Picture overload!

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Not much snow left around here!

I took this last Saturday when we went outside to play; there’s even less now!

I wasn’t going to get my camera out that time, but…

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…the guys started filling up this tub…

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…and making snowcastles!

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And doesn’t this deserve a picture?

Here’s a couple pictures of them working on it:

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Earlier that day we dropped Dad and Spencer off at the new building our church is renovating (to help take out the old sprinkler-system), and then the rest of us went to the zoo.

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We saw an IMax and then went to the Aquarium… we went there on my birthday one year, and I spent two hours in there happy as a cricket.  Me and fish! 🙂

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I think I could ALMOST make someone believe that I'd been scuba-diving! :)
I think I could ALMOST make someone believe that I’d been scuba-diving! 🙂

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They recently re-did the aquarium... I thought the giant crabs were a nice touch! :)
They recently re-did the aquarium… I thought the giant crabs were a nice touch! 🙂

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This was Lucy's first time to the zoo, and she was a little apprehensive about the tunnel... she did okay though, brave girl!
This was Lucy’s first time to the zoo, and she was a little apprehensive about the tunnel… she did okay though, brave girl!
The tunnel is one of MY favorite features--you can lay down and look up and feel like you're UNDER water... like a mermaid! (I think that's what started my ocean-craze; mermaids).
The tunnel is one of MY favorite features–you can lay down and look up and feel like you’re UNDER water… like a mermaid! (I think that’s what started my ocean-craze; mermaids).

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Jellyfish... pretty, aren't they?
Jellyfish… pretty, aren’t they?

 

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Lucy laughed and laughed about these little guys! :)
Lucy laughed and laughed about these little guys! 🙂

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Thank you for reading all this and looking at ALL these pictures!  Do you guys like it best when there’s more text or pictures in my posts?

Happy Saturday, and happy Valentine’s Day!

P.S.  Do you any of you have a favorite animal/animals to see at the zoo?

P.P.S.  My computer says snowcastles (^see above ^) isn’t a word.  In my humble okay not-so-humble opinion, if sandcastles is a word, snowcastles is to.  And in case you were wondering: I’ve been making up words for a long time… I used to make them up to put in poetry because I needed a word that rhymed.  I refrain from doing that now, so that others will understand my poems–which is the point. 🙂

Beowulf

I told you guys in this post that I was reading a couple of new books; and because I thought I’d tell you all about them–mostly because I need more in my “Book Reviews” tag than this, awesome as that book is.

I am starting with “Beowulf”, translated by J.R.R. Tolkien; who is the author of some of my absolute favorite books!

“Beowulf” is a story that was written in Old English, and has been translated by many people.  It was while I was reading about the Battle of Pelennor Fields in “The Return of the King” that I suddenly thought I want to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s version of “Beowulf”!

(Mama read a picture book version of it to us three “bigs” a long time ago, and I re-read it pretty recently and expressed my interest in reading a longer version.  I wanted to read the original before I found out it was not written in English–well, the English I know! 🙂 )

Well, if any of you who have read “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit” and are interested in reading this; I certainly won’t stop you, but be forewarned: it’s as bad as Shakespeare!  It was interesting, and I am glad I read it, but I was daunted at first!  Honestly, it was interesting until the action got over and the characters started telling each other stories about people I did not know (or care) much about.  I did get “into” it though, and I actually have a favorite character–which I do not usually when I read Shakespeare plays, as it is harder to grasp how people talk to others.  I would probably recommend reading an abridged version first, like I did–I also did this with “Ivanhoe” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

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If there was a main character in this book, it was (understandably) Beowulf.  I think of the book in three parts, though you could say it was more like two: Beowulf is incredibly strong, and there are three monsters that he kills over the course of the book–two ogres and one dragon.  I usually think of it as the three creatures he fought with; but the ogres were in the same place, so you could also think of it as 1) the fight with Grendel and his mother and then 2) fight with the dragon–or you could just think of it as a good book and not over-analyze anything (which is what I do best–have you noticed?) 🙂

Grendel is the first ogre, who (apparently) was descended from Cain, the first murderer.  I have NO idea what my opinion on that spiritual aspect is.  I might go into that more later.  We will see.

The book the story–there was a lot at the beginning that I considered unnecessary (though I’m not usually on the eliminate-needless-words train)– the story starts with King Hrothgar (please do not ask me how to pronounce any of the names–I have NO idea!) and his people being attacked by Grendel who came to the hall called Heorot at night (never during the day) and carried off people to… eat.  Sorry, it’s fierce.

Beowulf gets news of the monster, and sails to Hrothgar’s country and offers to fight Grendel.  The problem with fighting the ogre is that he has the ability to cast spells over men’s weapons, so they cannot hurt him.  Beowulf is unaffected by these spells, as his greatest weapon is the simple strength of his hands.

He stays in Heorot over night and kills Grendel (read the book if you want details, I am not giving everything away!), and then faces the task of Grendel’s vengeful mother.

Beowulf’s last battle takes place years later, after he has returned to his own country.  He becomes the ruler of that land, before the dragon comes.

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Something that I noticed reading this longer version, which I never thought of before (though it shouldn’t have surprised me) was how much the dragon sequence resembles that in “The Hobbit”… perhaps it served as inspiration!

But seriously, in both of the dragon steals this crazy amount of gold from someone, hides underground with it, hunkers down and sleeps on it for years.  Some innocent, unrelated person stumbles in and steals a golden cup (yes, it’s even a cup in both stories) and takes it to his master/leader.  Granted, in “The Hobbit” Bilbo was on a mission to steal treasure, even calling himself a “burglar”; while the poor man in “Beowulf” simply blundered in and took something to pay off his debts.  In Bilbo’s defense (because I’m biased 🙂 ) he was not in debt (the dragon was, if anyone), he was just doing what he was told, and he knew those whom the dragon had stolen from.  These quotes also reminded me of each other:

Treasure in the ground it is ever his wont to seize, and there wise with many years he guards the heathen gold–no whit doth it profit him ( 79).

-“Beowulf”

Thieves! Fire! Murder!  Such a thing had not happened since first he came to the Mountain!  His rage passes description–the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted (186).

-“The Hobbit”

“Sellic Spell” was also included in my hard-cover edition, which is something J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, and described:

It is only to a limited extent an attempt to reconstruct the Anglo-Saxon that lies behind the folk-tale element in “Beowulf” (355).

And the character Unfriend/Unpeace in it totally reminded me of Wormtongue from “The Lord of the Rings”–though he had a happier ending!  And Heorot reminded me of Edoras (also from “The Lord of the Rings”).

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I really enjoyed reading this, though it went a little slow sometimes!  It was also not as long as it looked at first, because the inch-thick book was mostly introductions and commentaries.

My favorite character is Hrothgar, who is generous and humble.  I also liked Beowulf; though he was very honest about everything, including his accomplishments, which (his accomplishments being impressive) made it sound a little like he was bragging.  I do not think that was his intention though.

…the light of his eyes lit the hall from floor to ceiling like scarlet lightning.  ‘Revenge! …I kill where I wish and none dare resist.  I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today.  Then I was but young and tender.  Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows!’ he gloated (193).

-“The Hobbit”

 

Another Old Favorite

I was gone for eight hours yesterday, and had a BLAST!

I went to a play of “Little Women” with some friends…

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(at the Omaha Community Playhouse, believe it or not!)

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…and then went to “Noodles & Co.” for lunch!

 

The play was good–not as good as the book, but is anything?  I mean, the book is always better than the movie or play. right?  Well, maybe that’s just me.  I’m a bookworm–though you guys probably figured that one out already! 🙂

They dramatized it a lot, made it a musical, left things out, and scrunched it all together–like putting the Jo-Meets-Apollyon-chapter part being about Meg and Jo’s first ball, not the theater, kind of thing; and John and Laurie proposing before Mrs. March came home.

That bothered me a little; but if you included everything in the book,  the play would be like twenty-four hours long something insane like that!

And the music was good touch!  The only problem was that you I (at any rate) can’t memorize songs the first time I hear them, and I have no way to listen to them again, so I can’t sing them.  Tragic, is it not?

It was almost as emotional as the book too: I spent the whole after-intermission-half trying not to cry!  Good actors, and a good story.

Good singers too–incredibly good!  One of the songs (actually one of my favorites) really reminded me of “Let It Go”–it had the same powerful piano-music; without so much of the hopeful and liberated feelings.  Jo sings it right after she refuses Laurie’s proposal, and I was like “oh my word!  I’ve totally felt like that before!”

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Us “bigs” finished off the day with a rousing game of “Bang!”

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Dad got out chips and salsa.  We all enjoyed the chips, but one of us doesn’t hold with salsa (okay, okay: it’s me).

Love these people! :-)

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Love these people! 🙂

 

“God winds you up, and you go till He stops you” (514).

-“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott 🙂

“Into the Dragon’s Lair” #2

I’m not sure if it was motivating or just plain distracting this morning, knowing that I could post this when I was done with school! 🙂

And now, of course, since I decided to mess around with a prologue, chapter one is in my second post.  *sigh*  Leave it to me to make things confusing! 🙂

And in case any of you missed it, here’s the prologue!

:-: INTO THE DRAGON'S LAIR :-:
:-: INTO THE DRAGON’S LAIR :-:

CHAPTER 1 ~ Travels:

The year is 2012, and Explorer Spenser Rothfuss and Navigator Hannah Marie are going on an adventure in Bolivia.  Spenser had not been able to find a plane going to Bolivia they could afford; and they might not have gone at all, but Hannah had said her aunt (Pilot Kirsten Marie) owned a helicopter, and she might take them.

You have probably guessed why Spenser and Hannah are going to Bolivia.  Yes, it is to find the Rothfuss’ stolen gold and diamonds.  It has been many years since the treasure was stolen, and Grizzled is dead.

Pilot Kirsten Marie, Co-pilot Bekah Lynn, Explorer Spenser, and Navigator Hannah leave for Bolivia June 25th, 2012.  Flying from Texas to Bolivia takes a long, long time.  Hannah spends most of her time playing rock-paper-scissors and having thumb-wars with Spenser.  Kirsten’s helicopter, “The Darting Dragon”, is a cargo helicopter, so they have to keep stopping to drop things off.  Finally they reach a certain clearing in the Bolivian jungle: Hannah and Spenser start down a small trail into the trees.

The adventures begun!

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I realize now I’m going to have to proof-read these pretty carefully, since (as most of you have probably noticed) the characters are named after my family members, but spelled different.  My muscle-memory makes me want to type them the way the real people spell their names, I’m this is going be more work to re-type than I anticipated! 🙂

I’m making a few changes as I go along, but they’re mostly punctuation.  In the original copy, though, I spelled Spenser with a “C” because I couldn’t think of any other way to spell it!  I was inspired to spell it that way when I typed it wrong by mistake once, and thought I’d spell it that way here!

Come back next Tuesday! 🙂

More than “slightly” late!

The patiently-awaited pictures of our Christmas tree:

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I realized this year what a neat stocking this was!  Thank you, Aunt Kelly!

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I am REALLY enjoying my camera!  Here’s a couple random pictures I took around Christmas-time:

 

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Becca's hymnal.  I don't even know this song!
Becca’s hymnal. I don’t even know this song!
I was trying to take a picture of what was outside--I got my reflection instead.  I'll take it!
I was trying to take a picture of what was outside–I got my reflection instead. I’ll take it!
Not only does my camera have a powerful zoom, the flash is incredible: I took this picture while it was totally dark!
Not only does my camera have a powerful zoom, the flash is incredible: I took this picture while it was totally dark!
The Noonday bracelet grandma gave me for Christmas
The Noonday bracelet grandma gave me for Christmas

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Becca took this one!  :-)
Becca took this one! 🙂

 

P.S. You guys should totally read this.  It’s from the blog I linked to on Thanksgiving.  Sobering (and convicting), but oh-so-good!

Happy Monday!

Which means tomorrow is. . .  ! ! !

🙂

Randomness

Four random things about my life:

* We made smoothie-Popsicles this week:

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* And Mom, Michael, and Lucy made pizza:

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Little Brother ALWAYS hides when I point a camera at him!
Little Brother ALWAYS hides when I point a camera at him!
The finishing touches
The finishing touches:

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It tasted sooo good!

* The writing’s been going slow lately, as I’ve been reading more.  I just checked out two books from the library: “Beowulf” translated by J.R.R. Tolkien and “The Princess and the Goblin” by George MacDonald.

* “Searching For His Name” is coming along though…

My writing desk
My writing desk

…slowly but surely and in little hops–a paragraph at a time maybe–but coming along nonetheless!

Brownie-points to anyone who can copy my cursive/italics into the comments! :-)
Brownie-points to anyone who can copy my cursive/italics into the comments! 🙂

When I get done writing this, I’m hoping to start a story that I’m writing just to put on my blog!

 

Happy Friday!

Today

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Foot-prints

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Shadows

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We’ve still got snow!

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It’s in the 40’s today, but the snow hasn’t melted yet, so some of us went outside in our boots and hoodies, and played in the snow without our gloves on.  Just because we could!

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We have a hard little worker over here…

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…who labored very hard to un-shovel our front steps…

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…and our driveway!  How kind of him. 🙂

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Wish I had a better picture of those boots!

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Does it get much cuter?!

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Making snowcastles.

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This one “breaked” when someone tried to move it.

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This little princess got a wagon-ride to the mailbox…

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And, to her great delight, found something there for her!

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Everything white, everything blue.  Just. be.cause.

And by the way, I love my camera!

Zoomed out:

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Zoomed in:

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No kidding!

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Spring is coming…

…just maybe not very soon!  It’s only February, after all, and why should Spring come early?

“Do you want to come along?” he asked Puddle.  “We could start with some place warm and wild.”  Puddle preferred to stay home.  I love snow, he thought.

-“Toot & Puddle” by Holly Hobbie

Old Favorite

‘No!’ said Thorin.  ‘There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West.  Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure.  If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world (243).

-“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien