Of all of the intuitive abilities - the clear knowing is the strongest as Awena receives prophetic dreams and visions of future events.  She instantly knows which are true and which are not.  When she had met Hewy those many, many years ago, it had been a surprise to her as she had never had a vision of him before that day.  There were times afterwards, while she was serving as a novice in the Order, that she tried to see him in her visions but he was always cloudy and the dreams were never clear.  Only recently as she was trying a new higher order lesson to enhance her abilities did she start to understand why.

Awena had been thrilled back then to be asked to join the Order of the Sleeping Sisters because of her ability.  Her first task as a novice was working in the huge library so she could begin her studies of the Language of the Flowers.  She was surprised to also find that they not only had the Language of the Flowers but Sign Language, Ogham Letters, and the Ganome shorthand she had learned as a child. She soon learned that the flower language was slow (who knew that flowers didn't talk very fast), as compared to her Ganome shorthand. She started to explore the great library in her boredom.  It was during those explorations when she discovered the prophecy.  It was a very obscure reference to a time when a Wish Dragon would make a choice that could change the Realms and how a Troll would play a part in the balance.  Reading the prophecy reminded her of Hewy, so she read it again and again and again until she had memorized it.

"The Sleeping Sisters, were in the beginning, just four sisters that each had a unique ability," Parsley told Sprout.  "One sister had the ability of clear seeing. That is where she could see things in her mind.  Another sister had the ability to have clear feeling."

"What does that mean?" Sprout interrupted.  Before Parsley could answer, Cornelia replied, "That is where she could feel things.  Do you ever just act on a feeling but don't know why?"  Sprout could understand that as he often went with his gut feeling of things.  "Not that it always was right," he muttered to himself as he remembered the times when it sounded so good at the moment but turned into trouble later.

Little do they all realize, but this unique meeting could shape the entire future of both the Realm of Wymsy and the Shadows' Realm. ​

To celebrate International Fairy (we spell it Faery) Day, I decided to take you on a short tour of my faery garden.  Enjoy...

"​I don’t mind though since most of the time it takes me by the Sugarplum Bakery.  Have you eaten there?  I wished I hadn’t thought about that.  I’m getting hungry already.”

​Hewy just shook his head from side to side.  How could this sapling of a boy eat so much?  He had already gulped down a giant muffin!  “If I ate like him I would be as big as a Dragon,” thought Hewy.  As they continued on the trail, each deep in their thoughts about food, little did they realize that high overhead a bird was watching them.

Soon the Mushroom dwelling of Parsley appeared.   As the two entered the home Sprout hollered, “Mom...  I brought Hewy home to see you.  By the way, what’s for dinner?”  Again, Hewy with his usual frown on his lips, just shook his head  thinking about growing boys and their stomachs.

“Today in the village I had something strange happen.  A magpie dropped this flower at my feet and then just flew off.  I couldn't make heads or tails about what it was until Sprout told me it was a Pedal Post.  He says they come from the Sleeping Sisters and that you might be able to read it?  Can you?  I can't imagine why I would get one but I am curious to know what it might say."

“Yes Hewy, I can read the message and if it is intended for you I will tell you what it says.”

​Cornelia was a little startled to hear what Parsley had just said.  “What do you mean Parsley?  Where are we going?” she asked.

​“The Petal Post is indeed for Hewy.  The Sleeping Sisters are requesting that he come to them and we are invited as well,” she told the others. ​

​Both Cornelia and Efem agreed.  Soon the discussion began on how they would find the Sisters  since none of them had ever been invited there before.

​Hearing about a bird, Hewy quickly came out and told the others that it looked like the one that had given him the Petal Post.  The bird nodded its head once, then flew to a nearby tree.  As it watched the others, it would occasionally bob its head as if it was pointing to something.

​“I think it wants us to follow,” Parsley told the others.  Nodding its head now up and down, the bird flew to another tree further away and stopped to see if they were indeed following.  “What are we waiting for?  Grab your belongings folks and let’s see where the bird leads and yes, Sprout you can bring the the cookie jar.” 

​But Awena is finally ready to move forward into the next big stage of her transformation... the mold making process.

So, as she is drying out, I look back at the changes we have made to our yard.  Did you know that gardening has been one of the major activities that people have turned too in this time?  You could say that through this activity maybe we are rediscovering and reconnecting to our environment.  

​I have found this form of communication interesting and love how it was very popular in the Victorian age; especially between lovers and friends who wanted to send special messages secretly to each other.

Notice that Awena's eyes are closed because she is in a transidental pose, or meditation.  She is communing with her flowers even as we speak.  Hopefully she will put in a good word for me with the flower fairies... you think?

​With the Outies finally sprucing up the yard and finishing some badly needed infrastructure, the garden was looking pretty good indeed.  And what better way to celebrate than with a Gnome Race.  The King and Queen had decided it could be done with the right timing to keep themselves hidden from the Outies and still have their fun too.

Of course everyone would need to be invited and the event would have to be carefully planned.  The Gnomes certainly didn't want to catch the Outies watching them.  So spreading out the activities and events would certainly be the answer. 

Soon preparations were all made and the day of the Race was here.

​It was the frog!  What a leap of faith he had taken by jumping that greenery - hoping it would put him out in front of the race!  Seeing that the rest of the racers were well behind him, the frog racer thought for sure he would now win this race.

Bearing down upon the frog rider the rabbit and the squirrel racers were soon neck to neck and coming up fast right behind him.  They were just making it around the first judge's turn --making it too soon to tell yet who could win.

There it was - the red arrow marking the second turn.  As the racers flew past the second judge, the goose racer let out a large "honk" as if signaling to pass.  This, of course, the made the squirrel go a little nuts.  Which gave the rabbit the lead just by a hare (oops... meant hair) as they were racing down the last leg of the race course.  

As they turned the final corner,  they were surprised to see the frog racer not hopping to it anymore.  He had wore himself out from his last great leap!  He was toad-a-ly exhausted.  Quickly the rabbit raced past him, followed closely by the squirrel and then the goose (being goosed by his rider), leaving him in the rear.  But wait!  Where is the racing turtle?

Knowing that he could not outrun the others, he had found a shortcut and was almost at the finish line when the rabbit crossed first.  The turtle wasn't there to win... he was there to have a good time and be a part of the shell-ebration!

So off to the shell-ebration they went.  And like all great events, hare (here) today and gone tomorrow, or at least for another year.  

Isn't it fun to imagine what might be happening in your back yard when you are not there?

​Everyone knows that the Mushroom Line is the most reliable information chain in the Shadows' Realm especially since Parsley was appointed the Telegraph Master.  At the moment though the telegraph master was drinking tea and laughing with tears rolling from her eyes.  While Parsley was laughing, Efem was getting a little steamed.  She was not happy with the apparent lack of progress in finding the Wish Dragon and she wanted answers now!

"Parsley!  How can you sit there laughing when we have an emergency building?  What could be so funny that you would forget why we are even here?" Efem growled as she scowled at Parsley.  As Efem vented, Cornelia continued to sit quietly in the corner of the room, sipping her tea, knowing that something better happen soon or her sister was going to boil over.

Gasping for breath Parsley answered, "The mushrooms are telling me that we are going to have a stranger soon arriving. (Taking another deep breath.) Plus my son will be with him," Parsley slowly replied.

Efem turned to Cornelia to see if she understood and then turned back to Parsley - continuing to looked confused.  "What is Parsley talking about?" thought Efem.  Then there was a snicker and then finally Cornelia started to laugh out loud too.  Which only made Efem a little madder.  "What is it that I am missing?" she demanded from them.

"Don't you get it?  Hungry?"

At first Efem just looked at the two as if they were losing it... then the light came on.  The young Wish Dragon's name was Hungry...  Finally a small smile did appear as she just shook her head, wondering how she got stuck with a sister like Cornelia and a friend like Parsley.  Then as she joined in the joke knowing that she was indeed lucky, and feeling happy, she glowed even brighter. 

I was asked last week what was my favorite part of dollmaking.  Was it the painting, the sculpting, the costuming?  I had to say no... it wasn't any of those.  My favorite part is the inspiration.

She shared clues about her name with me pretty early on in our "connection".  Though I love some of the more colorful suggestions, I felt there was the option of only two but I just couldn't decide as to which one.  It was then when she told me that I did not have to choose as she was both.  Her name is Awena Buttorfleoge.

​It was a difficult choice for her to make in joining the guild as at the time she thought she had just met the person (more like the troll) she was to be with. But the Fates had another path she was to walk.  It is these little twists of inspiration that make the characters come to life for me!

This is where I enjoy the dollmaking - at the beginning of the path.  When they first awaken a spark of magic within me.  I want to then capture them and bring them to life, helping them to tell their story.  So as I keep working through all of their stages of transformation (much like the metamorphosis of a butterfly), they reveal to me a little more about themselves  - feeding my inspiration ​each step of the way.