fasten her seatbelt...: flower the dragon...

“The child must know that he is a miracle,

that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been,

and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.”

-Pablo Casals

cellist and conductor

'Flower the Dragon'

(da-laaah)

'oh, hi! i. am. flower the dragon.

i eat cotton candy and jello and fruit and hot coco,

and they make me healthy and strong.

i like to play, dance.

and i'm a good guy dragon -

i fight bad guy dragons.

if your watching this show, you should do the 'boogie woogie'.

da na na, nah, nah, nah, nah, nahh

i like to dance, a dance, dance, dance

wew, wew, weh, wew, wewww

and this is only for girls!'

Emma has always loved dragons: L-O-V-E, loved dragons. Ever since she could hold crayon to paper she has been drawing them. They have been her one constant over the years... well, dragons and horses. In Emma's world, dragons and horses have co-existed in perfect harmony for years: sharing living spaces, grazing common pastures... and on occasion, battling and maiming each other.

This, my friends I know is typical of many young children - they have incredible imaginations that will carry them off to distant lands. Unfortunately, with Emma we don't often see this imaginative play, as she disappears into 'Emma-land' with a dragon or two and comes up with her fantastic scenarios in private. We know this, because as we walk past the door of her quiet space, we can hear her inside chatting away, creating characters for each of her dragons. However, if one of us enters the room - her dragons are snatched behind her back and all 'conversation' is ended.

So, imagine my joy one day when I found a video recording Emma had made on my computer. A little story about an accordion style dragon she had made in school named 'Flower'. Her older sister, Isabella - a film editing student at the time - loved the story so much, she animated it.

It's my pleasure to introduce you to 'Flower the Dragon':