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A Spiritual Journey...

6/11/2025

Anna, Shawn, me, and Ciro

I was recently privileged to be invited by an IADR member, Anna Esposito, to her home in Naples and to visit the site of Pompeii.

Did you know that Naples existed at the time of the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD, though luckily they did not receive the devastation of Pompeii.

Naples helps today to shine the light on Pompeii's history. It is at Pompeii that we can see the amazing art, walk the roads, and just get a glimpse into an age that no longer exists. How we have changed and are continuing to change, but also how we have remained the same too.

I was reminded of some of the "sameness" as I walked along an ancient Roman roadway in Naples called Christmas Alley. It was there that I discovered the way I structure my porcelain dolls is the same way many of the specialty figures are still made today in Naples. What are these figures used for? They are used in the building of presepe or in English - Nativity creche.

Besides seeing all the amazing animated figures and figurines plus the lighting for these creche, I made a discovery. In one of the shops, they were selling a similar head like one that I had been inspired to sculpt just before leaving for Italy.

I didn't know why I need to sculpt Bohoj (pronounced Boe-hosh) before leaving on our trip - other than loving his goofy smile. But to find a similar head with that same goofy laughter style on his face felt very serendipitous.

Both faces reflect the joy in life. As the saying goes: KISS - keep it simple stupid.
Telling me don't get caught up in the day-to-day drama. Find those little things in life that bring a smile to my lips.

So as long as dolls can express my passion, my insights, and keep on talking to me, I know there will always be a need for Dollmakers and the creations we create. They take me on spiritual journeys as well as physical ones. They enlighten me and help me to find my balance and the world would be a sad boring place without them in it.

Home...

6/4/2025

"Ahhh... that feels good," thought Fiddlefaddle as he finally was able to put his feet up. He had returned from his west-wise mission and told the Dowager and Baron all that he had found. "There were no reports of Dragons from either the east nor the west. Most I talked to had heard of Dragons but had never seen one," he had reported. "From what I discovered, we are an isolated incident and are the only ones with this Dragon problem."

After a brief chat, the Baron thanked his BAT man for the wonderful job he had done and told him to rest up as they would be needing him for more errands when the group decided to take action. It wasn't rest that Fiddlefaddle wanted, it was just to put his sore feet up. That was exactly what he was going to do.

Upon arriving to his room, he found a basin of hot water sitting at the foot of his favorite chair steaming and calling for him to put his feet into. "Brothers can be annoying at times, but sometimes..." he thought as he realized that Sneefle must have known he was back and would want to soak his feet.

Fiddlefaddle had just put his feet into the hot water and was starting to relax when he realized that he had not given the Dowager the item he had picked up on this last trip. He had been at an Outie meeting trying to gather "intel". When the meeting had ended, they announced that it was customary to give a prize to a randomly selected attendee. Now, Fiddlefaddle did not expect to be the one selected so when his name was called, it took him a minute to realize he was the winner. The prize was a small doll with some accessories! "This will be perfect for the Dowager's collection," he thought as he accepted the gift.

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

As he was thinking about getting up and unpacking his satchel where the prize was stored, his sore feet took over... "It can wait" they told the rest of his body. Smiling to himself, Fiddlefaddle nodded his head in agreement and decided. "What is another hour glass turn. It can wait... ," he thought as he wiggled his toes in the still hot water "before I give it to her. Aaaahhhhh!"

Confusion in Time...

5/28/2025

"It's nice to be home," thought Fiddlefaddle as he dug for his keys to open the doors to the mansion. "I am ready to put my feet up and just relax for a while." Alas, that was not to be...

Just as the Baron's BAT man was putting the key into the lock, the door swung wide open and there stood his boss, the Baron. "Don't get too comfortable Fiddlefaddle," he said. "Sneefle has already put a few things you will need into another travel bag and you don't have much time to catch the next Sonic Snail Express."

"This time you will be going west-wise to check out something that may help us in our troubles with the Dragons." Taking Fiddlefaddle's bag and handing him the new one with his instructions, the Baron quickly turned his BAT man around and started him back down the trail to the express station.

It all happened so fast, that Fiddlefaddle was already past the Mansion gates and was walking down the trail to the station before he even realized that he was now going in the opposite direction from where he had just come from!

As he neared the station, a thought occurred to him that made him laugh. When he had left from the east-wise location where he had just traveled to, they were eating dinner at the time he would have been eating breakfast at home.

Now he would be going west-wise and by the time he got to where he needed to go, they would be still having breakfast while he would have been eating dinner if he had been able to stay home... "Time in this world is so strange," he thought.

I am on...

5/14/2025

I am on an adventure. With everything that has been going on in the realm, the Baron is sending me on a scouting mission. He heard from Outies that there was a special convention of magical people meeting. It is said that they can create mystical characters out of mysterious things called medium. This medium can be either clay or fabric depending on the magical person's power.

I am hoping my experience here at this Outie's gathering will give me some clues or ideas that I can take back to the Baron. I wonder if I can convince these wizards that I too believe in magic. With their help maybe we can Shine the Light on that which we can use to aid us in our Dragon crisis.

Researching...

5/7/2025

Passporte' knew he needed to update his journal as there has been a lot of research and information he needed to jot down - especially regarding the Dragons.

With the Dragons returning that was reason enough to make a new journal entry, but with all the new developments such as the agents from SPICE, this new drink called 'Ambrosia', and the discovery of the World of Whispers, this was juicy gossip indeed!

When first opening his book of course it fell open to his favorite characters, the Brownies, that he has run across in his many travels.

No one could cook cookies like Granny Flare (nor keep a home clean).

Then Passporte' continued to turn the pages of his journal until he reached the section he had created about what he was learning about Dragons.

It was this last entry that he now placed in his book that gave him pause.

As he finished writing the last few words, he muttered to himself, "Yes, I need to do a lot more research regarding this Moon Dragon. I am hearing the words whispered in the winds too often, especially in regard to this Aralt character also. I think I will need to share a tankard of Tee-Hee Brew with him and see what he has to say. As a Herald to Dragons, he might say something interesting. Maybe this time I can out scoop Snoop and he will have to publish something I write on the cover of the Bellwether."

A Little Green...

4/30/2025

The three blue Wysps were not happy being trapped inside of a bottle. Not happy at all. Especially since all three were feeling a little ill. As a matter of fact, instead of glowing blue, they were starting to glow a sick looking greenish color. "I think I am going to be sick," one muttered as the other two tried to move away from him in the cramped space.

It all had started because Aralt was getting frustrated. He had walked all over and just could not find anyone who was by themself. Someone that he could take back to Siate' for questioning. "Doesn't any just go for a walk alone anymore?" he had grumbled. Then he passed the cave were he had seen Nutmegg and Allspice. "Is that laughter inside? Maybe I can nab someone here," he decided as he quietly snuck into the entrance of the cave. What he saw was something he had not expected!

"This stuff is good," slurred the first Wysp to the others. "We should take this back to share with the others," he continued. The other two Wysps just looked at him until one of them finally asked, "To share? You must be drunk." They all were quiet for a second before the three burst out laughing again. "You're right. What was I thinking? Let's have some more of this green stuff."

The Wysps had found the Ambrosia that Nutmegg had left out when they departed to the meeting with the Baron and Dowager. Leave it to a Wysp to get into something they shouldn't. It did not take much for Aralt to capture all three Wysps and put them into an empty bottle that he found in Allspice's kitchen. "This should keep Siate' busy for a while talking to them if not make her crazier," he snickered as he left the cave with the three little troublemakers trapped in the bottle.

It wasn't very long before the intoxicated blue Wysps started to get bored. Bored Wysps do what they like to do most - irritate anyone they find. With Aralt telling them to be quiet all of the time as he headed to the cave that Siate' was in, they decided to start singing. Actually, instead of calling it singing, it sounded more like cat-or-wailing (something that house cats do very well). Every time they would start, Aralt would violently shake the bottle to try and get them to stop.

This was now causing the Wysps to turn green as the Ambrosia and the shaking motion was not settling well together. One of the sick Wysps slowly sank to the bottom of the bottle and started gasping for air. "We need air... I think I am going to pass out," he groaned. All Aralt did was mutter something about maybe that will make the little nuisance quiet causing the Wysps to wonder who he was talking about since they hadn't seen any 'new-ances' anywhere.

There are a lot of cures out there for sobering up quickly but one the Wysps had never before experienced was being set before a large irritated and upset Wish Dragon...

Missing...

4/23/2025

It was Drat who first realized that Dree had been gone far too long. "I wonder what is keeping him," he thought. Soon he slipped out of the meeting and went down to the caves to check on Dree. Shortly he returned to the tea room and slid up to King Dulbbe and whispered in his ear.

"Sire, Dree is gone. I went to his cave and he is not there. I checked the area and finally found tracks in one of the side caves leading to the area of The Wishing Well."

It only took a second before Dulbbe calculated (being a bookkeeper before becoming the Troll King) what Dree may be up to and decided to send his chief minion out to find the missing Dragon. "I will let the others know, but do what you can to bring him back. We don't want Siate' or Aralt to find him first," he told Drat.

Again Drat silently slipped out of the tea room as Dulbbe started to make his announcement about Dree's absence. Soon he was out of the Mansion and traveling towards The Wishing Well. "I should get there first with this shortcut," Drat thought to himself. "What is that Dragon up to?"

As Drat was following one trail to The Wishing Well and Dree was on another, Aralt just happened to be in the area sitting on a log and resting his sore feet. "I have done more walking since Siate' has returned than I have in a hundred years," grumbled the Herald. "When this is over, the Dragons will come to me from now on." Rubbing his feet, he noticed a well in the distance and decided that he needed a drink. "And maybe there will be a bucket there I can soak my feet in," he hoped.

As Aralt walked to the well, it was Drat who saw him first. The rat was very good at not being seen when he did not want to be and quickly hid behind one of the giant mushrooms that grew in the area. As he watched Aralt draw up a bucket of water from the well and then take off his shoes and put his feet into it, Drat turned slightly green. "I must remember not to drink from that bucket ever again," he grumbled. "Augh!"

A Dragon's sense of smell is better than any other animal and Dree was a Dragon. He too could smell something that was not pleasant as he was nearing The Wishing Well and decided to approach with caution. As Aralt was facing the other direction, the Herald did not see the Dragon and was unaware that he was now hiding behind the bushes behind him.

"That stupid Dragon better show up soon," Aralt muttered loud enough for both his listeners to hear. "I'm getting tired of all this looking around and walking." Taking his feet out of the bucket, Aralt slipped his shoes back on, leaving the bucket sitting on the ground, and started back on his mission to find the Dragon or at least someone for questioning that he could take back to Siate'.

When he could no longer be seen, Dree left his hiding place and walked up to The Wishing Well. Picking up the bucket, he then proceeded to slosh the remaining water around in it and then poured it out on the grass. As he started to lower the bucket back into the well, he heard a voice behind him. "I don't know if you want to put that bucket back into the clean water of the well," said Drat.

Smiling to himself before turning around, Dree looked at his friend and asked, "What took you so long to get here?"

Pondering...

4/16/2025

As he was walking back to his cave, Dree mumbled, "What am I missing?" as he pondered what the Oracle had said. "To save us all?," he murmured to himself. The meeting was still going on in the Baron's Mansion with the others, but Dree needed a few minutes to himself to think without the others around.

He knew that somehow he would be the one having to make the final decisions about his kin, the Dragons. "To save us all," he murmurs again.

As he continued thinking about what the Oracle had said, he almost opened the bag IT was carried in to ask more questions. "No. I need to think this more on my own," he decided trying to wrap his Dragon brain about all that he had just learned. "We must first keep Siate' and Aralt from discovering the Wishing Well's importance," Dree knew. But there was something else in what the Oracle had said that made him uncomfortable. Something that was hanging just out of reach as he still had not quite grasped it fully yet. "It's tickling my brain so what am I missing?" he said out loud.

It was then he heard in his head a response. "Master, are you asking me a question?" the Oracle asked him. "How may I be of assistance?" A minute or two passed before Dree made his decision. "Yes Oracle. I need one more question to be answered. You say I went to the Sacred Tree to protect the realms but you did not say why it was necessary. What do you remember of that?"

After only a short delay, the Oracle telepathically responded. "Master, the Guardian of the Sacred Tree was perishing. You went there to help defend the tree. You must have been successful as we are all still here and you have returned." Dree thought about the response for a while. "Thank you. I will not be asking any more questions for now. Please disregard me unless I addresses you directly," Dree told the Oracle. "Very good Master," was IT's reply.

Dree now knew what had eluded him before. "To save us all," he muttered again as he started down the caves and back to the Mansion. "Since the Moon Dragon did not return, I must assume that something happened to him.

"He didn't fail because otherwise the Oracle wouldn't have said that we are all still here. But what happened to him that didn't allow him to return? I must talk to the others, but I think I know where we need to start," Dree decided. "The problem is I don't know what we need to do about Siate' and Aralt, especially if they unite the other Dragons against us." Arriving at the door connecting the caves to the Baron's Mansion, Dree stopped.

"I need to do something else first," he told himself as he turned around and headed for the cave exit that would take him closest to the Wishing Well.

The Questions...

4/9/2025

As Dree once again started to open the small pouch that the Oracle was in, most of the others waited to see what the Oracle looked like. King Dulbbe gasped when the Oracle was placed on the table for this was his first time to actually see it. He had only seen the Oracle before as an image displayed by the green orb in the Library of the Shadows' King when he was asking the orb about more information concerning the Dragon's return to the Realm of Wymsy. Before he could say anything though, Dree started to ask it his first question.

Dree knew that to the Oracle when he asked his questions he had to act as if he were Tun'Gul, it's creator and the only other Moon Dragon to have ever existed. The Oracle still was insisting that there was only one Moon Dragon and since there could only be one, Dree must really be Tun'Gul. "Greeting Oracle. I would like to ask you some questions to confirm events before we were separated and to test your recollections," said Dree. "As you have instructed, I have maintained the information. Inquire," answered the Oracle.

"Why did the Dragon's leave this Realm?" was Dree's first question. The Oracle spun on the table as it answered. "The Dragons did not like the restrictions that were being placed on them by Villagers. Their egg nests were being raided for the crystals created by the dragnets' hatchings. The Wish Dragons especially did not like their wishes being regulated by the Wish Dragon Clan. Since the Dragons are each independent and they do not have a ruler, they did not like being told what they could and could not do. The most powerful Wish Dragon who was left after the Moon Dragon disappeared attempted to become Queen of all Dragons. Your disappearance, Master Moon Dragon, was the final act that made the other Dragons seek a new home."

The answer regarding the Wish Dragon clan made the Dowager blush since she was one of the few remaining Dragon Clan members. "How could the clan not know that their actions were a reason the Wish Dragons left the realm," thought the Dowager to herself. "Now I understand there is even more dangers with Siate' returning," she mumbled under her breath. "Is Siante' the most powerful Wish Dragon the Oracle mentioned? What power would come to her as Queen of the Dragons?" Griselda pondered.

As the Dowager was thinking on how some of the puzzle pieces were starting to fit together, it was Dree's next question and the Oracle's answer that took her completely by surprise!

"When the Dragon's left, did they take the Nyte Shade's heart in the golden cage?" asked Dree. The Oracle paused for a second before answering. "As you hid the heart and cage in the cavern behind the waterfall, that is where it has stayed since your departure, Oh Wise One," replied the Oracle. Before anyone else could say a word, Dree quickly asked his next question. "Do you know where that cage could be found now?"

Again the Oracle paused, did the calculations, and then started spinning again with the estimate based on what it had seen in the present. "There is a high probability that it is near the place now called The Wishing Well that was built by the Shadows' King. The well is now the only source of water that is needed by the Dragons to keep their magic pure."

Everyone in the room was stunned. No one would have ever expected The Wishing Well to be a center of power in the Realm. Dree was the first to recover his wits and decided to ask one more question before returning the Oracle to the pouch he carried it in.

"Why did I leave you?" the Dragon asked. The Oracle did not delay this time in answering. "To save us all," was it's response. "As the only Moon Dragon, you went to the sacred tree to protect the Realms and did not return until now. I am glad you have found me and we are reunited again," said the Oracle.

Why not here???

4/2/2025

"I was thinking about something you said," Nutmegg told the Dowager Griselda. "You mentioned that you did not have mis-enchantments happening when the Dragons were here before. That made me start thinking, why? It happens everywhere else we have been." "That's a good point," added in Allspice. "What is here that keeps the wishes contained?"

Everyone was busy thinking about the question when the Baron finally answered. "Maybe because this is where the Dragon's started from?" he asked.

"We have discovered that a Nyte Shade, one of Queen Ffion's ancestors, gave her magic to a dragon and that is how Dragon's became magical." Now it was Nutmegg and Allspice's turn to be surprised as this was not known to them. "That might explain why Siate' came back and why Aralt was here," Nutmegg murmured to Allspice.

As the questions started flying around the room, Queen Ffion raised her hand and softly said, " Let me share with you the story about the Nyte Shade and the dragon." When she finished it was Nutmegg who asked, "Does anyone know where the small red stone in the cage is now?" No one could answer his question for it had never been seen by anyone in the room.

"I am glad that you all are here," Griselda realized. "For it must mean something. We certainly would have never gone down this path without what Allspice and Nutmegg had told us. Apparently there is something in this realm that affects the Dragon's magic making it more stable. What that something may be is still an assumption. But if the stone in the cage was not taken by the Dragon's when they left, then that could be a good reason why some of their mis-enchantments happen elsewhere as anything else. What we have to do is figure a way to find out more about the mis-enchantment issue. It might just be the key to both why the Dragons have returned and how to stop Aralt and Siate' from whatever their plan could be."

It was at this time that Fiddlefaddle entered the room with another unexpected guest. It was Lil' Boots! "Madam, Sir, I am sorry to interrupt, but I have someone who you may need to see. He says his name is Lil' Boots and he needs to talk to two of your other guests, Nutmegg and Allspice." Lil' Boots rushed right over to the two SPIs and quickly told them what he had overheard at the cave between Aralt and Siate'.

When he was finished, Allspice turned to the rest of the group and started to relay about Lil' Boots overhearing a conversation and how he rushed over to warn everyone about what Aralt was told to do. Finding out that Aralt was planning on abducting someone and take them back to Siate' for questioning did not make the others very happy.

"Thank you for the warning Lil' Boots and welcome back from the World of Whispers," King Dulbbe told him. "When this situation is over with the Dragons, we will do everything we can to help get you back to your home."

Lil' Boots was so surprised that as he stood there blushing all he could say was "Ahhh, shucks. Twasn't nothing. Glad to help."

As the Baron was giving Fiddlefaddle instructions to notify certain people in the Village of Wymsy about Aralt's mission so they could be ready for him, it was Dree, the Moon Dragon, who addressed the others. "We now have another question to ask the Oracle," said Dree. "We had better get started."

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