toadstooltales

I left the toadstool early this morning,when the world was still in darkness and repose, as I had an appointment with the faery Physio at 9.00. Pendragon accompanied me as far as my little red four wheeled motor carriage,planted a shower of kisses on my ever so ready lips,and then headed off into the darkness to find his way to the tram stop.He was off to work, but won't be home tonight. He is travelling to Inner Beesneckie to meet with some other Consultant Healers to discuss new and innovative remedies to try with patients to accomplish healing. Pendragon is a fine healer and an accomplished speaker, so I am sure his deliberations will be put across with feeling and considerable integrity.
He will be home tomorrow ready to take Lobelia Drive by storm and make me one of his famous pasta deliciacies - famous for the unusual ingredients he finds and the amazing amount of flavour he seems to be able to create. There was real warmth and passion behind his embrace today which really set me up for my physio appointment.

Lystrata my present physio, has been working out sets of exercises for me to increase the rate of my right leg healing.My right leg is about 90% better but the calf muscle is still very weak. I don't really notice until I lean more heavily on it or try to effect a balance of some sort. Then it lets me know very quickly that it would rather I sat down, or shoved the weight back on the other leg, by caving in and forcing me to grab some nearby prop to avoid keeling over. I do feel I am doing well though, and every week seems to mark up some obvious improvement.It has taken quite a long time, twelve weeks in fact, just to get this far. February, Nature willing, should see me completely renewed and ready to gambol with the lambs of March.

My appointment only lasted twenty minutes so I wished her a cheery farewell and headed off to nearby Bissnobbinto for a morning's shopping and parchment search. Bissnobbinto sits about six miles away from Dingley Dell, to the West,and is partly in the country,but also like Dingley, has a border to the open Big Water. It is as quaint as Dingley, with four churches of ancient origin,several ruined chapels, equally historical, a small street of mercantiles, several estates of toadstools surrounding the centre, a Town Hall, and some fine eating establishments hidden among the tall spires. I love to wander there, unknown to almost everyone, to buy a few provisions at the market, sit in the window of the teashop/ art gallery which goes by the name of The Scabby Hedgehog, where I write my letters, jot down my thoughts, or plan my next expedition. They make a mean onion and sweet potato quiche,and steaming bowls of sweetcorn and pepper soup. A great place to be on a cold day, when the rest of the world fails to hold your attention.

I returned from there at five, clutching more shopping bags than I had intended to collect and just made it to the woodland phone in time for Pendi's call. He sounded merry, and I made him laugh, so happy was I to hear his voice. We talked for a while,sharing our day, and talking of our plans for the weekending. We have to choose a place for our Betrothal Holiday after the ceremony. Pendragon has narrowed the choices down to eight wonderful spots in our favourite city, Gaelicianna.
A long boat journey away, we will sail to its coast ,and travel by railcar to its centre. There we will enjoy seven days and nights of married bliss before returning to Lobelia Drive as Dr. and Mrs. Willow.

I am not sure how much being married will change things. All I know is that he is the Only One for me. Our life together is wonderful already, being married will just add more sugar to the compote.

Tomorrow I spend the morning in Brigantia, and am lunching at the Jolly Woodman at two. Changes are being made at the Community Radio Station and our Programme Controller Syncopatius Timpo has called a "Coffee Meeting" there to tell us all the good/bad news. Everyone has been talking in low tones for the past three weeks as to what changes might be involved. Some of the suppositions are wild- the studio is moving into the Bleak Castle, Dingley's oldest building- that the Station is going to be run as a commercial venture- we'll all lose our presenting jobs and have to reapply - the Committee are all leaving- and so on and so on..........
I am trying not to think about it. I am sure nothing very audacious is happening, but we will know when we know, and I am happy to wait till then. I love my Radio Show and have thrown enormous energy into it, but if difficult times are coming, I'll cope or diversify. Hopefully past glories will help to see me through.

So bring Friday on, my dear friends, with its rollercoaster of emotions and its rippling waves of change. We must take what life sends along with our sense of humour primed and our senses ready to absorb the new or altered. It's a new day. Live it, love it and dance with the flow.

From Amarantha, the Rainbow Faery,- from Flowerpot Cottage,her home at number five.

Saturday was such a cold day, but undaunted, I was up with the lark. I checked my orders on my e-picture box, and dressed myself with great style as I was meeting Pendragon at the Buttercup Bistro for lunch. We had decided on the woodland phone last night that we would have a special Saturday together. We have been so busy lately with the Winterfest and New Year coming that time seems to have been solely reserved for others.That is just as it should be but it was now time to rectify that situation. We were going to have lunch, then stroll along the harbour path,sit beside the Lifeboat Terminus,stroll back ,then return home to sit on our gorgeous leather settee. Munching oatmeal munchies,while watching the afternoon black and white cinematic romantic extravaganza was to be our next treat. Pendragon wouuld make one of his fantastic pasta delicacies at six, then we could settle down for another kiss and cuddle over some evening picture box delights. It was a gorgeous day, time to talk, time to reminisce, and time to remind each other why we are so close,and why our betrothal ceremony in May will bring us even closer.

Today is the rainiest Sunday we have had for some time. We were going to go out for a coffee to the Jolly Woodman this afternoon,but it is still pouring.So i have settled down in the Blue Room to sort out some paperwork, answer my e-box messages, and reflect on my plans for the New Year. I do hope to expand the used parchment business. I hope to expand my acting and artistic pursuits, continue my writing for the Daily Scandal, and also improve my fitness levels prior to our May celebrations. The Faery Dressmaker has half-finished my betrothal gown and it looks stunning already. I become more excited about it all,whenever I see it. Dark red shimmering satin, delicate silver embroidery on the bodice, neatly fitted in all the right places, full skirt from waist to tippy toes, I just feel like a goddess from Avalon when I slip it over my shoulders. I have now found the perfect slipperettes to match the colour of my gown and pretty underwear to match. This month we will design and order our invitations, and prepare them for sending out to friends and family by the end of the January frost.
I also need to visit our chosen betrothal place and organise flowers for tables and the ceremony desk.
I am hoping to find a sweet harpist or cello master to provide the musical background for the ceremony itself. My carriage is ordered, and the feast just requires some final decisions.With every day that passes my heart rises at the thought of such an important change in my life. I will be Mrs. Pendragon Willow officially. We do love each other so much, and are so pleased that we found each other in the middle of our lives. We both had good, interesting lives before we met, high flying careers and many absorbing interests, but finding each other has shown us both what we were missing out on with our solitary existences. Having someone to come home to, someone to cook and clean for, move around the dust cleaner for, someone to hold and cherish , someone to make plans with, someone to share the loveliest of times with. - has mellowed us both,and added greatly to the successes in our lives.

We look towards the future with a sense of adventure, and the happiest of feelings.

I want to put some of my knitwear designs up for sale on the e- box. It would complement my used parchment sales and offer me a further outlet for my abounding creativity. This is one of the reasons why I finished my job at Dingley Dell Academy early, to give me the chance to pursue my interests and a few of my dreams. The parchments are selling relatively well,and the knitwear line would allow me to extend into another sales area. I am designing mainly for small girl and boy sprites just now,and have 80+ items available. I just need to make them available online. So busy has become my middle name.
My day is designed around whatever pressing thing has to be done. Somehow it all comes together at the end of the day.
Tomorrow, (Monday) I have to travel Brigantia wards to see Allybally Drillhammer, the tooth Technician. It is just for a seasonal checkup, so we have to hope no outstanding work needs to be done on my elven molars. I will seek out one or two of my parchment selling haunts before returning to Dingley for my afternoon Community Radio Show. I will prepare for this tonight ,choosing some fine laid back tracks from crooners of distinction. I have a guest lined up for tomorrow's show - local jewellery designer and entrepreneur, Biffaty Snorkstone, who promises to keep us all right on the new trends in ornate items for the coming months.

I can smell Pendragon's cooking wafting up from downstairs. A fine meal is surely in store for the evening ,and in the meantime maybe I can persuade him to make me an aromatic latte and warm up a mincemeat tart. Homemade ,of course.

Much love and motivation to you all ,my dearest friends. May the New year be bringing you employment abounding, and good times galore. May you be inspired to follow your star, and make the most of all your abilities.
From sweet Amarantha, nose pressed to the rainy glass, the Rainbow Faery from Lobelia Drive. Fifth Toadstool, of course.

A much more beautiful day today. It started chilly but warmed up in the afternoon as I strolled round Brigantia in my search for used parchments in extra specially good condition. I had quite a few sales over the Winterfest period so have some shelf space to be filled. The town was not very busy and the grey sky gloomily dominated the environment, but I felt strangely cheerful as I strolled the high street and back streets for some new shelf fodder.
It is a New Year and there are so many reasons to be cheerful. I have lots of plans and some challenges to set myself before too long. my fitness regime needs to be raised a level or two as we approach the Willow nuptials. I do so want to be in the best possible shape for my beloved. May must see me in tip top condition,top to toe, a little tighter everywhere ,a little slimmer in some places. I have begun with more walking and some yoga classes,and intend to add a couple of gym days per week to step up the overall effectiveness of my fitness plans. My resolve iis strong at the moment,so my tiny slipperette are crossed that it will maintain for the next five months anyway.
My good friend, the E- box expert, Thessalonicus Timberwolf, called today,exactly at eleven. Wally ,our clever house cuckoo, was just retreating from a timely soft shoe shuffle on the hour,when the doorbell rang. There he stood, tall and tanned, long grey locks flowing, smile as wide as the Dingley Dell harbour,and eyes as smokey as the kipper barns of Sminggonell.Sometimes it can be quite worthwhile having a dodgy e-box just to catch a glimpse of those peepers, as long as the fault only occurs at a time when business is slow. He is charming as well as being full of complicated utterings about the insides of e- boxes. We always chat while he fixes the problem, and have solved most of the faery world's pressing problems on the last two occasions we have spoken. He makes me laugh, and makes me feel less foolish about my lack of knowledge about e-box matters. I made him an acorn decaff.latte with two cherry biscuits on the side. and he thanked me graciously. He explained the inner workings of my e-box memory to me, and waved me goodbye at twelve. I won't tell him how little I remember about it,as his explanation probably was as simple as he could make it.It's just that e-box details don't stick very easily in my creative elven brain. My e-box is now working most efficiently thanks to Thessalonicus's fine tuning, that's all that matters.
Pendragon called at seven. He is working late in Metropolis tonight at the Infirmary. Some of his Staff are suffering from the winter snuffles and on prolonged sickness sabbaticals, so he has had to offer his services to fill the spaces on the overnight schedule. I do worry about him when he is away. Not for any good reason,I think I just like worrying about him. It is part of caring for him and loving him. I hope he also got himself a decent meal as well. Infirmary food seems to be suffering as much as the patients there sadly. Maybe I should send him in on the tram with food parcels or sandwiches on these occasions,but I think the tram driver might object to the smell of freshly smoked peat salmon and onion and garlic hummus on his early morning run.
I've been working most of the day and evening cataloguing my purchases today. Ten fine parchments on various subjects to add to my stock. Hopefully buyers will soon be flocking to enjoy their charms.i love my life. I love my work.

Lots of laughter in your daily life , I hope, is taking you through the early days of 2009. The benefits of a good long chuckle cannot be underestimated. Stay warm, stay inside. Till the call of warmer temperatures draws you into the light.

From Amarantha Willow, the Rainbow Faery, of Flowerpot Cottage, Lobelia Drive.

2009 has come at last,bringing the Winterfest Day and the Hoganinny Celebrations to a close. I had a lovely time of course but will forever remember the finale to 2008 as a time of extreme cold. Inside or out, I had to keep adding more layers to keep fingers and toes ,and other vulnerable spots toasty and warm. Pendragon and I sat up to listen for the New Year bells and fireworks, before sloping off upstairs to the comfort of our oaken four poster bed. On our Ne'er day rest day I made a tomato risotto with all the trimmings for Pendragon's lunch. We are simple folk with simple tastes and enjoy the full bodied flavours of the simple vegetable. Later we walked down to the Big Water to smell the cold air by the waterside, and to feel our limbs moving against the frosty wind. I almost disappeared under my thick wide woolly yellow scarf ,so large is it and so wide, but I was grateful for the extra few feet of warmth it gave my sensitive elven ears.
I did take time to contemplate my resolvings for the New Year. I have not really decided which ones of my more meaningful changes I intend to make, but there are several in the pipeline which I will mull over in the next week or two.Never do anything quickly or without due consideration,else these conscientious attempts to improve will surely slip and slide into the dark recess we like to call Sloth.
We haven't seen much or our neighbours over the festive fortnight. They came and went occasionally, carrying gifts, or welcoming wellwishers, but in the main, they were lying as low as we were.
It seems to me that if there were not the joyous aspects to the season we should be as wise as the birds and beasts, and set in motion a period of hibernation.
Even the starlings, winter's last little soldiers, who hang in there, refusing the dash to warmer climes in favour of persisting their daily round of garden hopping to feed their wee bellies - even they didn't stay long at the feeding bowls and hanging coconut shells. They preferred to return more often for short visits, than hang upside down for an hour scraping the remains of fat balls to the bitter end.

We have not seen the Shilpits for a fortnight. So,there have been some blessings. The large silver four wheeled motor carriage slipped away on Winterfest Eve, returning only yesterday with no trace of where they had been. Oggie the Hood ,with hands shoved clumsily into his pockets, shuffled off to the Senior Academy yesterday at early light. I was just making a cup of acorn latte as he passed. No doubt his teachers and school mates were as reluctant to see him back as I am sure he was to return. His grizzled visage told all. Still no sign of Mrs. Shilpit. I haven't seen her for many a month. Mr. Shilpit occasionally mentions her in the passing, so he clearly believes she exists. It is just the rest of us she has failed to materialise in front of. There is a mystery there,I fear, maybe 2009 is the year we will solve it.

Weedy Primpole, next door, has had a very active time this Winterfest.In the high winds of the past two weeks he woke to find several boards on the roof of his motor carriage holder dangling dangerously close to other people's precious transport vehicles. He has been out there for days, up high , banging and sawing, gluing and nailing, to restore all former glory to his carriage protector. I saw Severity surveying him from her front window yesterday, somewhat sternly I felt, considering the haar frost which had settled. It will have to be perfect or he may never get back inside number six.

Maybe his little motor carriage holder will also be able to accommodate a hammock or put-me -up bed to cope with such an eventuality.

The one person I have been concerned about has been the Fearless Faery at number four. I have the feeling she spent Winterfest Day on her own. She did not seem to go out at any point then or in the days that followed. Maybe she just wanted her own company, but then again, maybe she didn't. She went out early on Hoganinny Eve and did not return till New Year's Day,so clearly that celebration is more to her taste. She is a strange little soul. She has quite a merry sense of humour when in the mood and has a good heart, but also carries an air of sadness about her . I hope her 2009 will be a good one. As indeed all of our neighbouring folk.

Tomorrow Thessalonicus Timberwolf comes to give my e-mail box its festive check-up. He always comes with new stories of his travels and of his life in the Rolling Hills of West Dingley.After a couple of coffees and some of my fresh berry pasties he becomes quite wistful, and regales me with talk of his old homestead and his huge family ,left behind in the mountains of Old Mehinca.
He is a fine fellow, a good fellow and I hope one day he will find his way back to the land that he loves. In the meantime my e-mail box will benefit from his knowledge and perennial light touch.

I am knitting winter woolies for Pendragon and myself. I need to work harder, or he will be wearing heavy knits in late April instead of casting a clout. My tunic will be black, his a dark navy and they are sure to keep the warmth in and the cold bugs out............

Till tomorrow, my friends, may your plates be laden with homemade soups and preserves and may all your woolies be complete .
From the darling Ms. Willow , the Rainbow Faery, number five, Lobelia Drive.