different topics that should never be in the same sentence…let alone in a gnome newsletter. Right? Wrong! This gnome story takes us into the mysterious lands of the Amazon Rain Forest to make a scientific discovery of gnomish proportions.

A few months ago, a friend forwarded me a National Geographic article, titled “New Redheaded Opossum Named After Magical Gnome.” As a lover of both animals and gnomes, my interest was instantly piqued. A biologist in Brazil discovered a new species of opossum, but what makes this discovery so interesting is that the marsupial is named after a gnome.

The new opossum is called Monodelphis saci, and saci (pronounced sah-SEE) is a word that comes straight out of Brazilian folklore. Before this, I’ll admit that I didn’t know much about Brazilian folklore. But if gnomes were in it, I figured that I’d better broaden my horizons and learn something new!

Hunter-gatherer tribes roamed the lands of Brazil hundreds of years ago, passing folklore and tales down from one generation to the next. By way of colonization, these myths and legends changed shape and were influenced by African, Portuguese, Polish, and German settlers over time.

One such legends is about a Brazilian gnome known as a saci who wears a magical red cap. Saci Pererê is depicted as a gnome-like boy with one leg who is mischievous and even a bit of a con artist. In fact, his red hat helps him disappear and reappear whenever he likes! The legend says that your wish will be granted if you can grab the saci’s hat. But there’s a catch. The saci’s hat has a terrible smell that you may never be able to get off your hands!

All of this goes to show that gnomes don’t’ just exist in American, British, and German cultures…but diverse cultures from all around the world!

But back to that newly discovered opossum…

The Monodelphis saci species has a reddish head that resembles that hat that Saci Pererê wears in those epic Brazilian tales. Fortunately, the gnomish opossums are thriving in the wild and at no risk of extinction. Like all opossum species, they are nocturnal and able to adapt in a wide variety of conditions. Sounds a bit like our beloved gnomes, don’t you think?

I hope this story helps you remember how beautifully gnomes and animals live in harmony in our natural environment. What other animals remind you of gnomes?

Sleepy Gnome Bloggers Wake Up for Movie Premier!

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The blogging gnomes have been a wee bit too tipsy for blog posts lately it seems. For whatever reason, the grog supply has been dwindling more than usual and they’ve been capable of little more than dumb Facebook quips.

Well I’m here to revive long-form gnome rants, once and for all.

Here, here!

No, really. Down here. Have you forgotten how short we are?

I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of the arts, so when I saw a headline today about a gnome film, my stubby ears perked up.

“Coota gnome rescue immortalised in film”

That’s what the headline read, and it’s all about the great gnome rescue of 2009.

Unfamiliar with that whole ordeal?

Photo credit: Cootamundra Herald

Photo credit: Cootamundra Herald

Around 1500 garden gnomes rescued from the late Shirley Elford’s home in 2009. They were tattered and torn, but still beautiful gnome souls in need of a little TLC.

Following the rescue, they were restored and adopted out to caring homes. Filmmakers caught wind of this phenomenon and also about the annual Australian Gnome Convention, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

According to the Cootamundra Herald, “Film producer Murray Fahey said the film will include flashbacks to the Cootamundra rescue mission as well as interviews with some of the people involved including ‘Gnome Master’ David Cooke.”

The film’s due to be released in early November, but we stateside gnome are worried that we might not have access to the screening.

Sob…sob…help us?

We might be far away, but we’re not giving up hope. We’ll be following this story as the first of November approaches and hopefully find a way to see this wonderfully promising film. Gnome films aren’t exactly the easiest to come by, so you’ve got to jump on the bandwagon while the tubas are still playing.

Until then, this is your gnome culture news for the day. Signing off…

Horace The Gnome

Gnome Sighting in Steilacoom’s Tunnel of Trees

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Washington resident, Nancy Covert, addressed a concern that people feeling “watched” as they passed through Steilacoom’s Tunnel of Trees.

There’s a blue-hatted little gnome keeping his eye on motorists and pedestrians as they trample and plod their way though his humble home. (From the picture, his hat looks to be pretty red though. Perhaps his blue coat is magically reflective!) I’m not sure what a “Steilacoom” is, but a tunnel of trees sounds like a most excellent home for a gnome.

wagnome

So as any modern gnome would do, I did a lil’ googling.

Apparently a “Steilacoom” is a small town on the eastern shore of Puget Sound.”I got hooked the first time I visited,” said Steilacoom, Washington, resident Robyn Shalikashvili. “I drove around the corner through a tunnel of trees, and saw amazing blue water and every inch of the Olympic Mountains.”

It’s about 45 minutes southwest of Seattle and pronounced STILL-a-come. That’s weird…really freaking weird.

But the locals say this wasn’t always a quaint little place with small town values. Apparently, it used to be described as “wild and wooly” and saloons once outnumbered everything else. Now that’s my kinda town!

Alas, it seems I’m getting off-topic again.

My whole point is that there’s a gnome who calls this place home and he wishes to be left alone. (I heart rhyming!) Our buddy, Nancy, said another gnome once lived in this area and was brutally kidnapped to an undisclosed location. Let’s hope this dude has a better future ahead of him.

Antisocial gnomes unite!
Horace the Gnome