Tuesday

The Menagerie at Drahcirardnas


I had a conversation via email the other day with a good friend. I've noticed there are people in our lives who bring out certain qualities in us that may lay dormant until these muses feed them. These particular friends bring out my humorous, playful side. I can always make them laugh and that is a good thing today. I love laughter.

We had a pleasant discussion to catch-up on the typical points of daily life, "How's the kids, how's the work coming?, how's the blossom end rot on your tomatoes?", etc and so forth. After my answer back to him I wrote, "Well, that's all the news fit to print from Drahcirardnas."

The next morning I had this email:

Google doesn't know what Drahcirardnas is. It is a beautiful word. How does it sound? What does it mean?

So, again I'm being Googled. (see first entry) Wow, twice in a matter of weeks. But I had to directly answer this inquiry as to the meaning and pronunciation of Drahcirardnas.


-Drahcirardnas: Drahh Keer Ard Nas - noun- loosely interprets as: bridge to the peninsula; according to a Scotch-Irish Gaelic translator I once met. It is the name of our house/property. I made it up. I come from a long line of people who make up words and/or who rename things. My nickname is Estermarelda. It means one who prowls in her (paternal) grandmother's dressing table and who also breaks the tail off grandma's pet chameleon. Of course, I was also called Jamie by my maternal grandfather. The only name he ever called me-"Well, there's my Jamie". This name is not even close to my actual name(s).
So Drahcirardnas is this magical kingdom on a peninsula of delectable comic insanity. Course you gotta cross the bridge to get here. And it's filled with trolls and a very confusing gatekeeper. A few goats tried a while back and some...well...they didn't make it. As long as you're willing to suspend (humankind's "normal" but obviously false) reality and believe in faeries, sprites, brownies, goblins, and other wildly imaginative creatures; you'll be safe here. Oh and for George's Sake, "Don't mess in the affairs of the dragons. For you are crunchy and good with ketchup." Wish I had thought that one up, but alas, it's on a t-shirt and wall plaques in catalogs. Anyway, they guard the Waters of Imagination which surround Drahcirardnas.-


So I try to live each day in honour of such a magical place. One where imaginations are fed wildly elaborate foods. A land where my sons were raised. To explore, believe in all possibilities and to expect anything. Where play is as important as 'real' work, where building amazing Lego structures were applauded and left up for weeks. I also have used my sons as subjects over the years. For paintings, illustrations, & just because. I will include some of those images in later posts.

For now I leave you with a photograph taken last summer. We enlisted the aid of these cute pygmy goats in cleaning some underbrush. They were so adorable and lovable. We kept them only a few weeks as they were on loan. After they left my dog decided she was a goat and now grazes everytime we are outside for any length of time. They are meeting for the first time here. Let me tell ya, it was hysterical. They played well together and I think Sarah missed them after they were gone.

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