It isn’t even my birthday yet, and I have so much great stuff!

Well, these two, I got at fiction conventions, both from Oh So Fine, Inc. I don’t know why this dragon keeps coming out looking bronze–it’s as silver as silver can be. I had to get it because, well, look at it! It’s a Chinese dragon, like the one in my under-construction fantasy trilogy, SAGE, and it’s articulated! When I’m not wearing it, I can totally play with it. Do puppet shows with it. It’s a bracelet! It’s a toy! Wait–you’re both right–it’s both!

This one is impossible to show properly. It’s so SAGE! It has a holy mountain in the center with a pearl like the sun above it. On one side is a phoenix, with its tail flowing behind it. On the other side is a Chinese dragon with its long body flowing behind it. There’s a bronze bracelet in SAGE that’s very like it, and I may very well rewrite that bracelet to match this one. 🙂

And this is a lanyard T. Lee Harris made for me as an unbirthday present. T can do anything. She’s a wonderful writer, an artist, a cook, a mechanic, a cat mommy, a book producer, a seamstress of period clothing and now a master beader. And I’m sure I’ve left a lot of stuff out. I wear this as a necklace, of course, but the stated purpose is to give me something to which to clip name badges at conventions. Works quite nifty for that, too. It’s all over turtles, which is also very SAGE. Turtle is one of the characters, Turtle being one of the Divine Animals of Chinese mythology. Thanks, T! I love it!

Oh, and I bought this next piece for myself, too, at Colokial in Corydon (they have a New Albany location, too). This ring is HUGE, but it’s light. It’s made from a faceted slab of moss agate. The setting is adjustable. If you look at it from a distance, it looks brown. If you look at it close-up, it’s cloudy and has purple veins all through it. Kind of makes me hope they legalize marijuana in my lifetime, because I could spend hours with this piece.

Okay. I met my friend Jane for lunch yesterday and she gave me birthday presents. She says she got this bracelet at a second-hand store. Man oh man oh man, would you LOOK at it? Obviously hand-made, very one-of-a-kindish. The stone is carnelian, the metals are bronze, copper and something silver-ish. Isn’t that a knockout?

And now for the capper. This is also a present from Jane. Are you ready? Are you braced? She gave me a statue of Wu’Kong–MONKEY!

I told my mother this last night, and it turns out she thought I was talking about The Handsome Monkey King all over the place here because I had made him up. So here is a link I found today about the Monkey King Festival, which I didn’t know there was. Amazingly, I’m not too late to celebrate it, because it’s SEPTEMBER 13 this year! HOORAY!

In my Monkey King display, the Goddess Kwan-Yin in the form of a mother and child is keeping an eye on him, and Tara, the essence of Kwan-Yin’s compassion, stands over him. To learn more about Kwan-Yin, here is possibly more than you want to know, but at least look at the pictures. I’m particularly taken with the last one, of Kwan-Yin with a mustache. I identify with that one, somehow….

My question to you, my Sweet Little Baby Angels, is this: What should I do on my blog for Monkey King Festival?

WRITING PROMPT: Have your main character talk to you about his/her most memorable birthday present and why it meant so much.

MA