A Precious Gift from God

I made this card for an old friend in the states who has a new baby girl. (Her name is Gianna, isn't that cute?)

The Psalm 127:3, "Children are a gift from God; they are his reward." Reminded me of something Obama recently said about abortion. He said that he wants to take the power away from the states to make abortion illegal because he thinks that if one of his daughters were to make a mistake, he wouldn't want them to be punished with a baby.
Punished???
No matter what happens, mistake or not, a baby is a living, breathing gift. Nothing less. What a horrible, horrible thing for him to say! :(

Scrounged Poetry

The next assignment was my favorite!

Find a picture that interests you then look at it for a few minutes. Notice the colors and the mood, see what is happening and whats in it and just let it soak in. Then take words from your list that you think could go with it. Put the words in a sequence that makes at least a little sense and then change it around. Keep moving the words around, taking some away, adding in more. Soon you will have a poem, it may make sense or it may not. What ever you do is right!

I used a postcard of the Charleston Battery. Here is a picture that looks just like it:

"valiant oak trees are a disciplined regiment
their regal power supersedes the sunshine
spanish moss are honored to be among the foliage

the oppressed humidity cries out for freedom
but all insurrections are overwhelmed
honor the oak trees; fearless and foremost "

(I added the words their, among and cries out)


I also did another from a picture of British soldiers crossing a bridge.

"honored discipline
regal power
crimson regiment
awaiting insurrections
across the restless bridge

valiant minority
dare freedom
muster courage
against the depredations
the victorious make history"

(I added the words across, bridge, and against)

Hawaiian Homicide

I promised that I would post the murder mystery I wrote for Lauren's party (which turned out to be a hit, thank goodness! Whew!) but I'm not sure how to do it. You see, there were seven guests at the party which means there are seven different manuals full of clues. It will be very confusing to everybody so I will just post one to give you an idea of what we did that night :)

KAMANAKA

(The Hawaiian name for Samantha)

The Setting

You are in Hawaii ready for Lalena’s party to begin. Tomorrow is her birthday so, to celebrate, your teacher, Ms Kapine, is going to show you what dance you will be doing in the competition which is only three weeks away.
While you were waiting for Kapine, you hear a scream from Lalene.

RULES OF THE GAME

The object of this game is for you to figure out who is Kapine’s murderer while keeping your own innocence.
This book includes many clues known only to you that are vital to solving the mystery. You must not show it to another of the other suspects but communicating is necessary to succeed in the game.
Begin each page by reading it all and then use the lines to start a discussion and ask or answer questions. (Do not turn to the next page until the host tells you to) You must not lie about anything in this book; you may evade questions or try to change the subject but, when pressed, you must tell the truth.

Here are the steps you’ll take:

Plead: Plead innocent by stating your alibi and what you witnessed.
Gossip: Talking about others will draw attention away from yourself.
Vindicate: Clear your name by revealing the truth about yourself.
Accuse: After hearing what everyone has to say, you must choose who you think murdered Kapine.

Remember, you’re trying to solve a mystery. Be suspicious of everyone! Be curious; ask questions even if they seem kind of…weird…

HINT: You may go around and look at any part of the crime scene (especially people’s bags!!) to see if you can find any clues! If you do find a clue, be sure to pass it around to all the guests!

Scene 1

Introduction:

I either like or hate you, nothing in between. I come from a very humane family. I eat healthy foods, never use any electricity or gas that pollutes the air and never purposely kill bugs or animals and especially not humans!


Alibi:

You were bringing drinks to the guests.

Witnessed:

Lalena didn’t just walk in on Kapine when she died. She was gone the whole time and was never seen in the dance room.

Scene 2

Gossip:

Lalena is the best dancer, got special treatment from Kapine and brags a lot

You heard that Kapine was leaving and also heard that Lalena would become the next instructor.

Pekani has private tutors teaching her at home. She never leaves the house except for dance class. You’re sure she has a lot of time to hold grudges and formulate evil plans.

What you know:

You asked for the lead part in the competition dance but, of course, Lalena got it.

You admit that you joked about poisoning Lalena.

Sweet and talented Lalena is your mortal enemy. She beat you out for homecoming queen and became best dancer in all of Hawaii last year. You wish she was the one who was poisoned!

Scene 3

Gossip:

Pekani came from a rival dance school. She probably hated Kapine whose class always won competitions.

Amapele has been acting strange. In fact, last night you saw her hanging upside down from a tree like a bat in front of Kapine’s house.

What You Know:

Now that Kapine is gone, Lalena is to become the next hula instructor.

You would never want to make it so Lalena is your teacher!

You are not so sure if the murderer actually meant to kill Kapine…

Solution

Kamanaka knew that Kapine was getting ready to move to the main land. She also knew that Lalena was to become the new instructor. Kamanaka was so angry that she would do anything to keep Lalena away as long as possible.
It was Kamanaka at the kitchen door that Kelikei saw. She was searching Kamala’s back pack for the Yellow Oleander she picked. Kamanaka took a few leaves, put them in Lelana’s boiling water and stained them out after a few minutes. She did not mean to murder anyone, just take revenge on Lalena.

Collecting Words

I recently joined a new forum on bravewriter.com that has really expanded my scope in writing. I'm very excited with the new activities Rachel has shown to me.

One of the things is Word Collecting, something I wcould not have ever thought up on my own. Throughout our everyday lives we are confonted with new words. New ones, old ones, descriptive ones, cliches...but some words strike us more than others. Even words like "simmer" and "yeast" are enough to spark your imagination.

To begin word collecting, you carry a notebook around with you (unless you are not like me and you remember things easily) Everytime you hear a word that you feel is worth writing dow, you do it. No matter how silly it seems. Soon you will end up with pages full of word columns. Some will relate to eachother somehow or sound the same or have the same first letter, but most are just completely random. Thats when it gets the most fun.

Then you take the very best words and put them on strips of index cards. The words are then sorted into any way you like and put in envelopes. The freedom of word collecting is very refreshing!

Here are some of my favorite words. They were collected in a very short period of time so my list needs a lot of restocking :)

insurrection

misinformed

supersede

comradery

depredations

weightless

diversity

provisionally speaking

woe is me

overwhelmed

sizzle

slightly

staircase

simmer

ruins

lovelorn

twinkle

strawberry-blonde

Happy Birthday:Hau 'oli la hanau (Hawaiian)

Frohe Geburtstag (German)

Feliz cumpleaños (Spanish)

Charleston

Spanish Moss

oak trees

letters to home

colonelcy

sacrifice

abolitionist

sheltered

comfortable

restless

assumptions

onliest

states rights

humid

fear of failure

factoid

frivolity

fidelity

fearless

freedom

Forward Fifty Fourth!

flag bearer

foremost

ultra-violet

fun, wild and untamed

cosmic pond

Land of the Phoenix Part 10 The End

At the Phoenix’s touch, she jolted awake in her own bed. Gasping, she looked around her room, confused. Had she been asleep the whole time? That can’t be possible, she went through the attic door to the Phoenix’s land and had been gone for days! She threw her blanket off and ran to her little sister’s room

“Michelle, Michelle! Wake up!” she whispered as she shook her awake. Marie groaned, “Mmmm, go away, it’s Saturday…”

“Michelle!” Anne cried in disbelief, forgetting to check her voice, “I’ve been gone for days! Haven’t you been wondering where I’ve been?”

“What are you talking about?” Marie yawned.
Anne stopped, had it all been a dream? It can’t have been… She ran back to her room, the sun was just barely tipping its hat to the world as she searched her desk. There it was; her little black book. She flipped through the pages until she found the picture of the puppy she had drawn just before she went up to the attic.

She held her breath and turned the page. There it was; the red flowers, the blue flowers, the little bugs and half of a bird. She ran back to her Michelle’s room and shook the notebook in front of her face.

“See, here’s the proof! I was gone!”

Michelle rubbed her eyes and looked at the drawings. “This doesn’t prove anything, you could have drawn these anywhere”

“But it’s true, listen…” Anne excitedly reminisced her adventure to her sister. Later that day, as soon as Michelle started to gather interest, they went up to the attic to find no hook or key (which Michelle had seen before) and no keyhole behind the panel.

A while after that, Anne told her story to her friend Rosevita who did not believe her at all but did share in her excitement. As they walked along a pier over the nearby lake, Rosevita said, “Too bad this ‘lion-man’ doesn’t exist cause maybe you’d finally get a boyfriend. Imagine you, 18 and still never had a boyfriend!”
“Oh stop, Rosie!” Anne replied irritably, Rosevita made a habit out of reminding her about that. “But still,” she continued, “I can’t stop thinking about him…”

“Thinking about who?” came a deep voice from next to them. Anne and Rosevita, surprised, turned to see a young man holding a fishing pole and tackle-box; a man with a handsome face, wavy strawberry-blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

Anne was stunned at how much he looked like the lion-man. Rosevita squealed as she ran up and hugged him, “Yay, you’re here! Anne, this is my cousin, Toby!”

“Oh, we’ve met already.” Toby said as he smiled teasingly and winked.

***