Smaugust 2025 art challenge (there are dragons)

Ooooh look what I just found - kitchen dresser with fruity dragons!

They are very overpriced though, at least compared to what I usually come up with as part of a rescue deal.

And, as Austin so rightly pointed out when I gleefully sent him the link, we simply don't have anywhere to fit them, or even one of them, in the house. and I already have all the furniture lined up for the outdoor kitchen when we build that.

But if I were to have them, I think I'd name them Hydref and Outono...

Such a shame.

Nice bit of stone on it too. Looks like pedra de lioz which is very likely to have some pretty fossils in it...

Smaugust Day 9 by Oliver - lantern dragon

I was barely awake this morning before Rubeus appeared for a quick word with me.

He looked serious.

"I understand it's lantern day on the Smaugust challenge. I trust you're going to skip it?"

I knew what he meant. And I was a bit undecided.

"Well it was yesterday actually only I got a bit behind and finished writing up wyverns instead. I have a feeling Rosa will want me to tell Modron's story though."

"She will yes. But the question is, should you? Is permies.com the place for it?"

"And what will I tell Rosa if I don't? 'No I'm not going to tell the story because I'm not sure it's a suitable topic for youngsters to hear'? She won't rest until she knows everything if I do that!"

"I'm supposed to be the protector of this family!" growled Rubeus.

"I know. But does avoiding discussing things always protect the ones we love? Sometimes we have to face our dragons!"

Rubeus glared at me. And I faced him down.

"Rubeus, I know it won't be easy. And I know that my usual modus operandi is to befriend dragons rather than fight them, but I think the least we can do is to try to prepare Rosa to know that there are dangers out there, and what they might look like, and how to at least attempt to protect herself.

He did not back down.

And neither did I.

"No, Rubeus. End of. No means no. I'm going to tackle this, because it needs to be done."

And Rubeus accepted that, because sometimes having the courage to say no is all that is needed. And anyone who doesn't accept that no means no is not worthy of your friendship and is best avoided.

"But what I will do," I added, because Rubeus was right in his way, "is to tell a more child-friendly version on permies and link to the full story at the end so maybe parents can read it and see if there's anything in the story that will help them face their own dragons that may have damaged them when they were children and figure out ways to protect their children now. I wrote up a bit about it a couple of years ago when I was doing a course on celtic magic.  I can just share the pdf of that so I don't have to revisit the whole thing myself in too much detail."

Rubeus harrumphed, as he tends to do when he doesn't get his own way, leaving me to try to concoct a simplified, gentler sort of story.

Which went something like this...

************************

"Mum, mum! Now you're back from your walk, can we tell everyone the story of Modron? Only it's lantern day on Smaugust and we simply HAVE to tell her story."

I took a deep breath. "Of course we can if you want to Rosa. Are you brave enough though? She is a bit scary..."

"Oh I'm brave enough!" declared Rosa, proudly. "Roxa and I have been practicing being fierce. Modron has been teaching us how to tell which dragons are our friends and which ones we might have to be careful around. And how to be fierce and look after ourselves!"

"Well good for Modron! Only when she first arrived you were a little scared of her if I remember..."

Rosa shuffled nervously. "Well I don't think anyone wouldn't be just a little scared of Modron."

Quite. I thought to myself. Hell hath no fury and all that, to misquote a phrase...

This is Modron's for-sale photo.



She represents rising feminine energy, a bit like Kundalini. She'd arrived in three days flat using economy shipping from Italy, so I suspect she'd used some of that fierce feminine energy to ensure a speedy arrival.

My son, Alan, thad taken one look at her and declared that if she was Kundalini and from Italy, then presumably she was made of pasta! Silly boy. There are some things boys just don't seem to understand, and the need for little girls to discover their inner energies to protect themselves tends to be one of them. And anyway, I think he's mixing up Kundalini and tortellini, which is different.

"Well Kundalini is one way of looking at her, but the Celtic version would be Modron. So I'm calling her Modron as she looks rather Welsh to me." And I stood her on the cupboard, where she was soon joined by my two young dragons, Rosa and Roxa.



"I remember when you took that photo mum." Rosa smiled as she thought back. "Even Roxa was scared to look straight at her, and I was very, very nervous of her. I'd never seen anything quite like her!"

"And then she started to teach us things!"

"Hang on, I have another photo somewhere. Here - do you remember this one?"



"Oh yes I remember! I was still a bit nervous but Roxa was getting the hang of sticking up for herself. Modron was telling us about how to use your wings to protect your head and face whilst making yourself look bigger and more dangerous to scare off potential attackers. She says knowing basic self defence is very important."

"Quite right too." I agreed.

"I still find her a bit scary to be honest, but she's been helping me find my inner strength and find ways to build up my power, and creativity too."

"Yes I'd noticed that. I took her off that cupboard and moved her over to near the writing desk so she can shine her light when we're attempting art and craft things. I think she watches over Squiggles a bit too, because he's still busy trying to hatch those eggs. Which I think is very brave of him as it's usually girls that do that sort of thing."

"Well sometimes we all have to just do what needs to be done. I was never very good at following gender stereotypes."

"Nor is Roxa..." Rosa thought.

Now we all know that Rosa is as feminine as it's possible for a dragon to be. And likes to do all the things that people tend to assume little girls are supposed to do. I've never understood it myself, but she likes what she likes so she plays at keeping house and playing with flowers and sewing while Roxa plays with sanders and angle-grinders and drills and things.

But as Modron represents the divine mother, she can teach all of us that we have a sacred duty to protect all children. They need to learn to spread their wings and find their own strength, but the real light that shines from motherhood is the light of our children as they grow and find their own place in the world as their own lights begin to shine. And I think finding ways to pass our light onto them and keep them safe is the most important job any of us can do.



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To download the full story, click here. Parental guidance very much advised as it is most certainly NOT a children's story. More of a therapy session.

"Rosa!  What are you doing? Look at the mess you're making on my bed!!!"



"I'm not making a mess. I'm cleaning up!"

I peered at the mess on the bed.

"Isn't that all the stuff off the alchemy shelf?"

"Yes. It's alchemy day and I wanted to show everyone my alchemy display only it's all dusty and dirty and needs a good clean so I put it all on your bed so I could dust the shelf and clean everything up before we put it all back and take a photo to show everyone."

I took a closer look to see what she was taking about...



"I mean," Rosa went on, "just look at the state of Pesa and Pwysig. And their nest! It's filthy! How can we tell everyone about them until we can at least tell what colour they are supposed to be?"

Well I guess they were in need of a bath. Though I'd never really understood exactly why the alchemy shelf had to have quite so many ducks on it in the first place. But hey, it's Rosa's creation and she's the only artistic one in the family so I tend to let her do her thing. She's also the only one who voluntarily cleans anything, so I'd better let her do that, too, I guess.

"Mum, can you start telling the story while I go and wash the doily out and clean the dust and the cobwebs off the shelf?"

"Um, if you like. Where should I start?"

"With the book, of course! That's what started it all off." And she scuttled off into the kitchen with the dusty doily leaving me try to tell the story of how Rosa and I discovered alchemy...

*************************************

My dragons, as you know, represent aspects of myself. They help me explore myself and see how all the different parts of my psyche interact to form one not-so-harmonious whole. Rosa is perhaps the most interesting one as she represents all the aspects of myself that I've avoided exploring. You know, all the girly things and arty things that tomboys like me never bothered with while I was growing up but that as I age I think maybe I should have spent a little more of my time working on.

As a result, Rosa found it very difficult to fit in with the rest of the dragons, who were already well established parts of my psyche and she would get very frustrated and had terrible angst about Not Fitting In. And I didn't really know how to comfort her, because we didn't really have much in common as, by definition, she represented all my undiscovered aspects. So the rest of the dragons got together to figure out a solution, and this is what they came up with - a beautiful book with copies of all the paintings of the Splendor Solis along with a load of notes about the history and meaning of the paintings.



Serra pushed the book towards me and suggested that Rosa and I spent some time studying it together. I could read it, she could look at the paintings, and we could learn together about things that were likely to interest her. That way we could bond and get to know each other better.

Rosa absolutely loved studying that book with me. She especially loved the Dragon Sequence, which involves a series of paintings showing the development of a baby dragon in a flask. We haven't finished studying it yet because we keep getting distracted with other things, but the gist of it seems to be that the creature in the flask represents the soul in our body. It starts off as a young dragon who needs care with the most basic of life's needs, then develops into several birds in different colours, then a bird with three heads, then a dragon with three heads. And then it seemed to get confusing because we thought the paintings might be in the wrong order, but people and peacocks turned up after the dragons and we never got beyond squabbling about whether kings were greater than queens or whether the peacock was the ultimate goal of the soul's development.

We really must get back to it one day...



Rosa was so inspired by all the imagery in the illustrations that she decided to create her own alchemy display so I rearranged some of the books on my bookcase and she and Serra cleaned it all up and started to collect things that she thought an ancient alchemist might use.



And now we seem to have gone full circle and Rosa was back up on the shelf again, her little zokin in one hand and a soft brush in the other, cleaning it again ready to show you all her precious alchemy collection.

I think we'd better start a new post and let her tell you all about it...

We missed out on a few days of prompts (we were out of state, visiting family), but we're back now! Hopefully my daughter and I will have time to at least do today's prompt, if not some from the days before.

The first thing to go back on the shelf was a vase of peacock feathers.



"That looks like the vase I use to root cuttings in!" I noticed.

"It's better than the wine carafe I was using because this lets the feathers spread out more, like they would on a real peacock's tail. The carafe was too narrow in the neck and they bunched up too much. They look much more elegant in this one. And anyway this one has roses around the edge so it obviously belongs on my shelf."

"Well yes you're right, but I bought that because it flared at the top so I could take bunches of rooted cuttings out without damaging the roots..."

"You can borrow it back again when you need to mum."

"Why thankyou Rosa. Very kind of you. So are you going to explain about the relevance of the peacock feathers?"

"Well we haven't finished studying the book yet, but I believe the peacock represents the ultimate development of the soul. The dragons have grown feathers, they are now all of one mind in one body, and they colours all work together in perfect harmony. And I'm not completely sure yet but I think they represent love."



The next thing to go back on the shelf was the most alchemical-looking device of all - a strange contraption involving glass flasks with a candle underneath.

"So what is it Rosa?"

"This is a genuine alchemists flask, just like the ones in the paintings in the book. It represents the body that houses the soul. And the candle is the experience of life which helps us distil our experiences again and again and again and again until we reach our quintessential nature."

I must admit it was a convincing description, though it did remind me an awful lot of an old syphon coffee maker

Next up were my old star wheel and an old stoneware bottle.

"Why is my star wheel there?" I asked.

"Because alchemists were almost always also natural philosophers and astronomers."

"Isn't natural philosophy the original name for what we now call physics?"

"I think it might be. It looks good up there anyway, and that's what matters."



I was secretly rather pleased about having my old star wheel up there. It had been part of the equipment in an Open University course I'd done decades ago and whilst it's easier to find your way around the night sky these days using a phone app, using the star wheel gives a much better idea of how it all works as it's so much more hands on.

"And what about the old bottle?"

"It was in the house when we bought it. It belongs here. And it's so full of character. I think it might be used to store the elixir of life."

She was right. It belongs to this house and it does look awesome up there. Though I suspect it was mostly used to either wine or aguardente. But then, maybe home distilled firewater made from wine made from the grapes that grow around the house is pretty close to being the elixir of life in most people's books.

Next up were my late husband's old weighing scales which he used for measuring out the chemicals needed to make up the solutions needed to develop old black-and-white films. Which, let's face it, is a pretty alchemical sort of thing to do. I'd found the scales tucked on the back of a shelf as I was clearing up the old house but the weights has long since disappeared. I couldn't bear to get rid of the scales though and was very pleased Rosa had put them on display .



"So why are there two ducks sitting in it?" I asked.

"Oh well they are to see if the gold the other side is real or not."

"And is it?"

"I think so."

"How do you know?"

"Well apparently they used to put witches into the duck pond to see if they weighed the same as a duck, in which case they were real witches. So if that's real gold, it should weigh the same as TWO ducks because gold is heavy."

I wasn't at all sure where she'd pieced together that idea from. I guessed there may be a little artistic license going on.

Pesa and Pwysig, who were now clean and shiny and showing their true colours, seemed to nod in agreement. And who am I to argue?

"And I gave them a doily to sit on because it makes their nest more comfy to sit in."

"Very thoughtful of you , Rosa."

Next up was a stone egg.



"And this," announced Rosa proudly, "is the philospher's stone!"

"Are you sure? Only it looks like one of Squiggles' eggs to me..."

"It's the same thing," tutted Rosa, sounding a little impatient, "that's why he's spending all this time hatching them. He knows that if he keeps working at it and loves them enough that they'll hatch. Eventually..."

"Probably in another 66 million years or so..."

"Time is relative. Iggy said so."

Two more ducks appeared.



"Why are there so many ducks?"

"Because ducks are the most dragon-esque of birds. That's why the males are called drakes. It's the same word as dragon really."

You know she's right. I'd never thought of that.

"What are they carrying?" I asked.

"Sal is carrying salt. Because it represents wisdom that is crystalised out of an ocean of knowledge. And Halen has some pine resin that Roxa collected from the pine boards that Austin used when he replaced the bed of the truck. It's like the magical essence of a tree."

Can't argue with that.

Then three coloured vials of liquid appeared. Along with a glass flask and a prism.



"And what do these represent, Rosa?"

"Light and colour!" announced Rosa proudly. "Only the yellow food colouring has broken down and I couldn't make green so I have red, indigo and blue rather than red, green and blue. I might have to try it with paint..."

"And what is the relevance of colour to alchemy?"

"Well there are colour sequences as the soul is purified. I think it's black, then white, then yellow then red. But dragons are more interested in light than most scientists are. Dragons believe that if you understand light you understand everything so we have a special interest. And the prism is to help us experiment with all the different wavelengths."

"And why does Sal have a walnut?"

"Oh that's not just a walnut. That's a whole universe! Iggy was reading a book about how you can fit a whole universe in a nutshell."

I suspected she may have misunderstood what Iggy said the book was about, but it did sum up the idea of the way a whole alchemical philosophy can be represented on one shelf.

"So is that everything?" I asked.

"Let's have a look at the whole thing."

"Here you go..."



"Oooh we didn't talk about the star - we can't miss that out!"

"Indeed not. Are you going to explain it?"

"It's an ancient alchemical symbol made up of two triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down. It represents the union of opposites. Fire and water, or matter and spirit, or male and female, or breaking things down and then rebuilding them."

"I think I've heard it referred to as analysis and synthesis."

"Iggy and Spot are working on some theory that needs to break things down right to their barest essence so they can rebuild a better theory of how stuff works, so they like that symbol. Iggy thinks he's pretty much there and Spot is building up a new theory. I like the star the two triangles make. It looks pretty up there."

"I think the whole thing looks wonderful, Rosa. You've done an excellent job."

And Rosa flushed with pride, looking more pink and rosy than ever.

My daughter has made her Lantern and Coral dragons!

Lantern Dragon Powers: Can withstand both very high and low heats; burn enemies; hit and burn enemies with tail.
Lantern Dragon Features: Transportable light on wings.

Coral Dragon Powers: Amazing swimmers; can spit venom
Coral Dragon Only: Has five life stages

"Mum, where are Vermelha and Índigo? I wanted a photo of them for 'horned' day because they are the only two of us who have horns but they went outside to play this morning and they still haven't come back in!"

"Oh I'm sure they'll be back soon, Rosa. They are so full of energy that they need to use some of it up. If they're stuck indoors all day they just zoom around causing chaos..."

"It's been nothing but chaos ever since Índigo arrived..."

"Oh she's just happy to see her sister again." I assured her. "They'll probably settle down soon. And anyway, I think I have a good photo of them. Here - what about this one?"



"I remember that. You'd just put the pretty red stone on the cupboard top and Vermelha and Índigo were testing it and arguing about whether fans were for cooling things down or fanning flames to make them hotter."

"That sounds like them. And speaking of sounds, what on earth is happening outside?"

"Is it the tractor parade"? It sounds like a lot of horns and sirens going off..."

It was true - it sounded a bit like this.

"No the tractor parade was last month. And anyway, tractors don't go past that quickly."

"Are there any other horns we could take photos of while we wait for them to get back?"

"Let me think. Oh yes, there's one in the display cabinet that fellow permies might be interested in. I think it's on the top shelf. Why don't you go and have a look?"

So off Rosa went to see what she could find.

"I think I can see it Mum, look!"



I opened the door of the display cabinet and fetched it out for Rosa to have a good look at.



"It's not JUST a horn, is it?" Rosa thought out loud. "It has engravings on it, and a hanger, and it's been cut off at the end, though there isn't a hole all the way though it. What was it used for?"

"I was told it was for carrying farm tools, a bit like a holster. And I think it was probably from an animal raised on the same farm the tools were used on, and the carvings made by the same person."

"They look like they were done by a child." Rosa noted.

"I think it might have been a right of passage for them. I know that many rural places have boar's heads mounted on the walls from the first successful boar hunt a boy makes as he enters manhood. Maybe making a horn holster was a step along the way. When we bought it, Maria showed us how it would be hung from a belt, like this..."



"And look at this Rosa - see how worn the hole is! It must have been used a lot. I would love to know its full story and where the little boy who made it is now..."



"I'm just guessing of course, but I wonder if it came from cattle like the ones I saw in Arouca? They were beautiful. A triple purpose breed used for meat, milk and work. But then, maybe not. Looking at the photo they look like their horns were longer than this one..."



"What's that noise now?"

I listened.

"Sounds like a car horn as it drives past. But it can't be because it sounds too close. No car can go that fast along our dirt track. What did Vermelha and Índigo say there were going to be doing outside?"

"They said they were inventing a new game or something to help Iggy test a new theory."

"What sort of game?"

"Dunno. They're gonna call it One Shift, Two Shift but they didn't say what it was about."

"Strange."

"Are there any other horns we could look at?"

"Well there's Austin's precious parpy horn."



"What's it for?"

"Not sure. He bought it to put on a motorbike but the mount was too flimsy for that job. He kept it anyway. He likes horns."

"In fact," I added, scouring ancient memories, "I seem to remember that he had a fog horn once, just for the fun of it. Mercifully it seems to have disappeared..."

Another zoomy car horn noise went past the house.

"What is that? It can't be cars! Oh, there is one more horn of course. Austin's Flugelhorn that he's had since he was at school. I remember wincing at it and dreading him playing it in the school Eisteddfod. Or was that his trombone and the flugelhorn came later? My memory is a bit rusty these days..."

"Does he still have it?"

"Oh yes. I have a photo somewhere. I'm not going to dig it out though. My head is a bit hurty with all that noise going on outside and I think the flugelhorn will send it over the edge. Ah, here's the photo!"



Yet more zoomy noises were happening outside and my head really was starting to suffer...

"Seeing as those girls aren't back yet, how about we do an internet search for horns and dragons in Portugal?"

"Ooh that's a good idea. Can you help me find the right buttons?"

"Of course, Rosa. Here, like this...!"

"Oooh look! It's a dragon in the shape of horn, and the horn is full of fruit!"



"Oh wow, so it is! Shame we didn't find that in time for wyvern day, though it isn't exactly a wyvern. It's very autumnal though."

"Mum, mum, look - it's Winter!"



"Why I do believe you're right! He's all skinny having used up all his energy making fruit for us. And now he's curled up in a ball sleeping until spring. Shame we didn't find it in time for the wyvern day."

"But how can he be a wyvern if he has no wings and no legs."

"Um. I'm not sure. Maybe wyverns are deciduous, like a lot of fruit trees are, and they lose them for the winter then grow new ones in the spring?" I suggested, hopefully, because I really had no clue. And yet, they simply MUST be related to the fruit-growing wyverns we'd looked at a few days ago.

Another car horn zoomed past.

"My poor head can't cope with all that noise. What on earth is going on out there?"

And then it happened.

There was a noise like two totally dissonant car horns getting closer and closer and faster and faster and then a terrible crash right outside the window. And the horns stopped.

I ran to the door to see what happened.

And this is the sight that greeted me - two mischievous dragons, one red and one blue, who had crash landed on the top of the haybox.



"What on earth have you two been up to? And was it you making that awful noise?"

"It wasn't an awful noise. We were experimenting!"

"Noise is in the ear of the beholder!" I assured them, ushering them in through the open door and closing it again before too much coolth escaped from the house.

"We tried to come in through the window but it was shut."

"It's past mid-day in August, of course it's shut! It stays open overnight this time of year and we shut it as soon as the outside temperature starts to rise. What exactly have you been up to? And why did it involve so much noise?"

"Well as we're sisters," Vermelha explained, "that means we should be doppelgangers, so we're experimenting with the doppler effect"

I wasn't entirely sure of the connection but my head was hurting too much to argue.

"Mum, what's the doppler effect?" asked Rosa.

My head was certainly hurting too much to answer that properly and I suggested it might just be an excuse to hurtle along the railway tracks sounding their horns and makingzooming noises.

"Maybe Iggy can explain it to you..." I suggested as I retreated somewhere quiet.

And of course Iggy did. He pulled up an image on my laptop and explained how if you are moving very fast towards something, or something is moving very fast towards you, then the waves emitted get all squooshed up together relative to how they would appear if you stayed the same distance apart. So sounds would higher pitched if a horn approached you fast, then lower in pitch as they move away.



"Is it just sounds that change?" asked Rosa

"No, colours too..." Iggy assured her.

Rosa wondered if there was a way to make pink using the doppler effect.

Meanwhile, Vermelha and Índigo were in deep discussion with Spot, the chameleon, about different strategies for changing red into blue, or blue into red, or maybe blue and red into something somewhere in the middle...



But that is a story, and a game, for another day...

I have fallen into the black hole that is late summer.

Between trying to get the harvest in, prepping firewood, and humans... I'm very sad I let my dragons (and many less fun online obligations) slide.

I have learned that August is not a good month for an art challenge.

Soon, after the peaches are put up, I'll have some time.  I'm excited to catch up on the art and burra's stories.

You're not the only one in that boat! I, too, feel bad about having neglected so much on permies in attempts to do all the other things that need to be done.

My dragons have been busy planning a very special adventure, but there are wildfires around and they are confined to the house until it is safer to let them out to play. And after I've had some good sleep!

I think I may come back and re-visit some of the days I've missed too. Rosa wants to show everyone some of the gemstones that they're all wearing. And to collect spicy berries of the thorny pepper tree. Though actually I suspect she'll just supervise and let me do it so the thorns don't get in her fingers...

August is over, and the temperatures have begun to drop. Which means the wildfires are now all under control. Which, in turn, means that it might be time to start letting the dragons out to play a little again. People do tend to get nervous of dragons if they are seen outside during fire season and it's not good to frighten the neighbours.

We seem to have missed out quite a few of the Smaugust days, so Rosa suggested a quick potter around outside to pick some pink pepper as we'd run out in the kitchen, and maybe we could look to see if we could find any other fruit that grows on thorny or prickly plants so that we can have a story for 'thorns' day, which was supposed to be on August 13th so we're rather late...

So Rosa, Austin, Rock the Welsh Sheepdog and I went outside to see what we could find.

Rosa, somewhat predictably, went straight to her favourite rose bush to see how the rose hips were doing as she wants to have a go at making rose hip syrup, or maybe rose hip and quince jelly.



The rose bush is doing very well this year and there are loads of hips, but they're not quite ripe enough to pick yet. They usually go nice and red and these ones are still quite orange. Maybe next week they'll be ready. Which will give Rosa time to check out recipes and find some jars and bottles to put things in.

Then to check up on the prickly pears. This is a seed-grown one that hasn't fruited before. It has loads of fruit for a first-timer, but they're not showing much colour yet Maybe it will turn out to be a yellow fruited variety. A couple more weeks and we should find out and soon after we can cut one to see what colour they are inside.



And this one, which fruited for the first time last year, is Rosa's favourite. The skin has a lovely deep pink blush and the ripe fruit has deep pinky-red flesh. It tastes just the same as the normal orange-fleshed fruit, but Rosa thinks it's much prettier. And I admit it is nice to have some of each colour.

They're still not quite ripe though. Patience, Rosa...



And then to the Sichuan pepper tree, which gives spicy, citrusy pink peppers that tingle on your tongue before turning your mouth numb. Rosa thought they should be nearly ready to harvest by now and wanted to harvest a few of the earliest ones as the jar in the kitchen is all used up.

And she's right - they are starting to turn a very pretty shade of pink!  



But whilst Rosa loves the pinkness of the berries, she's nervous of the thorniness of the tree itself and doesn't want to get her fingers prickled...



And I can't say I blame her - just look at those thorns!



So Austin helped her pick some for the kitchen. Only then our neighbour turned up because Rock, realising we were distracted by picking pink thorny things, decided to go off and see if they had any spare biscuits and they had dutifully given him some and then brought him back again, much to my embarrassment as I'm supposed to keep a closer eye on him than that. So we gave her the pink peppers from the bowl by way of an apology (though I don't think she really minds else she wouldn't keep a supply of biscuits in for him...) and Austin picked some more for me, which I now have in the house and have spread to finish drying so that they split open and release the black, gritty seed so that I can remove them from the nice spicy bit.



And of course, that will mean I have lots of seeds to share, for anyone who wants to try growing their own thorny pink-pepper tree.

Smaugust day 20 - Celestial
..........................................

"What are you doing with my star wheel, Iggy?"



"I'm trying to find out which direction to go to find Ursula's family. She says there's a giant Sky Dragon up there too and it would be a good place to take Vermelha and Índigo so they can finish their game of One-Shift, Two-Shift."

"Well let's have a think. Ursula is a momma bear, so I guess her family are papa bear and baby bear. Hang on a minute, I think I saw a youtube video that might give us some clues.  Let's have a look..."



"That must be them!" Iggy declared,  "Ursa Major and Ursa Minor - that means big bear and little bear. And Draco, the Great Sky Dragon King, is between them."

"Did it mention where they were?"

"It mentioned the northern sky..."

"Well maybe look at the very middle of the star wheel, where the pivot is, and work from there."

"Oh of course, the sky looks to us as though it's spinning around the North Star so the star wheel is made to pivot around that point. That makes sense..."

Iggy had a good look and soon found Ursa Minor, the little baby bear, and his companions Ursa Major, the big papa bear, and Draco the Sky Dragon King.



Ursula was so happy to see them again but she's still too tired to make the journey home to them so Iggy promised to send her love to them when they go to visit Draco.

Rubeus, the patriarch of my little dragon family, had been supervising proceedings and stomped off to tell Vermelha and Índigo to get ready for a journey. They were very excited about it and started to tell Shiva all about their plans while Iggy went off to do a bit of research about light wavelength and colour



To be continued...

Smaugust is such a fun idea! Prompts usually pop up closer to August, but using past years’ lists (or making your own) works just as well. Planning ahead with sketches, props, or photo ideas is definitely the key to finishing the month strong.

Celestial - part two
.............................................

When night came, Rubeus came and sat by my bedside and suggested I play a recording of Dragon Sleep Journey while Vermelha, Índigo, and Iggy prepared themselves for their Grand Adventure. When I'd begun to drift off to sleep and the recording had reached the part about climbing aboard my magic dragon to tour the celestial skies I found myself astride Rubeus in his full Welsh Dragon form, strong and powerful and capable of carrying me to the far reaches of the universe. And together we all flew up into the night sky towards the North Star.

It took a lot longer than I expected but we eventually reached baby bear and papa bear, better known as Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, and sent Ursula's love to them. And there, snaking his way between them further than the eye could see was a dragon so immense he was almost impossible to comprehend - Draco, the Sky Dragon King. He was so vast that he seemed completely unaware of our presence, and he was made up of so much empty space between the stars that defined him that he did, as Ursula had suggested, make the most awesome runway for Vermelha and Índigo to try out stage two of their One-Shift, Two-Shift game. I wasn't quite sure what it was going to involve but I did know that they considered themselves to be identical twins even if they were different colours and suspected the game might involve something that made them appear more similar to each other.

"Ah there you are - I've been waiting for you." said a voice behind us.  "I've been practicing, too. Here - catch this!"



And Shiva threw an oval, pointy sort of ball incredibly fast and straight down the length of the dragon-runway.

Rubeus scowled a little as he thought Shiva was throwing it all wrong. After all, rugby balls should *never* be passed forwards like that, only back or to the side. He huffed grumpily to himself at the indignity of it all but Vermelha and Índigo were having a wonderful time catching the ball and bringing it back for Shiva so he could throw it again, faster and faster each time until it was beginning to approach the speed of light.

Eventually though Rubeus had had enough. He couldn't bear to see a rugby ball being abused like that and he caught it himself and stomped off with it in the most terrible huff. Or pwdi as he would call it.  

Vermelha and Índigo seemed a little concerned, but Shiva just laughed. Which was nice to see as he'd done nothing but cry for days when we'd first found him.

"So, who's going to volunteer to be thrown next, seeing as we don't have a ball to play with any more?" asked Shiva.

"Me! Me! Me!" insisted Vermelha as the little red dragon hurtled over to Shiva as fast as her wings could carry her.

Shiva picked her up, held her just right so as get the perfect amount of spin, and threw her at the speed of light. She became a streak of red light shooting off into the distance. Eventually she came back and wanted another go.

"Faster! Faster!" she insisted. So this time Shiva ran forwards as he threw her, and she took off again at the speed of light. But this time she was orange.

"Again! Again!" So Shiva ran even faster, and this time she became a beam of yellow light!

"Iggy," I asked, "do you have any idea what's happening?"

"It's the doppler effect again, like when they were zooming along the railway track making silly noises the other day. Only now they are going even faster and instead of just the sound waves getting squooshed up closer together, now it's the wavelength of the light getting closer together."

"So you're saying that she started off appearing red but as she goes faster she changes colour?"

"Yeah, it's a bit odd because speed doesn't seem to work the same up here. But the colour sure changes!"

"Faster!!!" cried Vermelha and this time she turned green. And the next time blue, and finally indigo.

"That's enough! We've done it!" cried Vermelha.

"Oh no we haven't," insisted Índigo. "I haven't had my turn yet! I don't see why you get all the fun..."

So Índigo flew to Shiva, who picked her up and ran forwards with her and threw her at the speed of light.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....." squealed Índigo. "No wonder you loved it so much! This is fun!"

Only she had turned violet, which Vermelha have never quite achieved.

"Faster, faster!" she insisted.

And this time when Shiva threw her, she disappeared completely!

"ÍNDIGO!!! WHERE ARE YOU???" I called out in a panic. But the dragons didn't seem to understand my concern.

"She's still there mum, look!" Iggy told me.

"I am looking. She's disappeared without trace."

"Oh, no. I forgot. You can't see beyond violet can you? I forgot humans were a bit colour-blind..."

"What do you mean?"

"Dragons can see ultra-violet. She's still there, it's just that you can't see her. We can though! Don't worry, we'll change the game so you can see her. We don't want you to worry."

And Iggy went over to have a little word with Shiva about the inadequacies of human vision and see if they could figure out a solution that kept everybody happy.

"The thing is," said Iggy "that Vermelha wants to be more like Índigo, which means her wavelength has to shift closer together, more into the blue part of the spectrum."

"You mean Vermelha has to blue-shift? Yes, that's why I've been running when I throw her, so the wavelengths get closer together." agreed Shiva.

"But to make it fair we have to also make Índigo more like Vermelha, by stretching her wavelengths out, more into the red part of the spectrum."



"But we have to do it at the same time!!!" piped up the little red and blue dragons.

"But there's only one of me! How can I throw both of you at the same time whilst running at different speeds? It's not possible!"

"Maybe I can help?" a soft, feminine voice piped up from behind us.

Shiva froze for a moment, unable to believe his ears. Then he turned and he saw her.

"KALI! You've come back to me!"

Shiva  went to embrace his partner, who he had missed dearly, but she was having none of it. She laughed and ran towards Índigo, scooping her up in her arms and running past Rubeus, calling out to him not to worry because she knew how to throw dragons properly, and off into the distance. And as she picked up speed away from us she threw Índigo back towards us in true rugby fashion, at the speed of light so that Índigo appeared pale blue as she passed us.

"Come on Shiva!" Kali called as she ran back to collect Índigo for another go. "If we practice this we should be able to get them to pass Iggy at the same time from opposite directions and have them appear the same colour. Let's aim at green, which is half way between red and indigo, to make it fair."

And gradually as they practiced their speeds and their timings, little red dragons blue shifted and little blue dragons red shifted, and sometimes they passed us at the same time and sometimes they missed a bit but eventually two identical little green dragons zoomed passed us from opposite directions.

And now nobody could deny that Vermelha and Índigo were indeed identical!



Rubeus had been watching from afar and despite his pwdi he was very impressed with the development of the game, and terribly proud of his little girls. He swallowed his pride and strode up to Kali and presented her with the rugby ball.

"Excellent skills you have there! Honour to have seen you play!"

"Why thankyou Rubeus!" and Kali bent down and kissed him gently on the cheek.

Rubeus was mortified as he really doesn't like all this soppy touchy feely stuff and he backed away rapidly.

Then she turned to Shiva and smiled at him.

"Come on, we have our ball back now - let's go and play!"



And off they went to dance and play to their hearts' content for the rest of eternity.

But we had to head home and try to get some sleep, having finally perfected the game of One-Shift, Two-Shift, Red-Shift, Blue-Shift.