AUNT TATTIE

So, Autumn is not quite in the air yet, though I always find myself longing for it at this time of year.

I thought that now would be a good time to start filling our community gardens with 

Garden Folk to guard the coming harvest.

I arranged a workshop at our garden site and we had the most wonderful and creative morn!

Take a peek here for the day! 

Project: GREEN

I've fallen in love with Tattie Bogles, the Scots name for scarecrow!

So many wonderful children's books have made their way to me, all the stories with

 such heart and soul!

Here's the tattie bogle I created.  Her name is Aunt Tattie and I think she's beautiful!

I had such an inspired time bringing her to life that I long to create more and more and more!

They look so magical from a distance!

If you are of a mind to create (or already have created) a tattie bogle for your garden,

won't you please post a link here so we might all come to see!

Enjoy!  

~Mimi

The Great God Kevin: A Lesser Known Greek Myth

THE GREAT GOD KEVIN:  
 A LESSER KNOWN GREEK MYTH
~
A Sisterhood of the Goat Story
by:  Mimi Foxmorton
copyright 2012
****************

One day on the farm 
While with one of my brothers
There arrived a white goat
That was not like the others.

He passed my cow Lizzie
And Pony the horse

A donkey named Elvis

And Miss Darla, of course.

The chickens ignored him

But that's how they act

This goat was quite different

And that was a fact.

He stood tall and lean

With a mop on his head

Had a lopsided grin

And went where I led.

His eyes were quite knowing

He looked straight at me

And settled right down

Just as calm as could be.

The others were curious 

As goats always are

'Cept for Darla

Who rammed him

And said,

"That's my Maa!"

A wee calf looked on him

With great, huge, round eyes

The barn yard was silent

You could hear the wind's sighs.

I searched through my memory

In a blink I did know it

"You're the Great God Pan." I did breathe

You can't help but show it.

"You are right." spoke the goat

Voice like honey and heaven

"But to lessen the fuss

Won't you please call me Kevin?"

"I've come from Arcadia

Near Olympus above

I noticed one day

That you needed some love."

"I'm here to remind you

That you are not alone"

"Your respect for all creatures

From above it has shone."

"The Sisterhood summoned me

They are quite astute"

"And to prove my devotion

I'll play on my flute!"

The music flowed forth

His Pan pipe I did hear

So ethereal it was

That I shed one happy tear.

The notes they dripped o'er me

Not one of them tragic

I knew then I was gifted

With goat love......

....and magic!

"'Tis true, then." I spoke

When the music had faded

"Those who say it's not true

Must surely be jaded."

"In sooth there are many

Who've forgotten the story

Of Pan on the hillside

In all of his glory."

"My Father was Hermes

The great messenger god

My mother, I knew her

For only a nod."

"I've lived many tales

Caused a wee bit of trouble

But delight to all hearts

That I've brought, it is double."

"There's the story of Syrinx

Who I thought I did need"

photo courtesy of Marigold & the Goatmother

Hi, Marigold!  Hi, Goatmother!  xox

"My pipe here you see

It was made from her reed."

"I've loved many a nymph

And sweet Echo I married

Her voice still you can hear

Down the lone path it's carried."

"I once dressed like a sheep

Fell in love with the Moon"

note to the Goatmother-I only wore it for a second-just for modeling.....I promise   ~Yellow Dog

"But she uncovered my plan

And I was sent away soon."

"I frighten the herds

And cause Panic, too

With my very fine yell of:

"Hey!  YIP!  YIP!  YOOOOO!"

"You see it's not good

To forget the old tale

Our children must know now

We can't let them fail."

"I ask you to bring

 The myths back to light

Create love for old stories

So they're not lost in the night."

So I gathered my goaties

And started to tell 

Of the Great God, um...Kevin

And his magical yell.

Our new goat was delighted

So he gave his great shout!

Darla whispered to me-

"Maaa, you figured it out!"

And from that day forward

We read every day

Stories from near

And from far, far away.

For a child's imagination

Is a miracle to behold

And as Kevin will tell you...

More precious than gold.

~The End~

****

~Hey! I wanted to be the last picture!

 ~Fine Darla, you can be the last picture.

~You still love me best, right?

~I still love you best, Darla.

~Good.  Then you won't mind if I do this.........

That's MY end!

Good night, everyone, from Maamaa and Me!

xox

*************************************************

Submitted to the Lovely and Magical

REAL TOADS

Please check out the wonderful and imaginative writers there!

We Do Have Need of Thee

I.

O goat-foot God of Arcady!

This modern world is grey and old,

And what remains to us of thee?

No more the shepherd lads in glee

Throw apples at thy wattled fold,

O goat-foot God of Arcady!

Nor through the laurels can one see

Thy soft brown limbs, thy beard of gold,

And what remains to us of thee?

And dull and dead our Thames would be,

For here the winds are chill and cold,

O goat-foot God of Arcady!

Then keep the tomb of Helice,

Thine olive-woods, thy vine-clad wold,

And what remains to us of thee?

Though many an unsung elegy

Sleeps in the reeds our rivers hold,

O goat-foot God of Arcady!

Ah, what remains to us of thee?

II.

Ah, leave the hills of Arcady,

Thy satyrs and their wanton play,

This modern world hath need of thee.

No nymph or Faun indeed have we,

For Faun and nymph are old and grey,

Ah, leave the hills of Arcady!

This is the land where liberty

Lit grave-browed Milton on his way,

This modern world hath need of thee!

A land of ancient chivalry

Where gentle Sidney saw the day,

Ah, leave the hills of Arcady!

This fierce sea-lion of the sea,

This England lacks some stronger lay,

This modern world hath need of thee!

Then blow some trumpet loud and free,

And give thine oaten pipe away,

Ah, leave the hills of Arcady!

This modern world hath need of thee! 
~Oscar Wilde

Our Pan

PAN

“What was he doing, the great god Pan,Down in the reeds by the river?
Spreading ruin and scattering ban,
Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat,
And breaking the golden lilies afloat
With the dragon-fly on the river.

He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
From the deep cool bed of the river:
The limpid water turbidly ran,And the broken lilies a-dying lay,
 and the dragon-fly had fled away,
Ere he brought it out of the river.

---

‘This is the way,’ laughed the great god Pan(Laughed while he sat by the river),
‘The only way, since gods began
To make sweet music, they could succeed.
’Then, dropping his mouth to a hole in the reed,
He blew in power by the river.

Sweet, sweet, sweet, O Pan!
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die and the lilies revived,
And the dragon-fly came back to dream on the river.

Yet half a beast is the great god Pan,
To laugh as he sits by the river,
Making a poet out of a man:
The true gods sigh for the cost and pain,
For the reed which grows nevermore again
As a reed with the reeds in the river.”

E. B. Browning.