Gnomes friends.

Greetings from the very cold and snowy Northland!  We’ve had a Blizzard here today and there are mountains of fresh white snow everywhere!  I’ve been snuggled inside with a cup of hot tea.  It’s my favorite thing to do on days like this.

Today seems like a good day to introduce all of you to two of my favorite friends, Tomas and He Who Leaps Long who are just two of the many Gnomes who live at Bolt Mountain Farm.  It’s a lovely place ~ truly a little bit of heaven on earth.  The flowers, birds and animals are all very well loved and have content, happy dispositions.  It’s quite something to see.

I first met Tomas and Leaps Long when I helped to paint their portraits many months ago.  From the beginning I thought they were extraordinary.   I’ve asked them to help me with some of the questions that you’re asking so I thought it would be good for you to know a bit about them.

Tomas is very shy.  He has a deep wisdom and a very kind heart.   He loves to learn and has his own library filled with books about plants, animals, birds, rocks, stars, music and most any subject you can imagine.  He helps to care for the animals and plants, keeping them strong and healthy and making medicine for them when they’re sick.

He Who Leaps Long is quite a wild and magical fellow.  He’s full of playfulness and mischief in a very good natured way.   I call him Leaps Long for short.  He comes from a very large family of wild Gnomes.  I can only imagine what kinds of mischief they get into when they’re all together.  When I’m with Tomas and Leaps Long, the day is filled with adventure and laughter.  Over time, Leaps Long has even managed to coax Tomas out of his shell. 

Leaps Long has a great love of the animals and often plays with the goats and snuggles next to the llamas at night to sleep.  He loves the rocks too.  One of the first things you may notice about him is that he doesn’t look anything like the Gnomes you may have seen in pictures.  He doesn’t wear a hat of any kind or traditional Gnome clothing and he loves to run around barefooted in his shorts (although he does wear pants and a sweater in the cold months.) 

It just goes to show that there are as many kinds of Gnomes as there are people.  The most wonderful thing about these two friends is that we’re very different in many ways and yet we complement each other beautifully and have a great love for one another. Perhaps you're lucky enough to have such friendships too.

Please join me in welcoming Tomas and Leaps Long.

Tomorrow Tomas will respond to a very thoughtful question we received about Peace.

Much love,

Peder