…and that’s why I stole Lady Sybil’s new frock.

Last night I had a dream that invovled a wicked fairy’s spell, a dark forest, and a secret chamber full of rubies, crystals, and sapphires. Basically a weird mash-up of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Brothers Grimm. Not really sure why my brain conjured that, but it was interesting because it was the first time in forever that I actually got to the end of a dream before someone woke me up. It actually said “The End”, like it was a movie.

Anyway.

So yesterday, Dodge and I were riding our bikes around the ‘hood, or rather, the outer rim of it. We took the backward route past the library– well, we meant to. We came down the main road, through a bunch of sidestreets, past the two schools… and then just as we were passing the huge field in front of lots of people, my skirt got caught in my bike chain. Halfway home. Of course, it couldn’t have happened on our block, where I could have just carried the bike home and then had help extracting my clothes from it. No, it had to happen right there, too far to carry it home, too far to walk really slowly while still attatched to the bike, or any other such solution.

Dodge and I tried pedaling the bike backward, but that’s the brake, so plan A failed.

Me: “Crap. Crapcrapcrap.”
Dodge: “No capes.”
Me: “I know. Fine. I’ll sacrifice it.” I took out my pocket knife and, cringing, went to cut off the part of my skirt that was stuck in the bike. The knife pocked through the cloth, but it wouldn’t really cut, and besides, we would still have to walk because the chain was still messed up. 
Dodge: “Just call Mom. Have her come with the van and take us home.”
So I did. And it took her a long time to get there, meanwhile I’m doing my best to nonchalantly lean on my bike, pretending that we’re just stopping to take in the scenery (of a disused school– sure, right) and not because I’m stuck to my bike.
Me: “This is so embarassing.”
Dodge: “Tell me about it.”
Me: “Gee, thanks a lot.”
Dodge: “Well, if you would just…”
Me: “Shut up. Don’t even say–”
Dodge: “…wear shorts when you’re riding your bike…”
Me: “Never!”

Mom finally arrived, and then realized that we had actually tried pedaling backward. I guess I should have told her to bring some tools, or a plan, or Dad, or something. But anyway. Some guy was randomly walking by, and he stopped to help. He explained that we needed to disconnect the brake with a screwdriver, then pedal backward to free me. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a screwdriver, or any coins, keys, or library cards that would suffice, so our next idea was to fold up the van’s back seats so both the bike and I would fit, and go home. But my bike is rather large, the country old-fashioned style type, which makes for comfortable riding but very difficult into-car maneuvering. Finally I got in, and got home (Dad: “No capes”) and was freed in time to dash off to choir– I mean, Spirit Ensemble. Which is totally cooler than choir, by the way.

I mention Spirit Ensemble because it leads me to:
a) Katie Cooper convinced me to compete in music at the Feis, too. She loaned me her “Irish music Bible”, and I’m actually kind of excited even though I’ve never played my flute in competition. Or anywhere, really, except church and even that makes me kind of nervous. Strange, because I never get stage fright when I perform other things, like dances and plays and poems.
and speaking of poems, b) Katie knows all about The Lady of Shalott. Random, but also really cool.

~Pen

PS: the title is a reference to Downton Abbey, when Lady Sybil wears the skirt/pants thing… I need one of those! People would probably look at me with the same shocked expression as they did to her, but for totally different reasons.

 

Notes from Within the Shelter

I have just had the most wonderful 2 days! Because:
A) I got to sleep over at the DHFs’!!! Which of course meant that we were hyper, and silly, and dressed as opera-singing pirates with a bunk-bed ship. “Gimme the mascara, I need a mustache” is one memorable quote by Bug, and I believe it was Steph who admonished the crew, “It’s a pirate ship, not an art gallery!”
B) We went to see Jars of Clay in concert!!!! WOOO!! It was awesome. They played a bunch of old stuff that was new-to-me, on account of it being the 15th anniversary of their band being a band. Which means their band is about as old as me. Weird. Anyhow. Flood, Dead Man, Work, Worlds Apart, Out of My Hands, Small Rebellions, Weapons, Two Hands, and Shelter are songs that I can remember them playing at the moment. We went into the mosh pit! (Which was not really a mosh pit, more of a group of people standing around the stage and intermittently swaying/clapping/dancing/singing). After I tripped over myself to get out of the pew thingy, of course, because what fun is anything without falling on my face? But the moshing part was fun and I was not injured. I think I accidentally stepped on someone’s foot though. Too bad. I had to dance.
But after the concert was over….
C) We. Met. JARS OF CLAY!! In person! Bug and I were star-struck and I handed them my CD to sign. They were friendly. Eliza asked the singer to sign her CD to Poor Bill, because PoorBill was supposed to come but could not due to illness!! So when he said he couldn’t come, we said, “Poor Bill…” and that is exactly what was written. One of the guitar guys asked if we were all sisters. Sadly we are not! By blood anyhow. So yay!! That was really cool. Of course Dodge is soooo excited (note the sarcasm) that I got a new Jars of Clay CD. Now he gets to hear all new songs and find them annoying! He calls them Cans of Pop. I am not really sure why…?

Now I’m home again home again jiggety jog, sitting on the couch with a sleepy dog. Hey, that rhymed!
As you can see, the randomness has yet to wear off.

Sigh… So tired… But so happy….

Yours till the carrot sticks,
Pen

 

I’ll let you understand; I am not a lonely soldier.

So. The above quote (of course it’s a quote, this is me we’re talking about) seemed fitting considering that tomorrow is Memorial Day. It’s from Spirit’s “Soldier”, which is a song that I uually listen to when I’m a: depressed, or b: practicing various Irish dance exercises. The beat is perfect for doing ups and downs, points, and turnout practice.

Speaking of Irish dance, the Feis was today and it was so fun! The DHFs came!! I got second place in treble jig!! I wore my new school dress!!

Then I came home and baked apple cinnamon scones. Yum.

Uh, what was I talking about? The thought of scones distracted me. Oh, right, now I remember.

So, back to the topic of depressed music… I think my dad’s theme song would be “Why Can’t I Be Free?” because that is the question he asks about every other day. Someday I’m going to bust him outta this city. See if I don’t.
Mom says that she would like her theme song to be “All My Tears” by Jars of Clay, which is a nice thought but she totally stole my idea! Just kidding. No, really though. That was going to be my theme song, dang it! It goes “When I go, don’t cry for me/in my father’s arms I’ll be…/it don’t matter where you bury me/ I’ll be home and I’ll be free/ it don’t matter where I lay/ all my tears be washed away.”

Now you see why I wanted it, and now you probably want to adopt it as your anthem, too. Hmph.
As for my theme song… I guess it would change. I tend to pay attention to the drum parts in songs, since I like a driving beat, but I also tend to pick apart lyrics. I always talk with Mom about what I think lyrics mean. I had to explain the song “Good Monsters” to her, and a few weeks ago we tried to decipher “Heart”. Maybe it’s the poet in me, but I love to think about what the different things in songs might mean. Maybe that’s why I generally dislike country songs. They’re too obvious. They’re always about love or fishing or being a redneck or something. They don’t have more than one meaning, or more thna one way of being interpreted, which is the whole fun about discussing what one thinks a song means.

For example, “Closer” by Jars of Clay is my favorite song. I like it because you can take it from a God-to-person/ person-to-God POV, or from person-to-person. It can be about God asking, “I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough”, like, “why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you get closer?” or it can be a person feeling like they are disconnected from God or that he is a far away, and they don’t understand what they have to do to feel closer. (I can relate to that sometimes, for sure.) From person to person, it makes sense too. All the references to the leaky boat, tears, a bomb, it’s like saying that ”we’re falling apart here; I’m trying to keep us together, but if you want me to love you you have both get closer to me and allow me to get closer to you”. 

Maybe I over analyze, yeah? But anyway. That’s what I think.

It kind of gives me an idea… Maybe I could ever so often post my thoughts on certain songs, and how they relate to life as it is right now…. We used to do something similar at schoolschool, but I forget what we called it. When I brought in a song the whole class wanted to know what band it was, which made me wish I’d brough some Jars of Clay instead of whatever I did bring. 

Hah. My musical taste was deemed cool for a day. How funny.

To close… Take a listen to this and this.  (My favorite and second favorite songs… The second, you might recognize if you’ve read some of my earlier posts. I quote it a lot, ha.)

Yours till the kite strings,
Pen

 

A Million Bright Ambassadors

Yesterday, Dad and I were sitting on the couch watching the sun come in through the western window, and the little dust flecks in the sunbeam. For some reason we both like to sit and watch the sunlight in the evening. Then he said something about “a million bright ambassadors” (it’s more like a billion, in my opinion)… And the boys showed up. We took turns walking through the sunbeam of dust, and just when we settled down again, Lily appeared. After a pause she started chomping the air. Trying to eat dad’s bright ambassadors, along with anything else that moves… Goofy dog.

But now I know where I get my quoting thing. I just realized how Dad does it all the time, only he quotes Pink Floyd instead of Lewis Carroll. We are so alike. That’s why I love him even though he annoys me sometimes, because I can totally see how I have a lot of his personality traits. I even have his ears (left human, right elven). And may I say that though I’m a teenager and supposed to be thoroughly embarassed of/angry at him all the time, I’m actually not. Don’t get me wrong, we have our days, but generally I just like talking to him, listening to his stories and riding in the car. I like when it’s just the two of us and we can blast the music all the way to the library, with the windows rolled down. Dad always says that full volume is the only proper way to listen to good music. I happen to agree. Mom doesn’t. So it’s like our special thing. And whenever I think of camp I invariably think of certain music, a certain way of the sun hitting the hills and the road, the taste of Deerfield General Store vanilla ice cream.

As you may surmise, I am pining away for camping with Dad. He’s off at some camp with Dodge this weeked, and before that he was gone with Poncho. When will it be my turn?

In the meantime, I’m just sitting here on the couch– as I write this, actually– watching a million bright ambassadors come streaming in on sunlight wings.

-Pen

 

when the dragon’s grown too mighty to slay with pen or sword…

…I grow weary of the battles, and the storm I walk toward!…

I’ve had that song stuck in my head all day. I like it though, so it doesn’t bother me. It’s an old song. (By old I mean from when my dad was a kid… haha) And that part is my favorite because of the whole pen/sword thing.

anyways.
Today was my big day going to the eye doctor at 11:00. Well, let me just begin by saying that every year when it is almost time to go to the eye doctor, I always freak out a little. I used to wear glasses, and I was supposed to wear them in sixth grade but I didn’t that whole year because I didn’t need them. I still believe I don’t. When I first got glasses, in second grade, I really did need them becuase it was giving me headaches to look at the board, but I think it was kind of a phase, like growing pains or my obsession with horses. (Ha, that is another tale in itself… and another example of how I know myself so well, and am always right about what I will like or not like, etc. anywhoooo!)
So anyway, we started going to this new eye doctor guy and he is okay, kind of boring and lame becuase he does not seem to have a sense of humor but I digress. He says I am still a bit far-sighted but I don;t need glasses unless I get headaches again.
So that was a relief!
And also, he has this thing that blows a puff of air in your eye and makes you flinch. Both my parents had to have it do that, but I didn’t! Another relief.
So then my brothers both had to get glasses. They finally picked a pair they liked and we went to sit down with the glasses-picking lady and she was like, “So why aren’t you in school today?”
I held up my reading work (Pride and Predjudice, and my study guide) and I was like, “Well, we’re homeschooled, I was just doing school a minute ago.”
Then she asked us what church we went to.
My dear observant father remarked later that it struck him that she asked us what church we went to after she heard we were homeschooled. Like, when you say you are homeschooled, it plants a seed in a person’s mind that you must be religious. Which, I mean, we are Catholic, but not like crazies or anything. We only have 3 kids (she also asked us if we had any more siblings at home… hmm… see? I swear I am normal!) in our family and I am not forced to wear a skirt or anything like that. Although, as the song goes, “A dress has always been my strongest suit!” haha. Seriously I wear them like every day.
Sooo then we left the glasses place and went to this amazing grocery store called Chuppa’s. (I say it like Choo-pas, but my grandma Vegas says Chup-as. oh well.) They are like awesome! I have decided that my family will not shop at any other grocery store except to get ceral becuase Chuppa’s doesn’t have Honey Bunches of Oats. ;P
One of the people working there saw my brothers and yelled, “Why aren’t you boys in school?”
My dad, one who relishes giving obscure answers, replied calmly, “They are. Home economics.”
I think we left them scratching their heads for a few minutes.

When I got home I thought of all the things I could’ve said to the people who asked why we were not in school. For example:
“School? But it’s Saturday.”
There was another one, too…. OH! Dad said he wanted to say,
“Oh, they have swine flu, they’re not allowed to be at school while they’re still contagious.” At which point I would cough weakly and say, “Dad? I don’t feel spo good…”
I could’ve put some acting skills to work!
But at any rate, I think it is almost as much fun to just say the real reason and listen to their response. Someone once asked me if I had a TV. I mean really.

But it is very funny, anyway.

I am going to work on my new novel…. au revoir, readers of this blog! (Like there are any!)
I will have to tell you the horse-obsession story some other time…. tomorrow maybe…
–Pen

PS, the song is “Madrigal” by Rush. I love their album Farewell to Kings, it rox.
PPS, doncha love post scripts??? I do, in case you couldn’t tell. ;)

 

Cobwebs on a Wednesday under a Baseball Moon

I just have to tell you about my most recent favorite books. I mean, I read constantly, about a book or so a day, so I go to the library a lot. And most of the time I end up getting books that are okay, but not fabulous. And some of them are like, ‘ewwww!’ and I don’t end up reading the whole thing at all. But lately I’ve found some books that I was surprised at, books I wasn’t really expecting to make me feel the way I do about them. So here they are:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter: an awesome book. I’m not even halfway through yet, but I’m already putting it in my Hall of Fave. It’s making me want to go improv with my flute, too, which is not something common for me. The only instrument I ever improv on is the piano, and that’s only becuase I can’t actually play it. Flute… I can’t believe all this time I’ve been playing I’ve never tried to play without music before. And I love how Andy (the main character, whose POV the book is written from) says he’s ‘painting’ when he plays. It’s great. And not only is the music part of it good, the characters are cool. Also, it’s one of those awful books that make you want to get up and do something (in this case play the flute) while at the same time you don’t want to put it down… oh, man. It’s torture, but I’m lovin’ it all the way. And I can see that this book is only going to get better and better as the story moves along. I love it. Dude.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Cobwebs by Karen Romano Young: Amazing. It’s one of those books you can taste. I know that sounds weird, but the way it’s descriptions are and the way everything is written… it’s like eating chocolate. So, so good. And I love Nancy, the main character. I knit, too, like her, and I love her wild tights. It’s a great story, too– it even made me like spiders more. I mean, I always liked them (proof for all of you that I’m a weird child: at camp, kids were screaming and I went and picked it up and let it crawl up my arm. “See? It’s just a Daddy Longleg. Aww, it’s cute. Don’t kill ‘em.” Yeah.) but this book made them one of my favorite creatures of all time. The imagery was beautiful and real, the characters were lovable (especially her dad, idk but he was just cool) and I’m going to read it again. Definitely the mark of a great story.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt: Dude. Hilarious and touching, and it made me go read some Shakespeare. I’ve done Shakespeare before while i wa still in regular school (Enrichment every Wednesday, baby!) but I never really read the plays in their original play form. I read the cartoons. Yes, I know, a crime– especially after this books showed me how cool the actual plays were. Plus it taught me some history, too, because the story takes place in the sixties. The poor sister, too! I must say, I’m guilty– if i lived in that time I’d probably have been a flower child too. And my dad would not have appreciated that, although I think he’d have been nicer than Mr. Hoodhood. Also, I went on youtube and listened to Eleanor Rigby after reading this. I like it. Holling (the main character, a sevenh grader) is funny and cool and his class reminds me of my own (well, my old one from last year, my own seventh grade year). It was a great read becuase there was more than one emotion, and it moved along well, never got boring.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman: A chilling vision of the future…. it’s creepy becuase i can see it happening. ‘Earth Mother’ playing on people’s environmental fears, trying to seal the earth over so she can control the weather, trying to make everything neat and orderly and… oooooh. It’s good. And freaky. But if it wasn’t creepy or freaky or plausible then it wouldn’t work. I mean, what was cool was that I thought, this might actually happen, with Earth Mother and the schools and the ocean overflowing and making the land into islands, most of it sinking underwater. Not that it’s a good thing, but it made the book seem so real. Plus Honor (the main character) has an awesome name and she was interesting becuase you could see how she was starting relly believe the things they were teaching her at school, and how the stuff called Planet Safe (a chemical thing that’s in everything from food to launry detergent) was affecting her memory. Chilling, as I said before, but with a pretty good ending. Always kept me guessing, although one of my hunches proved to be right. But then they surprised me again, so it really kept things moving and me reading. When i told my mom about it, she even wanted to read it. In today’s world, it really strikes a chord becuase everyone’s flipping out about global warming and stuff.    

These are some great books. But you don’t have to take my word for it (little Reading Rainbow there): Read them yourself! Enjoy them! ‘Cause I know you will. They’re amazing and even if you hate reading I recommend them becuase they won’t bore you or try and teach you anything, you’ll just take so much more from them than you could ever take from… something else. The thing about books is that even though they’re stories, and a lot of them are fiction and they don’t try to teach you anything, you still learn from them. They change you. As someone once said (I forget who): ‘You never came out the way you came in.’ It’s true.

 

Smartness = Awesomeness

Awesomeness! Okay, I just found out the name of the author I was telling you about in my previous post ‘Beddor and the Bard’– it’s Frank Beddor. So I guess not specifically English, but I’m happy I know that now. Anyhoo, let’s see…. oh yes. Yesterday was another crazy rehearsal for our play. We’ve been working on our (as the lady says) ‘show stopper’ Ug a Wug number. Oh. My. Gosh. It’s pretty hard, but a lot of fun. And yesterday we were informed as we drank water like people who’ve spent three days in a desert that we’re only halfway done. That’s good, and also not. What else? Well, I also learned about this composer guy yesterday called Schubert. I play the flute, so I was playing part of his Unfinished Symphony, and I asked my music teacher why it was unfinished. I thought maybe something interesting happened to him, like he was poisoned before he could finish. That’s not the case. But it was interesting to learn about him anyway. Sometimes he couldn’t get a job in aristocratic society because he was supposedly rather ugly, but there was a picture of him and I thought he was okay. I mean, at least he wasn’t wearing a huge wig and an angry expression… and his hero was Beethoven. He was buried by dear Ludwig, too. Which is good, because if he was buried by Mozart they would’ve thrown him in a pit and sprinkled this powdery stuff on him. (I saw that in a movie when I was still in regular school. So who knows, maybe it’s not true but it makes for a good show– they play the Requiem music and it’s all dark and cloudy… yeah.) And then at rehearsal we were talking about how you get dizzy and that liquid stuff in your ears that keeps you balanced. So I feel very smart right now. Plus I remembered what ‘facetious’ means. One of my favorite words, although I have a list of favorite words– I have about sixty. Yes, I have problems. But you would, too, if you were me. I read constantly, my mom used to be an English teacher and my dad always talks in big words. Plus some words are fun to say or they just look funny. Or how about the word ‘extraordinary’. It means, like, out of the ordinary, right? Then why is it extra-ordinary, which seems like really ordinary? It’s weird. A conundrum. (see me sneak that other favorite word of mine in there? Oh, I am good.) (*singing*) You know you really got a friend–a friend!– we’ll be true blood brothers till the end, blood brothers till the end! I wonder if I’ll ever get that song out of my head. Ug. Tee-hee.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Well, I bet you’ll be interested (or not) to know that my Girl Scout troop is going to World Friendship tomorrow. My mom is our leader. World Friendship (in case you don’t know– in case you heard ‘Girl Scouts’ and thought, yummy! cookies!)  is where a bunch of troops in one area come together and they each represent a country. They make and sell crfts and food that have to do with the country, and usually we put on a skit. This year we’re being China, so we’re doing a skit of two songs of Mulan. And we’re raffling off this parasol thing that I want becuase it’s amazing. We’re selling egg rolls and fortune cookies (which I’m going to buy a zillion of) and paper fans, necklaces, and these drum things. Somewhat cliche, what with the egg rolls and stuff, but it’s fun and it’s good so let’s just go with it. I’m excited but not, becuase they changed it this year (long story–let’s not get into it) and I’m worried no one is going to watch our skit. That makes me sad. Even though I’m really a writer, I still love the stage. “All the world’s a stage” as the Bard would say. I had a dream about a stage once…                                                                                     I can remember dreams even from years ago, if they were particularly real to me. It’s weird. Once I asked my dad “What if  dreams are real life, and real life is a dream?” and he said “Then I must be dead” becuase he claims he doesn’t dream. Which I half believe to be true. MissPrez (my best friend, as you may remember) says she knows she dreams but doesn’t remember them ever. Alas.

Well, I think I shall be on my way now… Arrivederci!

 

My Favorite Things

My favorite color is yellow. I like to memorize nonsense poetry, like from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and The Hunting of the Snark. The ‘Alice’ books are in my top favorite books, which is saying a lot since I read constantly. I also like fairies, but not Tinkerbell. At least not the one from the Disney movies. I guess the one in the book (it’s one of my favorites too) is okay. I like The Wind in the Willows, the movie, even though there’s no really good girl characters in it. I like my room. I like lemons. And yellow punchbuggy convertibles. I like horses and guinea pigs and spiders and blackbirds and owls and wolves and bears– but not grizzlies. I like staying up late. I like to talk. I like to hang out with my friends. I like to talk in a British accent and make up radio shows. I like being homeschooled even though this is my first year of it. I like reading and writing and stories. I like camping and big fires and chocolate and stars. I like woods and exploring and fallen logs and stuff like that to climb on. I like my family. I like the fort in our backyard. I like trees. I like the whole wide world. I like Italy and learning foreign languages. I like odd, strange, cool, interesting, and long words: take antidisestablishmentarianism, tintinnabulation, and just words that sound cool like ‘aloof” for example. I like playing Dutch Cards with my friend Miss Prez. I like sleepover and all-nighters. I like movies. I like The Thief Lord (a LOT, book and movie, but book the most.) I like being Catholic. I like St. George. I like Irish dance. I like playing the flute. I hope I’ll like being in a play (my first rehearsal ever is tomorrow, I’m an Indian in Peter Pan). I like to ramble on about nothing in particular. I like music, usually old stuff or stuff no one else really listens to, like Leeland and Sanctus Real and Rush and Spirit and ‘The Night Chicago Died’. I like making up dances to songs (once again, ‘The Night Chicago Died’). I like… a lot of things. Old fashioned things. New things. The whole entire universe. I’m easily amused and easily pleased, but I don’t give up easily on things I’m trying to do or get or find or catch.  

That’s most everything, I think. So now you know….. don’t you feel absolutely enlightened now?