Happy January!

In Moonwater Meadow it snows quite a bit during the winter.  It’s a pretty thing to see the world fade to a pristine sugar coated white.  The fields and trees and houses look like a candy coated wonderland in a faraway place.  The air gets a crisp damp feeling that makes you pull your scarf a little closer to you as you sip hot chocolate from your favorite mug.

Snow storms are even better when the children are on winter break from school.  Ollie and his friends; Ticklebit, Artemouse, Spoon, Gordon and the Bearly brothers spent the day making snow forts, having snowball fights and roaming around the meadow shoveling houses buried under layers of white.  They went to Molehill Mount, where a naturally occurring ski ramp had formed like a sudden winter gift to play with.

Artemouse and the Bearly brothers busied themselves making a snowman.  They gave it a steampunk top hat with goggles and a utility belt like Batman although there is a debate as to why a snowman would need a utility belt.  They gave it a carrot from Artemouse’s lunch bag for a nose and spindly branches for arms.  They added a small pocket for a pocket watch and a little chain that went from the imaginary vest buttons to the little pocket.  There was no watch to add to the chain and it would just freeze anyway.

While this was going on Ollie, Spoon and Gordon built a fire and put up a pot of tea.  Gordon always carried tea bags with him in his vest pocket, a vest he was unwilling to give up for the snowman on the other side of the field.  Knowing Gordon’s affection for tea, Ollie threw a teapot, some cups and cookies in his knapsack before venturing out today.  Dragons are very proper and civilized.  In addition to tea, Gordon always had a book with him as well as paper and pencil to jot down his thoughts or doodle a sketch of the day’s events.  Apple cinnamon spice was the flavor of the day.  As the cozy fire burned they sipped tea and exchanged pleasantries about the weather and the snowman forming not far away.

Then there was Ticklebit.  The tall dapper rabbit had all the grace of an elephant on buttered roller skates.  If there was a calamity to be found in any situation, it was Ticklebit who found it.  He was as clumsy as a blind hippopotamus in a cup and saucer factory.  Today he insisted on bringing his new snowboard to try out on Molehill Mount.  He wore his usual brightly color coordinated snow outfit and matching hat which didn’t match his snow-white snowboard with blue racing stripes.

The others weren’t interested in flying down a mountain preferring instead the quieter enjoyments of a snowy day such as tea and snow sculpture.  Ticklebit climbed to the top with his board strapped to his back.  He dropped the board into the snow, jumped on and soared down the mount.  It was then that he realized that he had no idea how to actually land on a snowboard.  This lack of planning led to the picture you see on your calendar.  Ticklebit went off in one direction while his snowboard went off in another and his hat went flying in some other direction and has still yet to be found.

The gang gathered at the base of the tree from which Ticklebit was suspended high above the snow for a rousing chorus of, “I told you so”.  Gordon flew up to  retrieve the shaken bunny who was eager to do it all again. They convinced him that hot tea and cookies would be better than spending the rest of the day crashing in to the same tree, a tree who would certainly get annoyed and perhaps “accidently” shift out for the way and let a flying rabbit land on the other side of the meadow to roll to a stop at the bottom of a hill as a giant snow ball.

“This is really good tea” , he said  as the gang gathered round the fire and giggled and sipped as the sun slowly crawled across the sky…

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