Elona of the Great Green

I am writing this story because I am a mother. It is for my children that I am creating Magenta, Scarlet and Elona, so that they have a legacy that is theirs. But it is also for mothers, for mothers of dreamers for mothers of the earth for mothers who have said good bye to their children for other mothers to raise and in all the ways that mothers fit into the spectrum. It is about the entire structure and believe of motherhood, which is to nurture, grow, love and protect. As you continue to read the story you will see how much it is about the love and guidance, belief and dreams of mothers and daughters (or children) and will hopefully be a bonding experience for our characters, ourselves and our earth.

For that reason I wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day.

From me: a mom to a beautiful big haired, big eyed, child who I adopted through foster care two marvelous years ago!

The issue of a television show’s idea of a Non-Mom brought up the media’s real view of the motherhood status of adoptive moms, which by the title assumes they are “non” or “not” mothers. This brought the blog world to an uproar. Myself included, however does the world actually know how many media influenced “non moms” are out there Well…the show claims that the show’s creator and host are both adoptive parents…so who are they?

Marie Osmond has 5 adopted children.

Here is a list of adoptive parents:

Al Roker - news anchor
Alfre Woodard - actress
Alexander the Great - King of Macedonia, 356-323 B.C.
Angelina Jolie - actress
Art Buchwald - comedian
Barbara Walters - journalist
Ben Stein - actor and game show host
Bette Davis - actress

Billy Bob Thornton - actor, writer, singer
Bob (and Delores) Hope - entertainer
Brooke Adams - actress
Burt Reynolds - actor
Calista Flockhart - actress
Cecil B. De Mille - film director
Charles Bronson - actor
Chelsea Noble - actress
Connie Chung - news anchor
Dale Evans - singer
Dan Marino - athlete
Dan Wilson - athlete
David E. Kelley - television producer
Diane Keaton - actress
Dianne Wiest - actress
Donna Mills - actress
Ed McMahon - entertainer

Edie Falco - actress
Erma Bombeck - author
Estelle Parsons - actress
Eve Arden - actress
Father George Clements - minister
Gail Sheehy - writer
Gary Merrill - actor
George Burns - comedian
George Lucas - film director
Gloria Swanson - actress
Gracie Allen - comedian
Harpo Marx - actor
Harry Belafonte - singer
Hedy Lamarr - actress
Helen Hayes - actress
Henry Fonda - actor
Hugh Jackman - actor
Isabella Rossellini - -actress
Jamie Lee Curtis - actress
Jane Fonda - actress
Jane Wyman - actress
Jann Wenner - publisher
Jill Ireland - actress
Jill Krementz - author
JoBeth Williams - actress
Joan Didion - author
Joan Fontaine - actress
John DeLorean - entrepreneur
John Denver - singer
John Gregory Dunne - author
Josephine Baker - singer and dancer
Judy Woodruff - news anchor
Julie Andrews - actress
Karen Grassle - actress

Karl Wallenda - acrobat
Kate Capshaw - actress
Kate Jackson - actress
Kirby Puckett - athlete
Kirk Cameron - actor
Kirstie Alley - actress
Kris Kristofferson - singer
Kurt Vonnegut - author
Linda Ronstadt - singer
Loni Anderson - actress
Louis Gossett, Jr - actor.
Magic Johnson - athlete
Marcia Wallace - actress
Marie Osmond - singer
Maury Povich - news anchor

Meg Ryan - actress

Mercedes Ruehl - actress
Mia Farrow - actress
Michelle Pfeiffer - actress
Natalie Williams - athlete
Nell Carter - entertainer
Nicole Kidman - actress
Oscar de la Renta - designer
Ozzy (and Sharon) Osbourne - musician
Parker Stevenson - actor
Patti LaBelle - singer
Paul Newman - actor
Paula Poundstone - comedian
Pearl Bailey - singer
Peter Falk - actor
President Ronald Reagan - politician
Regina Belle - singer
Richard King Mellon - financier
Robert Fulghum - writer
Rosie O’Donnell - actress
Roy Rogers - entertainer
Sally Jessy Raphaël - talk show host
Sammy Davis, Jr. - entertainer
Sen. Jesse Helms - politician
Sen. John McCain - politician
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen - politician
Sen. Paul Simon - politician
Sen. Paull H. Shin - politician
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson - Texas
Sharon Stone - actress
Sir Christopher Guest - actor
Stephen Spielberg - film director
Steven Curtis Chapman - Christian musician
Susan Ruttan - actress
Taurean Blacque - actor
Ted Danson - actor
Teri Garr - actress
Tom Cruise - actor
Valerie Harper - actress
Walt (and Lily) Disney - founder of Disneyland
William Delahunt - politician
Willie Mays - athlete

And here are a list of birth mothers (and parents) people who have relinquished their children to adoption.

Andy Kaufman - actor (had a child with a high school girlfriend who they put up for adoption.)

Clark Gable - actor (had a child out of wedlock with actress Loretta Young, who Ms. Young raised as an “adopted” child even though she was her biological child.

David Crosby - singer (is the “father of Melissa Ethridge’s children)

Faith Ireland - judge
Hank Williams, Sr. - country music legend
Kate Mulgrew - actress (had a child while on Ryan’s Hope that was written into the story and later put up for adoption.)

Joni Mitchell - singer (had a child from her first marriage that she put up for adoption)

Roseanne Barr - actress (had a child from a first marriage that she put up for adoption)

Mercedes Ruehl - actress (had a son when she was a young woman who she reluctantly gave up for adoption, but they were later reunited and healed the pain of separation and he is now the God father of on of her adopted sons)

Strom Thurmond - politician

What does Elona’s house look like? Well as we saw before, fairies sleep in hammocks hung throughout the trees. But in inclement weather like the pending rain in our story, fairies take shelter in their fairy homes. These are places where they conger enchantments and magic, and also make food, dance, share stories and hide away from fairy predators.

Skillfully crafted and well hidden within the tree, fairy homes often look like the thick tree bark and blend mysteriously into the the tree branches.

Elona lives in a cottage similar to this one pictured above. She lives with many other fairies of the Great Green most of which are her cousins. Henry Alan lives in a house on a nearby branch and they have been friends since young childhood.

Frightened, the usually serene Scarlet quickly bends over and starts shaking her long curling black locks. “Jenny, get it out of my hair!” Scarlet squeals. Magenta laughs as she pulls the large oak leaf out of Scarlet’s hair. “It’s only a dead leaf,” Magenta exclaims, “it must have been brought down by the wind.”

Calmed Scarlet lets herself breath again. While usually mild mannered for four years old, Scarlet has a pretty quick startle reflex and anything even remotely out of the ordinary can and does set it off.

Scarlet gazes at the leaf taking it from Magenta’s hands to inspect it with a bewildering thoroughness. “Jenny?” she questions. “Are those peep holes?” Magenta leans in closer to get a better look. “I believe they are.” She says calmly.

Elona breaths heavily as Henry Alan holds her tightly in his arms. She begins to laugh, “Whew, that was close.” Henry Alan is almost shaking out of his shoes with fear, “Too close! It’s a good thing I caught you! Elona” Elona looks at him kindly. “You’re such a worrier. I’m fine. I’m in complete control.”

Below Elona can hear Scarlet and Magenta leave the foot of the Great Green. “Do you really think that she was looking through these holes?” Scarlet inquirs. “Of course she was silly, she loves to hear my stories, especially if they are about her.” Magenta tells Scarlet. “Really” Scarlet says half disbelieving.

Henry Alan frowns at Elona. “They know we’re here!” Elona flies off further into the tree. “Don’t be silly Henry Alan and stop your worrying. They know I’M here, they don’t know about you, you’re too boring.” She flashes him a beautiful smile as Henry Alana stands in the distance and with a pouting grimace on his face.

Elona and Henry Alan are considered Dryad’s or Tree Spirits. Nature spirits are thought to be healing for the earth, magical in their ability to become invisible to the human eye and musical as their sweet songs can ring throughout the forest. In fact often when one finds oneself walking alone in the forest, it is a dryad’s voice they hear floating on the wind. Dryads are also known to aid lost travelers with their singing, harolding them back to safety.

Because their natural habitat is trees, Elona, whose name means Bright in Greek and Oak Tree in Hebrew, is a “bright spirit” of the Oak…or Great Green as the people of her fairy tribe call it. Being a bright spirit means that Elona, has the gift of light, and can shine very brightly aiding the light of the moon.

Fairies sleep in hammocks seen above, often crafted of leaves, flowers and nutshells they are spun with silk or spider’s thread and are often tucked away out of sight. Many fairies sleep near one another for safety and comfort.

Fairies eat healthy foods found in nature. Human processed foods are actually toxic to them and make them ill, therefore unlike the fly spirits who relish in the exotic pallets of human beings, fairies cannot tolerate any food that has not grown from the earth.

An old Oak, such as the Great Green, can house as many as a thousand fairy Dryads.

Elona peers through the trees to see Magenta speaking gallantly to Scarlet. She leans over as far as she can to get a better look, craning her neck around a thick brown leaf, she extends her body as far as it can reach. Fearful that using her wings will reveal her again, she holds on with all of her strength.

She knew the Fairy King would surely have words with her again if she were to ever make contact with another human. Elona laughed a little to herself at the thought of his red face and his angered scowl when he discovered that she had accidentally met with Magenta, the girl who sat below the Great Green. “She has been sitting there for years”, Elona explained. But the King wanted none of Elona’s reasoning, what she did was wrong and against fairy laws and had Elona not been his very own daughter, he may have considered casting her out to live with other fairies farther off in world.

While Elona thought the fairy rules to be out of date and silly, she had agreed, even crossed her wings three times and promised to the Fairy King that she would never ever ever do it again.

Elona inched ever so much closer to the edge of the tree branch… “Careful!” Henry Alan, Elona’s best friend, yelled. “You’ll fall!” Elona smiles at him, “No. I’ve got a good grip!” she replied. “You shouldn’t be out there,” he continues cautiously. “Oh don’t be silly Henry Alan, you’ve no sense of adventure.” Pouting Henry Alan hides himself further back in the tree as Elona continues to listen to Magenta’s tale. “And you have no sense of reason.” Henry Alan pouted.

“You see, Scarlet. It was on that day, that Elona the Fairy Spirit of the old oak tree, landed in my hands.” Magenta opens her hands to her little sister. “She was no bigger than my palm.” Scarlet stares with wide and excited eyes into Magenta’s hands “Are they really really real? Jenny?”, Scarlet questions. “As real as my hand is real. She had tiny wings and fire red hair.”

Another burst of wind blows the grass and rustles the leaves overhead. The sky which was bright and sunny starts to take on a gray hue as clouds form above. From the distance, Magenta and Scarlet’s mother calls out. “Girls, it looks like it’s about to rain, better come on inside.” Magenta looks back at her and flashes a smile. “Just one more minute, mother.” Their mother gives a playful grimace. “We’ll be having lunch soon, you girls have a few more minutes, I don’t want you drenched in the rain.” Magenta waves at their mother as she walks inside the house, lowering her voice as if her mother could actually hear it, Magenta continues her story.

“It was a windy day just like this one, when all of a sudden…”

Elona strains even harder to listen, stretching her tiny body to the very length of the branch peering through the crack of a large oak leaf.

“There was a cracking sound.” Magenta exclaims.

A great gust of wind blows and suddenly Elona begins to lose her grip. “ELONA!” cries Henry Alan, as the wind whips around the tree and Elona’s grip slips…

Scarlet lets out a scream, grabbing her head. “Magenta! Something just fell in my hair.”

Most fairy mythology began in Ireland as Celtic folklore. Thought originally to be great Angel spirits, fairies where initially said to either be tall bright angels or otherworldly beings, but as time went on fairies adopted the more sprite like appearance and were later believed to be small and elusive.

This later version of fairy mythology will be used in the book. As Elona is a small winged being.

Tree Sprites are fairies that live in sacred trees: the Oak, the Ash and the Hawthorne trees, which are considered their hallowed dwellings. The earth around the trees in which the fairies dwell is often rich and fruitful.

Fairies bring good luck to the surrounding environs.

Fairy Rules:

1. Fairies are to avoid humans.

2. Fairies can cast spells, but must do so kindly and gently.

3. Fairies may not cause harm or destruction.

4. Fairies can sing and often lull people to sleep.

5. Fairies live in clans and must care for one another.

6. Fairies can see into the future.

Magenta’s head bows in grand splendor and she takes a deep breath. Her arms float to her sides as she peppers her tale with a graceful gestural flair. Scarlet, her four year old sister, listens breathlessly waiting for Magenta to continue. A tall tree looms over head and a burst of wind rustles the branches. Magenta’s hair sways with the breeze. Her head slowly returns to the upright position and her arms rise…

Magenta’s mother watches her children play on the grass from the front porch. She sees Magenta’s long slender arms dance through the air and her thick black curls spiral to the sky in twirling strands. She looks on in wonder as her beautiful children tell stories to each other under the old tree in her sister’s yard. While watching them there together, Magenta and Scarlet’s mother remembers back to the time when Magenta first came home as a tall slender two year old who was shy and quiet with large brown eyes. Magenta’s mom loved her from the minute she laid eyes on her and felt the same when Magenta’s baby sister was born.

She had always wanted children and her daughters were a blessing to her. When she was younger, before she was a mother, she had decided to adopt children rather than give birth to them. It was one of the many wishes that had come true in her lifetime and she loved each of them in her own special way.

Magenta the wild haired story teller and Scarlet her quiet, yet inquisitive sister. Magenta, now nine, was a great kid, full of life and popular with her friends at school. It was a shock when Magenta’s mom was called in for a teacher’s conference last month to discuss Magenta’s vivid imagination.

“She’s not seeing things in reality,” her teacher told Magenta’s mom. “She’s a bright kid, but we worry about her facing the truth.” added the principle. “It concerns us that she tells the other children her birth mother was a bird.” added her teacher. “It’s fine for a five year old, but at nine, Magenta should be more truthful.” continued the Principle.

“More truthful?”, Magenta’s mother thought was not necessary, she believed that it was Magenta’s right to see her life as she chose to see it. Magenta never lied, she simply loved telling stories and if Magenta wanted to believe that her first mother, the one that gave birth to her, was a bird who flew away so be it. Magenta’s mother knew that she and Scarlet understood their adoption story, but have over chosen to share it in a different way. Magenta’s mother didn’t see the harm in Magenta’s story telling and loved listening to the beautiful things her daughter could imagine.

Magenta’s mother thanked the Principle and her Teacher for their concern and said she would speak to her daughter about it. That night at dinner Magenta’s mother simply told her to stop telling her teachers the stories she created, but to never stop believing in them. She praised Magenta for her creativity and spirit. Magenta gave her mother a beautiful smile, “why mother, that’s just silly!” Magenta exclaimed. “I know dear,” Magenta’s mother continued, “but some people just aren’t ready to hear your wonderful tales.” “Very well,” Magenta agreed, yet the look on her face was perplexed.

However today was a warm spring afternoon and Magenta’s arms were fully engaged in a lilting dance, as she continued telling a story to her little sister, whose face is full of awe and wonder. Magenta’s mother watches them smiling with pride.

Today is Aria’s adoption day. She was adopted one year ago today. Here we are

and one of my all time favorite pictures of Aria came from this day one year ago.

As Aria will not really get the whole concept of adoption today so our celebration will be kinda on the light side. We will be going to Auntie Bana’s (pictured with the red hair) as we do every Thursday night and I will be taking her to buy a little kinz today. She got a horse for Christmas and we have love playing online together. In fact things like brushing teeth and hair, bathing and going to the bathroom (in the early stages of potty training here) have become a lot easier because HORSEE does it.

So at Christmas she didn’t understand adoption at all, and today she may not either, but at least she now understands names and family. So we will be adopting a new friend for horsee and she will get to name it…etc.

I think it’s a great way to talk about adoption with a young child…for the moment. So that’s how we are celebrating this very very special day in our lives.

Happy Adoption Day….baby girl!

My daughter was my inspiration for writing Elona of the Great Green. Her adoption day reminds me of how special and beautiful this child is and how grateful I am to be her mother. For that reason I wanted to write a character that will reflect a little of who she is and what she may wonder about the future as it concerns her adoption path.

But I pray that different from the possible future of drug addiction and sadness that her first mother faces daily, Aria’s adoption has provided her with a future that has a brighter and more innocent path.

Elona of the Great Green

You can hear it in the rustle under all the other sounds, kind of a tap tap like nuts cracking open, then it’s gone. It’s a small enough sound that makes you think you never heard it, in fact people tell themselves that they never do hear it.

My mom was the first one to show me, I was very young, too young to remember, but it’s something you don’t forget. The first time, the very first moment as I held my breath suspended between here and there, then and now, I listened with a finely tuned ear and there was no mistaking the sound, something was out there. I looked over to my mom, she saw them. In between the must dos and the most be dones she still took the time to listen and she could see them as clearly as I could. My eyes followed hers, they rustled the leaves of the trees and seemed to speak with the wind.

My mom’s eyes grew wide with pride at seeing my astonishment, the kind of bright sparkling look you dream of seeing glint across a mother’s face; that mix of pride, love, joy and wonder. I felt warm and full, for there in the tree just staring down at me was a fairy. I caught a glimpse of her in the corner of my eye. I could hardly contain my joy.

I spent the rest of the late afternoon sipping cold tea with my mom and auntie, all the while knowing she hovered overhead.

It became a haunting awareness over the years that they lived in my aunt’s old oak tree. I had often looked up to see them playing there. My mom regarded the tree with a reverent smile. She would look at me with eyes that asked if I could still see them. Of course I could, but we never spoke of them, neither of us did.

My aunt always referred to them, the fairies, as living in my heart, it was probably true as they did eventually take up residence there but at the beginning they were far from it. They lived in an old oak tree. Rustling leaves and speaking as the wind blew to mask the sound. I would offer them food and I knew they took it, but I never saw them eat. In fact it was rare that I actually ever saw them, until that day, the day I met Elona of the Great Green.

So this is page one of the short story. As the story will progress we will learn more about the fairies and why Magenta’s mother never speaks about them to her.

Essentially as this first chapter progresses we will discover that while her mother DOES believe in fairies…Magenta’s aunt and mother are playing make believe, that her mother teeters on really believing they exits and believing for the sake of her daughter. What will be discovered later in the book when Magenta brings the issue of the fairies losing their homeland and solicits her mother’s help, is that her mother is losing her ability to believe. So not only is Magenta trying to save the fairies, she is also trying to save her mother’s ability to believe. In doing so, she learns the magic and bravery of life, that she can face the hardest of obstacles, which will help her overcome her feeling of confusion about the world.

Well this is my first post over here and I wanted to sort of lay out what’s gonna be happening Weeee hoo.

This is gonna be part blog and part children’s story….as the story unfolds you will be able to read the new pages but as well as the new pages there will also be links to information regarding the story and the inspiration behind it as it evolves you will be part of the process. Feel free to comment on your thoughts about characters and parts of the story as it unfolds. The purpose of this project (on going) is to write a work in progress with live participation and involvement as this will be a global children’s story. It is set in the world of fairies and will be weaving in the real world of children and parents and the trials tribulations and joy of the children’s lives as it unfolds to discover the fairy world.

Elona and The Great Green is a story about Elona a misunderstood, though well intentioned fairy who ventures into the modern day world. She meets Magenta, a young adopted child, when she is very young, yet Elona remains hidden from Magenta and her younger sister and cousins for many years. As Magenta grows, her awareness of the fairies and the fairy lives begins to grow and her imagination finally lets the fairy world unfold for her.

With a mother whose imagination is vast though she struggles, Magenta learns to turn the world and her perception of it on it’s ear as she becomes friends with the elusive Elona, building a friendship that will last a lifetime.

Magenta begins to understand that fairies live on the periphery of every aspect of life, hidden within the places people force themselves not to see. This human misperception has caused the fairy world to crumble and an evil force threatens both of their worlds.

It will eventually be the legacy of children and fairies to find an answer for their dying world….
The purpose for writing Elona and the Great Green is to offer a literary legacy for my children. The book will be rich visually and engaging, but as the story unfolds and the worlds become more mythical in every way, the conflict will actually become more real. The story is about adoption, self esteem, creativity, love, parenthood, life and the environment. More specifically the threat to our environment. The great evil Elona and the Fairies are fighting is the loss of their natural land and air, it will be personified as smoke wolves that chase after them, but this growing threat will be easily characterized as human’s dwindling care for our environment and the earth.

What has also been lost is a lot of our children’s innocence. The ability to believe. While we do have Tinkerbell and The Princesses, Elona is hopefully going to offer a more real telling of fairy worlds and help a child expand their own imagination by suggesting that fairies live in everyday settings and offer ways to speak to them and interact with them.

Elona will also be a spiritual journey as well, developing a trust in something unknown and taking risks based on that trust.

So welcome to this journey I hope you enjoy it. Tomorrow will offer the first page of the book.