Wednesday, December 24, 2014: Xmas Eve …
Ashland, Oregon*
Sir Thomas Leaf, Lady Etain, and Cian, the Prince of Endurance made the best of their last vending day for 2014. Given the lack of sales in the previous few days they pondered why they were even open on Xmas eve … Foot traffic picked up in the early part of the day and some stocking stuffers and gifts bought but overall a slow sales day. So slow, they decided to close at 2 pm instead of the planned 4 pm, although it took nearly 4 pm to get finished cleaning and closing down the shop, removing valuables from the shop to a remote vault, and preparing for their expedition to the magical island of Eire. High hurricane strength winds swept through the streets in the early morning and rains fell soaking the city and was probably the cause and effect of why not too many shoppers were out. The Snowfall dotted the landscape in the higher hills as a white wintery wonderland fell for Xmas eve for those living on the outskirts of Ashland.
As the adventurers all had caught a cold in the last couple days since Solstice, the first time that Prince Cian had ever fell ill in his 21 months of life, they had to delve into their own apothecary digging out the Echinacea Angustifolia* to make up some capsules to boost their immune system. As Sir Thomas Leaf pulled out the mortar and pestle, he brought it down to the floor so that Prince Cian could have his first introduction to herbalism – shocked as he was, the young Prince crawled straight to the mortar grabbed the pestle and started grinding the Echinacea root. Shocked and surprised was Sir Leaf! He knew immediately that Prince Cian was definitely an old soul … and true to his namesake, “Cian” Irish for “Endurance” and “Ancient One”. Prince Cian had a blast taking apart the gel caps and putting them in the gel capsule machine, stuffing in the powdered echinacea as if he was playing in the sandbox. A stash was made for the journey.
Just as the trio was ready to head off to catch their air dragon across the great pond, they were triggered with a faulty Toyota caravan alarm malfunction disabling the engine … it took a half hour for Sir Thomas Leaf to figure out the work-around so that he could get the car started again. Finally after some trials and errors they succeeded. Then halfway to Medford they realized they left behind some important documents and left the wreath hanging on the door, so a quick spin around back to Ashland the turnaround was accomplished. Onwards to storage they grabbed some gear for their flight, and headed to the Ramada Inn* for their lodge, park n’ fly for an affordable rate of under $80 allowing them to leave their car for 2 weeks. They nestled in for the evening, went down to Denny’s for an Xmas even diner feast, showers and relaxation as tomorrow they are to board the air dragon United back to the Old World.
* Note: These links refer to pages that are in process of being written. Expected publication is by no later than middle January 2015. If they do not work after this date, please let us know.
More photos from this date here:
