Primrose Evergreen's Winter Forecast

Hello! It's Darcy again. Back at work and quite happy how business has been handled during my extended Christmas break. I hadn't decided what to write for you but inspiration came after a visit from Primrose Evergreen.

Primrose Evergreen in Upper Mellowdene

Primrose Evergreen is Mellowdene's weather forecaster. I understand she's always had an affinity for meteorological predictions but that has been honed over her life so that her accuracy is uncanny. She regularly travels to Upper Mellowdene to observe Coldmount Peak and records movements of ice particles whirling about the pinnacle. She says this helps her long-range forecasts. I've no reason to dispute that. 

 

Anyway, Primrose had visited to bring me a forecast for the next week, ready for inclusion in the Mellowdene Examiner.

"We're going to get some winter snow, Darcy," she had said. "I'm going to see HHG after I've left here. They'll need the heads up to clear the county roads."

"That bad?"

She nodded as she handed over the forecast report.

"Only a smattering of snow in the village - and that is likely to melt within a couple of hours. But further into the county the snowfall will last longer - two to three days - and as a result it will be deeper and take longer to clear. I'll update you in a few days."

She remained briefly as I went to key the report details into the newspaper's typesetting system.

With Primrose gone my thoughts turned to HHG.

HHG Enterprises' workshops and stores

HHG Enterprises are the brainchild of Magnus Hamilton. Upon moving to Mellowdene this enterprising hamster saw the need for a better organised plan for maintaining the village infrastructure. He also wanted something for his son Huckleberry to take forward should he eventually come to the village; a decision he'd have to make with his fiancée. In the meantime he took on two young partners - Perkin Harvey and Richard Grunt (hence HHG) - and created the company. Whilst these three families form the core of the organisation they have a flexible workforce to service the needs of the village, working closely with the council. Despite the growth of the company, Huck, Perkin and Ritchie were determined that they would not become purely administrators. Their time management ensures they still do plenty paws-on work! At the newspaper, my right-paw critter is Harry Hawthorn and, as Huckleberry Hamilton's brother-in-law, he keeps me updated with HHG's plans.

HHG out on a job

Winter weather provides particular challenges and HHG are prepared to meet them. Although crittizens in the village don't tend to suffer from a cold climate, those living further afield in the county can be affected. Snow cannot be allowed to isolate them. Most live within reach of the three main roads, Mellowdene Road, County Road and Rivercourse Road, so HHG consider it a primary need to keep those roads clear.

HHG clearing some snow

Of course, roads aren't the only routes through the county. Recently, Jackson highlighted our rail connection to the rest of Sylvania. You can be assured that the tracks are always kept clear. Fireglass channels run parallel to the railway lines. The Hunter-Smyth family process this resource in inventive ways and the interaction of rain or snow on a fireglass derivative within those channels keeps the tracks clean, warm and free from ice or snow. The channels are regularly maintained so that the Maple Town Express can keep running to schedule.

 

Reilly Hunter-Smyth takes Formula 4 Fireglass to the rail track

With the main routes clear, we still need to ensure that provisions are accessible to the county dwellers. Fireglass is again used to keep wells from freezing but what about food?

Timbertop Farm, Blackberry Orchards, Buttercup Dairies (with their farming of lactolia plants) all have longstanding plans to combat poor weather. Again, Primrose Evergreen's forecasts give them sufficient notice. 

Bud Timbertop takes out the tractor

Bud shifts some snow

 

Zeb, Taylor and Tyler go shoveling

Tyler Timbertop and Zebediah Cody carry some fireglass

But what about shopping for everyone else?

 

Rocky Babblebrook to the rescue. Rocky is a descendent of our first mayor of Mellowdene, his lineage extending to one of the four founding families of our village. He doesn't share his ancestors' political ambitions. Long ago the Babblebrooks became more concerned about providing food for our villagers. Not everyone can spend their time on farming, fishing and other food production tasks. Babblebrook's Store was born. A few years ago, the store was expanded and rebranded as the Village Supermarket with new managers running the day-to-day business, these being Bert, Joyes and Macey Harvey. Rocky, his father Cliff and uncle Gerald decided that their traditional smaller stores should continue in the form of branches, still bearing the Babblebrook name, peppered about the expanding village. There are three branches in Mellowdene, and one conveniently positioned in the county.

Babblebrook's county store

In bad weather, Rocky not only takes extra care to ensure the county branch of Babblebrook's is well stocked, he is known to take his four-wheel-drive car and personally deliver food to the less accessible homesteads.

 

Rocky and Cliff driving into the county

Rocky on deliveries

 

Actually, Rocky is not alone. There is the community convention where all villagers choose to pile in when there is need. The worst of winter may pose challenges for the county but we are Sylvanians through and through.

o 0 O 0 o

Speaking of the "worst of winter" I had a conversation with Ricardo Porcini about how such conditions affect Chunglewood.

"We don't get snow," he said. "It doesn't get through."

I remembered what Jackson had said about the weird spatial effects above the forest. Rain didn't have a direct path downwards to the clearing, resulting in patchy but predictable irrigated areas and even one sky cascade. There were sky pools too.

"Right," I replied. "The barrier thing. But don't the sky pools ever freeze over? Snow settling and blocking out light?"

Ricardo laughed. "I'd never thought of that. It does sound reasonable now that you mention it. But no, we don't see that happening. The sky lightens a bit from time to time and we get cold rain, that's all."

"Could the barrier be melting it?"

 

"Darcy, you do ask some crazy questions. Maybe it does. We don't think about it. In fact I don't remember snow ever coming up in conversation. Nobody's seen it since they left the Woodzeez realm. Except me, of course. With me able to leave Chunglewood and travel around Sylvania, I've witnessed my fair share of snowy landscapes. Saw a blizzard once."

Ricardo's words made me think. The Chunglewood villagers were still reticent to leave the clearing - for whatever reason, and I have my suspicions - so how would they react seeing a blanket of winter snow after well over a decade of being sheltered from the excess of weather?

Maybe they'd better stay cloistered until Primrose Evergreen gives a favourable weather forecast!

o 0 O 0 o

Collections

Darcy had called around and we were chatting after a cup of tea. Now that Cecile is involved with Darcy's blog (albeit in a minor way) our discussions are now unrestricted - which makes me happier. Darcy was quite enthusiastic in his news.  

"We've collected fifty thousand views, Cecile. Good, eh?"

"It does sound a lot. Does that mean fifty thousand humans have read the stories?"

 

"I doubt it. Actually, I hope not. That would imply that each human only looked at a single story the once then gave up." He laughed. "Ideally there will be a healthy proportion of returning readers."

"You'll be glad your project is working," I smiled.

"Our project," said Darcy. "It may have been my idea originally but we're all contributing. With Cecile on board we can widen our range of stories."

"Funny you should say that," said Cecile. "as you've given me an idea."

"Go on."

Cecile's mouth twitched. (It looked cute, but I'm biased.) "When you said 'collected' views, it made me think of 'collections'. There must be all sorts of collectors in Mellowdene. We could describe a few."

Darcy nodded slowly. "I have written about Sammy Stamp and Pete Petite regarding their stamp collecting, but you're right. There are many more." He smiled widely. "So I can leave you to look into that?"

I looked at Cecile. She nodded.

o 0 O 0 o

 

Afterwards, Cecile's first suggestion started with Beverley. "She has a dozen or so records now. Not just Dingle Boy and the Fibres from Baas. How many times has Biddie been round for an afternoon of Dingle Boy and Bark Molan?"

 

"True, but that's hardly..."

"Let me finish, love. It made me think about your visit with Elmer Timbertop and you mentioning his record collection."

She was right.  

Elmer has hundreds of vinyl and shellac records. He has a particular interest in old blues music and that was one the reason I'd been to see him. I wanted to analyse the style so that I'd be better placed to write my own tunes in that genre. I particularly remember being treated to songs by Croakin' Lime Leaper and Old Tad Paul. Apparently Bullfrog Blues is a standard but I liked the rarer Further on Down the Toad.

 

Collecting music is something I can well understand. My brother Merlin is, of course, a book fanatic. He would have a gigantic collection if he hadn't gravitated to becoming head librarian in our village. He probably considers the entire library part of his collection. I mentioned this.

"You're probably right about the library," acknowledged Cecile. "Can you imagine how it would be otherwise? I can visualise poor Eliza climbing over stacks of books." 

 

We laughed then tried to think of other collectors.

 

"Don't forget the oddities that Morwenna Deerheart gathers," Cecile commented.

"Proto-crystals?"

"Not just those. Gwin feathers, ancient stone sculptures, smelly herbs..."

 

"How do you know all that?"

"I think Mona Hazelnut mentioned it at..."

"Cake Club?"

"Ladies talk, Jack. It's called socialising."

"Not criticising, sweet wrinkle. It's interesting what you reveal, sometimes." 

"Only sometimes?" I could tell she was teasing me.

"Always riveting," I said, adopting an overly straight face. 

 

"Idiot. How about you? Can you think of any other unusual collections?" asked Cecile.

"Unusual? Not really. Although... There's Mookie and his cheese."

Mookie Dappledawn loves cheese. He's not the only one, of course. Wester Cornflower is an aficionado too. But Mookie is on a mission. He wants to try every single cheese in Sylvania. He keeps all the labels and has a little book in which he lists the cheeses he's eaten, those he wants to eat, with each having space for marking their separate attributes. He even writes a review of each variety he's tried.

Cecile smiled. "How could I forget that? Oat milk, almond milk, wulque tree milk and more. He once told me that he was aware of over fifty varieties that were made from lactolia milk alone."

"Fifty-six at last count, he told me. And eleven of those are made here in Mellowdene by Wensleydale Hector Norwood using milk from Buttercup Dairies. Mookie has given us the same spiel, clearly."  

Cecile licked her lips. "I fancy cheese for lunch. How about you?"

"Have we done?" 

"We've covered records, books, Morwenna's paraphernalia, cheese...," listed Cecile. "Won't that be enough for Darcy?"

 

 

She stood. Clearly she thought it was enough! I answered accordingly.

 

"Probably. I guess we can sort out the words later."

"Then that's settled. Let's collect a few ingredients and have a cheese salad."

Actually, that didn't sound too bad.

o 0 O 0 o

Veri Peri

In central Sylvania there is a small village called Stonehaven, a small village that has played a significant part in the evolution of Mellowdene. This was because of a number of critters who chose to move from there to here.

The first was Gustav Timbertop and his wife Fern. They came to assist a distant relative on his small holding. My earlier story on Timbertop Farm gives details. Amongst other things, it tells how Gus needed help and called upon two other residents of Stonehaven to give temporary assistance. These were two rabbits who were friends from his old band Bear Banger and the Bunny Boys. He didn't expect the other two band members to accompany them.

These four rabbits - Winston Cottontail, Smokey Wildwood, Bernard Snow-Warren and Mack Periwinkle - subsequently decided they would leave Stonehaven permanently and remain in Mellowdene.

 

You shouldn't imply from this that they didn't like their old home. There were practical reasons they left - space and resources. As the name suggests, Stonehaven is in a mountainous region, and the vast rocky areas meant expansion of the village was far from practical. As the population grew, the villagers had to live closer together - not a problem socially, but the availability of water and farmland placed restrictions.

These were considerations when planning to have a family. Mack Periwinkle had a new wife Mabel, and it would only be a matter of time until the other Bunny Boys would get married and wish to start families. This was the prime motivation for staying in Mellowdene. Besides, they had made friends in their new home.

Not all young critters wanted to leave Stonehaven, which was just as well - it is a lovely village - but a few others took inspiration from the Bunny Boys' migration. The Honeydews and the Thistlethorns are but two.

One could argue Stonehaven's loss was our gain as Mellowdene acquired people who would contribute to our growth. As one of our major food producers, Timbertop Farm is a given, but each new family added to the richness of our community. The Wildwoods alone gave us the brickworks to help our village build new homes, an excellent Sheriff in Bisto Wildwood, and a marvellous teacher in Eve Wildwood. On a personal note, had the Snow-Warrens not moved here, I wouldn't have made songwriting my career.

Overpopulating Stonehaven may have been valid concern given the size of the families associated with the Bunny Boys. The Periwinkles and Honeydews appear to be forming a dynasty! (Although I should talk considering the number of the Buttergloves living here...)

By now, you may be wondering why I have told you this. It relates to one of these families - the Periwinkles - and one of that family who chose to remain in Stonehaven. Mack's unmarried sister Verity.

 

 

o 0 O 0 o

 

The Periwinkles gather every five years or so to celebrate their arrival in Mellowdene. They reserve the village hall for this purpose and arrange for special cakes to be made. As Katherine Periwinkle is a member of the Cake Club, she usually adopts responsibility for providing these and she co-opts some of her Cake Club friends to assist. Cecile is one of these.

 

This year, the event was particularly special as Verity Periwinkle decided she would make the effort to attend. One of her nephews - Adam Periwinkle - had rented a car to transport her, easing any of her perceived travelling woes. After the trials she had declared following her first family visit, this had become the norm.

 

Cecile told me what happened at the village hall.

o 0 O 0 o

"You've not met Auntie Verity, have you, Cecile?" asked Katherine.

 

"No. Is she like Mack?"

"Er, no. She is... definitely not like him."

"Ooh, am I detecting a hint of disapproval?"

 

"No, no, Cecile," Katherine smiled, "Let's just say she is well-named. She tells the truth as she sees it - with no filter."

"Ah. A straightforward lady. Will I get to meet her? I presume she doesn't visit often."

"We bring her over as much as we can, but it's usually only family she sees. This is a higher profile event and she'll see nearly all the Periwinkles and Honeydews. And as for you meeting her, now that I've warned you, I see no reason why you shouldn't."

"Consider me warned," laughed Cecile, "And you said 'Nearly all'?"

 

"We've decided my twins are too small to come. Pinkie and Dinkie would find it too overwhelming. My mum and dad will take care of them."

"So Selina and Selwyn won't be here either."

 

"Oh, the Honeydews will be well represented. My brothers are coming with the family."

"Ah."

 

o 0 O 0 o

The family was well represented. Sawyer Honeydew had made some nibbles. Everett Honeydew came with his wife and children.

 

Mack and Mabel Periwinkle were smiling ear to ear as they surveyed their three sons' families - scattered about the village hall, the children moving between the groups like bees visiting flowers.

 

Alex Periwinkle was trying not to organise too obviously, but his experience as a teacher was key to the children not getting overexcited. 

 

Allen Periwinkle had his arm around his wife Katherine, enjoying the socialising. 

 

 

Everyone was awaiting Adam Periwinkle's arrival with his aunt, so his wife Evelyn had her eyes on their children.

 

Cecile was with Emma Furbanks as the other Cake Club representative, watching inobtrusively from the kitchen area. They were keen to see Veri Peri - as Mabel Periwinkle (but few others) called her.

 

They didn't have long to wait. The village hall's outer door opened and a voice rang out.
"Well, it smells of rabbit in here."

 

Mack yacked out with laughter and half ran to his sister to give her a hug. Mabel shook her head with amusement, responding in a clear voice. "That might be, Veri Peri, because we're all rabbits."

 

This seemed to set the tone of the afternoon. Verity would make a pointed observation that would be greeted with humour and acceptance, no offence being taken, with Mabel occasionally diluting the effect of her sister-in-law's comments.

 

Evelyn Periwinkle asked her husband about the drive from Stonehaven.

 

 

"As you know," said Adam, "Auntie Verity does have opinions on driving. She likes to be travelling slowly and smoothly near villages..."

 

"As one should," commented Evelyn.

 

"...but she wants to go very fast on long straight stretches. It's just as well that I'm aware of her foibles. Today's journey was uneventful, other than the running commentary on her life in Stonehaven."

 

    
Youngsters James and Barry Periwinkle were talking to their great-aunt.

 

 

"Auntie Veri," said James, "why don't you move to Mellowdene?"

 

She regarded them, half-closing one eye. "There are too many annoying Periwinkle children here."

Open-mouthed, the boys swivelled their heads to look at each other before returning their gaze to Verity. Her face was solemn, and she waited until one of the children was about to speak before rewarding them with a wink. They collapsed in peals of laughter.

 

"It's a fair question," said Allen, who had been listening. "Are there any other Periwinkles in Stonehaven these days?"

 

"It's not just family," said Verity, "although you've conveniently forgotten my mother's side of the family. Remember that she was Agnes Milk before she married a Periwinkle, and there are a number of Milk rabbits still happy there. Georgina Milk is not only family, she's also a good friend. And I do have plenty of friends, nephew."

 

"We like to see you," said Barry.

"And you will. I visit, don't I? I've no plans to change that. If nothing else I need to continue to train your father into improving his driving."

Verity scanned the hall, watching her young relatives interact, and her eyes paused upon one young rabbit dancing around, pirouetting periodically.

 

She nudged Barry. "Remind me. Who's that crazy girl dancing about over there?"

"Oh, that's my cousin, Britney Honeydew. She's not really crazy, auntie. She just..."

"Yes, yes. I remember. She's following her heart. Good for her."

Coincidentally, another Honeydew was winding his way towards Verity Periwinkle. Button Honeydew.

He stopped directly in front of her, and thrust out his hand, showing her a matchbox.

 

"I've got a present for you, Auntie Verity," he said.

Verity took the box, hearing it rattle. "Matches?"

 

Button shook his head. "No. Look."

Verity carefully slid open the matchbox tray and looked inside. "Little nails? I don't understand."

 

"It's because of something mummy said. 'A shame you didn't have more tacked,' she said. Well now you've got some tacks to do your jobs. If you need more, I can get you some."

The side of Verity's mouth twitched. "Your mother said that, did she? And you are..."

"Button Honeydew."

"Well, Button. Thank you for your present. It would seem that not all of my relatives are boring. I like you."

"I like you, Auntie Verity."

 

"You can call me Veri Peri. Tell me about your mummy..."

o 0 O 0 o

Cecile didn't get to meet Verity Periwinkle. Seeing the family interactions between the Periwinkles and Honeydews she decided that she wouldn't intrude. She and Emma Furbanks did get a name check for helping to provide such tasty cakes, and that was enough.

 

"She seems a character," said Emma.

"Worth writing about," said Cecile with a secret smile.

So we did.

o 0 O 0 o