Words.

(My copy of Bulfinch's Mythology)

I love words.
Words are funny things.

A series of lines and shapes that, when put together correctly, create magic.
A story.
A message.
The words you're reading right now.

Words are everywhere.
Inside.
 Outside.
Up and Down.
Left and Right.
The words in books can take you to places all over the world, and out of this world.
The words in letters and messages help you meet the most interesting and amazing people you might have never met otherwise. (HI Elle, Rowena, Ali, Billie, Plaxy, Angelica, Mica, Jam, Jake, Spring, and everyone else!! *Waves*)

Words are a very big part of my life.
I love words.

Humbling

         Recently we received two large boxes full of old photographs and old letters and papers from my Great-Grandmother. It has been an AMAZING adventure going through it all and discovering our family's past. 

We've made some fantastic finds from letters asking for a daughter's hand in marriage, letters from the Civil War, photos from a family road trip, and the diary of a great-great-great grandmother of mine and her story as she traveled in a covered wagon, just like Little house on the Prairie.   

It has been a very interesting experience looking at all this history and realizing that *I'M* a part of it. It's also a very interesting sensation looking at the photos of people from when they were babies, to when they are middle aged, to when they are elderly and frail. It's a humbling feeling to see these people's lives go by in what seems a short amount of time. And seeing so many people, seeing photos of them living their lives, having their families, getting old, and passing away. It makes me feel insignificant and significant at the same time. 

Looking at my family tree has definitely humbled me in a way.

It's also EXTREMELY awesome looking at all these old objects. So much history! It's like a treasure. It's like a mystery (I'm still holding out hope that there's some mystery, or farmland that might belong to us somehow. ;) ) 

Mother's day!

Happy Mother's day(or as my 3 year old cousin would say, "Happy Muddah's day" ;-D )! 

Wow it's been a while since I've last been on here. I'm reading 'The Last Enchantment" by Mary Stewart. It's book three in a series all about Merlin and his whole life. It's are really good! I love how it is are written. It's so easy to read, and to imagine all the places that Merlin describes :-)  I've also read the two books that came before this one, "The Crystal Cave" and "The Hollow Hills". but besides that, I haven't done too much reading lately. :)

So for my mom, today, we went to Big Sur State Park for a lovely lunch of goat cheese, lunch meat, crackers, and cookies. It was BEAUTIFUL there today! Sunny, warm, with a little breeze! We had such a nice time there. I love driving down the coast to Big Sur, because I really feel like I am on the very edge of a continent! It's the coolest feeling! Seeing the ocean, and how it just goes on forever...So cool! :-D We had to get gas for the car first, and while Dad was washing the front window I said "I love watching squeegees" which made everyone else in the car laugh a lot. it was kind of funny ;-)

Half-way there, mom asked me if i remembered to bring knives and a cutting board. (I forgot to bring any!) but thanks to my trusty purse i HAD two plastic butter knives and we were saved! haha! I felt so smug, when i pulled out those two knives ;-D

Our favorite place to go is Pfeiffer State Park, in Big Sur. it's the most beautiful place in all of Big Sur, I think. There are huge, old redwoods everywhere. the Sycamore trees and the river make the whole place smell amazing.I wish I could bottle it...;-) Every time we get to Big Sur, we always roll down all the windows and breathe in the fresh air! 

It was strange. There was no one there, where we went and had our picnic. Only the blue jays and the chipmunks, which seemed to be stalking us, waiting for us to drop a crumb for them to eat. It was really funny to watch them hop around! One time we walked over a bit to take a quick picture, and in two seconds the birds had flown over and were sitting on the benches making cheese and cracker sandwiches, drinking our iced tea, eating the middles out of our chocolate sandwich cookies and talking about the high-rise in bird taxes. ;-) Hahahaha! 

After our picnic, we took a walk to our favorite place to throw rocks into the river. I took a lot of pictures of everyone and the sunlight streaming through the trees. I can't believe how nice it was yesterday. We threw rocks into the river for a bit, then when we walked back, I carried Gwynnie on my back for a little while, which made her happy, because I was bouncing around and making silly nosies. 

Oh and I pet a lizard! When we were waiting for Dad to get the car, there was a cute little lizard on the stump I was standing by, and s/he(?) crawled out of a hole in the stump. and I reached down slowly and petted his(her) back, then s/he ran away. it was really cool though, and Gwyn loved seeing the lizard! It was so cute! :-)

On the way back everyone fell asleep. Mom, Gwyn, Thane, and Emrys. Dad and I were the only ones who stayed awake. When we got back, Mom and Gwyn went in the bedroom and slept some more, Thane drew, Em and I play solitaire for a little bit. Then dad and I worked on a VERY fancy dinner of, (AMAZING) steak, mashed potatoes, grilled corn, artichokes, asparagus, and sparkling apples cider. It was SO good! and then I made GF brownies, and mint-chip ice cream(dairy-free) for dessert, and we watched the Amazing Race finale! 

I think that we all had a fun day! I think going to Big Sur for lunch is my favorite thing to go out and do.

Gwyn had a lot of sand in her cloths that she just dumped on the floor...I think today will be clean the floors day ;-) lol!

Peace out and Happy readings! 

~Rhanna~

Happy Valentines Day ♥

Happy Valentines Day Everyone! (I've discovered how to change the color of the text. And who knows what I'll do next. Haha! :-D )

I hope you're all having a lovely day! I've caught a cold and it's at it's worse today. :P Not much fun. I was planning to make a pink breakfast but I was too tired this morning. Oh well. So I thought I'd do some writing. It's a perfect day to write when you have a cold. It's gray and windy outside and I have my Artemis mug full of Jasmine tea, I've got a warm sweatshirt on and I have my music on. :) I almost feel like a real writer. Haha! the only thing that would make this more perfect is if I had a heater on under my feet. Brr!

I was looking at the Map I have on this site, that shows all the people who have looked at this blog. WOWIE! I can't believe so many people all over the world have looked at this blog. It's so exciting! Hello to everybody all over the world!!! ((Jumps up and down and waves)) It's super cool! :)

I wonder how people celebrate Valentines day around the world...We've never done too much for it. My mom makes pink food (pink pancakes, pink tuna sandwiches, pink mashed potatoes, etc.) And sometimes my dad will surprise us in the morning with chocolate. This year my grandmother sent all of us kids cards.
I was planning on making pink pancakes, pink hash browns, and bacon (which is kind of pink) for breakfast, but I woke up very tired and stuffed up. I'm feeling much better so I'm going to make dinner. We're going to have roast beef (pink in the middle) pink mashed potatoes (I'll cook a beet in with the potatoes and when I mash them together it'll be pink) and red Swiss chard. YUMMY! I think that will be good. :)

What do you, my lovely readers, like to do on Vday? What are your traditions?

I'm going to go eat some lunch for now. Goat cheese, lunch meat, and GF crackers. Mmm! Happy Valentine's day everyone! :) I'll write more later.
See you later people! :-D
~Rhanna~

Random Thoughts. . .

Cool Winter Fairy.
I'm using it as my FB
profile pic at the moment.

Hello Dear Readers! I hope your stories are all ending well?

I finished reading 'In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story' by Carolyn Meyer.  It is about Mozart's Sister (obviously!), Maria Anna Mozart (Nannerl). It was quite good.

Today was another doctor's appointment at 9:30 in the morning(!!!!) for Emrys. My dad just got back from a three day work trip to Virginia around midnight, and then my dad, Em, and myself all got up at 6:00 in the morning, piled in the car and started off to San Fransisco. We assumed it would be better for just the three of us to go instead of bringing everyone, because it's a lot a driving and it gets hard on everyone when both little ones are crying to get out of the car, and everyone else has a headache. We assumed right.

I saw a few weird cars while we were driving. . . one was HOT pink, and one car had been in some sort of wreck, 'cause the front bumper was missing and you could see some of the car's insides.It was kind of like was a car would look like if cars could be zombies ;P (Haha)...It was kind freaky. . .

Anyway!

San Fran Zoo.
It's my favorite zoo :-)

We arrived there 10 minutes late, and had a simply marvelous time visiting with our doctors ("one lump of sugar or two doc?"). . . Not really. . .but it was pleasant enough. Anyway by the end of the meeting Em was VERY ready to leave. Dad thought it might be fun to go walk around the San Francisco Zoo, and it was.
We rode on the little steam train, and Emrys had the best time on it. His face literally 'glowed with happiness', he had so much fun! It was adorable! Then Em and Dad got some lunch at the 'Leaping Lemur Cafe'.
We walked a bit longer after that and, at Em's insistence, we got a polar bear mask for him, a tiger mask for Gwynnie, and a monkey one for Thane.
(Oh! I made some AMAZING puns tonight with those masks. . .*Cackles* {It's really hard to tell jokes over the Internet 'cause you can't hear the person trying not to laugh while they tell it, or really get how hilarious it is, but I'll have a go}
*I put on the Polar bear mask*
Me: "I can't 'bear' to stay up any longer! ((cackles))"
*everyone else rolls their eyes*
*I put on the monkey mask*
Me: "Quit 'monkeying' around! How are you 'ape'le to do that?"
*groans from Thane and dad* 
*then I put on the tiger mask*
Me:"I'm so 'tiger'ed out!"
*I, then start rolling on the bed in a fit of laughter, unable to breathe from laughing so hard. Emrys and Thane jump on me and tackle me*
Gosh that was fun-ny! ;-) 'Tiger'ed out! Instead of 'tired' out? 'ape'le instead of 'able'! Mwhahaha!! . . . *crickets* Mwheehee...*clears throat* anyway. . .)

The drive back was much easier. Emrys feel asleep leaning on my lap for almost the whole ride, Dad had a few work calls, and I read.  It was so nice to get home and I could barely feel my legs when I got out of the car! After cleaning out the car a bit I, very happily, started dinner! ;-) I love making dinner. I made my specialty, breaded/baked chicken with potatoes, and broccoli. YUM-O! it was really good!

And while I was getting dinner dished up, I finished listening to a very wonderful, fabulous, Amazing story called The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It's one of the best stories that I have ever heard, it was amazing. Everyone should read/listen to this story (listening was really fun with this story because each character was voiced by a different person, so it really came to life!) it's really good. :-)

I finished the last Harry Potter book last week. . . It was AMAZING! I really enjoyed it! Probably one of the best series I've read so far. Mom and I are watching the movies, half a movie almost every night when everyone else is asleep. They are too scary for Thane, Em, and Gwyn to watch, so mom and I wait till they're asleep and then we've been watching them! They are really well done, and I now want to go to see the new movie coming out with mom in the theaters. We finished watching the third movie a few nights ago and I think it's my favorite so far! It was SOOOOOO cool, and I am now really scared of Dementors! Ack! ;-) It's lots of fun!

That's all I've got on my mind at the moment. Oh if anyone knows of any good resources to read about Queen Guinevere (her past and her whole story) let me know please! I've had an idea, but I would like to know more about Queen Gwen a bit more. Don't ask why. It's a secret ;-) Thanks!

Happy reading!

Peace and love,

~Rhanna.

Happy Samhain and Halloween.

My favorite witch drawing.
Isn't she cool?


Happy belated Samhain and Halloween! :)

It was a beautiful day here on Halloween. Clear, sunny and perfectly warm. Much different from where we used to live, where it almost always snowed while we were trick-or-treating. That was a fun time :D

So for this year both of my brothers were dressed as black, harmless ninjas with wooden swords and masks up high over their noses. My little sister was a VERY cute pink flower fairy, with two sets of wings and a pink tutu, who was fearless of walking straight into an oncoming crowd of adults and children. Both the boys had a fabulous time and insisted that we go again later that night. Haha!

We went to a shopping square in the afternoon, where they were holding a sort of trick-or-treating activity. It was more for the younger kids, who would be too tired later in the day, or who would be scared out of their wits by the gross, disgusting, and nightmarish zombie, vampire, blood-covered costumes that, for whatever reason, a lot of people are wearing lately. I really don't understand why people like to dress in such scary and gross costumes. What is the point of doing that? It's made my mom upset about how disturbing it is. "We're supposed to be honoring our ancestors, not making fun of them." Is what Mom said the other day and I totally agree with her. We should honor and worship the loved ones that have left us, not mock them. I think why we do it, is because we don't have any idea what happens after death, and dressing as zombies is a way to try deal with death. To cover up our scared feelings, by making it more scary and for some people entertaining. But then again I'm pretty sure that when people talk and dress like zombies, what they're doing is subconsciously addressing their fears about death. It's hard to put into words what I think.

But anyway, after all this talk about zombies, I looked up the etymology of the word Zombie and I learned this: "1871, of W. African origin (cf. Kikongo zumbi "fetish;" Kimbundu nzambi "god"), originally the name of a snake god, later with meaning "reanimated corpse" in voodoo cult. But perhaps also from Louisiana creole word meaning "phantom, ghost," from Sp. sombra "shade, ghost." Sense "slow-witted person" is recorded from 1936." From this site. Isn't that cool? Gosh I LOVE etymology!



So continuing with Halloween. . .
 


Morgana from the TV show Merlin.
My cloak looks a lot
like hers. :)

 For Halloween, my WONDERFUL Mama made an awesome dark blue cloak that flows behind me when I walk in such a magical way, it's SO cool (I'm going to wear to the super market, the fabric store, my surfing meetings, and all around the house.) I also wore a dried eucalyptus-leaf-flower crown that I bought at the Northern California Ren Faire on my birthday, and my wooden sword. I decided I was Morgan le Fay.
 
 
 
But for some reason, I didn't get the same excited, happy, feeling that I usually get that makes me feel super jumpy and excited for Halloween.
Trick-or treating lost is excitement for me.
I totally was lagging on decorations this year.
I didn't think much about costumes or candy.
It was weird and I was a little disappointed at my lack of enthusiasm for the holiday.
I know why. I feel like I've started going through a growth spurt of the mind (as well as body!). I've started thinking about things as a adult, more than I did last year. I'm starting to change and grow up.
 
I still want to celebrate that day , just differently. I want to start celebrating Halloween, not as Halloween like a little kid with candy and scary costumes and not like a lot of adults with scary movies and parties, but as Samhain. I'd like to start doing more Pagan stuff. I'd like to start celebrating all the Sabbat days, with more things to celebrate than just fairies bring gifts in the morning. I'd like to bake food for that day, go outside and celebrate the day, whatever it is, like the Celts did thousands of years ago. I'd like to read stories about the day and learn as much as I can. I want to try being more Pagan than we are now. I think it would be lots of fun for every one. :-)
 
So anyway that wraps up Halloween. It was still loads of fun and I now cannot wait for Thanksgiving! my 2nd favorite holiday (Talk Like A Pirate Day and my Birthday are on the same day, which makes it my favorite day out of the whole year ;) Hahaha!)
 
So now to my readings:
 
I'm pretty sure that nobody is very much interested in what I have been reading lately. I'm mean if you're not a big reader it's just going to seem very boring I'd guess.  But I've been using this blog to help me keep track of how many books I've read, when I read them, and what the books were. You understand? Since I read so much, it gets quite confusing to remember all that. And I like to see how long it takes me to finish a big book.
 
I'm now about a quarter way through the 6th Harry potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. It took me four days to read the 5th book, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', which was 870 pages long. ;) It was REALLY good! (also this will explain that lack of reviews and posts. I have had my nose in the HP books non-stop for the past two weeks. Hahaha!)
 
I've been listening to Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery. There have been a few really sad scenes (one scene gave me the chills it was so sad). But the rest has been totally Anne.
The Anne of Green Gables stories get better and better with each book! They are very enjoyable and a nice change from the 'omg-they're-going-to-die-next-page Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series. Haha!
 
I received a new book from the sugar sprite (a little sprite that comes on the night of Halloween and trades our unwanted candy for a gift *wink wink wink* ). It's Adam Hart-Davis's book 'What the Past did for us'. I have only read the introduction, but even that is great! I love how Adam writes his books. It makes history exciting! :D In it I'll be learning about the history and inventions from
The Britons,
The Mesopotamians,
The Egyptians,
The Indiaians,
The Chinese,
The Greeks,
The Romans, 
The Arabs,
and The Mesoamericans.  
 
Isn't that GREAT?!? I'm so excited! It's going to be filled with the little tid-bits I love, from all over the world! *Sighs*
 
And I'm going to read The Teenage Liberation Handbook, this time from the beginning. Mom and I read about half of it last year, but not straight through.
 
That's most everything I want to say for now. I'll be back soon though, I have a feeling! Mwheehee!
~Rhanna~
xxxxxxxxx

Today's Hospital Trip.

Hello Readers. Enjoying your books? :-)

I have just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. I am now half way through the 2nd book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
They're very good :) I am enjoying them very much, and I think I will like the movies too. My mom is very excited that I have started reading these. She's a HUGE Harry Potter fan ;-D I guess the next movie is coming out next month, and she wants me finished reading all the Harry Potter books and watch the rest of the movies to we can go to the movies together. I think I can do that. I'm almost reading one book a day. It's almost like the books have a real spell on them that makes to read them very fast! Hahahahaha!

As you see below this post, I am working on the reviews for The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce. It's interesting to think that it was only two months ago I started reading The Protector of the Small quartet, the third series in the Tamora Pierce books.
In those two months I have read: The Protector of the Small quartet, Tricksters (2 books), The Immortals quartet, The Song of the Lioness quartet (all by Tamora Pierce), The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (It's amazing!), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, and I'm almost finished reading What the Victorian's Did for us by Adam Hart-Davis (only a few more pages left!!) and some Norse mythology.

I've asked Mom to upload The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Ovid's Metamorphous onto her Kindle, which she lets me use. I'm VERY excited to read all that. :D It will help me to learn about minor Greek gods, and some other unknown myths, which I just LOVE! Very exciting! :) I've been trying to read the Grimm's fairy tales, but somehow all these fantasy books keep overruling them. . . ;) Heehee

So today we had to go to my little brother, Emrys' hospital appointment today in San Francisco. Have I ever mentioned that I HATE hospitals?? Yes, I do not like them AT all! The whole system is totally messed up! Great Gaia it was annoying. We sat in the waiting room for over an hour and a half! Grr!
So anyway, Emrys had another seizure the other night. It was quite scary. But this trip was just a check up. It takes us about two hours to get to San Fran from where we live. So this morning we all packed up in the car and we got out around 10:00 AM. It didn't really seem like a long drive to me, because I was so immersed in my book I didn't even really hear mom and dad talking right next to me. Hahaha! When we got to the hospital we found parking easy (thanks great god of parking!) and got into the waiting room around 11:30. We made killer time on the drive! We didn't end up waiting very long in the first waiting room. a nurse called us in weighed and measured Emrys and then we went into the doctor's office at about 11:50. Then we sat, waited, fed the little ones apples, sat some more for like an hour! we were just about to leave when, finally! a nurse came in. Sadly she didn't know anything about why we were there. We answered a few questions and then she left. Then we sat and waited in that same. . .small. . .blank room for another 45 minutes. Right as we were going to leave again the doctor came in (They seem to know right when you are going to leave on them and then come in and make you stay longer. Is it some sort of scheme to pay them more or is it a test to see how long you can be bored before you start screaming with boredom? The more the patients suffer the more money the doctors and nurses make? Sounds cruel but I'm willing to believe it in this world. :P Grr!), and talked to mom and dad, but i plugged into my book and didn't hear much of what he said. ;D Hahaha! But then we lugged our tired, hungry selves down to the nearest Startbucks at around 3:00 and we all got coffee and snacks which were sorely needed. After a few wrong turns (Holy Hecate San Fran is easy to get lost in!) we got onto the highway and we were free of that awful hospital!

We stopped at a JoAnn's (Fabric Store!!! Woop!) to walk for a bit. Golly it feels nice to walk and feel the blood go to your legs after a while. ;) Turns out that this is the store that Mom has needed to get fabric for her dolls! Yay! And we bought the little ones some cute Halloween prezzies. Emrys got a flashlight that has little Halloween covers so when it shines through pumpkins and ghosts come up on the wall. Gwynnie got a C.U.T.E witch's hat that she seems to like. and Thane got a pumpkin flashlight too.

We next stopped at a BBQ place for dinner, but something is the BBQ sauce had wheat in it I know, because it made me feel yucky, so I didn't eat much. (I had a pancake and a half, the last of the jerky and some chips once we got home ;D Haha!) But Then Emrys' flashlight broke so Dad had to go find another one at Target, and with my-always-have-everything-you'll-ever-need-in-it purse I pulled out scissors to cut the flashlight out of the package and I just happened to have tape to attach the pumpkin cover onto the new flashlight. I felt very proud that me and my purse were needed so badly ;) Mwhaha! I got another chance to pull something out when mom thought dad was about to change lanes into another car. I gave her Rescue Remedy.

Now everyone is completely asleep except me, because I'm writing this, obviously. ;) I'm so glad that today it over and that we didn't stay at a hotel. Holy Hypnos are we all exhausted after today. Mom and Dad are very mad about how long we had to wait, and our next appointment is with a totally new doctor who won't know anything about Emrys which is a pain trying to retell our story to every time we go there a meet a new doctor. So We're not going to go to that hospital anymore. We want to find a doctor, for when Emrys might have another seizure that's closer by. I hope that we can find one.

Great Muses it feels good to write today out. I'll prob print this out and put it in my diary, but I want to try to really write today down with some more personal thought down. I like to write by hand, and I don’t want to get out of practice by writing on the computer all the time. I'll prob do it tomorrow. Thanks for listening to my day. there's totally a difference in writing in your diary and writing on a blog where lots of people read it. sometime's it feels good to have other people read your writing.

I'm off to go sleep. Tomorrow I'll finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, What the Victorians did for us, and the article about chocolate in mom's magazine. ;)

Good night everyone from here!

~Rhanna~