Tag: hiking

Tour a Fairy Kingdom???

fairylike brook in the forest
What does fairyland look like to you? Clear, rushing water and green leaves under the trees.
Near Kell, Rhineland Pfalz. Germany. ©Laurel Decher, 2020.

Yesterday, we walked for five or six hours and I got buckets of new ideas about the Fairy Kingdom.

I love the “Traumpfad” hiking trails that we’ve already been on. This one is special for its caves and variety! Here’s a virtual dream hike for you:

  • A hidden castle. Schweppenburg.
  • A fairy brook
  • More fairy brook
  • Springtime carpet
  • The cupids have been here! A kissing booth with mistletoe.
  • The road to the Fairy Kingdom?
  • Easter atmosphere.
  • Magical fairy caves.
  • A safe place for a Fairy Kingdom would be too high for people to climb up.
  • A Fairy Kingdom mountain with moat.
  • The magical fairy tree.
  • A magical frog tree root.
  • fairylike brook in the forest
    A brook for healing.
  • A coat of arms for a cupid.
  • A path should have a footbridge if it can.
  • A waterfall just like Niagara.
  • Hand-drawn geology diagram, with hikers.
  • Wind In The Willows atmosphere.
  • Can you see the bird on the road? A kleiber?
  • Roman spring with bench.
  • Roman carbonated spring.
  • The border to Fairy Kingdom.
  • Grenzpunkt. Border point.
A carpet of flowers. ©Laurel Decher, 2020.
Cartoon drawing of the Seven Kingdoms with locations on Rhine and Mosel Rivers marked by colored towers
Click the map to tour the Seven Kingdoms: Cochem, Marigold, Magenta, Indigo, Saffron, Rose, and Blackfly.

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Visual Story Structure with Cows

Green meadow in a valley next to a level road.
The idyllic Naafbachtal hiking trail is gentle on your eyes and on your knees. © Laurel Decher, Germany, 2017

The Naafbachtal is a long valley full of meadows, originally slated to be a reservoir, and now a nature reserve. The lovely little Naaf brook babbles alongside the trail, wildflowers bloom in all colors, the leaves rustle in the breeze, and the birds are singing like crazy.

The resident zoologist says it’s perfect habitat for kingfishers.

Brown cows and a bull in a herd grazing in a meadow.
Ferdinand and friends holding back succession by grazing. © Laurel Decher, Germany, 2017

Herds of cows graze among the buttercups, like Ferdinand before the bullfighters came looking for him. But no ones coming to make these happy German cows fight in the ring.

Presumably, the cows’ mission is to keep the vistas intact, one mouthful of grass at a time. They’re doing it very well.

But whoever had the task of picking out livestock had fun. The next field had white cows.

White cows reclining in a grassy meadow.
White cows in the Naafbachtal. © Laurel Decher, Germany, 2017.

And the next one had. . .

Water buffaloes coated in gray mud, standing in a deep mud puddle "bathtub"
“Do you mind?” © Laurel Decher, Germany, 2017.

Water buffaloes.

Everyone stopped and took pictures because it’s a classic set-up, development, and twist. So the next time you have a boring old brown cow scene in your work-in-progress. . .

Remember the water buffaloes.

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If you’d like to stay in touch, sign up for my Reader’s List. Once a month, I share new middle grade fiction, story-related freebies, and/or related blog posts. If it’s not your thing, you can unsubscribe at any time.

 

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