Summer 2020 Session V: The Forest Apple

The Forest Apple by RMcNulty
Micron Pen, Colored Pencil
& Digital Sky

The fifth session of the summer 2020 season will feature our first two-week mystery for detectives ages 9 to 14. The program runs from July 27 through Aug. 7, from 9 AM to 4 PM, with After Hours until 5:30 as needed. We will be in Searles Science Building, room 314, at Bowdoin College.

In this mystery, the north woods of Finland beckon with magical lights in the sky and deep trouble on the ground. Ice trolls, reindeer and other forest folk abound in this story, drawn from a mix of Finnish folklore and myth.

Our projects will probably include reindeer moss pendants and runic stones.

New Year, New Programs, Starting with ML King Jr. Day

Happy New Year to Dragon's Eye family and friends!

A whole new list of adventures and art days is finally up on the Current Programs page. I'm offering the usual holiday and school vacation programs, plus a few days that only Brunswick schools have off.

The summer program list of adventures is also on view. I've kept the first four weeks as one-week programs, and am testing a single two-week program at the end of the summer. This seems like the best of both worlds. It gives families some flexibility, if they only want a single week -- and allows my older detectives to take a deep dive into some Finnish folklore.

We start the year with some Tomte Winter Wonderland fun on Monday, Jan. 20. This is an art day for all things Tomte. The boys have already started our winter fun by making sleds for the Tomtes at our November art day -- so we'll make more sleds so that every Tomte can have one. (See the photo of their sleds above this!)

Registration forms are on a new page on the website. I have pulled out the family information into its own form, so that parents fill that data out only once during the 2020 year. Registration for individual programs is done on the Registration Form, and must be filled out either seasonally or by each program.


Quick synopses of the adventures are here, to help with any deliberations over which weeks to enroll.

Session A, Jan. 20 -- An art program focused on Tomtes and winter.

Session B, February break--5-day adventure will be all about Tomtes, lizards and the underground lizard realms where the Jewel of Winter's Dreaming is hidden.

Session C, March 13 -- Art program all about March Hares -- Moon rabbits and their nests.

Session D, April 17 -- Art program all about Moon Landings -- space stations for our April vacation Skeeters (tiny alien robots in flying saucers).

Session E, April vacation--5-day adventure will be all about alien robots again, with a return of the Skeeters, tiny alien robots in flying saucers.

Summer Program

Session I: The Ship of Fools is a Russian-based folktale about a flying ship and the crazy crew that guides it through the heavens.

Session II: Yemaya's Dobbin draws on Afro-Caribbean myths of Yemaya, the Orisha of the ocean. Think Afro-Caribbean mermaids, seashorses and all manner of sea creatures.

Session III: Mask of Dreams is a Dragon's Eye classic about Morpheus the Greek god of dreams.

Session IV: The Market at Wit's End is a sequel to Goat and Ger from last summer. A certain goat from that adventure is missing its bejeebers again, and the detectives go in search of a legendary market where wits and bejeebers are traded by some rather dubious merchants. Too bad this market may only be reached via the sewers of London, guarded by a group of wild, black boars.

Session V: The Forest Apple is the two-week adventure. We'll be taking a deep dive into the wonderful world of Finnish folktales and myths from the Kalevala. Think dark boreal forests, northern lights, reindeer, and stars.

Fall Fun at Dragon's Eye -- Recap of Election Day and Veteran's Day 2019

Election Day was a school holiday for a handful of districts in the area, so we gathered at the Landing YMCA for a day of Tomte fun. Many of the children already had Tomtes and small houses from our adventures last winter, so they brought what they had and added to it. A few detectives made their first Tomtes and houses, all in a day!

The delightful results of this building may be seen on the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page. Click here for the album.

Veteran's Day was the day the detectives make an annual visit to Dunraven Fair. This fictional fair is run by goblins, fairies and trolls. In the past, the detectives have had to sneak into the fair. Last year, the Gentleman Caller used some powerful time magic to bring the fair to Brunswick.

This year, the Raven King decided to invite the detectives as his honored guests. He gave them special Dunraven passes and masks to disguise their identity as mortals. The fair is not a safe place for mortals, since many of the visitors are quite dangerous to mortals.

This year, our team created a board game with the tents and game booths, and the Dunraven Castle overlooking the fair. We will use this board game for future fairs, changing and growing the games each year.

The game booth makers crafted the three games the detectives played, in order to earn artwork for trading. The games were great fun! I'm happy to report that the detectives won enough tickets to visit the Goblin Market.

At the market, they had a choice of merchants to visit. The trolls were there with their special trolls treasures--a Snail Stone, a Troll Wizard Doll, and two other Troll Dolls. The fairies had Fey Folk Dolls, a Fairy Dragon Doll, and a Baby Fairy Dragon Doll. The goblins had Lizards, a Dinosaur Egg, a Toad Stone, and a Firefly. Everyone went home with a very special trade!

Photos of the board game are on the Facebook page. Click here for the album.

Fall Festivities for Election Day and Veteran's Day

Dragon's Eye Adventures is hosting two one-day programs to celebrate the fall.These programs are for experienced detectives in grades 2 thru 8.


Tuesday, Nov. 5 -- Election Day -- Tomte Festivities

The Brunswick schools have this day off, so I thought I would offer a short program on this day. The program runs from 9 AM to 4 PM, with after hours available until 5:30 PM. We will meet at the Landing YMCA in Brunswick. The fee is $55 for the main day, and an additional $10 fee for the after hours.

The Tomtes are preparing for their annual visit to the Dunraven Fair on Nov. 11, so we will spend our day preparing for the festivities. Detectives may bring their Tomtes and their Tomte houses, if they have them. Those who don't have a Tomte may make one, and those who have one may augment their houses or add kith and kin to their Tomte clan.

Monday, Nov. 11 -- Veteran's Day -- Dunraven Fair III

This program will also run from 9 AM to 4 PM, with after hours until 5:30 PM, at the Landing YMCA in Brunswick. The fee is $55 for the main day, and an additional $10 fee for the after hours.

This is our third visit to the hobgoblin trade fair known as the Dunraven Fair. The Raven King has sent an invitation to the detectives for this year's fair--a very rare occurrence in the fairy realms.

Detectives should prepare tiny artworks of extraordinary quality to trade for rare artifacts at the fair. Detectives are also welcome to bring tiny treasures to trade with one another -- with parents' permission.

Notes for both days:

Be sure to send a waterbottle and a lunch with your child. If your child has special dietary needs, add two snacks to the lunch, one for morning and one for the afternoon. I will serve fresh fruit and snacks for those who can have them.

Please accompany your child to the room, if they are under 12 years of age. Children ages 12 and over may sign themselves (and any siblings) in and out of the program, with permission from a parent. Teens may also be added to another family's list of authorized pickups.

Drop off begins at 8:45 AM, and pickup extends from 4 PM until 4:15 PM. There is a late fee of $10/10 minutes. After hours are available on both days until 5:30 PM, for a $10 fee.

Participants may bring a sleeping bag/blanket and pillow for use during our freeplay time after lunch. We'll use the sleeping bags for our trading grounds at the Dunraven Fair.

Summer 2019, Session VII: Junkyard Invaders -- Recap

The final mystery of the 2019 summer season was held at the Landing YMCA in August. An experienced team of fifteen detectives tackled the mystery with everything they learned from earlier adventures. They were a little suspicious of the raccoon who led them to Jake's Junkyard in Roswell, NM, but this didn't stop them from going.

It's not easy bringing a junkyard to the classroom, but we managed! Old bins full of the most intriguing "junk" kept things fairly contained -- and gave lots of inspiration for the robots we made.

We met some intriguing and pesky aliens. The Skeeters were out in full force this week, both the earthly skeeters and the alien ones. We met another group of aliens as well, the clan of the Tartars, named after a Cream of Tartar can from the junkpile. They were refugees from an alien planet, searching for their mother ship.

I can't say much more about this, since I will definitely repeat this adventure in the future. We went off page partway through the week, bringing Jake's Junkyard Tomte into the story -- but it was so rewarding that I may include that part next time. Thank you, OE -- that was a brilliant addition to the story!

We're going to have to make more junkyard Tomtes, and more junkyard robots, so I'm thinking sequel next February or April. This will give the robots we made this week a real workout, too -- we need to explore what they do!

Kids and staff were busy all week, crafting alien robots from old tin cans, pieces of old folding rulers, silverware handles, and parts from antique oil lanterns. Pipecleaners became the fasteners of choice for arms, and collectively we made about twenty five glass eyes. The results were fabulous--the robots may be viewed on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page by clicking this link.

Photos of the adventure may be viewed here.

Thanks, once again, to Oliver Van Soest for working as my assistant this summer. His robot may be viewed along with the ones I made for the story, by visiting this link on my Ravenscrawl Studio page.

A very special thank you goes to Jeremy Tardif. He cut the old folding rulers into arms, and drilled all of the holes in our tin cans.

Summer 2019, Session VI: The Beekeeper at the Crossroads of Time -- Recap

The sixth session of the summer was our last mystery on the Bowdoin campus. The detectives visited the Pierian Mountains of Greece, to investigate the deaths of the mythical bees there. The mountains are home to one of the springs of the nine muses.

Our team drew on their extensive knowledge of Greek mythology to solve this mystery. We started the week with a "download" of the Greek gods, goddesses, and heroes that the detectives knew--and the list included about 70 names, plus the names of the five rivers in Styx. That was just a start, since many others came up over the course of the week, along with their stories.

This is a particularly tricky adventure to summarize, while maintaining the secrecy needed for the next time I run this mystery. Let's just say these few things:

1)  Our team of detectives was on top of every possible direction the case could go, devising one intricate theory after another for who could be behind the troubles we faced.

2)  There were bees. Lots of bees. The bees we made are adorable, and their flowers are gorgeous. You may view those on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page by clicking this link.

3)  Zeus was ... Zeus. He didn't know much about things as tiny and insignificant as bees, but he sure liked that Pierian honey. We treated him to some aroma therapy.

4)  Why visit one Oracle at Delphi when you can visit four, in four different time periods? So, maybe it wasn't our idea to do that, but it worked out well for us. Four pythias and one omphalos stone helped us understand the crossroads of time more efficiently. Thanks, little bee!

Photos of the adventure are on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page -- here's the link!

Special thanks go to Oliver Van Soest, my assistant for the summer.

Summer 2019, Session V: Goat and Ger Recap

The fifth mystery of the summer involved a trip to Mongolia to investigate the disappearance of a very special goat pulling the Shrine of the First Queen on a cart. Sangarel the Moon Rabbit led the way to the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia, via moon bridge.

The detectives disguised themselves as two shepherds and a herd of goats, to travel into the mountains. Trouble arrived quickly in the form of trolls called Mangathai. The Mangathai were gathering in large numbers for a meeting with their Khan, to celebrate the discovery of a very special treasure.

A gathering that large and that special required the best chefs in the realm, so chefs came from afar to compete for the honor of creating the best stew for the Khan. Goat and human were on the menu, naturally -- surely you saw that coming? It isn't a Dragon's Eye adventure until someone threatens to eat our detectives!

Our wily team outwitted the chefs, leaving them sleeping in the kitchen, while they went in search of the treasure. They found their stolen artifacts. and the Spirit Cat one detective brought revealed more secrets, leading to the Goat, Burke, and the ger.

The poor goat had the bejeebers scared out of him, leading to many jokes about the lost bejeebers. I suspect this will not be the last time that bejeebers are lost, as we started to imagine just what kind of creatures bejeebers might be. I sense an art project coming in the future.

One of the highlights of the week was a showdown between a detective disguised as a troll chef, and a mangathai chef. The competition went well -- our chef was slinging out the disgusting ingredients and frustrating the mangathai chef quite nicely. Until he summoned the Lady of Pestilence to request a poisoned penny. The Lady came and the results were ... disastrous.

Fortunately, the detectives had a back plan called Des Arnaldo. He used his sonic toe crack to stun the trolls, throwing them again the walls. He summoned mutant woodland creatures to nibble on their toes, and took over their limbs and forcing them into a huge food fight. Our team grabbed the treasure and headed out of the trolls' caverns.

They had the goat, the ger (magically transformed into a golem, so the trolls wouldn't know they had the cart and ger), and First Mother ... but the adventure was far from over.

In a grove of trees outside the cavern, the team discovered a black owl with green eyes that had been watching the entrance to the cave. The owl turned out to be one of the nine sons of Erlik Khan, king of the demons. His father had sent him to capture the First Queen, so he was very interested in the goat and ger and the little box the detectives carried.

Our team outwitted this adversary and escaped by using their dragon wings. They turned into full grown adult dragons, thanks to the first detective to ever reach twenty mysteries. They flew deeper into the mountains, until they were safe.

The adventure continued with more blessings and challenges -- a ring summoned the Wind Horse, a Moon Rabbit returned with pocket Tengri for each detective, a Marmot attacked a second time--attempting to shoot the moon with his arrows--and all nine sons of Erlik Khan tried to capture the First Queen with her goat and ger.

I'm happy to report that the detectives defeated every challenge--and yarnball--thrown their way.

Thank you once again to Oliver Van Soest, my assistant, who played many roles this week--Marmot, Mangathai Khan, Son of Spies, Son of Darkness, Son of Evil, Son of Defeat, and Troll Chef.

We had a wonderful week! Photos of the pouches and Tengri we made are on the Facebook page, along with images from the adventure.

Summer 2019, Session IV: "Lizards of Solomon's Mines" Recap

The fourth adventure of the 2019 summer season featured an adventure called "The Lizards of Solomon's Mines." Fifteen detectives ages 9 to 14 took up the mystery, bravely diving into the story.

Madame Drak's lizards, Yasheritsa, led the detectives into the Copper Mountain jar, where it is pennies all the way down to the subterraneous world of lizards. A rollercoaster ride led to the depths of King Solomon's secret gold mine in the mythical land of Ophir. There, the detectives discovered a box made of light hovering over a grid of jewels. A dark fog was oozing from the jar, freezing the miners and the magical shedim working in the mine. Even the lizards were in trouble. They turned into crystallized, jeweled lizards, frozen in time.

A tiny airplane delivered an invitation from a stranger, leading the detectives into the desert in search of a secret entrance into the underworld. The Night Demons chased them, trying to steal the box--and for a brief time, they succeeded--but our team pulled together and escaped with the box of light.

The visit was quite unique. Let's just say that our host was just hanging around the cave, waiting for visitors to entertain him. The detectives amused him quite well--and he sent them to the next person who could assist with their quest.

She was very helpful. She gave the detectives sound advice, protected the box of light from the night demons, and provided many jewels for their journey. How very kind of her. She even told the team who to visit, to find the three missing jewels needed to secure the box. So very helpful.

Our detectives traveled back in time to the 10th century BCE, to meet with Zadok the High Priest from the Tribe of Levi, Hiram the Builder from the Tribe of Dan, and King Solomon from the Tribe of Judah.

What can I say about the ending, without giving away anything to future detectives? Not much. All's well that ends well, and no lizards were harmed in the making of this adventure. I'm happy to report that the crystallized lizards were returned to their normal forms, and they were so grateful to the detectives that they are now offering them their special brand of lizard magic.

Thank you to Marcello Santomenna and Oliver Van Soest, for playing some very entertaining characters! This was Marcello's last week as a CIT, and we will miss him! 

We have three more adventures with Oliver--and he continues to create cartoons and drawings for each mystery. I will post his cartoons after the summer ends -- and will let families know when they are on the website!

Visit the Dragon's Eye Adventures website for photos of the lizards the detectives made, and for images of the adventure.

Summer 2019, Session III: Recap for "Indra's Net"

Fifteen detectives joined forces for the third mystery of the 2019 summer, "Indra's Net." The story drew on Hindu and Buddhist myths from India, featuring the retired Vedic god, Indra, and his net of illusions. The birth of a baby elephant with wings frays the net, and the detectives were called by the dragons -- and by Indra--to investigate.

They flew by Garuda Express toward Swarga, Indra's heavenly palace and realm, but were waylaid by shadow nagas, enemies of the Garuda. Yarn balls and foam Frisbees flew in turns, swift runners were named, and the games were spectacular as the detectives sent the shadow nagas home for healing spells.

The meeting with Indra did not go as expected. His priorities were not the same as the detectives', but he did loan the team some powerful items for their quest. Those came in handy at the end, but not for the reasons Indra intended. Let's just say that the old god of storms had a sudden flash of insight -- and a baby elephant gets to keep its wings!

Photos of the beautiful pouches and stones the detectives made are on the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page. Here is a link. Images of the adventure itself may be found here.

Thank you to Oliver Van Soest and Marcello Santomenna for assisting me this week. This is Oliver's second summer as my assistant, and Marcello is volunteering as a CIT for a few weeks this summer.

Summer 2019, Session II: Recap for "Wayward Tales"

Madame Drak and the dragons sent the detectives to the Asante tribe of Ghana, Africa, for the second mystery of the 2019 summer. When two visitors arrived at the Dragon's Eye Detectives' Agency, the team had to choose which one to follow. This team flew into the heavens to visit Nyami the Sky God. He told them about the empty Treasure Box of Stories, and asked them if they could hunt down the stories and return them so that he and the sky people could enjoy a good tale.

The detectives headed to the village where Anansi the Spider lived, to ask him about the escaped stories. His wife Aso and youngest son, Ntikuma, helped the detectives locate Anansi, who had a tendency to wander when work was about to be done.

Our mystery involved tracking and trailing a series of three deconstructed stories. Anansi's memory was full of holes, so the detectives had to visit the people and animals in Anansi's stories, to interview them. They didn't always see the stories as Anansi did, so getting them to cooperate took some brave and clever work on the detectives' part.

The Facebook page has some wonderful shots of the detectives tracking and trailing Osomo the elephant, riding a dragon through the sky, and sneaking up on a blind bat. Here is a link.

While I can't expose many of the secrets of the tales, I can say that the detective with the triceratops foot has been cured, along with the detective who had the T-rex arm. The furry hand, arm, and shoulder took a little more work to cure, but I assure you that no detectives were left behind as a pile of bones. Good thing we had that dinosaur egg from the first adventure, and that Tomte from last February's adventure, and the fairy dragons ... they saved quite a few people from the lovely lady we met by the river's side.

Our team's kindness turned a start from red to gold -- and now we have a friend in high places, and a whole village of friends in the jungle. Even Anansi was pleased with the detective's parleying skills. He has a whole new story to tell.

As for Nyami, his Box of Stories overflows with the stories the detectives created. If you'd like to see some of their beautiful books and the creatures detectives made in after hours, visit them here.

Summer 2019, Session 1: Recap

We discovered daily rainbows cast
by the sun every afternoon in Searles

The detectives gathered three found pennies for the first Three-Penny Mystery of the summer. Madame Drak brushed off the cobwebs of winter and scrubbed away the muddy vestiges of spring, as she polished her crystal ball for the first dream from the dragons.

A Black Skystone of Doom was heading toward earth, and the dragons foretold of a trip back in time to a place where the dinosaurs roamed. Sure enough, a package arrived from Professor Eon Oscaput, a paleontologist with an extraordinary tale about a magic ring that the dinosaurs had that could turn aside the Black Skystone of Doom.

Our team gathered the largest cabbages they could find an headed off for a visit to Timedigger and his Tin Lizzy time machine that loves riddles. Timedigger sent them back 66 MYA, to the Atrocious Period, a little-known era at the tail end of the Cretaceous Period.

The cabbages came in handy as camouflage for the carnasaurs -- and as friendly offerings for the herbisaurs. Our team had a fabulous week of romping and stomping with the dinosaurs. The pictures are priceless and may be viewed here!

We couldn't save all of the dinosaurs, but we did our part rescuing Mamasaura's dinosaur eggs. They'll hatch once in every adventure, when a detective needs a little dinosaur help with future mysteries!

Dinosaur eggs for "Black Skystone of Doom"

With the start of the summer season only weeks away, I've been working on projects for each session.

I have to admit that I have a history of rocks that follow me home -- a habit that I couldn't quite shake from childhood. When Andrea and I visited Washington state, there were several boulders on the beach that were calling to me ... and sure enough, they came home in my suitcase and are sitting in the window of my living room 20 years later.

When I went looking for egg-shaped stones for our dinosaur eggs, I turned to an Etsy vendor from Washington state. Four heavy deliveries later, we have stones for our project. Here is the first round of dinosaur eggs, painted with exotic patterns that enhance the beautiful gray.


If you're looking for the camp location at Bowdoin College, scroll down to the next post. The posts for each week start three posts down from this one--and a specific week may be accessed by clicking the title of each mystery on the Current Programs page.