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We sailed by some more little islands, and Podge went to look at them but always came back. Then they came back with a BERRY that they showed to us really PROUD. It was a like a blackberry but a nice pink-purple color, and big and juicy and yummy-looking. We didn't know what kind of berry it was, so we sniffed it and poked at it to see if it was OK to eat. Cara said she could try it, because ultra-modern people have tough STOMACHS, but Podge thought we were being TOO SLOW and gobbled it up and did a little dance to show they weren't sick. We signalled to DAPPER CAPYBARA that we found some good supplies, and went to Berry Island. It was COVERED in islandberry brambles! DAPPER CAPYBARA people came to help us, and we PICKED UP A STORM. We picked so many islandberries I started to get worried for the animals and birds, but then I saw how all our work only got a little bit around the EDGE. Both hills and the little valley between them were still FULL of berries!
We took all the berries to meet up with the mangrove and shared them with the sea dogs and and the moosies and everybody, and all the cooks made some shortbread and people helped whip some cream, and we had a BERRY PARTY. We still have a lot of berries left, so we'll have them for DESSERT until they run out.
Everybody liked Podge after they found Nameko's pom-pom for her, but now they understand they're REALLY great. Even though they ate so many berries their poop came out PURPLE. That was gross but funny. Don't get so fat from berries that you can't FLY, Podge!
We sailed and sailed into the ocean this week. We only found one island, and it was full of animals like DODO birds with four legs and POSSUM tails that ran to the top of the cliffs as soon as they saw us, and threw ROCKS down on our ship when we tried to land. Everybody knows what happened to the dodos when people landed on their island, so we didn't bother them any more. We don't want you to be exinct, dodo-griffins!
It was a LITTLE bad we couldn't land, because islands usually have fresh water. All our ships were OK, though, because Ruffur invented DESALINIZERS. That means things to take salt out of water and make it fresh. One kind were little flat things that you throw into seawater and they suck all the salt inside until they're like PING-PONG BALLS full of salt. You can't use them again, but you can throw the salt back in the ocean so you just have the little thing to recycle, and 2 of them makes 3 or 4 liters of fresh water, which is enough for 1 person to drink in a day. The really GOOD desalinizer is BIG and flat, and if you put seawater and SUNSHINE on the front, you get fresh water out the SIDES, and salt crystals grow on the BACK. The one Ruffur made for testing isn't very big, I think it's about 2 meters, but when really BRIGHT sun shines on it, it can make 1000 liters of water every hour!
Ruffur has invented LOTS of things, but maybe this one will make really FAMOUS. Fresh water is something EVERYBODY needs, and people in his Awake World don't have fusion machines to make it. You're amazing, Ruffur-teacher! I hope when my kittens read this in the future, they'll wonder why I explained about the desalinizers that are EVERYWHERE.
We were glad for the desalinizers later. When we visited on DAPPER CAPYBARA for dinner and friends, Nameko was REALLY SAD. Her favorite pom-pom toy went over the side, and before she could get anybody to help her get it back, the ocean took it AWAY. We gave her a lot of hugs, but she was INCONSOLABLE, that's when you're so sad NOTHING can cheer you up. Poor Nameko!
The next day, Podge was flying over the ocean looking for squids to hunt, but instead of diving, they flew in CIRCLES at one place and then came back to YELL. We thought they were doing that to let us know about a big dead fish or something else that's interesting to gulls, but they did it again and again and then Glizando went and LOOKED at Nico-captain until he turned VULTURE QUEEN JILL around to see what Podge found. It wasn't a dead fish, it was Nameko's pom-pom! We fished it out and took it apart to wash and dry out, and that's where we needed fresh water, because it was salty and YUCKY. But we had lots of fresh water because Ruffur is BRILLIANT, so the next time we met up with DAPPER CAPYBARA, Podge and Glizando got to roll the pom-pom up the gangplank to Nameko, who was so surprised and happy she FELL OVER. Podge and Glizando both looked really PROUD.
Nameko isn't a person, but she's a good enough pirate to know that if somebody does you a really big FAVOR like that, you OWE them, so she gave Podge and Glizando all of her dinner. Then she took her pom-pom BELOWDECKS, where there isn't as much room to play, but nothing can fall over the side. Glizando doesn't like cat food, though, and Podge isn't very big, so there was still lots left for Nameko when she came back. I think they're all friends now, even though I worry a bit about a big cat and a little birdie being friends.
Ruffur-teacher and Simoun made some really LIGHT bracelets for Podge that say "i'm PODGE" and "crew of VULTURE QUEEN JILL". Now anybody who sees Podge will know they're a really stylish BIRDIE, and anybody who makes friends with them will know their name and what ship they belong with. Welcome to our CREW, Podge!
After that I went to the sea dogs' MANGROVE. Sea dogs is what we call the puppies now, it's an old word for sailors or pirates. They tried to get a better name lots of times, but none of them CAUGHT ON until now. They aren't SCURVY dogs, though, because they drink all their ORANGE JUICE every day. I don't think they need to, because dogs and spirits don't get vitamin C sickness, but Willow says it's part of the AESTHETIC.
I didn't write about the mangrove before, but it's really COOL and kind of SPOOKY. It's shaped like a ship, but the hull looks like ROOTS that grew in that shape, and the masts are kind of like palm trees that grow straight up and then have HUGE leaves that hang down to be sails. It's spooky because instead of someone at a WHEEL, 1 of the sea dogs has to be the FIGUREHEAD. Their moms are FOREST SPIRITS, so they can hide inside trees, and when their SHIP is a tree, they can SAIL it, and the very front of the ship looks like whoever's doing it. The other reason it's spooky is that there's lots more belowdecks than there's room for. Secret and Max and Annabelle and Jaunty Jonquil Spider and Lurking Lemon Spider have been sailing on that ship and they say they figured out how it works, but I got lost every time I went belowdecks. That makes me really CROSS, because I want to figure it out too! I need to POWER UP my brain!
Another night, the Exploration Club was talking like at a sleepover, and they started talking about how Nico is the nicest and smartest and bravest and prettiest and most RESPONSIBLE teenager. Maa-uu said that if he's the best boy then he has to be HER sweetheart, because she's the biggest. Nobody liked that! Some people said maybe Nico should get to pick, but Maa-uu said you can't let BOYS make important decisions like that. There was lots of squacking, but I think everybody knew she was TEASING. Some tricers are old-fashioned, but I don't think Maa-uu is like that. Maybe some OLD tricers are that mean.
Nobody told Nico that he has to be Maa-uu's sweetheart, but she was really NICE to him the next day and everybody laughed when he wasn't listening. Maybe Nico doesn't know about TRICER flirting, or maybe he doesn't want to be Maa-uu's sweetheart and was PRETENDING he didn't notice. It was CUTE.
Tiny Squeak still has to roll and crawl and wiggle when she's on a ship, but in the Awake World, she can get up on ALL her paws! She can't walk around yet, but she can stand there and look really PROUD until she has to MOVE. Then she falls back down and wiggles more. Keep up the good work, Mlle. Squeaks! You'll be walking in no time!
We went to the Squamous Steve concert and it was REALLY GREAT. They did a lot of pieces from SAY HELLO TO MR KERO and NO NOT THAT ONE, and some from the new album that isn't out yet, and the LASER FIDDLING was really great. It was really CROWDED because it wasn't a big place, but we DANCED UP A STORM with all the other kids and teenagers there and yelled for ENCORES. I crashed into a lot of people, so it was almost like MOSHING except I didn't mean to, and we all laughed and laughed and laughed. After the concert, we stayed up late to get ice cream and talk about how GREAT it was, so we were really SLEEPY the next morning, but it was WORTH IT.
I got Rose-auncle to watch lots more MEGALOMACHY with me, and lots of my family watched too. Ultra-modern people like the cousins always remember everything, but rewatching can be fun anyway, because they can notice NEW things. Songcats don't remember as much, so rewatching is even MORE fun. Rose-auncle still likes it! She said maybe she'd do a FANFIC, that's like writing your OWN story in between a show or a book but just for fun because you like it.
The first chapter of HUMMINGBIRD CASTLE came out this week, and Dmitri did a lot of SHRIEKS when he saw it, and then some more shrieks when he READ it. It's about some human kids our age, who have a SECRET BASE in the forest by their small town, and they play pretend in the forest and throw pine cones at each other and maybe some of them are starting to have CRUSHES on each other, and then at the end something really WEIRD happens and we have to wait until NEXT MONTH to find out what it means! I shrieked when I got to that part too!
It was a good week. There was lots of sunshine and swimming and we went sailing in a LITTLE sailboat in the lake with a lot of kids from school. Morning and Bina and Gobi all fell OVERBOARD from too much tussling, but they all swim really good so it was okay. I did classes and skateboarding and bike racing and farming with all my friends and siblings and everybody, and learned about making TOFU, and baked some SAVORY CHEESE BREAD for my family.
Last night I didn't dream about an exciting sail, but it was really nice weather and we all ZOOMED at 14 knots for a while, that's almost 25 km/hr, which is really fast for a SAILING ship! DAPPER CAPYBARA went even faster for a little bit, but then slowed down before she got too far ahead. She's REALLY fast! I'm glad Nelson-captain isn't doing piracies on US.
There's lots to do even when we're just sailing across open ocean, but I could THINK while I was doing my part, and I figured out something about how the MANGROVE works. There are 3 masts, and when you get to one, you can go around it WIDDERSHINS, that's with it on your left, or DEOSIL, that's with it on your right, and you get to 6 DIFFERENT parts of the belowdecks! We didn't get together with the mangrove so I couldn't check, but if I look at the maps I sketched, I think it's RIGHT. I'm really excited to vist the mangrove and see!
I figured out another thing, but not by thinking. When I'm ON WATCH at night, it's OK that Fortizimo wiggles around with his pointy ELBOWS because it keeps me AWAKE, but when I try to REST it's not much fun. When I did a LITTLE roar and ate his ear, he stopped wiggliing! I think his mommy nibbled on his ear when he was a CAPYBABY so it makes him feel COZY and BELOVED. He's a really NICE capybara, so I like making him happy, and I like getting cuddles that aren't POINTY.
When I told Bina about Fortizimo's ear, they wanted to know why I didn't snuggle with Cattail ALL THE TIME. It's because Cattail is so smart and responsible that he has his OWN watches and lots of times we aren't on the same one. It means I don't have as many mastydon snuggles, but I'm REALLY PROUD of him. You can be a pirate too, Cattail!
It's been another good week. In the Awake World, I did lots of COOKING, with FRESH vegetables from the farm. Even Lilja-auncle said the food I made was good, so I was really PROUD. I didn't get HUBRIS again, though. I know have lots to learn about cooking!
I dreamed about taking vegetables to share with Cattail, but then Truffle's mom was there so we shared with her too. I said she shouldn't eat the onions because those are BAD for rabbits, but she said she's a special bunny and can eat lots more things. That's like how SONGCATS can eat onions and grapes and all kinds of things that are bad for HOUSECATS, so I asked if she's a songbunny, but she isn't. She's a SNARKY DRAMABUNNY. She was really snarky to us for not knowing that, and then when Cattail tickled her with his trunk, she rolled around and kicked all her paws really DRAMATIC and yelled for Truffle to SAVE her. Truffle knows she's silly, so she pounced on that bunnytummy and SNORFLED it. Then a huge BEE that's Truffle's AUNCLE came to stick their nose in all the flowers, and a sphinx kitten that's MY sibling came to eat all the blue flowers. It was a funny dream.
Next week Orchestra class is going to do a RECITAL, so we're practicing and practicing. Hebichi and I are FIDDLING UP A STORM. I think we aren't quite READY yet, but Toka always comes and listens at the end after their classes and CLAPS and tells everybody how good they are, and that makes everybody HAPPY. You're a sweetie, Toka!
The Elephant Street Choir has lots of practice too, since we're going to sing on WORLD IMPROVEMENT DAY. We're all learning to hold notes REALLY LONG until it feels like our EYES are going to pop out!
Simoun and Sahara and Max and I took our bikes to the bike store to make sure they're still IN TUNE, but they WEREN'T. All our bikes were the wrong size because we GREW. I got Simoun's bike and Max got my bike and Max's old bike went back to the bike shop so a littler kid can have it. Then Max thought maybe that was why "Annabelle no bike with Max" so everybody else had to bring their bikes in, and EVERYBODY grew! Now we all feel more SECURE on our bikes, because they FIT. Maybe I can do better at RACING now.
One day, Hebichi wanted to wear a FANCY white dress with lots of lace and ribbons, so got a really fancy HAT and then I carried them around on my SHOULDERS. They rode SIDESADDLE, because that's how you have to do it when you have a FLOOFY skirt, and looked really BEAUTIFUL. Some people teased us, but we stuck our TONGUES out at them. Then Bina teased us, so I went up really tall and Hebichi could TACKLE them from WAY UP. Bina said, "Oh no, I'm defeated! I can never tease you again!" and we said that was RIGHT, but probably they will ANYWAY. Bina, you'll always be a Bina!
In the Dreamlands, we did MORE SAILING. People changed ships a lot, to see what the other ships are like and spend time with different friends and look at Ruffur's DESALINIZER, and that was really nice. I haven't gotten to go back to the mangrove since I had my idea about how it works BELOWDECKS, though. I really want to!
A nice thing that happened when we were sailing is that in the early morning, when I was on DAPPER CAPYBARA, Tansy-gram was sitting on the very bow and the sun came up and made her look BEAUTIFUL, and she had her eyes closed and sang the Come Up Sun Song really SOFT and it was so nice everybody SWOONED. Then she opened her eyes and wanted to know what everybody was looking at. It was you, Tansy-gram! You're the most beautiful!
A bad thing that happened when we were sailing is that the CAPYBARAS made a HUGE MESS. The wind was going ALL OVER so we had to keep trimming the sails and everybody was really BUSY. The capybaras wanted to take a bath, but nobody could help them, so they tried to do it on their OWN, but they don't have HANDS. They got their bathtub out and put some water in it, but they SPILLED a LOT all over the deck and Explorobot slipped and almost fell overboard! Nico-captain had to make them all sit down while he SCOLDED them about making bad decisions. If they had waited, it wouldn't have been DANGEROUS for their crewmate Explorobot and they wouldn't have wasted everybody's water, and they could have had friends brush their fur while they soaked. All the capybaras looked REALLY sad, so then Nico had to give them hugs, like with little kids when you show them you still love them even though they got in TROUBLE. Make better decisions, capybara friends! We love you and want you to be happy!
We found another island that had dodo-griffins on it, but this time we didn't get close enough for them to throw rocks. I wondered why they were on islands that were far apart, and if they missed each other, but Pixie said maybe they're ENEMIES and that's why they live far apart. That makes me a little bit SAD to think about, either way. But maybe they aren't the same kind of dodo-griffin and aren't interested in each other. We'll have to wait for BIOLOGISTS to learn about them. Take good care of yourselves and don't go EXTINCT, dodo-griffins!
I almost forgot, because all my dreams have been OCEAN EXPLORING dreams, but it's CAT DAY. It's weird this time, because we're ALL in the middle of exploring, but because the Dreamlands are MYSTERIOUS, I got to be at Cat Day! Number-dad and Sahara and Dragon-mom and Dmitri and Annabelle and lots of my family were there too, but not EVERYBODY. I worried about that when I woke up, but when I was at Cat Day I was too busy eating giant CRICKETS and watching 3 Orange Socks look really PROUD while Tiny Squeak climbed all over him and playing with SKY KITTEN. Sky Kitten and her mom and some of their clowder came to Cat Day and made lots of friends and hunted little chickeny dinos and stopped some cats from hunting STEGOS. Sky Kitten was really proud of that, because she thinks all stegos should be her friends and sing with her. Some of the cats were grouchy, but the stegos sang the Let's All Be Friends Song, and then all the SONGCATS said hunting them isn't allowed. That made me REALLY happy.
It was a nice Cat Day until I woke up and Simoun and Max and Fairy-mom and everybody were sad they couldn't go. I hope they can go tomorrow!
Shoe-auncle can't go, because he LIVES in the Dreamlands now, and can't wake up and then dream about being in different places. The Dreamlands aren't USUALLY mysterious enough for that. It makes him sad to miss Cat Day and his friends, but he knew it would be like this when he moved to the Dreamlands. He moved to be with the DRAGONS, and all the dragons on our expedition gave him snuggles and SLURPED him and said how happy they are he's there with them. That made him a lot happier. You're a really good friend to the dragons, Shoe-auncle!
Until then it was a nice week of dreams. We found a LOT more islands, mostly little ones we just sailed around and sketched maps of, but one big one with LOTS of mountains. Our expedition is for exploring Elephant Cat's and Race-teacher's country, but the Exploration Club and Rose-auncle and Clover-auncle thought the island looked really INTERESTING, so we stopped to explore it a little bit. It was a really mysterious island because it's full of RUINS. It was hard to tell because plants grew all over and lots of places had caved in, but maybe all the MOUNTAINS were ruins! There were lots of caves except they were too SQUARE for caves and there were stairs and maybe places for ELEVATORS. All the pirate weasels wanted to look for treasure, but there wasn't anything left near the outside. The Exploration Club wanted to go look anyway, but Rose-auncle and Clover-auncle said NO WAY because caves are DANGEROUS even if they used to be buildings. VV-gram and Number-dad sang an Echoing Song, and heard that the caves and rooms went all through the mountain, so it would be too easy to get LOST, and there was water at the bottom. Cave diving is the SCARIEST. Even Explorobot doesn't want to try that!
We went to the top of the highest mountain and had a picnic and drew pictures and maps of everything we could see, and then we went back to the ship. There's too much MYSTERY on that island, so it has to get explored another time. We thought about leaving a SIGN, but we can't say it's our island, and it's easy to see the ruins so we don't have to tell explorers about them. We named it Hollow Mountain Island on the maps we made.
Humboldt said maybe the Exploration Club would dream about exploring Hollow Mountain Island, but I don't know if they will. I think all our ocean dreams have been with everybody on the ships, and all our dreams that weren't on the ships were back around Dragon-mayor's city. It might have to wait until after we get to Checkerboard Cat Continent.
When I wrote "VV-gram and Number-dad", I almost wrote "VV-dad and Number-gram" and that made me laugh, but I WONDERED too. Number-dad will be a gram when Humboldt gets old enough to have his OWN kittens, but I don't know if VV-gram will ever want to be a BOY. I should ask her.
The BIG thing that happened in the Awake World is we did the orchestra RECITAL. We played 12 different pieces and everybody liked them ALL! For most of them Hebichi and I had to be VIOLINISTS, but for 2 of them we got to dance around FIDDLING UP A STORM and it was really FUN. Corlo got to do really cool POSES while playing his saxophone, too, and other people got to show off too, but Hebichi and I did the MOST. Everybody clapped and yelled for us and we got really PROUD, but we didn't get HUBRIS.
After the recital we had a big PARTY with lots of soda and a cake with icing INSTRUMENTS on it and we played a lot of FUNNY songs and it was really great. I think the teenagers and grownups had a different party after the kids left, but MY party only had nice kisses.
Some different people got to go to the 2nd day of Cat Day, but some people went twice and some people didn't get to go AT ALL and it was REALLY UNFAIR. Number-dad and Clover-auncle and Dragon-mom and Dmitri went to both days, but Fairy-mom and Cally-auncle and Max went ZERO times. Max got really upset, because she thought maybe sphinx cats don't COUNT. We ALL told her that's not true, because Cally didn't go even though she has lots of fur, and Dragon-mom went twice even though she's only a cat IN LAW, but maybe she's still worried. You're a REALLY GREAT cat, Maxie-beans!
Everybody who went twice said they wished they had known what was going to happen so they could give their turns to people who didn't go. I said I would have given my turn to Max, but really I don't know if I would. Not seeing Sky Kitten would make me REALLY SAD. Max not getting to go makes me really sad too.
VV-gram and Tiny Squeak went to both days, but I think what REALLY happened is that Tiny Squeak went one day and got to take her mum with her because she's still a baby, and VV-gram went one day and got to take her baby with her.
Some of the pirate kitties and some of Toka's kitties went and some didn't, but they didn't WORRY about it, because they aren't people and don't think about things that DIDN'T happen. The ones that didn't go had a fun time on DAPPER CAPYBARA.
I hope we're back before the next Cat Day. That's in DECEMBER, so if we aren't, we'll be STUCK wherever we are until the weather turns good enough for safe sailing!
That wasn't mysterious enough, so when we were in the Awake World, we drove THROUGH the Dreamlands to visit the Sheepie Place for HEATHER DAY. All the sheepies were there, because the bed and breakfast was closed for today, and all the sheep-cats and doggies and Dr. Gecko and the goats from next door and even the TIGERS from Tiger Help Tiger. There was a lot of singing and running around and barbecuing and shrieking and hugging. Happy birthday, Heather-auncle!
Shoe-chan wasn't at this party either, and that was a little bit SAD. We wished we could pick him up in the Dreamlands, but he wasn't at the train station, he was on a ship in the middle of the OCEAN. Heather missed him a lot, because he's like her big brother, but we brought a LETTER from him that made her happy. Even when the people we love can't be right next to us for hugs, we can still SEND love!
I helped give Heather-auncle a really nice HAT. It's a pillbox hat with beautiful feathers and it's light pink like her favorite SUIT and also like Hebichi. It isn't made out of friends, though! All of us kittens put magic singing into it to help Heather-auncle be brave when she's standing up for ANIMAL WELFARE. I hope it helps!
The tigers pretended to give her a big DEAD FISH, because they think that's funny, but really the fish was for barbecuing and her present was a MANGA the tigers drew about how brave she is and all the great things she did since her last birthday. They say she can read it if she isn't feeling brave, to REMIND her. We're going to have the bravest auncle EVER.
I got to play Castles with Mr. Bear, but he CRUSHED me. I need more practice.
We didn't get home until really late, so I'm writing this tomorrow. It was a really nice party. Happy birthday, Heather-auncle!
It's the SUMMER SOLSTICE today. Hebichi and Gobi and the twins' friend Frillist and a MASQUILLION people have their birthdays today! It was sunny but there was a COOL BREEZE, so there was lots more running around in parks than swimming this year. Our neighborhood park had a really nice party with different groups playing MUSIC and booths to buy things and a MOUNTAIN of cake and a GLACIER of ice cream! Our family helped bring the cake and ice cream, so there was a lot of CARRYING, but I don't mind helping people have parties. I especially don't mind when it's my BEST FRIEND's birthday!
I gave Hebichi some gold and platinum and iridium coins I got on Eleventy-12 Barbados, because they're LITTLE DRAGON and they need to build their HOARD. I gave them a flower crown made from Number-dad's flowers too. The shapes of the flowers didn't match, but they made a nice RAINBOW around Hebichi's head so they were REALLY BEAUTIFUL. They wore their fancy white dress again, so I carried them around again, wherever they wanted to go. They jumped off my shoulders to DANCE a lot, though! We went to all the booths and tried all the different flavors of cake and ice cream (except choco) and then we went to some other parks to see the parties there. At the Spider Park, everybody who had a birthday got to sit on the spiderweb and have their picture taken all together by a REAL photographer. They were all beautiful because they were so HAPPY, but Hebichi was the BEAUTIFULEST. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEBICHI!
Max said the parties were REALLY GREAT so she's going to move her birthday to the AUTUMN EQUINOX so she can celebrate with EVERYBODY. She's a really good kitten. I'm glad she got over being upset from Cat Day.
All our grownup wizards had to spend the day getting READY to protect our town in the evening, but we took turns bringing them party treats and hugs and grilled salmon while they worked.
Hebichi had a sleepover and that was really fun too, even when Gobi lost games and SHRIEKED. Lots of the kids I know turned 11, and that's how old Pixie was when she started doing SNOGS, so now all the kids who know her and turned 11 are talking about snogging, but they think it still sounds kind of SCARY because people might think they're NO GOOD. I said that's why NICE kisses are better, but maybe they're getting to be TEENAGERS because they have too much PUBERTY. I said even if they do snogs, they can still be my friends as long as they like getting up at midnight to pirate ice cream, and then we DID.
The EXACT MOMENT of the solstice was 20:33, so I LISTENED as hard as I could then, and I heard Number-dad and Dragon-mom and VV-gram and everybody doing MAGIC. Maybe pretty soon I'll be good enough at magic singing to HELP. You can do it, Samuel!
It's been a good week because it was full of PARTIES and LOVE. It was full of NORMAL SINGING, too, because the Elephant Streeters are still practicing for World Improvement Day. One day a bunch of us kids went up in the treehouse in our park and sang as LOUD as we could so everybody in the park came to see. All the grownups clapped for us, even the ones who aren't any of our parents, so we got really PROUD and I had to tell everybody to be careful not to get HUBRIS. They all knew what I meant because we all watch MEGALOMACHY.
I did better in bike racing because I don't feel like I might fall off as much, but I still fall off and WIPE OUT when I'm not careful enough. I'm getting better! The twins and Humboldt and Dmitri are getting better! Max is getting LOTS better! Annabelle doesn't like racing, but she rides her bike all over to visit everybody and have TEA PARTIES with her friends and their plush animals. She has a bike basket to carry plushes around and ribbons to be their SEATBELTS. It's really adorable!
I remembered to tell the grownup wizards how I HEARD them doing magic on the solstice, and they thought that was really good because the way they do it is REALLY quiet. Sahara and Simoun said they COULD have heard it if they had been listening, but they were jumping on Frillist's bed at THEIR sleepover and the music was too loud. Maybe that's true, but maybe I have really good MAGIC EARS.
Then I remembered to ask VV-gram if she ever thought about turning into a boy, but she said she still likes being a GIRL. Maybe someday she'll be Tiny Squeak's DAD, but not now. I thought about turning into a girl someday, but I like being a boy. Maybe being a boy and a girl at the same time, like Hebichi, would be nice.
Tiny Squeak can still only take one step before she falls over, but she can stand in one place for a long time. She likes standing on the porch and yelling at birds and doggies and RELATIVES.
I practiced playing Castles with Zeb-auncle and Momo-auncle and Bob-auncle. They're really good TEACHERS, so they crushed me but they explained HOW they were doing it. I'm getting better! We talked about the expedition because they aren't there so I had to tell them all the good stories. They said we're all really BRAVE kids. I know they're brave too, but they have lots of important stuff to do with the other pocket creatures, so they couldn't go with us. I made bacon-wrapped goat cheese DATES for them and they all danced on my HEAD.
The expedition is still really FUN. There are lots of islands now, so we have to draw up a STORM to get them all mapped even a little bit! We found some more calamari gulls, and Podge RECRUITED them. They came to see if they could steal any food from VULTURE QUEEN JILL, but as soon as Maz came on deck, they flew up in the rigging really WORRIED. Podge got some food from where they keep snacks and SHARED it with Maz, like Maz was part of their FLOCK. Then they put some food out by Maz, and the gulls that were brave enough to come down and eat by Maz got to JOIN her and Podge and Glizando. Now Podge has 5 new MINIONS. It's bad for PEOPLE to be minions, but animals do things their own way. They're really smart, though!
When we got together with the other ships, the new gulls got bracelets like Podge's, but just the one that says they belong with QUEEN JILL. They'll get the other one when we know their names.
I went to the mangrove for a day, and I got to try finding my way around BELOWDECKS and I COULD. My idea was RIGHT. Max and Annabelle and Secret all said I'm really smart, so maybe I got a LITTLE BIT of hubris. I think I don't know EVERYTHING about the mangrove yet, though, because I heard the sea dogs talking about a GUN DECK and it's not any of the belowdecks that I can get to. Maybe it's OK that young kids like Max and Annabelle and Secret can't get to the gun deck, though.
We got the 2nd chapter of HUMMINGBIRD CASTLE today and it's still REALLY good. Dmitri and I sat in our treehouse and read it together and then Gobi and Bina came over and Humboldt brought Corlo and Florence because he's friends with them, and we all read it AGAIN. It made me ANXIOUS because the kids in the story think everything is NORMAL, but there are lots of corners where you can see a WEIRD hand! I think there's a weird CREATURE following the kids. I know it's just a story, but I hope they're OK!
Since the last time I wrote, we've had a THUNDERSTORM every day. It's really exciting, especially at night when I can sleep on the porch and smell the rain and the LIGHTNING. We can't sleep in the treehouse because it would be REALLY BAD if the tree got struck by lightning, but when we have some days without storms, we'll put a LIGHTNING ROD in it.
Fairy-mom taught us how lightning is like a 100 meter BALL that rolls over everything without squishing it down. Anything the ball can touch can get STRUCK. That doesn't mean you're safe if you stand next to a big tree, though! Even though the lightning won't strike you, it can go down the tree and SPREAD OUT when it gets to the ground, so you'll still get ZAPPED if you're too close. You have to be a little ways away to be SAFE. We made a model of our neighborhood and tried rolling a pretend ball around on it, and it looks like if we put a lightning rod on top of our tree, then with that and the one on the Gram House and the one on the apartments across the street, we'll be REALLY safe. I think it's really COOL that we know how lightning works.
It's so stormy that we even had storms in the Dreamlands. There wasn't as much thunder and lighting, because the ocean doesn't get the wind all mixed up the way our mountains do, but there was a lot of rain and TOO MUCH WIND. We could hardly see the other ships, so we went to the nearest island and found a nice cove on the LEE side, that's the side away from the wind, where we could drop anchor and WAIT for the storm to finish. Lots of us hid belowdecks where we could be dry and COZY, but there always had to be some people on watch, and Maa-uu doesn't like going belowdecks so she stayed in her cabin up top and let the gulls and sometimes capybaras and her sweetheart Nico-captain snuggle in with her. It doesn't sound nice, but it WAS. Being out in the storm on watch was really EXCITING, and then I got to go back in and snuggle with my FRIENDS and get WARM.
When the storm blew over, we decided to explore the island a little bit to stretch our LEGS before we started sailing again. It looked like a nice island with a hill and beaches and forest. All those things were real, but they were full of SNAKES. There were lizards and frogs and birds and squirrels too, because snakes have to eat, but there were a LOT of snakes. Some of them were tiny like string and some were regular-sized and some were longer than Maa-uu, and lots of them were really PRETTY. I knew what kind some of them were, but others were MYSTERIOUS, so we were really careful. Most snakes aren't venomous, but SOME are. I thought maybe I wouldn't like them, because of the snake that ate leopard kittens, but I know the snakes aren't trying to be mean. They're just animals that eat things that seem good to eat.
We went to see if there was anything interesting on the hill, but then we saw something I REALLY didn't like. One snake had caught a littler snake by the head and was SWALLOWING it, but then a bigger snake caught the tail of the dead snake and started eating it, and the other snake couldn't let go fast enough because snakes aren't good at spitting things OUT. It tried REALLY hard to get away when its HEAD got swallowed but then it died. We all decided that was a BAD OMEN and went back to get our boats to row back to VULTURE QUEEN JILL.
That's when the TIDE turned and all the SEA SNAKES came home.
They weren't big sea serpents, they were the regular kind of sea snakes, but those have POWERFUL venom and they liked sticking their heads up to look around so if we went rowing they could easily get onto an oar and climb up, or maybe even get right into the boat! Nobody liked that, so everybody who knows magic singing sang a Serpent Lullaby. The snakes under the water couldn't hear, but when they stuck their heads out of the water or climbed on an oar, they crawled back into the water and floated really LAZY. It was really NERVEWRACKING, but we made it back to the ship. Then it was hard to get out of the cove because the tide was the wrong way, but we did it ANYWAY in case the sea snakes learned how to climb up ships and got in fights with the capybaras.
We named that island DEATH NOODLE ISLAND. Someday HERPETOLOGISTS will want to visit it to see if any of the snakes are NEW or need to come live in a zoo, but we don't want to go back there now.
Everybody on the other ships was really impressed when we told them about Death Noodle Island and rowing carefully through the SEA SNAKES. Maybe our PARENTS shrieked a little, but everybody else said we were really BRAVE. Even the dragons were impressed! Maybe that's because they think little people without scales aren't TOUGH, though. Zig-Zag was really careful when he copied Dmitri's map onto the big one and wrote DEATH NOODLE ISLAND in RED so everybody will know where that island is and what it's like.
After that it was Shoe-auncle's BIRTHDAY. Usually he has a big party at the sheep place, but this time it had to be here on the ships, because that's where he is right now in the DREAMLANDS. We thought only the people on the expedition would be able to come, and Tansy-gram and Edward-gram and the expedition sheepies would have to bring him love from the rest of the Sheep Place, but we were WRONG.
When we dreamed about waking up for morning watches on Shoe-auncle's birthday, there was an ISLAND on the horizon, and when we got close enough that DAPPER CAPYBARA and the mangrove were going to sail on either side to map it, we saw that the big sandy beach was full of SHEEPS. DAPPER CAPYBARA signaled that we should come look, so we did, and it wasn't just ANY sheeps, it was the sheepies from the Sheep Place and ALL their friends! Heather-auncle and Mr. Bear and Teddy and Pudgy and Percy and the Jungle Siblings and the next-door goaters and some tigers and EVERYBODY were there, and when they saw Shoe-auncle at the bow of DAPPER CAPYBARA they cheered so loud he fell OVERBOARD and Polky-Dot Dragon had to fish him up.
There was a good harbor so we anchored all the ships and rowed to the beach and the sheepies yelled, "Welcome to PARTY ISLAND!" and did a FLUFFY STAMPEDE on everybody. We were all so surprised we got knocked right over, even Elephant Cat and the dragons!
The bears and sheepcats brought barbecue grills and cold boxes full of drinks and rainbow-colored PAVILIONS, so it was kind of like the beach parties we usually have for Shoe-auncle, but with MORE DRAGONS and WEASELS and GULLIES. It was LOUD, but REALLY GREAT because everybody is already friends. Even the goaters sometimes visited at Dragon Mayor's city, so they know lots of us. They didn't know all the weasels and gullies, but that was OK. They're NEW friends. Goats and calamari gulls get along REALLY good.
Even some of the coyoties who live behind the Tiger Place and think the underhiders are POWERFUL SPIRITS came to the party. I didn't know they could do that, but they've been living near people who know magic dreaming for a long time now. Good job, magic coyoties! They get along with the gullies too. There was a lot of YELLING. Tiny Squeak helped, and the coyoties thought she's the cutest EVER. It was the goaters that pretended to eat her and had to get tickled, though!
It was a good party, but when we asked the wisest sheepies if they had any maps of the island and where it is, they did a sheepy la-a-a-a-augh and then talked about how cute Tiny Squeak was for copying them and what a good LAMBIE she is and DIDN'T tell us. I think that means instead of having everybody sleep beside the expedition sheepies and dream about being with the expedition, they moved the WHOLE ISLAND, or maybe they MADE it. That's really POWERFUL and it made me feel bad because I'm a SONGCAT but sheepies from the AWAKE WORLD can do better magic dreaming than me. I know they're grownups and I'm only a KITTEN, but I still didn't like it. When the sheepies and goaters and weasels were all playing a new game they invented, I sat on Humboldt and told him about it. He said I shouldn't worry about it, because the Dreamlands are so mysterious that everybody could know COMPLETELY DIFFERENT things and there still would be lots left to DISCOVER. That made me feel better. He's a really WISE big brother!
Truffle tried to hunt some big LIZARDS that were climbing on the rocks, but Dr. Gecko said not to, and Truffle was too WARM in the sunshine to argue. She took an adorable nap with the sun on her TUMMY.
After DINNER everybody was sitting around fires being really ROUND and singing We Love Horseshoe Songs, and the UNDERHIDERS came to sing with us. They sang really SOFT, because they're little and shy, but they love Shoe-auncle LOTS. We got them to tell us about their VAMPIRE-HUNTING NINJA ADVENTURES, and they told them like they weren't brave and amazing, but we know they ARE. They gave Shoe-auncle some beautiful purple stones they found, and he said he's going to get them made into a NECKLACE. I think those stones might be good for putting MAGIC into, but maybe Shoe-auncle's BROTHER should do that.
It was a really nice party and I was happy to see the coyoties and underhiders and everybody. I was REALLY happy that so many people came to tell Shoe-auncle they love him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHOE-AUNCLE!
After the party was done, the sheepies and coyoties and goaters and everybody who came from the Awake World gathered up their stuff and went over the hill, and then all the expedition people had to hurry back onto the ships before the island was GONE. I really want to learn how to make PLACES in the Dreamlands!
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