On dragons and stories being told...

We have a sister blog for our writing, did you know that? You can find it at: http://magicdragonverse.blogspot.com/ The stories that are being uploaded there are often a collaboration between at least a couple of us, though it all started with Roger, and Waxy. Writing can be a lot of fun at times, and all three of us have had a blast with the magical companion dragons. In the stories, the human characters have our actual first names, and there are some similarities, but they're not really us...

Or are they? *G*

Below is Waxy dragon. She started out as a BB character some years back, kind of an alter-ego for Roger. He tells us it was just a joke at first to see how long he could get away with it. Waxy would 'swoop' into the BB to post something silly and wait for a response. No one knew it was him. Later on, when he 'fessed up', Waxy had become such a popular character, he began creating stories for her to star in. I got involved when I joined that BB, but I had known Roger for some years before that on another board devoted to books and writing, and so I played right into the fun. Those BBs have dissolved or moved on, but Waxy and her friends are still very much a part of our everyday life, and her universe has really grown. There are many stories involving Waxy right now (I think Roger told me recently around 60), and he is in the process of rewriting them to include a lot of the newer ideas and details we have added.


Waxy at this time is a 5 year old baby rainbow dragon, about the size of the average adult cat, with a rather long and graceful body, strong legs, and an expandable frill. She is playful and loves silly jokes, rolling in smelly roadkill, going on adventures, and especially craves dark chocolate. She doesn't like baths with rough scrubbing or soap that stings her eyes, being forced to eat Brussels sprouts, or being punished by watching boring politcial lectures on TV. Like all dragons she has a song, and her song somewhat resembles "It's A Small World" played endlessly, though dragons only hum and never sing the lyrics. She lives in The South of Somewhere Warm on the other side of a troll gate with Rusty, the not-so-famous otherworld adventurer and story idea writer, whom she calls Bubblehead because of the inflated and distorted way he usually appears to her (I'm sure it has nothing to do with his personality or intelligence). She also lives with 'her' beloved teddy bears, who have come to life and can talk and play with her.

Waxy and Bubblehead don't get along all that well at times, but then what child always minds and agrees with a parental figure? Waxy realizes that everyone knows Bubblehead is mean, nasty, stingy and irritable anyway, and that she is always a good girl who gets into some interesting circumstances, so no one blames her for occasionally misunderstanding a direct order because she got confused and excited, and was so busy she forgot what Bubblehead said. Waxy's favorite companions are Roger The Woodworker, who looks and acts like a kindly young Santa Claus (and is really Rusty when he is not covered in irritating fairy dust), and Lazlo dragon, who is her bestest friend in all the worlds. Oh, and she is rather fond of her Auntie Nancy too, but it might have something to do with all that superb Bulgosian dark chocolate Nancy seems to have on hand. Waxy is friendly and bold, and so she makes lots of friends wherever she goes. She has the most 'cattitude' of all the baby dragons, which means she never stays upset or embarrassed very long. Of course, everyone knows that cats actually descended from dragons, which are the highest form of intelligent life, and Waxy will make sure you don't ever forget that either. Waxy is a strong and acrobatic flier and she makes good use of the rotating lenses in the backs of her eyes, which allow her all kinds of interesting sight variations for special occasions like pitch black darkness and viewing magical item auras.

Waxy does have some special dragon skills. She can't make any flames yet, but she is capable of biting down with heat, or for short distances, huffing heat waves like a heat gun or hairdryer set on high. She has a bony diamond shaped knob on the end of her strong tail that she can crack like a whip. She can talk to and understand any creature or thing capable of language, and there isn't a lock made that she can't pick. She is a very courageous and adventuresome little girl who has traveled through portals in time and space to fight monsters or escape from evil beings, and still comes home to sleep in her crib on a pile of toys every night.

Waxy appears as a special commentator on Lee's ezine http://www.thefreechoice.info/ where she often shares her ideas as well as her best jokes, which are generally the ones that wound up in the dumpster wrapped around the fish bones...




Above is Lazlo, he is the companion of the witch Nancy, who lives some distance off the magical highway called The Elsewhere, in The Northeast of Somewhere That Has Four Distinct Seasons and a Special Season For Road Construction. Lazlo is a registered dragon familiar, which means he is licensed with the Council of Wise Wizards and Elite Enchantresses as a creature having been trained to work with a magic maker, but he was not exactly at the head of his class, if you understand what I am getting at. Lazlo is about 3 years old, brilliant shining blue above and soft deep green below, and he is about the size of a half grown kitten. He has sharp little horns on his head and dorsal ridges down his back to the tip of his multi spiked tail. Lazlo's large paws and small body make him very agile, and in spite of his language difficulties, he is quite bright, if a bit exciteable.

Besides Nancy - whom he calls Mama Tap Tap, Lazlo lives with her cats, which vary from 3-5 throughout the stories written so far. They all live in a big green house at the base of a thickly wooded hill, on a road that goes nowhere and has been long since forgotten. The secluded and magically protected enchanted place they live in has fairies, sprites, wood elves and gnomes and it is guarded by the howling 'hush now puppies' which are the fierce and protective guardians of the cardinal points of their world. They just look like cute little lap dogs, they are really fearsome killers - no we mean that! Lazlo and Nancy's private world is attached to another one where she does some of her more secret witch-type work as well as some writing, and that other world has a ruined castle keep and a prison for evil beings and dangerous creatures, as well as a wilderness sanctuary for rare unicorns and an inland sea inhabited by mermaids and mermen. It's very hard to reach because you have to know the secret password and be able to get through all the booby traps in the armory closet, but I can't tell you all that stuff now and so you will have to read the stories if you want to know the details.

Lazlo is a hybrid between a flaming and a hoarding dragon, so he does breathe fire and makes big untidy nests of found objects that he guards jealously. He tends to collect his versions of treasure, which usually include paper clips, foil wrappers, old keys, marbles, chicken bones, broken jewelry, plastic beads, bits of colorful ribbon and string, and whatever other interesting trinkets he can find that the Lost Sock Fairy doesn't claim first. He has the ability to flame as well as make fireballs and smoke rings. He can fly well and is very fast, but not always accurate, and he gets tired over long distances. Lazlo loves to dance, and with his big feet and sticky paw pads, he can climb walls and windows to dance on the ceiling if he wants to.

Lazlo also has a few special talents. He can imitate any sound he has ever heard, though with language, he often doesn't understand what he is saying. His hearing is very acute, and he can hear things no one else can - if a dust mite's ghost in the next world sneezes, Lazlo will hear it and say "bless you". No dragon writes, but Lazlo has a special voice-to-text program that allows him to work on the computer and read and send emails. He is learning spellwork so he can assist Nancy in her witchy business, and he is very charming and honest and so is well liked even by those who might have started out as enemies. He is loyal, hardworking, and dependable to all the people he cares about, which is just about anyone and everyone he has met (except Kiri dragon, but that's another story). Lazlo's bestest friend in all the worlds is Waxy, but he smooches and cuddles with anyone who is friendly and has warm arms and lots of pepperoni.

Oh yes, Lazlo craves pepperoni all the time. He doesn't like Brussels sprouts either, and he is not fond of many vegetables. His dragon song sounds a lot like "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". He also has a fondness for crickets (mostly in omelets or bowls of dragon chow) but will eat just about any bug or worm he can catch. He is particularly fond of the pretty garden fairies, who tell him which bugs he can eat and sing him the sweetest songs he has ever heard.

Lazlo has posted on a couple of BBs online, but he has primarily been a story character, guest starring in the Waxy tales and starring in some of his own.

This is master Shen Chao. He is an wise and venerable elderly dragon who is centuries old, and very powerful. He is the Keeper Of Keys and Warder Of The Curious Cabinet, where dangerous beings, beasts and artifacts are kept under secure circumstances. Within the cabinet, Shen Chao's magical ability allows him and those things he guards to remain in a miniature state so that they can be contained and studied. In his home world, which was destroyed except for that small part with the castle that Nancy uses as her writing retreat, Shen Chao is an extremely large and long-bodied Oriental-style dragon. Most of the time though he spends napping, or as he puts it, "Thinking very deep thoughts with my eyes closed and body very still."

Shen Chao is still a developing character, but we know that he does have some certain abilities. He does not fly but can 'cloud walk' through the sky if he is in his full size. He can also render himself invisible. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of magic and history, and Nancy and others will sometimes consult him for advice. Shen Chao is totally unaffected by any magical spells or the charisma of those who seek power over others. He has no special food or song, but all foods and music are his favorites - he will even eat Brussels sprouts!





The white dragon is Ambrose, who is the familiar companion of the Countess Gina Jardinere-Duval von Stuart, the most powerful woman in the stories. Ambrose is a frost dragon, a very rare creature who prefers an arctic climate. As you see him now, he is either completely discharged or in a place that is uncomfortably warm for him, because his eyes are dull and the inside of his mouth and underparts are bright pink. If he is fully charged or comfortably frigid, his eyes and those other body parts would be a light, bright blue. Ambrose doesn't breathe fire, he belches out a frozen mist that can be anything from a light frost to the instantly freezing vapors of liquid nitrogen. He is well-trained and will appear to be polite and courteous, though he can also be coldly haughty and has a mocking attitude toward his peers. Ambrose is about 8 years old, and is the size of a large cocker spaniel. His favorite food is ice cream, the richer the better, and as far as a song, whatever he hums sounds very much like "White Christmas". He is also a developing character.





Kiri has become fairly well established in the stories, and is having a few adventures of her own. She is the rather unwilling dragon companion of the character Lee, who up until he met Nancy and her friends, had no idea dragons, wizards, witches and their lot actually existed. Kiri is bright ruby red, about the size of a beagle, and she is about 7 years old. She is long-bodied and tall for her age, with elegant limbs and claws. Kiri is a fire gel spitting dragon, and she can alter the composition of her gel so that it can be timed. Fire gel floats on water as well as ignites on land and in air.


Personality-wise, Kiri can be a real trial. She has a superior attitude and she can be caustically witty to just plain mean-spirited. She also has a hot temper, but she is very loyal to those she respects and cares about. Her background is a mystery, because she was left to Lee by an anonymous mage with no more than a note begging him to care for her. As far as special talents, she is very good with numbers and word guessing games, though like most dragons she doesn't write. She is also a master at chess and is not above playing poker with Nancy's bedmonsters. Kiri looks down on the younger dragons, and she detests Lazlo, though she enjoys the hero worship she gets from Waxy. Kiri's favorite food is caviar, and her song sounds very much like "Ride of the Valkyries" by Wagner.




This little red guy is Sneetch, he is a dragon orphan that bonded with Nancy's grandson Ben. Sneetch is just a year old, and about the size of a blue jay. Mischievous and fun-loving, he is always getting into trouble. Sneetch is a gas dragon, which means that instead of breathing fire, he belches or otherwise emits (use your imagination here...) very smelly and obnoxious choking odors that can drive away entire armies. If he concentrates hard enough, Sneetch can even make a reeking fog or smokescreen. Sneetch hero-worships Lazlo, and follows him around, driving his older friend crazy with questions and silly jokes. Sneetch loves knock-knock jokes, the sillier the better, and he has a very infectious giggle. He also loves tummy rubs. Sneetch's favorite food is peanut butter, and his song sounds very much like "Down By The Station". I predict Ben and Sneetch will be having some interesting adventures of their own. Ben is in the kindergarten grade of Elementary Magic School, and so he and Sneetch are growing up and learning together.

Golden colored Glimmer's story is a very sad one. She is a metal-smithing wizard's forge dragon who has been passed down or willed to new mage every time she has outlived her previous position or companion. The constant turnover of companions has left her quite melancholy and shy. She is a soft spoken, gentle, well behaved, dutiful, and highly trained creature with a faraway look in her eye and a real air of sadness about her. Glimmer came to Nancy as a temporary companion until the witch could find a good home for her with a magical metalworker. The story has to be written yet, but Nancy does succeed in finding her two metal working companions, who desperately need each other and a reason to go on with their work. Glimmer is one of the few companion dragons who has bonded with a human couple rather than a single person.

Glimmer does not breath fire but she exudes heat all over her body, and can direct it into magical items, weaponry, artifacts, charms, jewelry and talismans to meld the magic and harden or soften the metals. She can make and unmake things, but the unmaking is a very difficult process that sends her into a suspended state. That is how she outlived her last companion, who was elderly and had no heirs. In a time of war and the seige of their homeland, he and Glimmer went into hiding, and she was forced to unmake something dangerous to keep it out of enemy hands. She slept for the rest of his natural life, and was passed to Nancy once she awakened and realized she was in Council care and that her human had passed on decades ago.

Glimmer is about 10 years old and she is the size of a full gown bald eagle. She has not reached her teenage growth spurt yet because she has slept so much that her physical age has not caught up with the amount of years she has been alive. Her song sounds very much like the medieval ballad "Greensleeves". Her favorite food is cheesecake, the sweeter and richer, the better. All of her energy goes into metal forging, but if she concentrates she can produce a jetted stream of flame for defense or lighting fires. She can also make herself too hot to handle for short periods of time. Glimmer is the biggest of the baby dragons so far, and is fairly hefty for her age, though the body bulk is important for the type of work she does. She is one of the safest dragons to have in the house because she has a real respect for fire and virtually no temper. Her hearing and sense of smell are not as good as the other dragons. She has actual ears and no neck frill, and her scent ability is dulled. Those are specialized adaptations to being a forge dragon, since the noise of metal working is very hard on sensitive hearing and the vapors of hot materials are very distracting. Her eyesight is much more acute than average though, and she can not only see magic auras, but can categorize them into gradations of shade as well as colors.

Chica is the newest of the companion dragons, and I know less about her story than the others. She tells me she is a gypsy dragon, and often worked the crowd at the gates of carnivals, festivals, and marketplaces. She is about Kiri's age (7) though shorter legged and heavier in the body. Happy-go-lucky and upbeat, Chica is one of the few dragons who doesn't mind being passed from mage to enchantress as a working companion. For her, it is all about the job. She is no nonsense and not afraid to tell it like it is, and she is very unimpressed with the fancy breeding and tastes of some of her peers. Chica loves all hot and spicy foods, but beanless burritoes and chili are about her favorite. She will dump on the hot sauce because no one makes it as hot as she can handle it. Her song sounds very much like "The Macarena" interwoven with excerpts of "The Mexican Hat Dance", "Tequila", "Zorba The Greek", "Tijuana Taxi" and "La Bamba". If it's got a beat, Chica will dance to it.

Chica is a illusion dragon, she can produce small bursts of flame but her primary talent is glowing a shimmering light that is confusing and hypnotic. She is an excellent dancer and can mesmerize entire crowds with her snakelike wriggling and booty-shaking manuevers. Chica's dancing will make you see what you want to see, and for everyone that is different. The harder she dances, the better the illusions, and the more entranced her audience. Like Waxy she is a rainbow dragon, but instead of stripes, her colors are in patches that shift all over her body, heightening the hypnotic effect. Fiesty and scrappy when angered, her temper blows over quickly. Chica is generally kind hearted and is a real big sister figure to the younger dragons, though she is also Glimmer's best friend and confidant.

Chica's place in the stories is not set yet, but she will definitely have some adventures of her own. I am toying with the idea of having her live with a bellydancer who is an enchantress and illusionist - sort of a Mata Hari in bells and veils. We'll have to see how that works out.

Those are the companion dragons we have so far. I am sure there are others out there just waiting to be discovered. Roger, Lee and I have been kicking around the idea of having a big joint story where the dragons all work together to save the day. What an interesting tale that would be, with all these special talents and abilities!

Did I mention writing these stories is a lot of work, but it sure is fun? LOL. You would not believe how many times one of us has turned to the other and said something about how a particular dragon would react in some place or situation we as writers were experiencing. Many of our conversations and emails revolve around dragon story ideas. It's a pleasant obsession.

If you like what you read here, get out to that other blog http://magicdragonverse.blogspot.com/2009/08/familiar-name.html and read what is there, you will enjoy it! And leave us a comment, we love feedback.

Model Railroading

Railroading

Over the week, I got nearly everything, except for some debris, out of the train room. My brother came over today for the first time in years. Our main thing was to get a feel for what we had, what we needed, and what we should do next.

One project between now and next week, is to locate tools we are going to need to do the work at hand. I have to locate the soldering iron and the palm sander first thing. We can lay some track with those on hand.

The soldering iron is to solder the rails of the track sections together, and to solder wires to the tracks. The palm sander is for the cork road bed. We glue down the cork first, then we use the sander to even it out, to make it smooth. Then we glue the tracks down to the cork. Our last act is to use a track gauge and super glue the rails into gauge so they are not going to move out of gauge. It is not uncommon for rails to lean in or out or get loose. That can cause derailments. No one wants that. Super-gluing the rails into gauge solves that problem. This is a PERMANENT railroad layout.

My layout is built with ATLAS SNAP TRACK SWITCHES. These are thought of as really cheap switches. We found that once fixed in gauge, they are excellent switches. We also like the snap motors that go with them. They look nothing like anything in the real world, but they are nearly idiot resistant and very easy to get working.

Years ago, my brother installed slow motion under table switch motors. It took a couple hours to install each one and he never could get them working right.

I found I need to look at the contents of the bins beneath the switch yard and also empty a couple shelves there. I have no idea what all that stuff is.

My brother will aim for coming over every Wednesday, but there will be days it won't happen. He is an independent contractor and many times works real late at night. If that happens, he won't be coming over.

My brother pointed out that I left off a crossing switch in my drawing from the inner loop of the layout and the outer loop.
In the accompanying picture, show how my railroad layout developed.
I saw a model railroad layout in a hobby shop, using MARKLIN products, which is made in Germany. I loved the railroad layout. I drew it up, making a few changes, and purchased the track. My brother built the layout for me. For those not into trains, a Run-a-round is a way for an engine to get to the other end of a car, or string of cars. They run around them.
The second picture is what I came up with for my design with the modifications. I considered this to be the perfect model railroad layout, better than anything I had ever seen in a magazine. We had one track coming off the outer oval to leave the 4x8.
The third picture shows modifications we made to the layout just before we stopped model railroading. We added a switch to the outside of the outer oval to create a run-a-round. WE can now turn our trains around so they can push or pull off the layout as needed. This made the best railroad layout I have ever seen, even better.

That is what happened this week. Will see what happens over the coming week.

All kinds of little joys...

Monday my mother and I had doc appointments in the AM, follow ups on last weeks routine bloodwork. I am happy to report we will both live a while longer. *s* We stopped at the big box chain in the area and after my necessary shopping was done, I ran down to the craft department and grabbed a couple of things. We dropped Ma off at home, and then Lee and I had to run out to a local mall to one of the pet supply chains to get some high potency flea treatment for one of the carpeted rooms. It's been a bad year for fleas on the fur kids, and we've had an ongoing battle here with them. I think we are winning, but not without a fight...

Anyway the mall where that store is located also has a craft store! *GASP* How convenient! You'd think I planned it that way! *G* So after a a stop at a computer and electronics place to buy the SO something for our upcoming anniversary (can't say what - big secret), I did a bit more craft shopping.

Some of the stuff to the right is from Big Box, mostly the bottom beads and the seed beads in the middle. The rest came from the craft store. Yeah, there is a difference in price, but the craft store has a better selection. I have crochet cotton, but not that color blue, and needed it for the mermaid doll, who up till then had been topless. Thought about giving her the side-drilled shell beads as a bikini top but they were kind of... risqué looking. The white and blue glass 'pearls' are for a crown in her hair, I just liked the blue glass ones that are translucent. I will give her a necklace too, mermaids love treasure. Maybe a bracelet as well. Seed beads and gold or silver thread are good for that. The brass heart was on sale, marked down to 39¢. I am thinking Christmas ornament with something crocheted around it, I have a star and a moon like that.

Below is the rest of that haul. Except for the silver tone chain, it's all from the craft store. The findings are both copper, and I saw the pendants (they were on sale) and had to have them. SOOOO pretty! I need an omega or neck wire, the bottom one is heavy and will make a chain droop. I saw the feather/leaf pendants and thought, "Earrings!" That's why I grabbed the sparkly green and gold lined E beads, figuring I have other larger beads here to intersperse with them. I'm seeing a lot more copper jewelry findings now. I wear copper now and then, though I am primarily a sterling silver gal.






Lee is always my patient partner in crime, and he generally drives the getaway car. *G* He likes crafts and thrifting too, but I let him go into one of the stores alone and hunt for more baseball cards. We had a quickie lunch at a fast food joint, and then headed onto the highway. On the way back home, we got off a couple towns away from mine where there is a small strip mall that has a thrift shop. You know me and my thrifting by now, I always find something.

I like good looking tins for storage, but don't usually buy what is inside them. Got this one for craft supplies because of the upright shape and the Peter Rabbit pictures. The three Corelle dessert bowls are not my color or pattern, but they were 99¢ for all three and we don't have many in that size anymore. I never have enough spoon rests, and that one is small, which is nice in my space-cramped kitchen, and plastic is great because my mother is one of those unfortunate people who gets the 'dropsies'. Less than $3 worth of stuff there.



I crochet, but haven't learned to knit - yet. I have been collecting old needles for a while though, figuring it is cheaper that way. I could not pass up this (it was bagged) bundle for $3.99, my big splurge of the day. About 2/3 of them were matched, though a lot of the plastics had taken a 'set' and were a bit wonky looking. Note there are some afghan hooks in there as well as most of a hairpin lace tool. I can have someone make me a wooden base for it, and it will be useable. The unmatched needles go in a flat owl vase on the office windowsill until they find a mate. I liked the little curio box because it is made to hang on the wall. Another place for some of my tinier collectibles.




Thrifting is not only good economics but most of the shops I frequent support charitable groups and their work. So I am giving back to the community with each purchase. And, what is in the shop is not taking up space in a landfill. That makes me feel a lot better about what I bring home. *S* In fact, the OH and I agreed that we really couldn't afford a vacation on our anniversary this year. When he asked me what I wanted to do instead, I said, hey, let's hit a bunch of thrift shops and make a day of it. There is a restaurant supply place a drive from here that sells used small wares that I enjoy browsing through (I love to cook and bake too) and we will hit that first, and then backtrack to several of the bigger city charity thrifts. Then maybe have an early dinner at one of the buffet places. He liked the idea, and I can't think of a better way to spend the day.

Did a lot of housekeeping today. During one of my breaks I sat down and threw these earrings together. Those are the leaf/feather pendants you saw above (they are some sort of plastic) and the E beads I bought as well as the copper eye pins and fish hook findings. The other beads I have had for a while, and just had to pore through the box for them. Don't look too closely at the bottom join, it needs a crimp bead or tube, but they are wearable and hang almost to my shoulders. I have long hair, so I think they will show nicely. Green is my favorite color BTW. I think they came out pretty good!

I have a storage tip for you for all these little bitty craft supplies that makes use of something most people wind up tossing. When I open those little bubble packs and baggies that things like beads come in, they are often wrecked beyond reuse. We have several people here on prescription meds and so pill bottles tend to pile up. I rinse them out to remove any medication traces and get rid of the labels (some peel right off and others need soaking or scrubbing with 91% isopropyl alcohol) and then dry them and reuse for all my itty bitty craft supplies. Things stay organized and accessible, but they aren't easy for little fingers to open and spill all over creation. They can be relabeled too, which is nice if you have lots of stuff like I do. LOL Hey, and you're saving the planet at the same time, what could be better? Oh, and if you make stuffed animals, a pill bottle with a good fitting lid and some beads, stones, or jingle bells inside makes a good 'rattler' noise if you bury it in the stuffing. A lot safer than some things I've seen.

See, you even learned something today by reading the blog! *G*

This is the latest crochet project in all her glory, The Ugliest Little Mermaid. Actually, she doesn't look that bad, I'm just not happy with her face. The nose I sewed on using the same yarn her flesh is made from, but split from four plies to two. It's just a bump, but that's enough. The mouth is the second attempt with embroidery floss, I had to cut the first one off because it looked weird and would not tease back out. This one is OK. The eyes are floss too, a French knot for the center and I tried to chain stitch around it. I might do more work on them tonight.

Her bandeau bikini top is the blue crochet cotton thread you saw above. I went by memory of her tail color (didn't think to bring a yarn sample) and it's not that far off. I kind of winged it, making the two discs for the 'cups' and slip stitching them together, and then made the band to go around. It slipped up over her tail and hips, and fits snug enough to stay in place, but it is removable. I have no experience working in thread, and hadn't ever used my set of steel hooks so this was a maiden attempt. I think it came out OK. I used a size 4 (American) steel if you are wondering.

That's the back below. Working on that and the face taught me one thing - I need better lighting! Time to get that Ott Light I bought last spring set up.



Next, after I do something about her eyes (maybe lashes would help) she gets all decked out in her jewels and then she is finished, Hmmm, maybe someone will get her for Christmas this year, I wonder who????? *BEG*