A to Z Challenge: Gimme a D-R-A-G-O-N. What does that spell?

Today is Friday and I am so ready for it. It's been a long week, filled with writings and theatre projects. Saturday is all but booked. I am not sure how I am going to manage Saturday, but it's a day of theatre with my friends. So, I can't complain too much.

I was trying to think about what I would write about today. I wanted something interesting for you, Dear Readers and something fun and really represented me. Then the idea kind of smacked me in the face with it's tail. DRAGONS! I am absolutely bonkers for (as you can tell from the web address of this blog.

All the Weyrs of Pern cover

I am not sure when I first discovered dragons and how awesome they were, but the two series of books that pulled me in deeper were the "Enchanted Forest Chronicles" by Patricia Wrede. That features a dragon Kazul, who instead of eating princesses and ransacking village takes in a Princess (Cimorene) to be her student and basically clean up after her. It's more of a friendship. But that friendship builds into adventures with the Enchanted Forest (which is quite the place to be). The other is the "Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey and later her son, Todd McCaffrey. A whole series of series of books about the little planet of Pern and the mighty Dragons created to help protect it.

Over the years I have collected statues and stuffed animals, to books and weaponry that feature this mighty creature of legend. Also, there are so many different stories and myths about the dragon that range from greedy, fire breather that wants to fights knights and eat princesses to that of the story that a rainbow is formed from a dragon rubbing it's back against the sky during a storm. All of these stories are fascinating, even the ones that feature dragon that don't always look like dragon, but are considered dragons, the sea monster Kraken (form differs from area and storyteller. Sometimes it's a dragon and sometimes it's more like a giant squid) from the Greek myth of Andromeda or the Norse dragon Fafnir, who was a shape shifter.

Bearded Dragon

Komodo Dragon

Dragons are everywhere both the real world, such as the Komodo and Bearded Dragons to wrapped in movies and stories with the likes of Elliot from Pete's Dragon (the kindliest of Dragons) to Smaug from Tolkien's "The Hobbit". There is strength within the dragon that I have aspired to. Dragons are a great patron animal to have as your own. They not only make you feel brave, but they guide you with wisdom, as Samaranth does, he's from the "Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica", written by James A. Owen (I might have mentioned him before).

Samaranth by James A. Owen

Elliot

My favourite dragon has to be the Asian lung, a water/storm dragon that  lives in rivers and clouds, depending on the species. Where they are located will determine how many   toes they have. A Japanese dragon,  in Japan will have more toes than a Korean dragon also in Japan. The same is for Korean and Chinese Asian Lung. So, the number of toes equates to power, based on where the dragon originates. And the pearl that they are so often depicted with is actually their egg. Asian Lung are considered more kindly and very wise, but you ultimately wouldn't want to piss off a dragon.