St. Patrick’s Day finally out of my way, I feel freed up to post about Easter! 🙂
I’ve heard Christians say that they don’t like Easter, because they don’t like the way we celebrate it. Â And really, how did we get here?
Just as Christmas has somehow become about Santa Claus and presents, Easter has become about eggs and this guy called ‘the Easter Bunny’.
By the way, could anyone tell me what in the world the Easter Bunny looks like?  Didn’t think so.  Because nobody knows.  It’s different in every picture-book.  At least Santa Claus has some hard-and-fast characteristics that everyone agrees on!  I mean, what color his gloves are and how long his beard is and other such details are arguable, but everyone agrees on the over-all big picture.
So, I understand where the egg-thing came from–new life and everything–but how did we get to the point in which they’re hidden by a rabbit whose only steadfast virtue is his bunniness?
Easter is about Christ. Â Which is what we’ve been trying (with a little translation help) to tell Lucy. Â We’re trying to communicate that it’s about new life, new things. Â New birth.
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? Â He is not here; he has risen!”
In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe ’tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.
Though here at journey’s end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars forever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell. (888)
–The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Mom, Michael, Lucy and I went to the zoo this morning with some friends!  It was really fun!  Last time we only went to the aquarium, but we went to see the cats, gorillas, butterflies, giraffes, and the Desert Dome today too which was fun! 🙂
Yeah, it’s not Tuesday.  I know.  I just couldn’t help myself.  I did warn you… actually, you guys are probably happy! 🙂
Oh! and yes, Savannah, I totally got the name ‘Dakota’ from you.  I had heard it before I read your story, but you brought it to life for me.  I hope you don’t mind! 🙂
Okay, here goes! Â Have fun!
We struggled out of our snow-clothes and trooped in, finding ourselves in a smaller room with another door at the far end. It was filled most of the way up with a card-table, a small couch, a bookshelf, and four chairs; but a make-shift kitchen was set up in one corner. My Aunt Dakota was standing in front of the camping-stove stirring a small pot. She set down her spoon and came over to us—I wondered if she had been stirring the pot for fun, or if she deemed giving us hugs the instant we came in worth burning dinner. I certainly hoped it was the first!
I did not remember seeing Aunt Dakota before either, but she acted as if we were the best of friends.
“Wow! You’ve gotten so big!” she exclaimed. I sighed inwardly. “How old are you, Cassidy?”
“I’m thirteen.”
“Thirteen? My goodness! I can’t believe it! You were like seven or somethin’ last I saw you!”
The author of Counted Worthy mentioned on her blog that the Kindle version of Waltz into the Waves by Sarah Holman was free, and Spencer (my tech-support) got it for me to read.
I glanced down. Â The hem of my emerald gown was soaked, and my feet still had sand on them. Â I turned a shy gaze back to him. Â “I am sure no lady at court would be caught with a wet hem or bare feet.” Â Alex took both my hands into his own and spun me around, laughing. Â “Perhaps not, but why do you think I am always so eager to return to you?” Â I gave a half-hearted smile. Â “My father says it is time for me to learn the ways of a proper lady. Â After all, it is only a matter of time before the one I am pledged to comes for me.” (8)
Amelia lives along the seashore, balancing her love for her father and her frustration at his next marriage, and her nervousness about her betrothal to a man she has never met with her love for her childhood-friend Alex.
After her father’s unexpected death shortly after his second marriage, one loss follows another for the crushed Amelia–loss of life and friendship, and the loss of her beauty after an accident with the kitchen fire. Â As her stepsister and mother endeavor to take everything she calls her own, Amelia bravely tries to except the fact that her scars have rendered her undesirable as a wife for any man.
This is good book, but it is very romantic–which I guess I should have expected from the title! 🙂 And there is kissing before marriage, which might bother some of my friends who are saving their first kiss for their wedding; but other than that the romance was well-handled.
It is a sweet book, like Miss Good said; not to mention short: I read it in two days!  It was very interesting to think about having watched the Disney Cinderella so many times recently! 🙂
Anyone else read this book, or anything else by Sarah Holman?
Happy Thursday!
P.S. The flowers are courtesy of my reader Skylar, in the comments of this post. ✿
P.P.S. The Kindle app on my computer belongs to another user, and getting that quote between users was really fun! 🙂
I am so excited! Â I’m reading through it now and making little changes and coming up with some chapter names. Â When I get done with that I’m going to start writing my next story!
Which leads me to an announcement:
I decided to call the queen Eleanor.
King Cedric and Queen Eleanor. Â Like it?
I said I wasn’t necessarily going to do the one that got the most votes, but the fact that most of you voted for it just couldn’t be ignored.  Just like Allison.  Next time I should really just say I’m going with the one with the most votes.  And there’ll probably* be a next time, knowing me. 🙂
Happy Wednesday!
* Did you ever notice that most people pronounce it “prob’ly” instead of prob-bab-ly? Â What IS the deal with me and pronunciation???
I’m not wearing green. Â Just for spite, ’cause pinching always bothered me. Â Sorry. Â I’m like that.
Trusty wreath always gives me pictures to post on holidays! 🙂
Mom turned on Irish music; so I’ve spent all morning dancing around the house to the fiddles. 🙂  We switched to Rend Collective after lunch.  Still Irish, right?  Well, whatever you say, it’s at the top of my list–’cause Rend Collective’s at the top of all my lists. 🙂
Okay: this wasn’t actually what I was planning on posting today, but then I realized I should post this story, so I’m going to post that ‘other thing’ I’ve been saying I will on the Tuesday after I get done with this story.
So I’ve always really like science.  But this year I started General Science and detested it.  Especially when he started trying to tell me that math was an indispensable aspect of science.  But we were reconciled when I got past pulleys and levers and how-to-perform-experiments, and started studying geology and archaeology.
But the tests were still torture.  So Mom told me not to do them.  She said I could write  a page about the module instead.  And that wasn’t so bad; but I wasn’t happy about how my papers turned out.
So (in a very round-about way) we came up with the idea of my writing a story for every module. Â I feel liberated. #ILoveHomeSchooling
So this story goes along with Exploring Creation with General Science by Dr. Jay L. Wile, Module 7.  I borrowed a little information about how rocks form from Module 6.  (7 is the first module I wrote a story about.)  Okay, here it is:
My dear reader,
This story is probably the most scientific story I’ve ever written. It was inspired by a chapter in my science book. And, as it was only one chapter and I haven’t finished the book, I don’t really know if it’s accurate. The only thing I’m sure of is the information about fossils. I don’t even know anything about Siberia. Nothing. This is my idea of how something like this might go, based on what I’ve heard. Enjoy!
H.M.R. on 3/7/15
Module 7 story:
I pulled my scarf up over my mouth and nose with my stiff, mittened fingers. That was the one thousandth time it had slipped down around my neck—I was sure. I glared down at Dr. Peterson and Dad’s boots crunching in the snow ahead of me. My backpack had felt like lead before Dr. Peterson offered to carry it for me. The thrill of being here did not really make up for the nose-biting cold and the fact that we had to drag our luggage up here ourselves. Who cared that I was in Siberia—I was in SIBERIA for pity’s sake, and I couldn’t think of the last time I had been this miserable.
I am going to call the king ‘Cedric‘, which Savannah and Ellen both suggested.  I was hesitant to use it at first, because I first heard it in the book Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, and I didn’t want to be {any more of} a copy-cat.  But as Savannah and Ellen both said they had not read Ivanhoe and I have heard it one other place too, so I decided it wasn’t.
But I cannot decided what to name the queen.  Way too many suggestions! 🙂  So I narrowed it down to a few that you can vote on, like I did with Allison.  Okay, here goes:
* Lydia
* Sylvia
* Gwendolyn
* Eleanor
No offense to the people whose names I did not use, of course.  You guys came up with some awesome names!  It was really hard to narrow it down even this much!  Maybe I’ll use some the other names in a different story! 🙂
Once again, I’m not necessarily just going to use the one with the most votes–but I might.
So, if you’re willing, would you tell me which one you think? Â Thanks, guys! Â You’re awesome.
So, like I’ve been saying, I’m getting ready to write another story to post on my blog when I get done writing Searching For His Name.
Only I have a problem: I don’t have names for two of the characters.
Yep, names again.  You and me, Savannah.  Only, you come up with awesome names on your own… I think you just want the rest of us to feel included! 🙂
So:
I need a name for the King and Queen in my story. Â Could you guys help me out? Â Please? Â One kingly name, and one queenly name–but go ahead and comment more than one of each if you have the inspiration, if you would be so kind. Â I have no suggestions, just dump them on me!
Thank you!!!
Are you guys as excited as I am about next Tuesday?  I love being mysterious! 🙂
Happy Friday!
P.S. It’s a few weeks late, but my home sweet home turned 148 this month! Â You can read about how Nebraska became a state on Spencer’s blog, here.
I recently read The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare, for history.  A long time ago my Mom read The Bronze Bow to Becca, Spencer, and I (for history), which is by the same author.  I know at least one of you–a.k.a. Ellen–has already read this book. 🙂 I do not remember it real well, as I was pretty small, but I remember it well enough to compare the books.  I am also in the middle of reading Calico Captive.  Maybe I will do a review of that when I finish it.
The Sign of the Beaver takes place in the 1700s; and is about a thirteen-year-old boy named Matt.  He and his father go as some of the first pioneers to build a house in the wilderness.  Matt’s father then leaves him alone to defend the cabin while he goes to get his mother and younger siblings.
By the morning after that Matt decided that it was mighty pleasant living alone. Â He enjoyed waking to a day stretched before him to fill as he pleased. Â He could set himself the necessary chores without having to listen to any advice about how they should be done. Â How could he have thought that the time would move slowly? Â As the days passed and he cut one notch after another on his stick, Matt discovered that there was never time enough for all that must be done between sunrise and sunset. (7)
But living alone becomes less enjoyable when Matt faces unexpected problems. Â Losing the gun his father left and losing most of his stored-up food due to a careless mistake, for instance. Â Only after Matt hurts himself in a desperate attempt to get food, do the Indians who have long been watching him show themselves.
The Indian chief offers to bring Matt food if he will teach his grandson how to read in English.
“Attean learn,” he said. Â “White man come more and more to Indian land. Â White man not make treaty with pipe. Â White man make signs on paper, signs Indian not know. Â Indian put mark on paper to show him friend of white man. Â Then white man take land. Â Tell Indian cannot hunt on land. Â Attean learn to read white man’s signs. Â Attean not give away hunting grounds.” (31)
A task that is easier said than done.  Matt has never taught anyone to read and Attean has no interest in learning.  As the days pass the two boys begin to do more and more things together.  Although forced to admit that the Indian boy is teaching him valuable lessons about life in the forest, Matt finds spending time with him frustrating, due to Attean’s scorn of all white men and their customs and tools–which he goes to no pains to conceal.
Attean had only meant to help him. Â If only he didn’t have to be so superior about it… He just wished he could make Attean think a little better of him. Â He wanted Attean to look at him without that gleam of amusement in his eyes. Â He wished that it were possible for him to win Attean’s respect. (57, 58)
I have to say I was infuriated by Attean arrogance as well, and read the whole book in one day because I could not bear the suspense!  It does have a happy ending though–not a perfect one, but a good one.  I am seeing that as a theme in Miss Speare’s books–at least in The Bronze Bow and The Sign of the Beaver.  I am not sure how Calico Captive ends.
And I am not giving spoilers about the white stranger, Ben.  I read two descriptions of this book, that both gave away his good guy/bad guy identity, leaving me just waiting around for things I knew had to happen.  Like when someone gave me their opinion of Strider before I read The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, and gave away all the suspense.  Small a part as he plays, I do not want to spoil the questions for you.
Over and over his father had warned Matt that it wasn’t as safe as a stone chimney and that he had to watch out for flying sparks. Â He needn’t fear. Â After all the work of building this house, Matt wasn’t going to let it burn down about his ears. (3)
This is probably the shortest book review I’ve ever done! 🙂  Any of you read this book?  No commenting spoilers please, though!  Any of you (besides Ellen) read any of Miss Speare’s other books?  Happy Thursday!
So, I had a bit of an adventure last night.  Rather different from the big one I just went on, but an adventure nonetheless: helping Dad unclog the bathroom drain!  Plumbing being something quite out of my experience, I was rather scared at the prospect.  And, of course, Spencer was off swimming with some friends–and probably having the time of his life–so I had to do it. 🙂  Cue Dad’s comment about how Becca and I are now ‘learning what it means to have a brother’.  Really, I think that should have been directed solely at me, as Becca just sat on the bed in the other room on her computer, using college as an excuse. 🙂  I must say that Dad did most of the work.  And, that kind of thing is somehow less gross when you’re doing it, not just standing around watching your dad and brother do it.  (I know, I know, that doesn’t follow.)  But only a little less–to say I felt like I needed to wash my hands afterwards is an understatement; I felt more like pulling them off and throwing them away.  Suddenly wishing I was a Lego mini figure and could grab easy replacements out of  the toy-box! 🙂  Even after I washed them they still felt dirty–and probably would have for hours had I not already been planning to shower.  Oh! and I bumped my head while climbing around under the sink.  Pathetically classic.
Okay: enough about my adventure, let’s get to Hannah and Spenser’s!
Hey! one more thing: for those of you who were disappointed because you were expecting a more classic, medieval dragon-story–don’t worry: the next one is a good ole’ unoriginal, knight-in-shining-armor, princess-story. Â
And, in the original version part of this was in Chapter 4. Â I decided that the chapter ended better the other way, so I cut it off on here. Â And like always, here’s the last one. Â Now:
:-: INTO THE DRAGON’S LAIR :-:
Hannah and Spenser pick up as much of the treasure as they can carry and start up the tunnel. Â It’s very difficult to carry twenty pounds of hold and diamonds over two miles, especially when all you have to carry it in is a bunch of old chests that are so rotten that when you pick them up the bottoms break because of the weight. Â It takes Spenser and Hannah three hours to move all the treasure back to the helicopter.
The two of them have a lot to tell Kirsten and Bekah on the way home! Â The day after they get home, Reporter Mike Joseph comes to to Spenser’s house. Â Hannah and Spenser get to tell their story on the news! Â After that Spenser calls Jason Daniels, who is the director of a museum in Omaha. Â Mr. Daniels says that he will buys the Rothfuss’ gold and diamonds and display it in his museum.
After that Spenser makes Hannah his official navigator, and The Darting Dragon becomes their official transportation.
Spenser, Hannah. Kirsten, and Bekah have many, many adventures together and become very good friends.
And someday, perhaps, I’ll write another book about this quartet! 🙂
Which I never did! 🙂  And, yes, the smiley-face is original. *sigh*
So: what did you think of the first story I posted?  Who was your favorite character? (I know characters were limited, so if you don’t have one that’s fine! 🙂 ) What was your favorite part?  Any other comments, thoughts, concerns?  I want your opinion!  I won’t be offended if there’s something you think I should have done different!
Happy Tuesday!
P.S. And don’t give up on me.  I have another surprise for next Tuesday! 🙂
