I know that we were all hoping for a letter from Squagon today, but the Pinion King didn’t give us the OK on passing notes back and forth, til late last night.
So, guess what all the babe’s are doing, right now? You guessed correctly, if you said that they were probably all busily writing letters…
The young messenger sent from Pinion Valley was quite respectful and friendly, confiding that he was becoming great friends with the young prince. Apparently, Squagon is also hard at work, putting together his own letter…
Brutus has been given clearance to pick up and drop off all the letters each Friday, beginning tonight… and only under the deepest cover of darkness. I fully understand the king’s reasonings for this rule, as we’ve no desire to spread mass panic among the inhabitants of Pinion Valley, with an enormous dragon floating over their heads…
I can’t chat for too long, as I hear Boomer calling for help with his letters. I really need to be on deck for these first messages, ensuring I see bright and happy faces among the babes once they’ve completed their notes… they’ve been missing their friend, so.
Oh, before I go, I’ve made some good progress with my study of our Twilight Dreamers… and Beatrice introduced me to her three daughters.
For now, all that I can tell you is that while they might appear to look somewhat like their mother, they are each quite individual and unique in their own ways…
It’s been a bit difficult to learn much about Ishah, as of yet, due to the fact that I fall asleep almost as soon as I sit down near her… she just makes me feel so peaceful that I loose track of any thoughts, and my mind drifts off… like floating down a lazy river.
Now, Awshah is the polar opposite of her older sister, being so incredibly bubbly and joyful! She hardly holds still, and I’ve yet to slow her down enough to understand what she is saying, or singing… because that’s mostly what she loves to do.
Oh my goodness! Oodah might be tiny, but she is the softest and snuggliest little flying bean! We all keep taking turns holding her, and she never seems to tire of the constant hugs. She leaves you feeling like you’ve just been wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold morning… and then handed the most delicious cup of warm cocoa you’ve ever had! Personally, I think I would trade my favorite comforter for an Oodah, if I could.
Anyway, that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far… well, as much as I’ve time to share with everyone. Besides, I’ve spent longer than I’d planned, as it is… and now Tilly is beginning to call for me, along with Boomer. What I wouldn’t trade for a patience blanket! There’s still more dreamers left to meet, so there’s still hope…
As I like to keep the pictures of our Barnyard Babes always fresh, once again, I grabbed my handy dandy picture taker (compliments of the AI generator).
It was a bit of a struggle at first, as the babe’s haven’t been in the best of moods, lately.
Fortunately, I think the activity lifted their spirits some, so there’s that!
I’m glad to say that we got it done, the babe’s and I, and now all we need to do is sort through the lot, picking out our favorite shots!
While I’ve left the final decision to Miss Tilly and Brutus, it won’t do any harm if I share my photo’s with you folks… just for fun. Who knows how long it will take for the lot of them to decide on things, and I don’t feel like making everyone wait.
I realize that you might have noticed some changes in the babe’s appearances, since the last set of pictures were taken. Try to keep in mind, sometimes sorrow changes how one appears to others… at times, hurt can seem invisible to most, often going unnoticed! Well… I noticed! That would be why I thought to make mention of it today, so that you wouldn’t be overly concerned about the obvious sorrow that clings to the edges of the photos.
No matter what I tried, Tilly never did smile for the camera… so, I finally quit fussing over the poor thing. I can assure you that Brutus is watching over her, carefully! The tiny mouse has held a special place in the dragon’s heart, ever since she came to be with us in the barn.
Since we’ve all been watching these tiny one’s for so long, I’m fairly certain everybody will see how small both Dinky and Boomer have become. Dinky is normally small, but she’s been so blue since Squagon left that her brother won’t leave her side. In a panic, Boomer shrank himself down to her size… and now he refuses to return to his normal size, until after his sister’s color improves! I’ve been letting them both sleep in my office, on top of the slippers that I keep under my desk. Oddly, it has been helping them sleep a little bit better.
While Lilly seems to be taking things in stride, I’ve noticed that she spends a lot more time alone, writing page after page in her little personal Journal that I bought for her, earlier this summer. She smiled for my camera, but you can tell that her heart wasn’t really in it! Still, she participated in things and by the end of the day, was a little more chatty with the rest of us.
In honesty, I’m not sure that Awzee Clawzee has any clue of what’s been going on! No matter what I ever do or say to the little guy, the only response I get out of him is “Whoooo?” Oh well, what he doesn’t understand should hopefully not hurt him, though I will still keep an eye on the little fluffbucket… just in case.
Sorry I took so long with all my photo disclaimers, but I just thought you’d want to know how the babe’s were feeling, what with the absence of our nutty little flyer, of late.
F.Y.I., we might be getting our first mail exchange this weekend, if the Pinion King approves of our correspondence with Squagon. I will be sure to let you know if we get mail.
The mood around the barnyard has been rather sad, as of late, due to the sudden departure of Squagon. Earlier this week, as I sat studying in my office, a thought occurred to me, regarding our guests within the rafters.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the arrival of our Twilight Dreamers, as I like to call them, occurred suspiciously around the time of Squagon’s kin disappearing from Acorn Valley!
Right about the time that I sent Brutus to start searching for them, young Squagon began having bad dreams, often waking in tears. The tiny squirrel’s nightmares were the reason I’d gone and sought answers from the Holy Rollin Ravens, if you recall the musical and cryptic song they offered up.
There were a number of nights that I simply slept in the barn, as the squirrel’s night fears began to spread like a sickness through the barn, causing quite a disturbance among the rest of the babe’s. No one was getting much sleep, including myself, what with all the crying and asking for a juice cup!
It seems to me, like, right about that time, we discovered our little guests appearing up in the barn’s rafters. Oddly, as soon as they showed up in our midst… the nightmare’s of each babe, began to subside and fade away. All that is, except for young Squagon, who still continued to suffer within his little dreams, though not as badly as before.
Anyway, I’m still digging into my memories of that time, to seek a number of answers that are yet missing, regarding the connection between Squagon and our little dreamers. Nothing worth knowing is ever that easy, so I’m still studying.
When I say studying, what I really mean is observing. I know little about these small flying creatures, but one of the first discoveries was their sleep schedule…
Why do you think I’ve begun calling them TWILIGHT dreamers? Yup! They are nocturnal, or awake during our sleep time, if that helps. What this means for me… a great deal more coffee than usual, that’s for sure!
I’ve set myself a schedule of observing their activities for several hours each night, while the babe’s are all dreaming… and yes, that’s where I chose the Dreamer portion of describing our guests. Early on in their stay with us, I noticed that these little things are the most active during the time when the babe’s are sleeping.
The strange little creatures spend much of their wakeful hours, busily flying silently overhead of my little ones sleeping hidey holes. What are they doing, you might be wondering? Well, I was wondering the same thing, so I camped myself in the corner of the barn for an entire night, just watching and listening.
Guess what these little things do all night? While they flit to and fro across the barn, occasionally hovering over one babe or another, these little dreamers are singing softly, sometimes even praying tiny little prayers of comfort and rest. In case you were wondering, they are rather quiet, even when they are singing.
I had to put ear phones in and listen through a high powered recording device, just to hear them.
I’ve still so many unanswered questions, as I’m sure you do too, but only time and continued studying will truly uncover all there is to learn. What I can tell you is that I’ve begun getting to know one of these little night flyers. She caught my eye, right from the beginning! I compare her to popcorn, because everyone knows how popcorn in the microwave can make the whole room smell yummy! That is Beatrice!
I’m still getting more familiar with my new friend, so you’ll have to wait until next week to learn more of her, along with her kin. I think that I may have struck gold with Beatrice, as I think she may be the eldest, and possibly the most knowledgeable of the bunch!
While I will be sharing everything I discover, if you have any suggestions or first impressions about all this, I welcome the help!
So, remember how I told you that my brain doors blew open yesterday, while I was taking my trail walk?
I spent the rest of the afternoon, and then even more hours this morning, doing research. I began digging deeper into the story behind our bat thingies that are flying around in the barn. Remember them?
It turns out that there is an entire community of them, roosting in our rafters. When I discovered this… I was inspired!
One by one, each of their little faces and personalities began appear. Quickly, they found their way out of my brain pan, and all the way onto the page, so to speak.
I’ll introduce them to you in the order that I discovered them. Keep in mind that while being cute and adorable, each one of these creatures carries something very valuable within their tiny little frames.
For today, we will simply make introductions, so as to give each of you a chance to make your own initial impressions, without my intrusive input… there will be time for that later.
From first to last, there are ten…
We begin with,
Mother of,
And,
Then there’s,
and her little one,
Next we have,
and his little brother,
Followed by,
and her orphaned cousin,
Tune in next week, as we learn their story, their purpose and the gift carried within each of them.
*P.S. No spoilers will be forthcoming, so don’t even try. As they say, all good things come to those who wait…
At least that’s what Tilly calls them… Flying Lizards!
As to what these little guys actually are, and where they came from, I’m at a complete loss… which is saying a lot about how strange they seem.
Whatever they are, somehow they’ve managed to create a little encampment of sorts, inside our barn’s back wall. There was a loose piece of roofing material that I spied earlier this year, but I’ve yet to have the time to repair it. They must have crawled in through the opening, thought they’d reached the promise land and simply set up shop!
Aside from Miss Tilly being up in arms about rules, hygiene and sleeping under the same roof with a band of wild somethings… the rest of the babes seem rather tickled with our new tenants! Boomer keeps trying to pick them up and pet them, while Lilly is riding them like they’re small horses.
Don’t ask me what I’m going to do with them all… I have no idea! But, I can’t just kick them out, what with the cooler months ahead.
Until I’ve had some time to investigate things and figure out what to do about it all, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to fuss at them, just yet.
For now, I think this calls for some gentle grace for that which I do not yet understand. I always did like a good mystery and now I’ve had one fly in through my barn roof!
I shall get right to the bottom of things and let you know what I find out… wish me luck!
Oh, and if any of you have seen these little guys before, I would love your input.
I was greeted by bubbles when I walked into the barn this morning…. everywhere!
Apparently, the babes wanted to wash all the blankets for me, as a special surprise. I’ve been busily setting up the classroom and organizing all of our school supplies, and I guess the babes wanted to help.
I can’t really complain though… it smells wonderful in my office!
You might even say that it was a double bonus for me, as the babes were all in great need of a good scrub behind their ears. I made rather short work of grabbing a washrag and giving them each a quick once over.
It’s clear that all are fully ready for classes to begin…
I loved to watch that cartoon Pinky and the Brain, where the two lab mice or rats (whatever they were) would start their day off with the big dumb one asking the small one the same question from the day before… hey, Brain, what are we doing today? Brain would always answer the same thing, as well… Pinky, today we are going to take over the world!
When I saw the prompt, my mind went straight to that old cartoon… so, that’s my long winded answer for what I’m doing this evening. No, this evening won’t be filled with plans for world domination. I just have no intention of airing my evening activities for all to read!
If we have nothing better to do than to read what others are doing in their personal time, well then, we need to find something to do. If we have nothing better to do than to hand out all our personal business for others to feed off of, well then, we need to stop oversharing so much personal information…
Just sayin…
Here, have a cookie…
Please don’t try eating the mice… they’re not cookies!
I spent yesterday setting up the framework for Volume II of my book series, and today I will be building my storyboard on the computer.
I like to have lots of maps and pictures available, making it easier for the writing of the story, itself… my mojo, if you will.
I want to keep moving forward with the storyline, regardless of how long it takes for the first book to get picked up. My desire is to keep everything connected as smoothly as possible for whomever eventually reads the books.
I’m certainly not boasting that I shall become some writing guru that pops out best selling novels like tic tac’s, or anything. I suppose I simply want to have the most positive attitude towards the future that I can, regardless of circumstances or any future outcome… it just makes things look brighter, that’s all.
Besides, I better use it or loose it, as far as putting words to paper… I’m not getting any younger!
Journey With Me! 