Greetings! When a visit from Pink Sunrise Pan set Sister Erato's heart all a-flutter during our Weekly Prophet game earlier in the evening, it was suggested that a secret messenger be sent with a special missive to the Keen Green Feral Fuzzie Pan so that I would not be left out in the cold (so to speak).

And since Mother's eyes and ears are all-seeing and all-hearing we thought a carrier pigeon might be an ideal way to transmit the message.

Alas, Mother is not only all-seeing and all-hearing but all-knowing and, although she could not actually prevent the messenger from making its appointed rounds, she wove her own message into its fabric, in order to deflect its impact by countering each of her daughter's statements with a firm one of her own.

The additional challenge was that the first word of each sentence was to begin with the last word of the previous sentence.

I know you will delight in the message which written by our guests, who alternately took the voice of an infatuated Muse and a moral Mother in an age-old struggle:

"Daughter": Dear Mister Feral Pan,

"Mother": Pan on the stove needs watching!

"Daughter": Watching you frolic in the mountains

"Mother": Mountains are for hiking and skiing!

"Daughter": Skiing is an easy way to find sister Thalia's home

"Mother": Home is where the heart is be wise and give it not away frivolously!

"Daughter": Frivolously is a worthwhile way to enjoy one's time

"Mother": Time is a valuable investment so don't squander it my girls!

"Daughter": Girls just want to step out and have some fun with Mages and Pans

"Mother": Pans and Mages are notorious for their beer and pizza parties!

"Daughter": Parties with the pans are what all the sisters are waiting for!

"Mother": For outings won't get your chores done before nightfall!

"Daughter": Nightfall is when the excitement begins under the secluded cover of darkness

"Mother": Darkness is the time for all nice girls to retire and read before bed

(at several points during the evening we were convinced that Mother was hiding in the bushes and speaking through our guests, so typical of her were the responses. That was one of them :))

"Daughter": Bed is the last place Sisters shall be while out having fun <grin>

"Mother": Fun is in the eye of the Beholder, meaning me, girls. Now resume your embroidery.

"Daughter": Embroidery is the perfect means of sneaking messages to the Pans!

(ahem: rumours of many mail orders from the Muse Mansion for embroidery thread are just that, rumours!)

"Mother": Pans are a necessary evil so to speak we need their magic for the forests but ladies must not be alone with them!

"Daughter": Them and us: the two will make merry in polite company

"Mother": Company that my daughters keep is closely monitored

"Daughter": Monitored outings are fun but not near as exciting as clandestine meetings!

Bravo to our guests who took up the challenge with such merry results!

The only question that remains is whether Feral Fuzzie Pan was able to decipher the message brought to him by the carrier pigeon .. and if the related article this week is anything to go by, a little bird tells me that he did. ;-)

Please join Erato and me in the Morpheus Rose Garden East every Monday at 4 p.m. WAT for fun and games (no embroidery!) in the Parlour.