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* I just saw that my status is "Innovator". It is so fitting with the Tinkerer theme * I love these books! The girl is of mixed heritage and grew up with the Tinkerer. He taught her all kinds of things from carpentry and metal work, to building a flying machine and how to make things go "BOOM!", as well as respect for nature (she has an affinity to nature) and cooking, cleaning, basic math, science, etc. My boys probably think they are The Tinkerer's Sons because I'm usually busy building or making something, whether a cage, bookshelf, or just painting the house, drawing pictures, working in the garden, busy with the animals, or even cooking. My cooking can be quite "adventurous" at times, because I tend to "tinker" with the recipes. It's a normal day for Tink and her boys. In the morning they do their chores and then school work. Then they basically each go their different way for the day. Oldest has started a dinosaur business, teaching people about dinosaurs you find in the wild. He has his two miniature ankylosaurusses to thank for that. They are the size of Great Danes of old, are very clever, and herbivorous. He has taught them to pull in a harness and they help him to plow the lands. He has obviously inherited her affinity to animals and nature in general. She has seen him sway the most verocious troop of Compies to calm down and not attack! Youngest on the other hand is almost always busy in the workshop. If he isn't busy creating something new, he is tinkering with swords and fire craft. Why just the other day he gave her a huge fright by creating what he called a "boom stick"! It shot a hole the size of her palm in the wooden plank. He definitely has his father's knack with weapons! Tink can't help the sigh that escapes as she thinks of the not so distant past, and how they ended up on the outskirts of Maritzborough. With her husband being in the employ of the King, she and the boys had learned over time to always be on the lookout for strangers. Just before leaving on that last secret mission her husband had again impressed on her heart their plans if danger came too close. And this time it did. They came in just before the low swoops of the pteranodon flocks. That already drew a lot of attention, for only strangers didn't know, not to be in the street at that time of day. Those flying creatures were as regular as clock work, flying low over the city, stealing all kinds of food like freshly baked bread cooling off on window sills or fruit or vegetables out of the garden! The curious birds would peck at anything with their long, sharp beaks, whether edible, or clean laundry hanging on a line. The men had rushed to the old Dragon's Inn in another part of town, but word reached her ears soon enough that two strangers were asking after the Captain's family. Luckily their friends sent them on a merry chase around the country side the following couple of days, which gave them a chance to reach the Gryffin Caves. They had grabbed their emergency backpacks and set off. She had extra clothes and food in there, along with jackets, other things too precious to leave behind, and of course she had packed her tinkering tools. She won't go anywhere without them! She remembers that day as if it was yesterday, and truth be told, it wasn't that long ago. A month? Maybe two months? ... The Griffin Sire is the alpha of the pack, with the strong muscled body of an African Lion, and the head and wings of a Bald Eagle. She showed him the appropriate respect by bowing slightly in front of him, then held out her hand, palm up, for him to inspect. There was a time that she flew regularly with him, but the last while it would have drawn the wrong attention. Now she had to ask the gryffins to fly them as far as the border of their province. The gryffins weren't allowed outside that area, as they were in service to the King. The alpha pushed her hand away, and came closer to nudge her head softly with his beak. She made the crooning sound her father had taught her, while tickling his feathers softly with her fingers. He enjoyed this attention for a little while, and probably sensed the anxiety climbing in her, as he suddenly lifted up his head and screeched for other gryffins to come closer. Saddles and bridles weren't necessary, so they climbed up on the soft backs. The alpha walked to the edge of the ledge and with a strong bound leaped in the air! His front legs immediately folded back a bit to cover and hold her legs in place. His wings were stretched out to either side of her, brown feathers ruffling in the breeze caused by his flight. She lightly held on to the tuft of hair where the eagle neck became a lion's body. On the gryffin behind her, Oldest was laughing out loud. He loved every minute of it. Youngest wasn't too keen on flying, but a small smile curved his lips. From the air the trees looked like soft green cotton balls, the rivers like thick blue wool, unrolled across the land. The land itself sped past underneath them. What would take a person a day to cross on horseback, takes the gryffin a mere hour or so. Soon they could see ragged, scarred rocks and a deep canyon beyond in the distance. The border. The gryffins will land on the other side of the military post guarding the bridge. The soldiers will only know that someone came, not who, and not why. Their on gryffins, the King's transport, so they were exempt from being questioned. With a strong thrust of leg muscles and flap of wings the gryffins jumped back into the air, lifting up, circling once then heading back the way they came. Tink and her boys hefted their packs, making sure everything is tightened. They filled their water bottles at the fountain, had a quick snack then set off for the forest. They still have a long way ahead of them.

Here I am again. After a few very enlightening challenges I have the feeling I've come to a crawl. But that's better than a standstill, isn't it? For April, I'll return to the basics. Nothing fancy and not too much. Although my goals seem repetitive (and I have a nasty voice telling me "AGAIN? You are incompetent, you can't do anything, you're not making progress!", which is a little difficult to ignore), I'm still... well, crawling. Soon I'll be able to walk, I hope. Goals for April: Dairy free (with the exception of selfmade Ghee). That's not an easy one - I don't consume that much cheese or joghurt, but notable amounts of chocolate and other stuff where a little dairy is added. But it's only 30 days, so... I'll do my best. Walk at least 3 times a week. Not daily (more is better, of course, but then life happens...), to take the pressure out of it. Should be feasible, the days are getting longer again, yet I'm often tired when I come home from work, or the weather is bad, or... yeah. I have theater meetings every Monday and usually walk there, so that's one day of walking down. Should be able to fit in two more! Stick to my diet. I'm trying something new right now: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'll be having only protein shakes (about 1000 kcal), the other days I can eat. This does not only help with weight loss (although that remains to be seen), it takes the "what do I eat, what do I eat?!!!"-thoughts away for three days per week, and I have to manage only two work days (and the weekend, which differs if I'm alone or with company). Because of Easter I have not done a full week of this, but at the moment it seems... almost like a relieve. Although shake days can be difficult ("I wanna eat now! You've been good the whole day, you can have a nice dinner now!") and eating days, too (usually I don't do breakfast, but after a shake day I wake up rather hungrily), at the moment this seems manageable and almost relaxing. Go to Tai Chi. Spear class is almost over and I missed only one day! Whooot! Next I will be learning the sabre (spear will be moved to another time slot I can't manage), which should look something like this. My teacher did a video of herself with the spear (sadly was uploaded only to Facebook but should be viewable by everyone) and plans to film the whole group of us. I'm not sure if I will participate, but if I do, I will show you how I do (I'm insecure about one tricky part, and if I start to think during the kata, then I mess up. Everyone else doesn't, so I'm more than a little self-conscious there because in that group I'm standing out in a bad way). I'm not sure if I'll include my stairs again. I probably should. I might add that later, though. And I still want to go swimming, too, but that's not part of my challenge right now. The kettlebell is wonderful... I'm not sure why I didn't use it more last time. I think because it's not so much a habit, yet. When I have visitors I "hide" the kettlebell and then forget to put it out into the living room again. Or I'm thinking about it right before bed and don't want to workout at that time. Will find a solution for that. Should I do my stairs, I can easily add a few swings afterwards. It's more that I have to remember to get up, at all... maybe set an alarm, or something... needs a little more thought. Edit: I just set an alarm in my mobile. Let's see if that helps, it's an experiment for now.