Our White Christmas

The sun is shining and the snow glistens in the sunlight.  It's quite different than it was last night when we returned to our home at Davenport Cottage after sharing the evening with the Bonnichsens.  I understand that it is just the lull in the weather before the next storm.

It has been so wonderful to listen to Aubrey play the piano and laugh and enjoy life.  Yesterday, she spent the day without her eye patch.  She was patient and pleasant as her little sister, Chloe, asked her a plethora of questions.  This is the Aubrey that I love to see.

Chloe is having a hard time waiting for the calendar to change to zero.  She is determined that she is going to open a present as soon as possible.  

She is adjusting to her new eye glasses.  She looks quite attractive, but the lettering on the lenses is quite annoying.  I've never seen anyone who cleans the lenses more often.  She keeps her lens cloth and cleaning solvent in the Sponge Bob Square Pants case that the optometrist so thoughtfully provided.

This has been a wonderful Christmas.  We've been able to enjoy both of our daughters and their families.  


I apologize for the quality of the pictures of Andi's family.  I had left my camera in the car and a frozen battery kept it from working.  These were taken with my cell phone.

Lexophile phoolishness

•  A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
•  A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.
  
• Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
  
•  A backward poet writes inverse.
• In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
  
• When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she’d dye.
• A lot of money is tainted: ‘Taint yours, and ‘taint mine.
• A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
• A will is a dead giveaway
• A short fortune teller escaped from prison.
  He was a small medium at large.

Just a Badly Needed Update

(Sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to let you click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

Since I have been neglecting updating anything on me, and people have asked me to, I thought I'd just add a bunch of pictures I've taken from Japan. To start out at least. I have fixed these all up so that they look better, or more how they really looked than my camera could make them. But these are just some of the best I took. I took over about 1000 pictures.

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In school, I have been involved in Cross Country. Just managing though. 

I have also been working on art in my AP Art class. I decided to work on photography in it, since it is the quickest and easiest thing in art for me to do. I am pretty well centered in art, but I take forever to do anything. So here are some pieces I'll be using in my portfolio, or possibly using. As well as just some extra things I've been working on. I'll give a little explanation for each too I guess.

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These I did last year. The one on the left is called Low Five, and I painted it in my Painting 2 class using acrylic. The one on the right is called Dead Tree, and I did it in my Drawing 1 class using chalk pastels.

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These four pictures were taken in Japan. I liked them enough though to use them in my portfolio. They were each taken in various places, except the last two, which were taken in a garden that was a couple blocks from one of our hotels.

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These are all self portraits I took. All of them I believe I'm going to use the the portfolio. The first picture I took a while ago. It has so many variations, and I have used it so many different times. It is by far my most used image. This variation is the last one I made though. It is collaborated with two pages I made in my Artist's Journal I made last year during that class.

The middle one I took, and I tweeked the colors, brightness, contrast, all that good stuff.

And the final one is a piece that I threw together using different pictures of my eyes. Each one has a different color style that I used. 

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These are just random pictures I took when I was bored that ended up being good. I did change them up, but that's basically it.

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This last one is one of the very first pictures I took when I first got my camera. It is largely cropped, and I changed the colors drastically, as you can see. But it is one of my first.

Dark eyed doll

Cheery, bouncy, dark eyed doll

Hiney swinging before she'd crawl

Loves her music loud and clear.

Oh, her mommy loves her dear,

Especially her hugs!

Risk taking

He came flying down the hill riding the breeze
Gaining speed with the greatest of ease,
But stopping at the bottom of the hill
Before getting caught in traffic was really the thrill!

The wheels spun, protesting with a scream
His hair flying back in an effortless stream.
The driver of the car could not stop!
He swerved and thought he'd come out on top,

But looking back, he saw a crowd form.
Around the crumpled skater they did swarm,
Offering assistance in the form they could.
Would their efforts do any good?

Dazed at first, the skater's thoughts were clouded.
He accepted aid from the people that crowded
Around him offering the tenderest of care.
His eyes flashed and profanity filled the air!

Up quickly to his feet he protested loudly!
He was up and away from astonished arms!
He was up! Wobbly but determined to boldly
Skate away from those who meant no harm.

I cannot get the image out of my mind's eye
Yet, just as this biligerant youth go I.
Refusing help from those who mean no harm,
I am determined to win by strength of my own arm.

Just as this determined bold lad
Turned his back on the aid and rest,
I have turned my back on friends and on God
Trying to assist me in my spiritual quest.

I felt helpless as the boy skated away.
I wanted to help him so on that day!
God must feel that way with me when I insist
On doing it my way when He offers to assist.

A new career path

After just one day at school, Chloe says she now has the low down on style. She's seen what her classmates are wearing, and she thinks she can do at least as well.