How not to eat people, hatchling level

The Trials of Graduating from Hatchling Level


Here at the Dragonista Academy you have to learn how not to eat people. It is a basic requirement of graduating to fledgling Dragon Level and beyond until you are at Dragon Master Level.

I have failed.

Unlike a lot of other dragons this basic requirement is something I just cannot quite grasp. People are just so tasty and yummy.

You can pickle them, toast them or pop them in a stew. They can be drizzled and griddled and barbecued. You can fillet them, mince them and dice them. The multitudinous ways to eat people make it incredible difficult to concentrate on not actually eating them.

No one would notice if I just sidled up to the back of a group and picked one of them up with my claws would they?

Or I could hide behind a chimney and in the middle of the night, just ever so gently open a bedroom window and pop one in the roasting pot.

With a bit of rosemary and sage.

Woe is this life I lead with some many tasty humans around. All scuttling and rushing this way and that. Oh how to choose the most scrumptious specimen.

I'll just have to try them all.

Apple Farm

Chapter One

Tolly peeps out from between two slightly soggy leaves and sticks her nose up in the air, sniffing left and right and back and forth.

When she smells nothing but earth and grass and rain she pokes her head and shoulders out of the tree and taking a deep breath she dashes out of the tree and darts across the grass towards the gray standing stone.

Arriving at the stone she presses her back flat against it and quickly looks all around. The wind ruffles her fur and whips blades of grass around her paws. Whiskers twitching and ears listening, she leans into the wind, peering hard to see if the big mean crow was slinking around.

Looking this way and that way she senses a dip in the wind, gathers herself up and dashes out across the field.

Her little body streaks across the grass, legs almost a blur, fur slicked back by the wind, eyes barely open, heading across the open patch of grass straight towards the bramble bush.

She spies a gap in the undergrowth and turns her body to aim for it. Her heart pounding, exhilaration running through her entire being, she speeds up as huge, juicy, luscious berries grow bigger in her eye line.

Diving into the undergrowth she leans against a bramble and takes a moment to catch her breath.

She cannot wait too long though as the deep, sweet smell of blackberries permeates the air all around her. Looking up and around she spots a particularly juicy berry almost bursting at its seams.

Gently climbing up to the berry she finds a comfy spot as close to the berry as possible and wiping her mouth carefully she leans in and sinks her teeth into its flesh.

Gloriously divine juices burst in her mouth and down her throat. She tears off a mouthful and devours it, savouring every last drop.

Scotland in a frame

Myths and Legends in the Wild Scottish Wolds

Hidden Depths

Glancing through the snow lashed trees, across the frozen loch, where, rumour has it, a monster fish lurks, even rarer than Nessie.

Mystical River

Mary McDonalds river of eternal youth, shrouded by the Cuillins of Skye (taken during hurricane Bawbag).

Hidden Gems

Tucked away on an island shore, carefully tended to, lies the amber liquid of the Angels, who always take their 10% share.

Faerie Cairns

Down long disused roads you'll often find faeire cairns and standing stones.

Selkies

Be careful when you reach the beach for there the Selkies wait to charm any mans soul.

Mists of Auld

 Sit by the loch sides edge and watch the mist roll swiftly across the water.

Eilean Doonan

 Across the bridge the Castle lies beneath the snow blanketed mountains.

In the still of the forest

In the still of the forest

Another therapy photo.

I used to go camping a lot but with my nreakdown I was too scared too, too overpowered by flashbacks and hyper vigilance.

This is from a selection of photographs taken when a couple of people camped out with me, just yards from my home, on the edge of a loch.

It was a wonderful night, especially watching the mist roll in across the loch and the moon dappling on the waters surface.

Swallow Roof

A few hours ago a few swallows started trying flying onto the roof and windows trying to get away from the wind and rain.

 

Then a few more arrived

 

Chatting to a Swallow

And a few more 

 

And a few more

 Hanging out by the window

These were mostly fledglings

 Sitting on the edge

 Hundreds all over

 

They covered my roof and the power lines but not any of the other roofs 

 Just after this shot they all fled after a buzzard dropped out of the sky on them.

It was a bizarrely amazing experience to see them all flying onto the roof and around the house and watching them watching me.

It sent the cats into a mad chirruping frenzy though!

Of small hopes and floating boats

Curls spurl on a whitened raft
Of waves and salt and spray
Take winds of blowing breath
Freshen pools of blue and green

Long tides swish in to sandy shores
To return to darkness deep
Leaving swathes of seaweed
Pebbles and driftwood still

Floating arms dapple surface
Of crystal waters calming
Bathing warmly in sunlight rays
On rocking rafting wood

Lie peacefully here as one
Watching gulls circling high
Fishes darting beneath hands
On coral beach sands