I am very sorry that I haven't written to you in a while. I don't have a proper excuse; I think I've just been having too much fun making dresses and helping Miss Paris (and playing on catapults and springy boards and dancing). Life is rarely dull in Caledon...
What shall I tell you about first? I suppose Steam City happened before I went swiming with Miss Virrginia and flying with Miss Paris so that should really be the one, oughtn't it?
The Guvnah Sir very kindly said that we could go and play on the proposed site for the new neighbourhood and you really can't refuse an offer like that. We'd missed the steam elephant racing and it was all very quiet, so Alfonso set up two of his catapults for us to play on. We weren't alone for long though; the catapult does seem to attract people in a most mesmeric sort of way. Alfonso couldn't resist the opportunity to test his new invention on a willing band of guinea pigs and brought out his Moon Rocket.
It didn't exactly work, but people seemed to be enjoying themselves so Alfonso knocked up some launch boards from the spare building materials that were lying around. That was much more reliable, although there were a few, er, well, embaressing moments.
Its not like Mr Margulis to be so underdressed (except when raving, of course; this was entirely due to the acceleration he assured me), but we were all far too polite to say anything. And Miss Paris and Miss Schnabel were very well organised; they were packed for every eventuality, as proper ladies of adventure always must be.
And then there was Mr Buchanan and his shark. I'm not quite sure what was going on there, but the shark didn't seem to mind too much and I could have sworn he was smiling as he blasted skyward.
It has to be said that the citizens of Caledon are always up for a bit of a giggle and if it includes being catapulted into the air at a huge rate of knots, so much the better. I managed to make it all the way over Port Caledon in my inner tube and I landed in the pond in Caledon II as well! I slept well that night, let me tell you.
It was a shame that Virrginia couldn't be there, knowing her fondness for all things aerial, but I did get a chance to have a small adventure with her when we went swimming at Rua.
This was after she taught me to fly an ornithopter. Let us just say that I'm marginally less bad at that than I am flying with my own wings (we only got stuck upside down twice. Or was it three times?). And the flying goggles were rather useful under water too. There were some nice sea urchins that Virrginia had a sit on (and as she pointed out, exploring requires a great deal of sitting) and quite a lot of interesting wildlife.
But poor Virrginia wasn't feeling too grand and kept swooning (which isn't really a good thing when you're underwater, mermaid or not), so we called it a day and she went for a lie down at home. I wandered over to Tanglewood, where Alfonso was mending Miss Paris' steam elephant (who'd banged his head when he'd been playing with the catapult and he hadn't been quite right since). After my lovely husband had wiped his hands and tidied away his tools, Miss Paris offered to take us all for a celebratory ride.
I'm not sure that Alfonso had completely cured the bumped noggin because this Snorty had a moment of reversion to the activities that made his forebear so infamous. Mr Gray assured us he was fine despite his skewering and the trip continued apace. I didn't stay for too long as I was feeling rather exhausted from all the swimming and flying, but it was fun swooping over Caledon a la elephant.
So, as you can see, its been all go here. I do hope you get the chance to pop over for a cup of tea soon, its ages since we had the chance for a proper gossip and you know how pixies have to satify their natural curiosity as often as possible.
Take care, dear Emilly.
Fuschia
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