Dragon

Thank you dearest, and happy anniversary. I had some really stressful dreams, so seeing this greetings was a nice little surprise that helped to relieve some of the anxiety. <3 All good things your way

Thank you very much! ^___^

I'm doing okay. Thank you for the support and hug. I miss you dear, maybe later this week you could tell me more about the different ways Canada Day celebrated? I always enjoy learning from you. Look forward to reading your VMs too. Have a blessed week <3

-Sam

Happy Canada Day baby!

Hi Shawn

How are you doing this weekend? Hopefully the silver lining to the rain cloud had appeared, or a little rainbow with a pot of gold at the end for you.

I have not dealt with depression and anxiety lately that's something I struggle with more in the winter/fall. Summer is when I come alive, but I am really lethargic and tired however I will say, and struggling to get organized. I think I probaby need more sunlight, normally I would be super active this time of year, but the pandemic has changed life a lot. I thought I would be in Morocco this summer before all this happened. I am still doing well, all things considered and feel optimistic about what the future could hold. I will survive.

You know I love tales of kings and queens. I wanted to double check which Catherine you had in mind? Since there were 3 married to Henry the 8th, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, all of which are sympathetic and interesting in their own ways, I thought I would make sure that we were still on the same page.

My mother taught me a lot about English monarchs as a kid. She was always drawn to the UK, and low and behold she has quite a bit of British ancestry, so it's not too surprising. She loves Celtic dance, art, religion and music well. In my ancestry DNA records I saw English, Scottish and French ancestry there, all of which my mom said she was, so that makes sense. What surprised me though was the Irish, Welsh and Norwegian, they weren't high percentages, but it was something I didn't know about at all, and interesting to learn. And I have also to be proud of roots in the Congo, Mali, Benin, Nigeria, Togo and Cameroon. So you have a very exotic girlfriend.

While, I know something about the western monarchy, you seem tp have read extensively about Imperial China, and I believe there is so much rich information I could learn from you, like tapping a wise and grounded tree.

Have you heard a television series called The Story of Yanxi palace? It's a drama and love story set within the harem during the dynasty of Emperor Qian Long. I immensely enjoyed most of it, the extravagant costumes, the great actors, and unexpected plot twists. I think you might enjoy it too since you seem like a great Sinophile.

That's a very interesting question, what kind of queen I would be? I love the direction that these conversations are taking by the way.

Before i answer I want to confirm are you asking me specifically which country I would like to reign in and what period of time, or just what my inclination would be to do as queen? Because the type of monarch I could realistically be could greatly vary depending on the framework of the government I would work within.

I'm glad you liked all the chocolate. The video definitely made me think of you. Speaking of sweets, my aunt and mother went to the farmer's market this morning. I am myself still a little reluctant to go into environments with that much hustle and bustle, but these two women braved covid, and returned with the most delightful of sweets. I have a yummy box of truffles and pain au chocolat to thank them for. Reminds me so of living abroad.

As for writing, each and everyone one of us works differently. What might stop me when writing a story that I start off passionate about is just becoming very busy, whether it's with work or a class or volunteer work, helping a loved one or mod duties. I don't easily run out of ideas, but if significant time passes before I can find an opportunity to return to a story then I might just forget about or lose the initial enthusiasm and move on to a different project, it's not so much a general writing slump. The way I operate is out of sight, out of mind. it's easier for me to work on the same project consistently for months or years, then it is for me to stop for a length of time then revisit. That is just how I roll though, I live very much live in the moment. I know other writers who do sometimes experience writer's block and just put down the story challenging them to do something else, and will be renewed later. I think this is the way Stephen King works. So if you feel a different project calling to you Shawn, and believe you are stuck with your current mystery then why not try something else?

May Smeargle lend you his creativity Sweetheart. Xoxoxo

-Sam

Hello there dear,thanks for dropping in to check on me. I have been really fatigued lately, I'm regigigas under slow start. Based on what I have read you have also struggled and been blue. I was worried about you, and sorry to hear about your stress. /Pats you on the shoulder and hugs you for a long time resting with you.i hope today is better and send you love right back, and air hug from me to you sweetheart.

I will respond properly to your thoughtful message soon, but take this kiss on the nose, and I will be back soon. I love you too. You are precious <3

Thank you <33 I'm getting a little better every day. :) Being back has definitely lightened my heart quite a bit.

Apart from being stuck at home, I'm doing pretty alright. Hoping to get the sw/sh expansion pass in a few weeks, if New York's economy fully opens up by the day it comes out.

Are you doing alright?

I'm good! I'm busy too, I leave for work in a few hours! I'm looking to move out soon which is exciting! How is everything where you are? Are you still in isolation?

Also no worries! I'm glad to here everything is well with you. Stay safe!

Tame your time honey. Lean on my shoulder. Just know that you are full of goodness and you are loved. You are in my thoughts each day and I will be there.

I hate Henry the VIII actually! To me he's such a coward and bully, and nearly plunged his country into ruin. He never got his comeuppance either for the things he did unlike King John or Richard II or Richard III. I like learning about his reign for his wives instead of him. Initially my favorite was his second wife Anne Boleyn. She was an influential figure in the reformation, she was intelligent, fashionable and talented, accomplished in music, spoke many languages and she loved and gave birth to Elizabeth, the greatest monarch in the history of England.

However, as time goes by my interest has increased in Henry's last wife Catherine Parr. She was really tall for her day like 5'10. She was the most scholarly wife perhaps, she had translated and authored books. She was a great influence on Elizabeth, and looked after her. Catherine would have I think been a great abbess.

I like the Tudor women, but I prefer the Plantagenet dynasty's kings. I mentioned before that my favorite king is probably Edward IV during the War of the Roses. I also like Henry the II and especially his brilliant wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.

As for Queen Victoria I go back and forth with how I feel about her. I like that she and Albert married for love, and they were definitely a handsome pair. They were both creative and great patrons of the arts and sciences, and they were more empathetic to people the world over than I would have expected of 19th century Europe. Albert made a great speech about abolitionism, and Victoria adopted an orphan Nigerian princess known to history as Sarah Forbes.

I just wish Victoria could have been a kinder mother to her own biological children, the upbringing she had herself obviously influenced some of the emotional problems she displayed. I guess she's still interesting though, people usually are never all black or all white. Hence i used the description colorful for Queen Victoria.

Speaking of England, we've been experiencing some rainy London weather here in my state. All the sunshine and heat has gone. It's been gray and raining day after day, and we have a tropical storm headed through the state so more water to look forward to. It's a good thing my mother wanted a rain barrel as a birthday present. It's being put to good use right now. Alas, we don't have your weather, and have to go back to coats for a few days.

Since we're talking about dessert quite a bit, I thought you might enjoy this video. You like really rich and sweet, decadent foods, cookies & cream, caramel brownie ice cream bars, cheesecakes, macaroons. These recipes made me think of you.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lO-avpI8DUA

You might want to try some of these cakes, candies and ice creams, they look easy and fun to make. A lot of them are probably too much sugar for me, since I am more of mildly sweet kinda girl plain vanilla bean or salted caramel is usually plenty for me, but some of these desserts I wouldn't mind giving a try. The third to last chocolate shell one with the slice of strawberry and mint looks elegant! I believe it's at 9:57.

Which one would you want to be served?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lO-avpI8DUA

Hi honey, the week is finally coming into an end. Let me respond to this long overdue message. You are such a patient soul.

It sounds like you had a relaxing Victoria Day! That queen Victoria was quite a colorful character.

Do you have any favorite historical monarchs?

Below I'll tell you how you did on your riddle, and if you passed or failed. Drumroll please...

Oh, lucky you! I thought you couldn't get a new one before next month. Let's have a toast. *Raises glass*

I have wanted to find a copy of The Fairies and send it to you, but it's getting harder to find these days. It's a little known book written decades ago as a sorta indie arthouse endeavor. But I will keep my eyes open for it.

I have been so tired and so stressed that I am not on top of messages. Forgive me? I hope that you are doing well. I should have responded sooner.

I love summer too. I come alive in the bright sunshine surrounded by colorful flora and fauna, and live for the warm air touching my skin. There are a lot of things I can't do since we still must take precautions with the pandemic not being defeated yet, so I won't be going on picnics or traveling to the beach, but I still feel excited as the season changes. I have started eatting ice cream-- I only do that when the weather is warm :)

I should enjoy seeing photos of lovely summer sights. I will make sure I stop by the club then, and take a look. I have been taking a lot of photos myself. The roses are really showing off! We are truly House Tyrell. There's an arbor in the garden, and a batch of white and blush-toned climbing roses slowly taking it over, and adding a storybook touch to the backyard. I'll post photos later too!

Oh that's great news that you have club stuff you would likely concentrate on. I'm always glad to have another club hopper in our midst. We are a small, but I think special community. I look forward to seeing your updates. I was just thinking about the cooking club you said you wanted to make because I made a delicious salad today in a taco bowl filled with avacodo, white, brown and wild rice, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream, and think it would be an easy recipe to share with others.

I believe CiCi is also still accepting entries for the Dream Weavers event. You mentioned that you were going to write a story based on your dream for the club over Discord, and wanted it to be your introduction to the club. We have a decent-sized audience at Dream Weavers, and adding you will make it even better sweetheart.

I have a riddle that I will leave you with. I don't believe I have told you this one.

I'm not great, but will persevere and claw my way through another day. Thank you for your kind words sweetheart. At the moment I feel more like talking here over vm instead of Discord, so I'm happy to hear that you have a profile message in the works. Lots of love. See you soon honey! Have a good day today.

-Sam

Hey I want to change my username, do you know how I can do that?

I hope you are doing well! <3

I love the style of this music video, it's visually a work if art as much as it is musically. It's surreal and magical reminds me of Suza Scalora's art, the photographer/illustrator of the book The Fairies. In exchange for the song I will share with you a whimsical photo by her.

Fairies exist, the proof is below! I'll see you in The Mythical Creatures Club.

This was sweet of you to send me. Yes, I actually have indeed been feeling a little grey lately, but getting by, and the songs you sent brought another little ray of sunlight to me. Thank you love! I hope you are having a relaxing and pleasurable weekend after a long hard week of work. Thinking of you, and you have given me much to think about with all of your stories, your private messages, the music, photos we've shared and more <3

I didn't know you were a Train fan, awesome! I haven't listened to Pat Monohan in a long time, thanks for the nostalgic walk down memory lane. I love how varied his performances are, he doesn't sing a song the same way twice.

I think my favorite song by this artist is Sweet Rain, an oldie but still a goodie.

I see that you have already sent them on your own, so it looks like that question you has been answered by you as the asker teehee. I have a nice, long email to reply to. I may not be able to read and review them just yet, it's a hectic weekend for me, but I definitely will look at the stories. I'm still editing chapters of my own, so I don't think I will be able to send them tomorrow or the day after, but I can at least send you a poem :)

I think it makes sense that your household eats fish during Easter, since your family is Christian I wonder if this tradition commemorates the miracle of feeding thousands with just two fish? Also your parents are from Jamaica, an island. Your ancestors were surrounded by the sea, so seafood would logically be incorporated. I eat neither meat nor fish. I will make something very non-traditional like perhaps a penne marinara.i'm still trying to work out what's on the menu :p

I can't wait to see what Easter eggs you post this weekend for the club event. I enjoy seeing your creative side. I will probably do something simple because my cat is likely to hop up on the counter and knock my work over at any given moment and try to roll my eggs away like a ball. So I don't want something I'll get too attached to. I'm using free range/ cage free eggs to paint.

I did evolve my Togepi in Pokémon Gold as well. As I remember Togetic came first, then Espeon. Both of them became major team mates for me and were with me when I beat the elite four. This mon has a lovely design. I ended up using Togepi again in HGSS and raised him to a Togekiss, I couldn't fully evolve him until post game though because that's when the shiny stone became available. Evolving my pokemon by friendship never seemed to take me very long though. Maybe because I do a lot of wandering around leveling grinding and walking helps raise happiness, and I loved to dote on my mons with haircuts too.

I actually heard about that golden retriever! We don't deserve dogs, they're so good. I have been hearing a lot of stories about dogs helping out during this pandemic. There's a website called good news network that has lots of inspirational stories like that. This site is a nice place to visit when things are stressful. I loved this story about a family drawing on houses throughout the neighborhood to cheer everyone up. It looks so cute too! I wish the façade of my house looked like that.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-cheers-neighborhood-by-coloring-each-brick-of-their-house