Weeeeeee! I got to play D&D last night! Granted, i was more than a little rusty on all the rolls and such, but i had a lovely time with a highly creative group of people. I'm a bard (of course) so i have to get some of the story down. (Now speaking from this world i can tell you that we stopped at a brief break in a tricky situation that the bard can't tell you about yet, because there is no way she'd have had a chance to put pen to parchment yet, so that'll just have to wait.)

O, gentle reader! One rather otherwise ordinary day, the rather glum druid Geist and his wolf Roth, the most holy paladin Aven, and i, the bard Qillathe Lyrica awoke at dawn after a most strange dream. I'm not sure if i should mention the gruesome details for fear of scaring you poor reader before the tale begins. However, suffice it to say that we all three had the same dream of a horrible man destroying children by a well. Upon waking we found ourselves in a strange room with a rather large half-orc barabarian woman and some little thing that appeared to be little more than a swiftly moving shadow. Before we had a chance to figure out where we were or who they were, we woke up and found ourselves alone again in the woods. That was enough to send Aven off to pray and Geist off to consult with Roth and leave me to try to piece it together in my head until i found good parchment again. However, when we all gathered again it became clear that Roth was sensing something else in the woods. Now this is where it becomes interesting...as Geist and i observed silently from the woods Aven strode bravely down the road to meet none other that the very half-orc woman from our dream. The shadow was still nowhere to be seen. Aven and the half-orc spoke and length and determined that she as well had seen us three in a dream. When asked about the shadow she pointed to her's on the ground...very strange. However, as i revealed myself to join the conversation Geist and Roth appeared with none other than the Truth Teller of the old tales Master Silvious himself. (I sang a bit of his song to him and he seemed genuinely pleased.) After much bickering between Geist, Aven and Sloane (for that was the half-orc's name) Silvious finally called out to the shadow to come out from hiding. The shadow turned out to be a rather tiny gnome named Zolane (or something...note to self to correct the spelling of her name). Having all met, Silvious now told us of how he had contrived to bring us all together for a great quest to destroy this evil man from our dream. Surely, this is the beginning of a great tale of bravery and daring, if we manage to survive it. To set our minds at ease, the great druid Silvious honored us with a trip to the well of truth to ask a single question. As Geist most eloquently put it in his own glum way, our questions were our own (well except mine, because i couldn't help just asking out loud if there was anything else we needed to know to succeed in this quest and was promptly told, "NO." I'll have to work on my question asking in the future...) With that Silvious sent us off to find this strange woodsman named Tyro who he told us we needed as part of our party in order to succeed. Fortunately, we found him without too much trouble (shouting timber as he felled the most mighty of trees). Our cajoling didn't seem to be working (apparently Silvious had set him to such tasks before). However, he was a most gracious host and offered me the opportunity to play one of his exquisite wood flutes. So with a little music and some god talk from Aven we seemed to be making an impression. However, it was Sloane who sealed the deal by asking politely if he would join us that did the trick. I kept telling her that all she needed to do was batt her eyelashed a bit, but she seemed incapable of doing that. Anyway, with much music and revelry (except for Aven who went off to pray very hard) we enjoyed the rest of the evening until it became clear that Tyro and Sloane needed some time alone and we all quietly made our exits. That's leaves me here now, to write this all down. Of course, i should mention that the little we do know about where we are going...tomorrow we will teleport to the Isle of White. Not a safe place under the current dark elf's rule (note to self...remember his name, it would do well to not keep forgetting that sort of thing) and even less safe under the current circumstances. Apparently a man and his two sons are expecting us there, and won't be greeting us with open arms, but rather fanged mouths. It may be some time before i have the chance to write again...perish the thought, but if i survive this may be the epic ballad that finally makes me famous.~Q. Lyica

Sick, isn't it?~w

As we drove south to Spartanburg this morning to do a show the mist was thick and heavy. Finally as it began to clear i found myself enjoying a bit of sunshine. I was suddenly aware that the sky was still not blue, but the sun broke through in a lazy hazy sort of way that lit up the road without blinding me. Ah! That's why my eyes can't stand the naked bright sun...i grew up in the land where that was rare. The more time i spend in North Carolina the more that i discover about myself that marks me as "from the Northwest." A friend of mine gave me a hard time the other night about the fact that i've had my stuff here for 3 years, but talk as if i left Seattle only a few months ago. I don't know if it's a sense of pride, or whether it's pompousness, but i guess i still consider it home in many ways. It's probably more idyllic in my own head than in reality though. I know the cost of living alone is enough to keep me from running home for a while. Still, it's nice to dream.~w

Thunderstorms. It poured and hailed for 3 hours yesterday afternoon. The sky sounded like it was going to cave in on itself. The weather forcast calls for more of that today. It must be the week for these things. It's kind of exciting, but i'd prefer to be home with the cat and a good book rather than trying to get home from work when it's all going on. I'm not sure if my sandals have dried out yet.

I just realized that i've used "to boot" in the past couple of posts. I wonder where i picked that up. It's not something i usually say, but sometimes phrases get stuck in my head and i can get away from them. Things like "to boot" are insidious because they pop up everywhere, like mushrooms, before the problem is even noticed. The other phrase stuck in my head is "there goes the fear" which is not something you can just throw into any old sentence. It also has a melody behind it in my head because its a song on the Doves new album. It's actually a nice little mantra to have stuck in my head as long as it doesn't turn itself into "there goes the fear to boot." ~w

I spoke with a young man yesterday who was wondering if our program would help him pass 3rd grade. It seemed an odd question at first, but then i discovered that he was terrified of reading. He had heard that 3rd grade required a lot of reading and he wasn't sure if he would make it. Fortunately, the librarian knew him and was already helping him with his summer reading.

I suppose that's one of the best things about the public library system. Where else can you get free help with learning to read and books to borrow to boot? I know i spent a lot of time curled up reading library books as a kid. Maybe that's why i still enjoy reading. Granted i prefer the candy of something like Terry Prachett to the angst of Sarte, but given either one i'd read it. I've been running around like a mad woman for quite a few days now. It was nice to have an evening where i could sit down and read guiltlessly. Granted i gave up my email and bloggering and the chance to watch free cable movies, but i'm happy with my choice. I'll have to do that more often.~w

It was 97+ in Georgia and humid to boot. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Must sleep in cool mountain home now. Ah, home sweet home.~w

I'm off to Kingsland, GA today to do some shows there tomorrow. I'm not taking the computer, because i think i need a break from it. I hope i can survive.

Really, i spent yesterday whirlwinding through my house doing a thorough cleaning that even included sweeping the porches. I've decided that now that summer is really here, maybe i should enjoy it.

I'll write when i return.~w

I'm 3 rolls of film behind in posting to the website. I missed posting yesterday because well...i put off reading the poems for the "poem of the month" on the Poetry Alive! Fun Page until the last minute. Not bad, if you only have a few to read, but these were 150 poems by middle school students. Dense and full of angst, they were rather heavy reading. However, with help it was finally narrowed down to 3 poems for the website. Whew! Maybe now i can enjoy this beautiful sunny weekend in peace. Actually, i did run away yesterday to a couple of garden parties and had tastey bbq for dinner. So i can't whine too much.~w