Meet Sir Ursius and Galahad

I would like to introduce the newest members of my diverse toy family - Sir Ursius and Galahad. Sir Ursius is a large, plushy, white bear with a cheerful countenance. Galahad is similar but much smaller in size, and wears a red bowtie. They are an inseperable pair, owing to the fact that Galahad is sewed to Ursius. Cornflower has taken an instant like to the bear knights, and has kidnapped them from their fortress at least four times in as many days. I think Galahad likes her, but Sir Ursius is not happy with these proceedings. Galahad, I've discovered, likes anyone who will hug him.

Pie in the Sky

Oh dear
i fear
that i
can't fly
but if
you sniff
you soar
for more!
more what?
a glut
the sky
is pie
and i
know why
because
of fuzz
that flies
and cries
and sighs
and dies
and then
the jinn
comes through
the slough
and takes
and bakes
the pie.

this poem is by
mother auma and i.

Glenna Sere

Il seria melë glenna sere:
Si muna tisera na ayë.
Si lanta srim yrram ra ila osse,
Tiaril il laene ran ayosse,
Si lynna ri melë riëlis,
Lyarem srim si taeth rithis!
Si ossla anore srim ynnde,
Il seria melë glenna sere!

~~~~

I see with new eyes:
The world glistens in light.
Rain has come through my night,
Trees I know all sparkle,
The meadows shine brightly.
Gone is the veil of mist!
The darkened window has vanished,
I see with new eyes!

1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see through a glass, darkly…

The Boon of Life

Ky-yow replied: The boon of life is health.
Paddle-foot, Feather-straight, Supple-neck, Button-eye:
These have the world's wealth.

Aged Ank answered: Honor is our all.
Path-finder, People-feeder, Plan-provider, Sage-commander:
These hear the call.

Lyo-lyok the lightsome said: Love had I liefer.
Douce-down, Tender-tread, Warm-nest and Walk-in-line:
These live for ever.

Aahng-ung was for Appetite. Ah, he said, Eating!
Gander-gobble, Tear-grass, Stubble-stalk, Stuff-crop:
These take some beating.

Wink-wink praised Comrades, the fair free fraternity.
Line-astern, Echelon, Arrow-head, Over-cloud:
These learn Eternity.

But I, Lyow, choose Lay-making, of loud lilts which linger.
Horn-music, Laughter-song, Epic-heart, Ape-the-world:
These Lyow, the singer.

-- T.H. White, The Once and Future King: Book 1

A New Poster

Hello out there, everyone!

I know this says that Aravis posted it down at the bottom, but that's just 'cause I'm on her account. I don't have my own, because I am Thumper. But I was watching her, laughing at Beatrice's videos and Mother Auma's amusing accounts of daily life, and it seemed like so much fun... so I got on here. I wanted to share something too.

The best thing I can think of to share is Outdoors. It's a very nice place, you know... it was rather windy today. Outside is a beautiful place to eat carrots. When you have carrots, and you are outside, and the wind is blowing, then everything is good. Oh, and when one of the stuffed animals is by the window, that's even better, because then you have someone to visit with. The White Rabbit, Ninquë, is probably my best friend. Sometimes she talks to me in Elvish. I have a suspicion that she wants to teach me Elvish, but I don't think I'm interested. Ivey already calls me "An-Lhaw", which is Numenorean for "long-ears", and "Conejita", which is Spanish for "bunny". I don't need another language when I can't even speak.

Ninquë says that I ought to make the acquaintance of Sir Saucy Sparrow, who visits the backyard regularly. I think I might, but he's always so busy, and he's always talking to Lady Bianca Sparrow. They like to talk, and it would be fun to visit with them, but I don't know how to start a conversation very well. Verd the grasshopper says that Sir Saucy and Lady Bianca are quite nice, and he'd introduce me if I liked. Maybe I will.

But for now I'm making the acquaintance of everyone out in the blogosphere! Hi there! And Ninquë and Verd say hello too. So would Speckle of San Francisco, the seal, if he knew I was on here. And I suppose the Sparrows would to. So hi from everyone!

The Song of the Meanderers

Winding, meandering, leading on,
The road we take is fair and long.
We wander on from here to there,
And we will perform most anywhere.

One play, a castle lawn,
Next day, we’re sure to be gone,
Next play, a village square –
But when you come back, we won’t be there.

We’re going somewhere, we don’t know where,
We only know we must be there,
And when we come, it’s then we know,
There’s still a place we want to go.

We’ve practiced all our acts for weeks
We cannot hurry on and leave
We’ll show them to you, then we’ll depart –
Skipping on to the tune in our hearts.

Friendship: Definition Paragraph

"Friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the world," says Wilbur, a pig from the book Charlotte's Web. But just what is friendship? Some synonyms are love, affinity, or unity. Friendship is the opposite of hatred or enmity. A similar term is loyalty. When combined, friendship and loyalty can do amazing things. In Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship was chosen more for loyalty and friendship than power or strength. The reason for this was that good was fighting against evil, love against hate, and unity against enmity. Friendship is not only one of the most satisfying things in the world, but also one of the most amazing.

Everything-That-Comes-To-Mind Post

Got this idea from Mother Auma. Thanks, Mommy!

~~~

Mariel and Cornflower are painting their room. They are thrilled. Mother Auma is helping.

~~~

Mariel and I were trying to sound out the do-re-mi's to Pippin's song "All shall fade" and a friend of mine sent me a link to the song online. Now I have both the do-re-mi's and the lyrics. Yay!

~~~

My story is undergoing inordinate yet necessary revision.

~~~

I'm reading the Mitford books, along with Mother Auma and my Grammy. My favorite characters are Cynthia Coppersmith Kavanagh and Hope... what's her name? Hope Winchester?... from the Happy Endings Bookstore.

~~~

This summer I've been in theater, as Charlotte of Charlotte's Web, the schoolteacher from The Pied Piper, and Despina (Ariel) from The Little Mermaid, and I finally have all my scripts memorized!!!

Now Mother Auma wants me to memorize Romans 8.

~~~

It's a lot of fun to take a really simple outfit and add things like fancy earrings or a scarf to make it totally different. I bought some really pretty earrings but every time I'm about to wear them, I think, "These earring are just way too fancy for today. I'll wear them to church or something."

~~~

Thumper Pasque Hyzenthlay Thethuthinnang, otherwise known as Thumper or the Thumpress, has found a lovely game to play with me when it's too hot for her to go outside. I open her cage door, then I lie down in the middle of the room with a book and pretend I don't know she's there. She will bounce out of the cage, thump, race to me, take a flying leap over me and then zip under the bed, emerging at frequent intervals to growl at her enemy the Evil Smiley-Faced Pillow or to jump over me again.

~~~

That's everything that came to mind!

Name Change Notification

I have not read the Redwall books in goodness knows how long. And I would not classify them as extraordinarily good literature. And I have officially moved off that reading level (whatever the word "officially" means in that sentence). And I'm bored of the name Triss.

I would like to introduce myself to the members of the blogosphere as Aravis, who is my favorite Narnia character. The Chronicles are more-than-extraordinarily-good literature, in my opinion.

I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.
Beyond the sun, beyond the moon, the foam was on the Sea,
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.
Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.
There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,
While here beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven-tears.
O Lórien! The Winter comes, the bare and leafless Day;
The leaves are falling in the stream, the River flows away.
O Lórien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore
And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.
But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?

--The Lament of Galadriel

(If you knows the history of Galadriel, you'll understand her song a lot better. If you know what her name means, bonus points. :-)

Finished Composition: Dragons

“Rising from the near side of the rocky floor there is a great glow – the glow of Smaug! There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon…” Thus J.R.R. Tolkien introduces his readers to the villainous Smaug, a dragon living inside an old dwarf-castle. For a long time, dragons have interested readers, but they are dangerous.

How do you recognize a dragon? They are reptilian creatures, with dinosaur-like bodies and enormous batwings. Many shoot fire from their mouths, and some have the unusual ability to breathe ice as well. Dragons are often warm, fiery colors such as red, gold or orange. Some have a cooler color like silver on their stomach and underneath their wings. They are, as a general rule, very large.

They are very powerful creatures. They can see and hear and smell exceptionally well, and are usually smart. Some can read minds, or trick a victim into telling their secrets aloud. They are also, of course, very strong and can fly. They have amazing memories: they can remember every last piece of treasure in a hoard, and if they once hear something they never forget it. Some can also armor themselves with gems.

However, they are conquerable. When they armor themselves with jewels, dragons will sometimes miss a spot and create an “Achilles’ heel”. They have strong immune systems, but can still catch diseases. They are extremely fierce when angry, but they can never resist riddles! Bilbo Baggins was able to stop Smaug from attacking him and his friends by keeping the dragon guessing with his mysterious descriptions of his adventures.

Îrënwhyft Snowflame is a dragon. He is red-gold on top and silver on the bottom. He is very protective of his reputation, as well as his treasure-heap, and he guards both carefully from the Miner-folk that live in the same mountain. He is very suspicious and cautious, but like most dragons has a great love for beautiful things. He is rather lazy, and spends a lot of time asleep. His red eyes can draw a person towards him, or find their true identity no matter how they disguise it.

Some people find dragons too fascinating to avoid, but, as I said before, dragons are dangerous. For these imaginative readers, I would suggest creating a dragon of your own. Îrënwhyft is my own creation, and if he grows too powerful I can remove a few of his abilities and reconquer him once more. Malice, fire-breath, and scaly wings are a good place to begin!

"Ours is Not to Reason Why - Just Invert and Multiply!"

Today's math lesson, courtesy of the VideoText program, cleared up what has always been one of math's mysterious mysteries - that mystifying "invert-and-multiply" rule.

If you want to divide 4/5 by 7/8, then you would think that "all you do is multipy 4/5 by 8/7". But how in the world did we get 8/7 out of 7/8?

4/5 divided by 7/8 means 4/5 / 7/8. We have to get a one at the bottom, to simplify this strange and complex fraction. So we multiply 7/8 by its reciprocal - 8/7 - to get a one.

Does anyone understand why
We must invert and multiply?

It's a simplification of a simple process. Anyone who's worked with fractions knows that when you multiply the bottom of a fraction by any number, you have to do the top, too! So we multiply 4/5 by 8/7 too - tada! The answer is 32/35.

This was such an exciting discovery I just had to share it with someone. So if you're out there in the cyberworld and you've always wondered why we "never reason why - just invert and multiply"...

are you excited too?

Ha ha ha

Mariel and I were enjoying Mother Auma's funny posts when I noticed that Mariel was toying with her expanders (which she is not supposed to do, as it inhibits her dental progress). I pushed her over, and she fell on the floor. I grabbed her leg in a vain attempt to steady her.

"Are you dead?" I queried, rather unsurely.

She looked up at me from her fit of giggles, and quoted L.M. Montgomery. "No, Diana, but I think I am rendered unconscious."

I played along. "Where, Anne, WHERE?!"

Ah, the joys of reading.

I took a quiz and I am...

Susan Pevensie is the second oldest of the Pevensie children. You strongly believe in logic. You're a smart one; perhaps too smart. You're not very optimistic but that is a result from the war. You try and act older than you are and it shows. You're very good looking and a lot of people envy you. Just have a little faith.

---The "Which Narnia Character Are You?" Quiz

Watership Down Characters: Fiver

Fiver is very small and underweight. He is more tense and jumpy than the other rabbits. He has “wide, staring eyes and a way of raising and turning his head which suggested not so much caution as a kind of ceaseless, nervous tension.” As rabbits can count up to four, any number after that is hrair, “a lot” or literally “a thousand”. Fiver’s Lapine name is Hrairoo, meaning “Little Thousand” or “Little of a Lot”. He was the runt of a five-rabbit litter.

Fiver has a strange gift. He can see the future in bits and pieces, and can see through pretenses and shams. This makes him wiser than other rabbits, and he is truly the one who guides them to Watership Down. He is timid, but when he sees things as they truly are, he acquires a sort of quiet, almost eerie eloquence that commands attention. At one point, Bigwig gets furious with him because Fiver is the only one who can see that in the warren they have just found, there are snares everywhere and the rabbits are unwittingly a part of the man’s farm. “You wretched little beetle!” he yells. “It’s ‘me, me, me’ all the time, isn’t it! ‘Oh, I’ve got a funny feeling in my toe, so now we must all go and stand on our heads!’ And now we’ve found a fine warren and got in without a fight or even a disturbance, you’ve got to do your best to upset everyone! I suppose you’ll go wandering about now until an owl gets you!”

“No,” Fiver says quietly. “You are closer to death than I.”

“Are you trying to frighten me?” Bigwig snaps. “Well, I’m finished with you – and I’m going back to the warren to make sure everyone else is too!” He turns and dashes off through the bushes – and runs straight into a snare, proving what Fiver had been saying.

Fiver lends an air of mystery and things unseen to the story. “Fiver,” says Hazel, “what would we have done without you [at the farm]? We’d none of us be here, would we?”

“You’re sure we are here then?”

“That’s too mysterious for me,” replies Hazel. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s another place – another country, isn’t there? We go there when we sleep; at other times too [as in when we daydream]; and when we die. El-ahrairah comes and goes between the two as he wants, I suppose, but I could never quite make that out, from the tales. Some rabbits will tell you it’s all easy there, compared with the waking dangers that they understand. But I think that only shows they don’t know much about it. It’s a wild place, and very unsafe. And where are we really – there or here?”

Fiver is admirable because he can stand firm in the face of disbelief. Richard Adams modeled him after Cassandra, the ancient prophetess cursed always to tell the truth and never to be believed. Even when everyone else thinks he is making a fuss about nothing, he does not squash his gift down and say, “Oh, yes, I’m sure I must have just eaten something that disagreed with me and I’m having a nightmare,” if he is really sure that this is his gift “speaking” to him. He “sticks to his guns” and always tells the truth. I admire him for his honesty as well.

Higher Powers

Imagine if there were no authority higher than the government. Governments are, after all, nothing more than collections of exceedingly human politicians and bureaucrats. What if these people who are mere flesh and blood like you and me were the top, the be all and end all, the final answer? How depressing. And frightening.

--Whatever Happened to Justice, by Richard Maybury