KING ARTHUR’s PERSPECTIVE

It is a beautiful day at T-Bone’s Place.  The sun is shining, and the temps are moderate; the wind is mild and crisp.  The hurricane had spared this place, and all are pleased.   Arthur is a Pileated Woodpecker and is out for his breakfast.  He is a very proud bird and commands respect from his peers.  His neighbors are an assortment of feathered fowl and other creatures.  There has always been a sound relationship between Arthur and his cohorts; we will just refer to his peers as he does, friends.  Arthur hasn’t allowed himself to indulge in the areas of fraternizing, for he feels he has other responsibilities to his friends.  Arthur hasn’t become familiar enough with his inner-self to realize the paternal love he shares with his friends.  It seems to be an unspoken thing, and his friends understand this.  Arthur may be a large bird, but the other creatures don’t fear him.  They view Arthur as someone that brings peace and safety to their lives. 

Arthur, as I was saying, is out for breakfast, climbing around in a large pine tree and digging bugs from under the tree bark.  He always begins his day with a pine tree, for the loose bark and soft wood make it easy to forage.  He is finding it hard to stay focused, due to a sparkle coming from Sugar, the Old Sweet Gum Tree.  Was the sparkle a water droplet catching the sun?  Arthur used his critical thinking skills and ruled that out.  He finally decided that if he was going to get a decent meal, he was going to have to get a closer look at Sugar today. 

Upon landing in the old tree, he didn’t see anything suspish.  He made his way around the target area with no ‘finds’.  After a few moments, he lost interest when he heard a movement from under the tree’s bark!  So, like any woodpecker, he went to work banging his beak into that tree. Soon, he found a nice juicy beetle to consume.  No sooner than he got the beetle in his beak than he heard a small voice, “Sir, why do you bang your head on trees?”

Arthur was startled to see something he had never seen before.  He stood still for a moment before moving toward this object.  The thing looked kind of like the creatures that come and go from the structure nearby, but they didn’t sport wings, and this thing did.  It looked skinny, maybe undernourished.  Upon observing this, he moved near it, and regurgitated the beetle, he had consumed and offered it to the skinny thing.  The thing looked at the offering and regurgitated also.  Arthur, with no formal home training, took this action as an invitation to dine together. He got a mouthful of her puke, and she regurgitated again! He knew then that he liked her.

Thistlewyn’s New Realm

The feathered and furry friends she found

At T-Bone’s Place, on sacred ground,

Have made this new home away from home

A land where her wildest dreams may roam.

No longer lost, no longer torn,

She greets each dawn with joy reborn,

For every bark and chirping cheer

Reminds her, magic doth live here.

The fox that naps ‘neath the pine,

The crow that Caw-caws a cryptic line,

The hound who guards at the garden gate—

All share in her fate, all celebrate.

Together now, they weave and mend

The threads of worlds that twist and bend,

And Thistlewyn, with heart aglow,

Permits roots of wonder to gently grow.

So if you pass by T-Bone’s Place,

And glimpse a lantern or fairy face,

Know Otherworld still softly sings

In Piney Woods, on feathered wings.

~Jax T. © Thistlewyn's Adventures2025

Thistlewyn’s Arrival

The wind howled like a wild banshee through the pines of East Texas. Hurricane Ike had made landfall days earlier, but its reach stretched far inland, rattling windows and bending trees in the quiet town near T-Bone’s Place.

In the heart of the storm, beneath a wizened sweetgum tree older than memory, the air shimmered. A crack of lightning split the sky—not just with light, but with something older, deeper. A rift opened between worlds.

From the Otherworld, where the Tuatha Dé Danann whispered in moonlit groves, a young fairy named Thistlewyn Maevelee was snatched into the storm. She had been chasing a wayward breeze, curious and bold, when the hurricane’s magic caught her like a net.

She tumbled through clouds and thunder, clutching her Starroot Pendant, its moonstone glowing faintly against the chaos. The winds carried her over rivers, roads, and rooftops, until she landed with an unceremonious thud in a hollow of red clay and pine needles.

The storm passed. The world was quiet.

Thistlewyn rose, dazed but unbroken. Her wings shimmered with raindrops and a little mud, her cloak was a tangle of leaves and briars. Around her, the forest held its breath. She was far from home—but the land felt alive, humming with old magic and new stories.

Thistlewyn’s Starroot Pendant

She touched the pendant and whispered the spell her grandmother taught her:

"By hawthorn vine and silver wood,
By moonstone's glow and ancient blood,
From Éire's hills to Texas pine,
Let Brígh protect this soul of mine."

The pendant pulsed brightly with light. The forest stirred. Somewhere nearby, a porch light flickered on at T-Bone’s Place.

Thistlewyn smiled. She wasn’t lost. She was meant to be here….

Follow along as we share Thistlewyn’s escapades, shenanigans, adventures and journey as she learns, loves and lives her best life in East Texas.