Re-loo, Re-loo

Guys. I KNOW it has been approximately 800 years since I’ve posted anything here, but I am going to ignore that fact and instead of telling you what I’ve been doing lately, I present one of my Projects With Bug. This particular one occurred last week when the weather decided to not be kill-yourself freezing and was only face-numbingly cold. It was the first day of spring, actually! First we went to a little place called Coe Lake and walked all the way around it through wind and woods. Bug, who has more knowledge of the place than I, set out for the most interesting trees for posing in.

Then it was on to deeper parts of the woods, along the way noting  a seagull skull, which prompted Bug to ask why the likelihood of finding dead things goes up whenever I’m around…  My theory is that there are just a lot of dead things in the woods, and if you are always peering intensely at the ground– as I do, in my search for feathers, antlers, cool sticks et cetera– you are going to see some.(Except, despite my recent, obsessive best efforts, I haven’t been able to find a single shed antler… *claws the walls* WILL OUTSIDE PLEASE BE CLEMENT I NEED TO LOOK MORE)

Anyway, we found a bunch of cool fallen trees and climbed on them.

 

Then we ventured onward into town, and around to the criscross bridges hidden behind some of the buildings.

On our way out of there, Bug found another interesting tree, but had some trouble climbing into it…

She eventually succeeded.

Also, we both became simultaneously taken with the brick wall across the street. Bug understands me, man.

The last bit of our tour involved the stone steps where we avoided the stares of college kids and chilled out under the pines.

On our way back, we plotted out some hopes for future, hopefully warm-weather adventures… Islands of ruins and broken glass and geodes, days around the lake, and of course, ever more time spent tromping through field and forest. I. Cannot. Wait.

then how shall I begin?

So, the train thing was a dud.

Mom and I feel bad because every time we take Bug somewhere, it turns out to be a fail. (“You have Fail Mail,” Poncho kept saying on Sunday. I don’t really know what that means, but that’s Poncho for you.) There is only one place that cannot– must not!– end up a failure. I wanted to take Bug to PJ MacIntyre’s, aka home of the best homemade potato chips and shepherd’s pie ever. Maybe taking Bug just causes the unexpected to happen… Not neccessarily something bad unexpected, just something we never saw coming. (Like meeting the Mythological Rory, perhaps?) It’s physics, people.

On Monday, Bug, Poncho, and I jumped through a glorious pile of leaves! Poor Bill (who was sick– so we really did all say “Poor Bill!”) had raked them out of the front, but instead of putting them on the curb, he saved them in the backyard for us. I think he deserves hearty applause for that. The sky was perfectly blue and the leaves were bright, flaming yellow and the day was seventy degrees and we had a fab time somersaulting through, burying each other, and getting leaves permanently tangled in our hair.

Also, I have been preparing for All Saints’ Day… On Monday I started making a saint collage, which is a project I have not attempted since a very young age (and back then I became grouchy at it). Yesterday, I finally picked a saint to dress as. I can’t tell you who, seeing as it’s top secret, but I can say that I made this as my costume’s most important feature:

Yup. It’s a gold tooth on a chain.

Thank you, polymer clay and gold paint.

Wait a minute… Two posts in a row that include a picture?!?! What!?!?
Oh, what the heck.
More!

In Kentucky, looking downhill.
(Unless you’re Bug. Then you’re just looking cool.)

This picture looks like a movie still to me. An artsy coming-of-age film about… um, artsy kids coming of age? (Aaaand I’m sticking to writing novels.)

Fast forward: we’re at the beach and– Oh hey look, a random seagull!

The three of us getting splashed by the tide. Sigh!

 

 

Oh, and I must tell you who took these lovely snaps: Francis! Well, maybe Eliza took the seagull one. All I know is, it wasn’t me. I like to pretend that the reason I don’t take pictures is because I “live in the moment”, but it’s actually because I suck at taking pictures of anything other than moss and bark.

 And gold teeth, apparently.

LOTR moviegoing adventures

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was being shown in theaters, each of the movies on a Tuesday for the past three weeks. One night only! Well, the DHFs called me up and asked if I would like to go to see The Fellowship of the Ring (the first movie) with them a few weeks ago. I went, and we all dressed up– I in my Lady of Shalott dress and green cape and borrowed leaf necklace (thanks Bug) as a “random elf”. It was a lot of fun, and the movie was… awesome. The sound was really what made it so cool. Every time the ring-wraiths or whatnot (seriously, why do those things have like ten names? Nazguls, ring-wraiths, black riders… really? Pick one, people!) shrieked, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
[Side note: Sort of. I mean I don’t really think that I’ve ever had the hairs actually stand up, which according to Dad is what happens before you get hit by lightning. He tells me this as we stand out in a storm at camp… “Yeah, if that happens, crouch down real fast, OK?” Me: “Uhuhyeah. Let’s find cover somewhere.”]
Oh, and we sat a row in front of a bunch of teenage boys, who were talking rather loudly. When the movie came on, one of them clapped, and then everyone in the whole theater clapped (sheeple, as Dad would say), and the guy was like, “I started that clapping.” Apparently he was very proud of himself.

Sooo… I HAD to see the second movie, the Two Towers. (Mom thought it was called the Twin Towers, and I was like, umm no.) However by this time the DHFs were going to a conference in Florida (not to mention, they went to the beach, cough cough). Thus, I called my friend Cory and he went with me. It was my first time going to the movies without adult supervision. I was warned vehemently about creepers, of which I saw none, luckily. Actually, it was pretty uneventful overall. We came, saw the movie, left. So that was good. It was weird, though; during the movie, it rains a lot, expeically at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, and when we came out of the theater it was raining outside in just the same manner.

Then I went to see the last movie, Return of the King, with Steph on Tuesday night, but this time we went to the theater at Fakeworld. OK, seriously, the sidewalk at Fakeworld sparkles. Yes, it SPARKLES. How fake can you get, man? They also have brick streets, a bus stop, a roundabout, and… well, I’ll get to that next. So, the movie was also really, really good. And again, just like at the Fellowship, we sat a row in front of a bunch of teenage guys who were also talking really loudly, and being generally annoying. But when it came to the part of the movie that brings tears to my eyes, and made Steph cry, we heard the boys behind us sniffling like they were crying too! Then the credits came up at the end of the movie, and one of the boys started the clapping. “I started that,” he announced to his friends. Is that a new thing now, or what?
Back to the Fakeworld stuff for a sec… When we got out of the movie, we had to walk to the parking garage. All the streets were empty and silent, and sort of shadowy… It was really creepy how suddenly dead the whole place was. And the outdoor chairs, tables, benches, etc were now covered in cloth… It was spooky! Like walking through an abandoned movie set!

But anyway. Those were my movie experiences the past few weeks… The DHFs and I plan on going with a whole possie to see The Hobbit when it comes out… dressed as hobbits of course!

The main thing is, I think I’m becoming a real LOTR fan. Honestly. Be afraid.

Love,
Pen

they heard her singing her last song, the Lady of Shalott

Actually I didn’t sing. I sat in my fabulous cardboard boat, with my name written round and round the prow as the poem says, and stared off into space. Or rather, an imagined Camelot. Some people thought I was not real. Some people asked me what The Lady of Shalott was. Some middle-aged English buffs knew who I was.
3 of them, to be exact. That’s right. 3 people knew me!

It is the world record of people “getting” my costumes. It’s understandable; I usually go as someone obscure and literary-themed. The Thief Lord was understood by no one except Emma. When I went as the Mad Hatter people actually thought I was a boy. No one thought I was a boy this year, though. Well. I mean I truly hope not.

I am thinking of posting some Halloween pictures, but I do not have the camera on hand at the moment… I think Dodge is filming something, most likely… Dodge the YouTube star…

Anyway.

This year I finally tried something I’ve been wondering about since I was a kid: roasted pumpkin seeds. They were delicious! Dad made a “brine” to put them in so they’d be just the right amount of salty, and then I put them in the oven until they smelled good. I am taking some to the DHFs’ on the morrow so they can taste some, too.

Turtle Grandpa was Mr. Bones, aka a plastic skeleton that you can talk through via a microphone. Grandpa hid in the house behind the closed front door and did the voice of Mr Bones. Here are some memorable quotes:
“Hey! I’m Mr Bones! I never shut up.”
“The Lady in a  Box… Box, Camelox, it rhymes! Hey, you’re in a boat. Are you a goat? Are you a goat in a boat? A boat in a goat? Okay, okay. The Lady of Shalott. I got it.”
“They don’t need to x-ray me, they can just see through me.”
“I think I’m getting cold over here… I ain’t got no skin to keep out the wind.”
“Now, don’t forget to brush your teeth before bed tonight! Or else the dentist will be mad! No, wait, the dentist would be happy… Your parents will be mad, they have to pay the bill.”

Ah. I’m sure he said many more amusing things. Mom and Grandma were cracking up behind me all the time. And Grandpa seemed to be enjoying his role.

Poncho was sick this year, but Dad took him to a few houses. Dodge went to his friend’s house for an “epic Nerf war”. It was odd without him here, and I felt bad for poor Ponchito!! But they both had fun.

I had fun, too.
It was pretty fun.
Even though I started to go the way of the poem… “As her blood was frozen slowly…” Yup, I definitely felt that, especially in my hands. 

I am tired. 

At the closing of the day/ she loosed the chain and down she lay/ the broad stream bore her far away/ down to tower’d Camelot…

Love,
Pen of Shalott