2009 SPRING PHOTOS

We're having a terribly late spring this year, but yesterday and today it's almost pleasant (though nights are still too cold to think of gardening).

Anyway, there is some green and sunshine and buds so I took some pics. and since I'm practising my digital art skills, I've digitally enhanced my photos.

Lydia's Reveal Review's first receipent is Francis Mk, to read the review and to look at her art piece just click on the award.

Three Good Princesses - the Finale

While Queen Deirdre finished thanking all those who’d helped prepare for the fair, King Olaf sent a man-at-arms off to search for princess Evergreen. Then, once again he stood before all of the people, and he spoke, “Good people of the realm, now you know that your king and queen are retiring and as promised we must now name the princess who will be your next queen.” The he turned and stood before his eldest daughter,

“Wordsworth”, he said, “Have you chosen a groom and a wise elder?” Wordsworth curtsied before the king and said, “I have father, this is”, she paused to glare at her groom who understood immediately what was expected of him and he blurted out,

“I am Professor Julius Aimes, I am a professor of botany from the Queen’s University and I do beg your pardon your lordship, but I would have someone explain to me why I have been kidnapped and brought before you!”

The queen was flabbergasted, “Kidnapped? Wordsworth….?”

Before she could continue Wordsworth interrupted her, “Mommy dear….it’s merely a misunderstanding…in all the excitement I have merely forgotten to mention a few details….a moment please.” She grabbed her ‘groom’s’ elbow and pulled him to the side and whispered into his ear, “If you marry me you shall be king!” She smiled at him sweetly.

The young botany professor was not impressed, “Marry you? You!? You could have killed me!” He looked at the royal couple, “Her solders, they could have killed me…and this”, he pointed to elder Goddard, “This wise elder”, he spoke the title sarcastically, “allowed this injustice without a word.”

The king looked impatiently at princess Wordsworth, “My dear, was this gentleman taken against his will?”

Princess Wordsworth was nonplussed, “Not at all Father, the ‘botanist’ merely misunderstands the whole situation and he has clearly misrepresented himself. Had he been less duplicitous, he would be in his dirty little garden.”

Turning to the botanist she said, “You gave me to understand that you were a lawyer, what is all this nonsense about being a botanist?” She spat out the word as if she’d been talking about a dog catcher.

The botanist was newly insulted, “Marry you? You? I had no intention of marrying you!” He suddenly stopped and looked around to once again notice that is was in the company of the royal family, “Where is princess Evergreen?”

The queen spoke, “We’ve sent for her….”, but before she could ask what business it was of his the man started to make demands, “I demand to be released, I demand safe passage home, I demand…”

“Yes, of course”, The king knew his eldest daughter well enough to understand what had happened and now he must make restitution with this man before continuing on with his royal business, “Our royal apologies Professor Aimes, obviously there has been some profound misunderstanding her, you are free to go of course. Perhaps, since you are here you could enjoy the festival and tomorrow a carriage will be provided to take you home.”

“Yes….that will do…no, may I stay for the full week of festival?” Before the king could nod yes, the good professor was already elbowing his way through the crowd.

King Olaf turned to his daughter, “Any other prospects for a groom, my dear?”

“No father, but I do have an excellent wise elder,” She introduced Elder Goddard.

“Indeed, and what wisdom did you see, Elder Goddard in allowing Professor Aimes to be dragged here against his will? I should think that a man of knowledge and courage would council against this sort of thing.”

Elder Goddard came forward and spoke in a knowing, eloquent voice, “Your Majesty, begging your pardon, but the princess was obviously under a lot of stress, causing her to make poor judgements. The man was not in any immediate danger, but I felt it best to accompany the group so as to keep a protective eye on him. If I had released him, I am certain the princess would merely have found another ‘groom’. I had a good feeling about this gentleman and thought it best to ride out the whole situation. I still do have a good feeling about today.”

Princess Wordsworth opened her mouth to protest, but a quick glance from King Olaf caused her to shut it without uttering a word. The king looked at the elder, “Wise decision indeed, it’s a shame you have come here as a part of princess Wordsworth’s retinue, for unless she can come up with a groom in the next few minutes her petition for the crown will be rejected.”

King Olaf turned now, hopefully to princess Pantheonia, “My dear, who is your groom…..Pantheonia? Pantheonia? Finally the princess realized she was being addressed, “Father, mother…look, this is the man that I will marry. He is the most talented, the most sensitive, most passionate artist. He is Balthazar, he is my love.” Balthazar grabbed the brim of his hat and with great flourish he bowed most elaborately.

“Mmmmm….yes”, the king didn’t know what to say. The two were obviously in love and as far as he could tell they appeared to be a perfect match. He hoped with all his heart that he choice of a wise elder was wiser than the average elder. He addressed the artist, “Sir Balthazar, I wish to thank you for making my Pantheonia so happy. Would you please introduce her elder?”

Balthazar was all manners and stepped aside to allow young Elder Bertram to come forward. “Your Majesty, I introduce Elder Bertram.”

Queen Deirdre smiled sweetly, “Elder Bertram, you are rather young….how long have you been studying?”

“Your Highness, only ten years, but with the most renowned elders from this realm and beyond. I could arrange for my tutors to speak to you, to vouch for me. I have excellent ‘political skills’.”

The queen was impressed, “Well, I do appreciate your confidence. I’m sure you could handle the politics of the royal court, but…I wonder…how would you handle these two?” She pointed to Pantheonia and Balthazar who stood arms around each other, staring into each others’ eyes.

The young elder opened his mouth, but he had no answer.

The king turned to face the people, “Since Evergreen ppears to be a no-show, and Princess Pantheonia is the only princess to have fulfilled all of the requirements, we must trust that the gods in their wisdom have chosen…”

Just then Evergreen came running through the crowd, “Father! Mother! My gods! You just wouldn’t believe whom I just met.”

The king was not pleased by this interruption, until it occurred to him that Evergreen had said that she ‘met’ someone. He hoped with all his heart that this was the ‘good’ that Elder Goddard had referred to earlier.

“Evergreen, I will give you five minutes to explain your outburst, then we must move on. This is to be Pantheonia’s day.”

“Oh….Pantheonia won the crown? Congratulations Pantheonia….I’m so happy for you. I am just so excited, I must share my news, “First let me apologise for missing the big announcement, but I had met up with Mrs. Mada and she told me that this morning, here at the fair she had met Mr. Feldson. Well, the upshot is that they are trading their homes! Now that Mrs. Mada’s family has grown and left and her husband died last year, she no longer needs such a large house and property. However, it is perfect for Mr. Feldson and his young family. Plus since her land has so much good fire wood he will supply both himself and Mrs. Mada with wood as part of the deal.”
The king thought that this was not sounding like a groom was suddenly in the picture, so in interrupted, “My dear, this is wonderful, but..”

“No, no….I’m not finished…there’s so much more. Mrs. Mada’s only concern was that she’d be terribly lonely being so far away from town and with nothing to do. It came to me just like that, ‘Mrs. Mada’, I said, ‘The king and queen are looking to move into a small cottage on that side of the river, why don’t you let them move into your ‘new’ home? They’ll fix it up really nice I said and you could be the queen’s lady in waiting. I know she’d love the company, wouldn’t you Mother?”

The queen, who was clearly impressed barely had a chance to say yes before Evergreen went on, “Since Mrs. Mada’s pig is already there, they will be reunited, she was very pleased about that….but it will be Mr. Feldson who takes the pig hunting for truffles in the Old Oak Forest. He says he has already sold enough truffles at market today to buy a sled. She was very happy with the whole arrangement and wants to talk to the two of you. What do you think?”

“Evergreen, that sounds perfect, but this really isn’t the time..”

Again Evergreen cut her father short, “Daddy, daddy that’s not all, that’s not why I’m so excited, well of course I am…”

“Evergreen!” King Olaf was losing patience.

Evergreen turned around and reached into the crowd, “Look who I met at the market. Do you know who this is?”

The king was flustered, “Well, yes this is Professor Aimes, a botanist from Queen’s University.”

“Yes, yes….the ladies and I were trying to decide on the winning rose, and we all agreed on the perfect white rose but no one could remember the latin name for it and this gentleman speaks up and says, ‘It’s the rosa splendorus.’

And daddy, although I have never actually met Professor Aimes before, I knew immediately that the man who stood in front of me was the botanist that I’ve been corresponding with for ten years now.”

“Now Julius, tell daddy the rest.” Professor Aimes took Evergreen’s hands and looked into her eyes as he spoke, “The reason I was in the law building at queen’s University, where I was kidnapped, was because I had finally mustered up the courage to decide that I was going to ask Princess Evergreen to marry me. I had no idea of the royal protocol, so I was about to get advise from my legal friend. That’s when I was hit on the head….but I’ve forgotten all of that now and I want to thank Princess Wordsworth for opening the doors for me.”

Finally, the king was as excited as Evergreen was. He spoke to the botanist, “You don’t happen to know a wise elder do you?”

“As it happens“, mused the professor, “I came here with an elder.”

“So you did”, beamed the king, “Elder Goddard, if Princess Evergreen and her groom,” At this point the king turned to Evergreen, “I’m sorry my dear, did you accept the professor’s proposal?”

Evergreen blushed, “Yes, I did, I’ve admired him from afar for a long time. I have always hoped.
King Olaf and Queen Deirdre put their heads together and whispered. Then King Olaf turned again to the crowd,
“My good people, I introduce to you Queen Evergreen and her groom, Professor Aimes, soon to be king. Their councillor will be Elder Goddard.”

A loud cheer went up from the crowd. Princess Pantheonia and Balthazar had left a long time ago. They had thought the day too beautiful to waste on politics and had gone to the venues to buy fare for a picnic.

The only royal who was upset was Princess Wordsworth, but not for long. After all the cheering and congratulations had died down and everyone else had wandered back to the festival, young Elder Bertram found Princess Wordsworth weeping silently under a blooming rose bower.

“My lady, you are the famous royal lawyer are you not?”

“Go away” she said.

“My lady, I have heard many of your teaching speeches and I’ve observed you in court. I am always impressed. You are a woman of great passion and sharp wit, I have learned much from you.

Wordsworth, was not usually easily flattered. Despite this she felt different this time.
“Passion? I speak of facts, laws, logic, not wistful emotions.”

The young elder was not put off by her rebuff, “Ah, yes of course, but you do it with such passion. And your voice, it’s beautiful, melodic and confident and strong. I wonder, would you perhaps be interested in joining me at a poetry recital tonight? I have always thought you were the embodiment of poetry.”

Wordsworth was completely floored. No one had ever dared to speak her like this, “Me? Recite poetry?”

“Yes…I can see that you want to.” He smiled at her warmly.

“Do you mean it?” she asked sceptically.

“Of course, I am an elder, I am sworn to speak only the truth.”

So as Elder Goddard had predicted, the day had gone very well. At the celebration dinner later that evening, King Olaf and Queen Deirdre talked about how pleased the were that they had a queen who knew how to run things and that she was happy to have someone to share her love of nature and her realm. She had someone to help her care for her forests and gardens while she was busy at court.

Earlier they had gone to talk to Mrs. Mada and fund her to be a delightful lady. She showed them their cottage and although they thought they might have to add a room or two they were very pleased with the whole set up.

They watched their three daughters on the other side of the table. Evergreen and Professor Aimes seemed to have so much catching up to do since their last letter.

Pantheonia and Balthazar had turned away from each other long enough to agree to continue designing for the royal court.

And Wordsworth was beaming and blushing in turns as she spoke to her date. The king and queen were very surprised at the turn of events concerning Wordsworth. They were very happy for her, though. Apparently she had found two new passions.

So the realm had a new King and Queen and Old King Olaf and Old Queen Deirdre were able to experience a normal life in a prosperous kingdom under the guardianship of loving benevolent rulers.

The End.

Holy Moly….that was a long stretch. Sorry about not a having a fabulous picture to go with this but I just didn’t have the time. To wit, I will now be stopping with the stories - at least for the summer. I’ve been having a hard enough time trying to find time for this in winter….in summer it would be impossible.

I hope to come back in fall.

Thank you all for reading my stories. Have a blessed fun summer. Namaste.

Three Good Princesses (Episode VIII)

Pantheonia awoke from a wonderful dream wherein Balthazar and she stood in the centre of a circle of Ancient Oaks. In the company of their friends and family they spoke their marriage vows to each other as white blossom petals from the nearby apple trees floated down upon them….the air was sweet and fresh….and just as the bells in her dream rang out to announce them as Mr. and Mrs., the bells of her waking life rang out to announce the opening day of the Realm Fair.

Pantheonia jumped out of bed to get ready for the day…which meant seeing Balthazar again…and of course the possibility of being the next queen, which would be the icing on the cake. There was so much to do to get ready; her hair, her new dress, her new shoes, she wanted to make a posy for Balthazar to slip into his vest pocket for that special touch; she wanted to be sure to have two ladies-in-waiting to be with her all day to witness her engagement (she felt certain it would happen today); and on and on.

Wordsworth, quite unlike her dreaming sister, had been up most of the night making sure her ‘groom’ was well out of sight and sound, making sure the men-at-arms would present him properly attired and at the right time. In her head, she went over and over what she would say about her ‘groom’.

She both fretted about and delighted in the fact that her Wise Elder had been so silent and unquestioning. She was sure he was up to something with his acceptance of everything she did. On the other hand she fully expected him to accept everything she said and did.

In short, princess Wordsworth started her day in a a rather tense state; she would have to pick something festive to wear today to counter that mood.

Evergreen was also awakened by the tolling bells, although she had gone to bed still trying to find solutions to all of her current issues, she had slept well and this morning she felt joyful and quite ready to take in another beautiful day - a perfect day for the opening of the Fair.

As she absentmindedly slipped on the same day-dress that she had worn yesterday, it occurred to her that both Mrs. Meda and Mr. Feldson would be at the fair, perhaps she could bring the two of them together and they could talk more directly to each other instead of Evergreen having to relay messages between the two of them.

Feeling very confident about the possibilities, Evergreen tied her garden scarf over her hair and off she hurried to the Fair to help the ladies of the Garden Club get set up for the Flower competition.

King Olaf and Queen Deirdre had been up well before the Fair bells rang. They had been organizing this very special Fair for many months. The Realm Fair was their way of sharing the kingdom’s bounty with all of their subjects. It was always a day of celebration of a year of good work and helping each other. But this year’s fair was going to extra special because of the big announcement; the next Queen of the Realm and her Groom.

The king and queen had seen very little of the three princesses this last month, and only hoped that they had all found a groom and a Wise Elder so that they could all be eligible. They were careful not to have any preconceived ideas about who they would pick….they wanted to leave their minds open until after they had met all of the grooms and Elders.

So for now the king and queen enjoyed the parade, the entertainers; they chatted with the vendors in the market; they strolled in the splendid gardens greeting the other revellers, reminding all that the big announcement would take place at noon in the centre square.

Finally the moment arrived. King Olaf stood on the podium congratulating everyone on another wonderfully fruitful and peaceful year. The people of the kingdom stood before him, beaming with pride and expectation.

Princess Pantheonia, looking resplendent, and gushing with joy was escorted lovingly up to the stage by her groom, Balthazar. They were followed by the young Elder Bertram, who was really only about the age of Patheonia’s older sister…it was just that that was kind of young to be an Elder.

Shortly before Queen Deirdre was finished with her speech, Princess Wordsworth elbowed her way through the crowd. She had a tight grip on the arm of a rather reluctant, befuddled young man who was being ‘assisted’ by two men-at-arms. Although, once the young man realized he was in the company of the king and queen on fair day he forgot about his struggles and went along more agreeably with his escorts. The silent Elder Goddard followed his group up to the stage and took his place behind the groom as he had been instructed to.

As she ended her speech, Queen Deirdre turned around to look at the prospective Royal Couples. She was pleased that before her stood at least two nice looking gentlemen and two respectable Elders. King Olaf, asked his daughters if they had had any word from their youngest sister. Neither of them had. He looked disappointed, but he continued;
“Well, we have all of these good people waiting for an announcement and Evergreen has had as much of an opportunity to show up prepared as her two sisters so to be fair we will have to continue.

Alright, there's the big cliff hanger....we'll have to wait til next week to see how this plays out, tee hee. Thanks for reading my story...see ya next week. (((Angels to Readers)))

Three Good Princesses, Episode VII

King Olaf was very pleased to see his youngest daughter, Princess Evergreen sitting quietly in the garden. She was usually so busy, he hardly ever got to speak to her, "So, if you have not been looking for a husband, have you been looking for a piece of property for myself and your mother?"

Evergreen was startled out of her reverie, "Oh, Daddy...yes, I do have my eye on a lovely wooded area on the other side of the river, but nothing definite yet."

Just then King Olaf was called away by his secretary...and so Evergreen was left again to her thoughts.
I could ask Daddy to buy the land out-right, but no....although he was a king, King Olaf was terribly frugal in his personal life and would never throw money at an expensive Oak Grove, and he would not agree to pushing a man off of his own property.
I could give Mr. Feldson a sled, but he would be too proud to accept such a large gift. Anyway I just know that somehow Mrs. Meda can be helped with all of this if only I could figure out this puzzle.
Well at least I have managed to convince Mr. Feldson to keep Mrs. Meda's pet pig. Now that her husband was dead and her last child had moved to another village, there just weren't enough scraps from her table to feed the old girl. Mr. Feldson on the other hand still had a pile of children at home and the pig would be well taken care of.

Evergreen was pleased with that but she continued to tease her brain for solutions to the whole oak grove, Mrs. Meda, Mommy's and Daddy's retirement home puzzle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally with only two days left before the Festival of the Realm, Pantheonia and Balthezar stood in front of a magnificent gate. Balthezar was awed by it's splendor and showed Pantheonia some sketches he had done shortly after arriving in the realm. Pantheonia blushed which Balthezar noticed and it stole his breath away. He held Pantheonia's face in his hands and whispered, "Pantheonia, my darling...your blush has made you even more beautiful than I ever
could imagine. I am weakened by the presence of such a delicate marvel.....why do you blush?"

"Balthezar, my love, it pleases me so that you truly appreciate my talent as a designer. You see, I am the author of this gate."

Just then, an old man in grey robes passed through the gate and Pantheonia gasped, "By the gods! Balthezar!....an elder!"

"My love, he is only an elder...does he frighten you? I shall defend you..only give me the word."

"What? No! Stay...stay...no, we must find..I've been looking for, but I haven't told you, have I? I'd forgotten completely....I've been in a spell..." Pantheonia stumbled on with her story. She quickly told him the short version about her possibly becoming the next queen.

Together they ran to the old man. Princess Pantheonia called out to him, "Sir, sir, my good man, a minute of your time, please."

The old man stopped and turned to look at his persuers, "Princess Pantheonia, to what do I owe the honour of your presence?"

Pantheonia curtsied politely to the elder, "Sir, you are an elder, yes?"

"I am indeed, my lady...seek you council?"

"More wholly than you think, sir."

She told him of her need for a royal wise man should she become queen.

"A fine and respectable honour you offer me princess. I have, however dedicated my life to teaching the youth who come to the east river bank for what education I can give them. If it please my lady, I would continue to teach the children as the universe sees fit. However, I would not leave you without good council. We do have a young man at the hermitage who shows much promise as an elder. We have long believed that he would be much happier working in a more worldly office than we can offer him. Would you like for me to introduce you to him?"

The princess agreed and the old elder took her and Balthezar to the hermitage to meet the young, Elder Bertram. Both Pantheonia and Balthezar thought him most suitable for the Royal Office of Wiseman and convinced him to accept the possible position.

Since it appears that we are down to about two days before the big announcement we'll just leave the story at this point and continue on next week. Thank you all for reading my story...(((hugs))) Ly

Three Good Princesses; Episode VI

Princess Wordsworth's man-at-arms knocked loudly at the monastery gate and waited impatiently for the door to open for the princess was in a great hurry. When a cheerful young monk opened the gate, the man-at-arms questioned him immediately, "The locals say that an Elder keeps here, where is he?"

The young monk was undaunted by the soldier's boldness and answered with a smile, "Yes, brother Michael is an Elder, though he is very busy".

The soldier was not concerned with the Elder's business, "Tell him the princess Pantheonia wishes to seek his council, now!"

Startled, the monk gasped, "The princess! Goodness, yes, bring her in, don't leave her out in the carriage...I shall fetch Elder Michael."

The princess met the Elder and offered him the office of Royal Wiseman without even asking him one question, but she did have one requirement and that was that he be prepared to leave at this very minute. Elder Michael was flattered and agreed to step into the carriage at that very moment.

They all returned to the carriage; the man-at-arms, the princess and Elder Michael all got in. elder Michael sat quietly but the sight of the gagged and tied man in front of him made him rather uncomfortable. After five minutes he just had to ask, "I beg your pardon, my lady...but, the gentleman here? is he a dangerous criminal?

"No", was the princesses only answer.

"Perhaps he has been threatening to harm you or another"? The Elder tried again.

Again, the princess simply replied, "No".

The Elder felt a little more comfortable, but then something new bothered him, "Then, my lady, if he is an innocent, harmless man I must advise you that keeping an innocent man against his will is both immoral and unwise."

The princess glared at the man-at-arms, who as soon as he realized he was being glared at, called for the driver to stop. Before the carriage had completely stopped, poor Elder Michael had been tossed out on his ear.

The next day, in the next village, the royal carriage came to a stop. Again the two men-at-arms made inquiries regarding the possibilities of any local Elders. They were advised of the location of a hermitage in the forest.

The royal carriage promptly rode off into the woods. Princess Wordsworth was introduced to Elder Sarah, who also agreed to leave for the royal court at once. Alas, Elder Sarah was also moved by the sight of the poor bound man who sat across from her in the carriage and she made the mistake of judging princess Wordsworth's decision.

Elder Sarah was also tossed out on her ear.

The princess became very concerned that she would not get back to the castle by the opening day of the fair with a suitable Elder. However, things continued on as they had until they were sent to a cave to meet Elder Goddard. Like the others, Elder Goddard felt it his duty to provide council to the royal court if he was asked, so he got into the carriage.

Elder Goddard also looked dubiously at the bound man sitting in front of him. The Elder even went so far as to check the man's bindings to make sure they were not too tight. Satisfied that the man was in no immediate harm Elder Goddard said nothing for the remainder of the ride back to the castle.

So that is tonight's episode...my apologies for being late with this one. I've been baby-sitting a friend's cats which takes up a lot of creative time. Thank you for reading my story. Brightest Blessing to y'all.

THREE GOOD PRINCESSES (epidsode v)

"I am astounded good sir!" gasped Princess Pantheonia as she gazed at a charcoal sketch of herself, "I have seen the work of many artists both at home and abroad, I try to keep up with the new talent, but never have I seen such beautiful work rendered so quickly. Have you any completed paintings with you that I might better judge your full talent?"

The artist pulled a small canvas from a stack of paintings that leaned against the building near his painter's stool where he had sat as he had done a quick charcoal study of the fair lady now before him.

Pantheonia looked at the painting - it too was a portrait of her. She brought her hand up to her heart and whispered, "Such passion....so profound....how is it that I have never seen your work before?"

"My dear lady....I am so pleased that you admire my work. My eyes have followed you these past days as you made your way through the market. You are as beautiful and fresh as a Spring morning. Might I say that with you as the muse, I could do naught but create a work of profound beauty. You are a walking, breathing study in elegance. 'Tis a rare gift indeed for the artist to meet the muse of his dreams in his waking moments.
I am Balthezar, my good lady, and I have come to your realm only a year ago. If I be not to presumptuous, might I have the lady's name to title my portraits?"

Well, you can completely understand that Princess Pantheonia forgot most of why she had been looking at the work of street artists. Already two weeks had past while Pantheonia had been searching for an artist-husband but these two now became so enthralled with each other that she forgot to bring up the subject of why she'd been in the market.

Ok, that's enough blathering from these two romantics....we'll check in on the other two princesses next week. Thanks for reading my story....namaste.