Christmas Light Photoshoot + Traditions

December 20, 2017 | Allison

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS, GUYS! 😀 I thought this would be a good opportunity for the Christmas Traditions post I asked you guys about recently, as well as some photos from a little photoshoot Megan and I did a while ago. Megan already had the lights out so I thought we might as well take some pictures. 😉 The lighting was a bit difficult, but I think some of the pictures turned out pretty neat! So here’s a sampling.

Megan took all the pictures of me and I took all the ones of her. I believe the random bokeh/light pictures are mine as well.

1 (853x1280) — This is one of my favorites of the ones of me. 🙂

#1. December is practically a season of traditions for us because we have so many. At the beginning of December we start listening to Christmas music (NOT BEFORE, AHEM), and put up the Christmas decorations. Nativity scenes, snowmen candle holders, poinsettia table runners, handmade “stick” people… all sorts of things. I especially love to gently unwrap the ceramic Nativity pieces from their fragile brown paper wrappings and stand them up on top of the desk. I can see them if I look up right now.

#2. We usually get our Christmas tree the first or second weekend in December. We always cut down a live one, and wouldn’t have it any other way. 😉 It’s a great adventure and we usually end up searching the entire tree farm before we find the perfect one. XD But I think the best part is decorating the tree – pulling out each ornament and hearing its story, and sitting back to enjoy the magical end result when we’re done.

#3. Our grandparents take my siblings and cousins and I to their church play every year. It’s quite fun. This year they had more of a Nativity scene thingy with a choir, which was different but beautiful. And the wise men’s costumes were SO funny – the camel was attached to the suit, and had two little wise men legs sticking out the sides so it looked like they were riding the camels… Ah, it’s hard to explain, but trust me, it was super funny. The audience all laughed. XD

#4. Most every year we decorate sugar and gingerbread cookies with our friends. I, of course, love to make mine artistic and take a long time on each one, so I’m not very helpful in getting them all decorated. XD We don’t make that many cookies compared to some people, although we still have plenty of Christmas treats at celebrations and such.

#5. The Sunday evening before Christmas, our church always has a Lessons and Carols service where different men from church take turns reading parts of the Christmas story in between the congregation singing Christmas hymns together. And we have a little party with refreshments afterward. It’s beautiful and I can’t wait to go to it again this year. ♥

#6. On Christmas Eve we have a fancy, delicious dinner by candlelight, and then open our Christmas pajamas for that year. 😉 We all grab some popcorn and hot chocolate and drive around looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music. Sometimes we find a house that has a light show synchronized to music and other times we just drive around neighborhoods and random roads, exploring.

#7. We’ve always had a ton of different family Christmas celebrations with different parts of our family. On Christmas morning we have a delicious special breakfast, and then open presents youngest to oldest, beside the tree. Christmas is obviously not about presents, but I do think it’s a lovely tradition, though it can easily get overdone. It’s so fun to see the expressions and smiles on your family’s faces when they open your presents and see what they picked out for you. 🙂

#8. We always like to drive up the hill to our grandparents’ house on Christmas Day too, after we finish our own Christmas celebration. Our cousins come up the road too and we all have a wondrous time. My grandparents are so, so generous and thoughtful with their gifts and their love, and we have so much fun giving them and each other gifts too. After the floor is covered in wrapping paper, we stop for a scrumptious lunch which always includes crab legs for special. We hardly ever have seafood, plus crab is one of my favorite foods, so ’tis extra delicious. 😛 The rest of the day we try out our new gifts and relax and talk and eat leftovers.

Ahh, Christmas Day is probably my favorite (or pretty close to my favorite) day of the year. 🙂

#9. My mom’s side of the family also has a Christmas get together which begins with a delectable feast of a brunch. Then Grandpa reads the Christmas story from his Bible and we exchange gifts. 🙂 After that we (at least the older kids and adults) play all sorts of games together for pretty much the rest of the day – it’s so much fun!

2 (1280x853) — BAHAHAHA Megan has such random ideas. XD XD XD

#10. We ALSO have two Christmas get-togethers with extended family. For my Great Grandma’s Christmas we, again, exchange gifts and have a delicious meal together. They’re all starting to sound rather similar, huh? But there’s always something different and special about each celebration – I guess that’s why we have so many. 😉 And lastly (well it’s first this year, but last in this post) we have an extended family get-together which in which we surprisingly do not exchange gifts (which is probably a good thing, heh heh O.o). But we DO continue the theme of amazing food with fried oysters and steamed shrimp that everyone gathers ’round and eats hot off the trays until we barely have room for the rest of the meal. I… prefer the shrimp. XD Once you take a look at the inside of a oyster, it’s a little hard not to think about it. 😛 Which do you prefer?

4 (893x1280) — Megan was frustrated with the lighter, I believe. O.o

Phew, so there you are. I don’t think I wrote down all of our Christmas traditions, but most of them anyway. 🙂 Traditions are great in general, but I think there’s something extra special about Christmas traditions, don’t you?

DSC_4176 (853x1280) — I love this one too. ♥

I hope you enjoyed this post, dears, and hopefully it put you in the Christmas mood. 🙂 Which of these pictures was your favorites? The traditions? Which of YOUR Christmas traditions are your favorite?

IT’S ONLY FIVE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS, GUYS. We can do this. *determined look* XD

***Allison***

Write Christmas: My Entry

December 17, 2017December 18, 2017 | Allison

Heyyy, guys! DID YOU KNOW IT’S ALMOST CHRISTMAS? Oh, you did? Well. Anyway, speaking of Christmas, I entered the “Write Christmas” writing contest (see details here), and I wanted to show you guys my submission today! 🙂

First, can I just say that writing an 800-word story is REALLY hard? I mean I love writing short stories, but this was a very short short story. O.o I edited and fiddled with it and finally got it down to exactly 800 words. XD

At the same time, a small word limit was quite helpful for practicing tight, clean writing, which I loved. Okay, enough about that stuff – here’s the story! I put the prompts I used at the end so they don’t spoil anything. 😉

Christmas Coal

William heard them whispering when they thought he was asleep. He wasn’t asleep because he was cold; that was what they were whispering about. The coldest Christmas Eve anyone could remember, with no coal to guard them from the gnashing, growling, wild wind that clawed through their leaking walls.

The boy’s heart ached as his mother’s whisper turned to a sob, and he wished longingly that he had money to get them coal for Christmas. But he had nothing – until the wind swept an idea into the room. William brushed his black hair out of his face along with the cold, dark thoughts, and fell asleep smiling.

The plan recycled itself through his head the next morning when he catapulted into the snowy streets. Every night on Christmas Eve, St. Nicholas appeared in the town square to spread gifts to children gathered there. But before he did, he always asked if they had been good that year, else they would get naught from him but coal. A bag of coal, and just for being naughty!

William’s first victim was a horse and carriage. He darted in front of a strutting gray mare, shouting and waving his hands until the horse reared back in terror, nearly slamming the carriage into an iron railing. There, he thought grimly. Surely that was naughty enough for a bag of coal. But as he spun around to leave, the driver clambered out of his seat and rushed toward the boy, whose eyes widened as he was met not with a box to the ears, but an embrace.

“Oh! What a brave one ye are, lad! M’horse wouldna be prancin’ so pretty if na for thee. Who could ha made so deep a pit right in t’middle o’ t’street, I canna fathom, but I bless the good Lord who sent thee today.” The old man winked and pressed a silver-wrapped chocolate into the boy’s palm. He watched blankly as the driver remounted and carefully maneuvered his steed around the snow-covered hole. All that risk for nothing! Ah well, at least he had thought of a second plan.

William shuffled slowly along the sidewalk, waiting for an older boy and girl to pass. When they did, he rushed between them, holding a sprig of mistletoe above their heads. The boy and girl stopped and glanced at each other with delighted smiles of recognition, then at the leaves in the air. The older boy chuckled awkwardly. The girl blushed and murmured something. Suddenly, to William’s horror, they kissed, right under his hands! He drew back in disgust, but not before the girl had pressed a golden butterscotch into his hand.

“I’ve been waiting so long,” she whispered happily. “Thank you. And Merry Christmas!” The boy only nodded in confusion and stumbled off, leaving the two talking and smiling together. How could this have happened again? At this rate he was never going to get his coal!

But as the afternoon wore on, each new plan was received with gratitude and a piece of candy instead of the angry words he eagerly anticipated. Why was it so hard to be naughty now, and so easy the rest of the year when he tried to be good?

Finally, as night arrived, William had one last chance. There sat a bag coal, waiting temptingly on the doorstep of a shabby house for him to snatch it up and race home. But his hand was stayed by snatches of a carol sung in a sweet, high voice nearby. “Do you know what I know? A child, a child, shivers in the cold – let us bring him silver and gold, let us bring him silver and gold!”

The boy stopped. He pulled his thin jacket closer around him and closed his eyes miserably. If the High King had given up Paradise to shiver in a cold stable that he might warm the icy, sinful heart of all the world, how could he steal warmth from a stranger who might need it more than he? William knew the answer: he couldn’t. He would gather some wood from the park, and though it wouldn’t burn long, it would warm his family for a bit. And at least he had the candy.

But William gazed at his handful of gold and silver sweets in his palm, and then looked up to see the caroler standing near. She was very small and thin, with dirty red hair and hollow cheeks. Her eyes were bright, and she was smiling at him.

All at once he stood up and held out the candy. The girl gasped with delight. Then she caught up the bag of coal behind him and held it out too. “Take it, please,” she beamed. “It’s an extra bag. We call it Christmas Coal.”

*********************

Prompts Used:

Ah, that was fun. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed reading it, dears! And since this post is so short, I thought I’d include some of my favorite Christmas songs/videos I discovered this year. The first one is hilarious, and the other two are just beautiful (and did you know the second one is sung by a fifteen-year-old?!). ♥ Let me know which one was your favorite, and Merry Christmas! 😀

***Allison***

Ahem. I Have an Announcement.

December 12, 2017December 13, 2018 | Allison

Warning: this is going to be a loooong post. Our cat Jinx is prepared to dive in with you if you’re ready to go with him. All set? Okay.

Ahem. GUYS. I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU. Something I have been waiting to announce for almost a year. I am super excited but also super sad to say…

Continue reading →

Light Shine Bright

December 8, 2017 | Allison

Guys, if you like Christmas (or Christmas lights), bokeh, light painting, or all of the above… go look them up on Pinterest. I’M KIDDING. That’s what this post is about, of course. (Lights, not Pinterest.)

Ahem. The other day Megan and I took some light painting pictures, and I think they turned out great! Well… most of them. Okay, actually most of them look neat, but failed. XD

We took turns “drawing” in the air with a flashlight, while the other person used my DSLR to take a picture with a very long exposure, ranging from maybe 15 seconds to 30 seconds to capture all the movement. I love how you can also see the stars in the background in some of the pictures.

The first Megan tried the classic smiley face, but it was harder than it seemed. XD This one is more like a smirk…

Aha, much better. His vision is probably a bit lopsided, but hey, at least his eyes twinkle. 😛

Speaking of eyes, I tried (and mostly failed) to do an eye painting. IT IS SO CREEPY. Also you can see my tennis shoe underneath if you look closely. XD

BAHAHAHA THIS IS SO FUNNY. I think Megan was trying to draw a stick person on ground or something?? It looks like it’s skiing down the hill. XD

ALSO REALLY STRANGE. Those hipbones look a bit… disjointed, shall we say?

My squiggly city skyline.

Heh. It is REALLY hard to light paint a lot of letters in thirty seconds. Try to guess what this says, and I’ll tell you below the picture:

It was supposed to be “light shine bright.” XD Oh dear…

OOH. This is one of the funniest fails: Megan was trying to draw a tree here. But doesn’t it look exactly like a fist punching the sky? SO. FUNNY.

The second attempt at a tree. *blinks* Well, it’s certainly the most… interesting tree I’ve seen.

ANOTHER FAILED WORD THINGY BY ME. You might be able to read it, though.

Yep, it’s hello. I actually really like the next one, by Megan. It’s not perfect, but it’s cute. 😉

And that’s the end of the flashlight painting! I also took a few night lights pictures, because you can get some super neat effects with long exposure. Like these starbursts on the chicken houses.

OH I LOVE THIS ONE. It’s a long-exposure picture of a car driving by, hee hee.

MEGAN IS A GHOST. To make this picture, all you need to do is set your camera to a long exposure, and have someone stand in one place for a few seconds, quickly move to another spot, stand there, and so on.

Okay, so much for that stuff. Now we move on to the Christmas bokeh! Woop woop! First up are some artistic bokeh-picture of our Christmas tree (which I posted about previously).

ISN’T THIS SO NEAT?!

I got the idea from Pinterest, and it’s way easier than it might seem: simply cut a circle of paper to fit your camera lens, cut or punch a design out of the middle, tape it on and voila! You can make the bokeh whatever shape you like.

I like this one because the colored lights from outside showed through the screen and gave the bokeh a strange but neat texture.

And lastly, some beautiful bokeh from the colored (and partially colored) lights that Megan put up on the front porch. I love how they look through the glass door!

Look at all that gorgeous light! ♥

SO. PRETTY.

Phew, that was a lot of light. O.o Which was your favorite: the light painting or the Christmasy bokeh? ISN’T BOKEH AMAZING?

Also, would you guys like to see a Christmas traditions post or not ‘specially? Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a Merry almost-Christmas! 🙂

***Allison***

O Christmas Tree…

December 4, 2017 | Allison

We got our Christmas tree Saturday! YAYYYYY! I actually almost forgot my camera, but Mom brought it for me because she wanted me to document this year especially (for a reason I will post about later). Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, I got pictures. Unfortunately most of them are “content over quality,” but hey, the content is good. 😉 Enjoy your virtual trip to the Christmas tree farm!

******************

On the way there I finally and triumphantly closed a debate my siblings and I have had for a long time: whether this strange white statue thingy you can barely see from the road is a dinosaur or a swan. Take a guess.

My camera will tell no lies (although things do get blurry sometimes). IT IS A DINOSAUR. JUST AS I SUSPECTED. I know this is an terribly awful and horrible picture (I cropped it a lot) BUT IT IS PROOF.

Ahem. Let’s move along now… the first thing I took a picture of at the tree farm was a chicken. Because I have never seen a chicken before. Or something. (The 27,000 chickens a few hundred feet from our house clearly don’t count…?) But in my defense, I don’t think I’ve seen a grown chicken without a comb. O.o

Wait, why am I talking about chickens and dinosaurs in a Christmas tree post? I suppose I just missed the trees for the forest… SORRY THAT WAS BAD, I KNOW. Okay, Allison, settle down. Trees. Show the people the tree pictures. Ahem.

This tree farm has a special “candy cane tree” for kids. Let me tell you now, it is LOADED.

After meandering around practically the whole place, as usual, we finally picked out pretty much the tallest one there was. Which unfortunately wasn’t very tall. We usually like to get a 7-8 foot one, but this was barely 6 once we cut it down. Oh well. There didn’t seem to be many tall trees at the other Christmas tree farms either, from what I heard, so I guess we’ll just have to settle with the one we have. 😉

“Timberrrrr!”

Some people used sleds to carry their trees back, but eh, we have boys. 😉

Me: “WHAT ON EARTH is Megan doing in this picture?! Ah yes, she’s sucking a candy cane.”

The poor little tree was so… well, little, that we had to prop up the stand with thick blocks of wood. XD It really helped, though. It looked a bit sketchy at first, but much better after we put the lights and ornaments on.

It was so much fun to listen to Christmas music and take out the ornaments one by one, telling their stories or making jokes about them, especially the terrible foam kindergarten ornaments. XD Three angels in particular induced a lot of laughter…

#1: The Terror-Inducing Angel: In the sermon on Sunday, our pastor was discussing angels and how they are probably not blonde-haired, blue-eyed, effeminate-looking men wearing long dresses like they are on Christmas cards (BAHAHAHA), because they’re always terrifying and awe-inspiring to people in the Bible. Anyway, Logan thought this angel he made a while ago was a terror-inducing angel because of his rather pronounced humpback and scraggly appearance (a little hard to see in the photo). HA HA IT WAS SO FUNNY.

#2: The Ninja Angel: UGH why is this picture out of focus in just the wrong place?? *Sigh* Anyway, we thought this angel looked like she was karate-chopping something. XD

#3: The Gift Angel: This one wasn’t so much funny as neat. Dad said they stopped and helped a lady fix a flat tire or some such thing on their anniversary trip, and she got their address and sent them this ornament later to the “angels” who helped her. Isn’t that so sweet?

Behind the scenes: Jeff reading a random book which happens to be The Daring Book for Girls. HA HA. Also, strangely enough, we somehow have Santa hats even though we don’t do anything else Santa-related? *shrugs* Hey, it goes great with oversized rocket pajamas, right? 😛

Another Santa hat? Actually, though, I really like this picture. 🙂

HA HA. Megan (referring to our cats): “Who votes that Jinx is better than Tom? ME!” Carmen, in a scandalized voice: “WHAT?!”

After the decorating was finished, Carmen and Mom made us some hot chocolate and we sat around the tree drinking it and talking and listening to Christmas music. It was lovely.

Well, mostly lovely… For some reason Megan and Jeff were compiling a list of synonyms for… let us say, “to toss one’s cookies.” *rolls eyes* That was gross. Oh dear, that’s siblings for you. 😛

Heh heh, so that’s the story of our Christmas tree this year! I hope you enjoyed it, despite the strange detours. 😉 Getting a Christmas tree and decorating it is one of my favorite holiday traditions. What’s yours?

***Allison***

P. S. Oh, and guys! My blogging friend (and fellow farm girl), Hayley, has started a YouTube channel! Her photography and videography are beautiful, and I always love her posts. ♥ So definitely check out her blog and channel and maybe even follow them both. 🙂

More Poems

November 24, 2017November 26, 2017 | Allison

Hey, guys! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving if you live in the U. S. I sure did! Each of our three celebrations was delicious, and it was fun getting together with family. 🙂

Anyway, today I decided to share a few more of my poems, since you guys seemed to enjoy seeing the last ones and I seem to enjoy writing them. 😛 Again, they’re unrhymed poetry because number one, I am NOT very good at putting my thoughts into the boundaries of rhyme, and number two, I like the free, flowing feel of unrhymed poetry. Don’t get me wrong, rhyming poetry is amazing too, I’m just not good at it. XD

Ahem. I shall begin.

********

sky soup

the sky is

a bright bowl turned over,

set upon the earth,

filled with clear blue broth

and floating mashed potato clouds,

peppered with black birds.

{picture via Pinterest}

old one

skin crinkled and wrinkled

like a brown paper bag,

crumpled and creased

year after year,

until it is smoothed out,

soft and mellow from

the crush of Time’s hand,

lined with the paths

that the smiles and tears

left behind.

{picture via Pinterest}

galaxies

my eyes are galaxies

with a star for every time

they didn’t come back

and I was left again –

one star among millions

and yet alone in space.

but each time they left,

I stood up again

and swallowed my tears,

adding more stars

to my galaxies,

hoping that my eyes

would shine bright enough

next time,

that they would see this light

in the darkness

and come back for me again.

raindrops

drumming.

pounding.

whispering.

tapping.

fast free falling.

sticking without glue

to everything they touch,

but only for a time and then

moving on again,

sliding sadly downwards.

weeping

to leave everything behind.

wavering, shivering,

quavering, quivering,

collecting, reflecting,

greens and grays together.

a drop reaches

the edge of the window

and

falls

off.

talking rocks

what if

there is a rock somewhere

that watched as the world was made;

that saw its perfect beauty break

into a thousand sharp thorns;

that carried the footstep

of the first fallen humans –

and the only perfect one –

on its back;

that felt the first drop of blood shed

and will feel the last;

that was thrown at martyrs

and held by kings

look closer at the next pebble

you kick down the road,

and wonder what stories

are locked inside its silent heart.

abandoned house

blank eyes,

a dusty soul,

a cobwebbed heart.

broken teeth,

a dry mouth,

a creaking voice.

but when the breeze passes by

and lifts the tangled weeds

from the old mat in front,

you can hear the old house

still whispering, “welcome.”

orion

what would it be like

to recline among the stars,

held together with twinkling joints,

drinking big dipperfuls of the Milky Way

and conversing with

the man in the moon?

***********

Ahh, that was fun. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed reading those, dears – I’d love to hear which one was your favorite!

Which do you prefer, writing poems or stories? Poems are easier for me (mostly because they don’t have a plot, heh), but stories are fun too. 🙂

***Allison***

Photo by Gansforever Osman #culturainquieta

~Etcetera~

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 | Allison

Guys, I have SO many extra photos. And that happens pretty much all the time. So I decided to make a new little series: these “Etcetera” posts will have random photography as well as recent life, thoughts… etc. XD (kind of like monthly wrap-ups, but different). I hope you enjoy reading them!

Now, where to begin? I have SO much to cover. Aha, Maggie is a good subject to start with.

Maggie

I was trying to take a picture of Maggie’s eye but she kept MOVING. XD I did get this one good one, though:

I also got some other, less close-up shots of her. I just love all of Maggie’s expressions, hee hee. It looks like she’s saying, “Aww, you shouldn’t have,” don’t you think?

Such a pretty pup. ♥

It looks like she’s praying. 😛

Dad just finished combining (harvesting corn) for the year. WOOHOO! Now maybe we can jump in the grain bins…

Mini Sister’s Photoshoot

Speaking of fields, Megan and I (and Maggie) did a little mini photoshoot in the soybean field while it was golden green and brown. Isn’t the lighting AMAZING?

If you guys like my photography/lifestyle posts, you should totally check out Emmaline Figura’s blogs, Lucillian Photography and Crystal Ice Studio! Her photography is AMAZING – she deserves so many more followers!

I love this picture, but it sure took a while to clone out the soybean that so rudely butted in front of Megan’s chin. XD Humph, I shouldn’t have said that. Now you’re all probably inspecting Megan’s chin…

Megan got a few pictures of me but most of them didn’t turn out or I had a weird expression, heh heh. This is probably the best one. Still have a weird expression. XD

Guess what? My younger brother and I were driving to piano lessons today, and when we got there we found that one of my car’s tires was completely flat. O.o But guess what again? My brother changed it himself, while I was having my lesson! I really want to learn stuff like that – I’m much better at art than mechanics. XD

Sunset Bokeh

The sunset did capture well on my camera, but it did make for some neat silhouettes and bokeh!

Singing hymns is one of my favorite things at our church. The congregation sings beautifully, and it’s glorious when we do an a capella verse. ♥ I like singing for things like that, but not enough to take voice lessons or anything. I usually just hum and whistle at home. 🙂

Do you guys have any special plans for Thanksgiving? We’re having three different celebrations because we have a rather large extended family. 😉 Are you traveling? We aren’t – most of our family lives quite close by. But if you are, here’s a tip: salty snacks like chips really take carsickness away. Well, I mean they help if you eat them. They won’t do much good just sitting there by your seat.

Flowers

Dad and the kids always pick out a hanging flower basket for Mom for Mother’s Day, and it lasted all the way into late fall this year! Isn’t it pretty?

Ugh, I have to write a 15-30 page research paper for school. *Long sigh* At least we’re taking this week off for Thanksgiving!

We also have a rose bush (well more like a rose vine) by our door, and it’s a weird mix of knockout-type roses and “real” roses, as we like to call them. There are usually only a few “real” roses a year and this was one of them. ♥

To find the rose you must first get past the thorns. To find the rainbow you must first walk through the storm. Bad things make the good more beautiful. And always remember, my dear, there is beauty even in brokenness.

GUYS. LOOK AT THIS PHOTO! I just pressed the button and the moth behind just happened to fly in at the right moment. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Pretty butterflies + pretty zinnias – my photobombing car = a mildly pretty picture.

The Big Apple

We have one very old apple tree that usually produces nothing but food for worms. XD However, this year it actually grew real apples and they were DELICIOUS! I don’t know what kind they were, but they were stupendous. And I found this one extremely large apple – see? (The one on the right is a more normal-size one.)

It weighed 15 OUNCES. ALMOST A POUND.

Golden Garden

These might be some of my favorite pictures ever! I just love the golden lighting so, so much, especially with the golden tones of the flowers. ♥

Sometimes I feel wise and knowledgeable, and then I wonder if that simply means I still have so much to learn. I guess that happens when you’re a teenager, huh? 😛

(Side note: I rather dislike the word “teenager” for some reason. Don’t exactly know why.)

And would you look at all that bokeh? AHHHHH.

This picture seems relaxing, like you can feel the sun and hear the breeze through the willow branches. 🙂 I can sort of remember planting this willow tree, even though it’s quite a good sized tree now – it’s a curly willow so it grew SUPER fast.

This isn’t really a garden, but it’s golden. Even dust is beautiful when the sun shines through it.

I think cameras can make anything beautiful. In fact, here’s a challenge: find three things you think are ugly and try to take a beautiful picture of them.

Etcetera

We also have two black and two English walnut trees in our yard. I strongly dislike the bitter taste of black walnuts, but English walnuts taste great! (They’re the kind you get in stores.) We don’t usually shell these though, because it’s a lot of work for not much result. Have you tried black walnuts?

This is rather random, but I wanted to take a picture of a begonia blossom from my grandmother’s hanging flower pot because I noticed the beautiful, intricate curlicues in the center of the blossoms. I love the little things like this. 🙂

I got a picture of my youngest brother pressure-washing one of the wagons. 🙂 His birthday was today, actually! The frame was supposed to be transparent but it’s showing up black here…? I hope it works once I publish the post, but I’m doubtful.

I like the way shadows look on this barn. 🙂

And now we have come to the end of this post. Wow, Allison, what a moving conclusion. *clap, clap*

ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed reading this gathering of orphaned thoughts and photos. 😛 I know it was an enormous post, but I’m only half-sorry because phew, I now have a large chunk of my random photos squared away. XD I don’t think Etcetera posts will usually be this long, though, if I do them in the future. Which category/picture/random thingy was your favorite? Do you think Etcetera posts would make a good series or are they too random and scattered (because I would kind of agree with you on that XD)?

Have a wonderful day, dears, and thanks so much for reading. ♥

***Allison***

CPC #6: ~ e x p e d i t i o n {Part 2} ~

November 18, 2017November 12, 2018 | Allison

GUYS, THIS IS THE LAST CPC. :O I’ve enjoyed coming up with ideas for this super neat and creative challenge, but I will also be glad to get back to normal posting. 🙂 I hope you like this final entry: the sequel so many of you guys requested to my last CPC post. Here’s a little refresher from the previous story…

And so as they walked slowly back to Aeryn’s house, he gradually pulled their past out of the mist. And the twins, listening with wide eyes, almost wished it had stayed there.

Ready to uncover the secrets of the twins’ past? Okay, let’s do this.

Prompts Used: 2

Photos Submitted: 2

Art Submitted: 5

Total Points: 17

~ e x p e d i t i o n {Part 2} ~

“All this started way far back and a long, long time ago; so far and so long that you have to close your eyes to see the palm trees waving and close your ears to hear the ocean whispering at you.

There now, you see it? That’s my island. It isn’t really mine, but I like to think so, and that’s where the problem is. Everybody likes to think it’s their island.

“As far back as our minds can reach, there were two different kinds of people who lived there and two different kinds of people who wanted it for their own. One was white like you, one was black like me. And they hated each other. If you set your foot on the wrong side of the island, the side where the other folks’ lived, you weren’t gonna come back anytime soon. In fact, you weren’t coming back at all.

“Both people invented all sorts of ways to hurt each other, and the worst way was banishment. They built a rickety ol’ boat whose main feature was its leakiness, then they trussed you with vines, plopped you in that boat and shoved you off to drown, starve, sink, or all of the above. Sometimes, the two sides even banished their own people, particularly if they weren’t strong or looked funny. See, both sides thought maybe if they weeded out all the weak people, they’d finally be strong enough to conquer the other side.

“But sometimes the weak ones were really the strongest and we didn’t even know it. There was this girl…” Terence swallowed hard. “I’m mighty ashamed to tell this part, but I have to. There was this girl who looked the strangest I’ve ever seen. Some of her skin was black and some was white, all splotched and patched together.

Tasha. Perfect! — *via Pinterest* (Not my picture.)

“We hated that girl. I hated that girl. We wanted to banish her, but she was the chief’s daughter and he wouldn’t let us, even though he was always banishing other people. But one day we gave him the slip and sent her off, thinking we’d seen the last of her.”

“But we were wrong. A couple months later, she was back in a better boat, and she had a white girl with her that had one brown eye and one blue.

“And they were friends. Her story is awfully interesting too, but my stomach says there’s no time to tell that one right now.” Terence stopped for a moment on the steep path and panted. “Hey, are we close to your house by any chance? My stomach sure is mad at me.”

“We’re about halfway,” Aeryn said impatiently, “but you haven’t finished the story yet. You didn’t get to the part about us.”

Terence winked at the girls. “Alright, I s’pose a few more minutes without food isn’t gonna make a difference when I’ve managed for two days without it so far.”

Tasha looked horrified, but clamped her mouth shut when Terence began again. “Okay, where was I… oh yeah. When those girls came back, something changed. Their friendship and the fact that Kalea survived shocked my people straight off the wrong path and onto the right one. We realized we would be strongest when we united instead of divided ourselves. And we came up with a plan.

CPC 3 (1280x881) — Very strange, I know. XD

“There’s a legend that the white prince started the scorn of weakness because his sisters were… different, somehow. We don’t know how because the prince’s father was so ashamed of them he made sure to keep them hidden – or perhaps they disappeared or died. It’s anyone’s guess. Anyway, the prince’s first act as ruler was to banish the two white twins of a palace servant because twins were not normal, and in his eyes, bad.”

Tasha’s eyes widened. “Where the twins us?”

Aeryn scowled when Terence nodded ‘yes.’ “We never stood a chance, did we?”

“That’s the sad part – you did, once. The prince used to love you two, and your parents were his close friends or something, even though they were servants. The prince was just a normal boy growing up, but as soon as he became ruler, something happened. No one knows what, but suddenly even the sight of someone different blew his top, and it’s said that your parents had something to do with it.”

“Who were our parents?” Tasha and Aeryn asked together, breathless.

Terence shrugged. “Don’t know. Your whole family and past is kinda covered in mystery. The prince took care to keep it that way. But even so (or maybe because of that), you girls have become a sort of legend on our island. I still can’t believe you girls are alive and that I found you!”

Aeryn looked thoughtful. “Yeah, but how did you find us anyway? Where you looking for us?”

“Well not you, specifically, but for people like you who had been banished and might have survived like Kalea did. We figured if we found some of the people the white prince banished, they would be so grateful that we rescued them, they would join us. See, we need all the help we can get if we’re going to unite the island again. And if you girls joined us… well, maybe you could shock the prince back on track too. If you lead us, my people will follow.”

The twins paled. Leave their beloved island to lead a people they didn’t even know existed, in a place they’d never heard of before? Talk to the very one who had banished them?

Aeryn stopped at a tall tree and said shakily, “Let us… let us think about it for a while. Everything happened to us at once. Our whole world and everything we thought we knew exploded in the space of a few hours, and we’re still reeling. But,” she said, trying to smile, “in the meantime, welcome to our… I mean my home!” Terence stepped leaned back to see the tree house and whistled appreciatively.

The girls jumped.

“How did you make that sound?” Aeryn asked curiously. “The one that sounded like a bird?”

Terence raised his eyebrows. “You mean whistling? Shucks, you girls sure have a lot to learn. But don’t worry, I’ll teach you. Up we go, huh?”

Aeryn climbed nimbly up the rope ladder, but Tasha climbed slowly and shakily. “Hey, don’t worry, Tasha,” Terence called from a few rungs below her. “If you fall, I’ll catch you.” He smiled his easy smile at her and she smiled back shyly. Finally they reached the top, and he whistled again when he opened the rough wooden door.

“This is pretty good for two girls, I have to admit! Say, where’d you get all this stuff? And what’s this?” He pointed to a rusty woven-wire basket on wheels that held a pile of treasures – old tin cans, pretty pebbles and bits of sea glass, and a jumbled mess of other things he’d never seen before.

Tasha beamed proudly. “The sea gave them to us. This thing was one of the things we found on our first expedition. We were so little we could hardly drag it up here.”

She selected a battered up pan from the driftwood shelf and set about preparing some clam soup for Terence, who was running his dark hands over the rusty metal cart. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It certainly didn’t come from our island.”

Suddenly his eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. “Wait. I just thought of something. All the sudden everything makes sense. What if the prince banished you because you were from another island, one that he was afraid of? The one that all this stuff came from? Maybe he used your “weakness” as an excuse to banish you. Maybe that wasn’t the real reason.” He put his hands on their shoulders and looked into their eyes. “Tasha, Aeryn… we need to figure out your past. It just might be the key to my people’s future.”

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Dun-dun-DUNNNN! I know that was a cliffhanger, but you’re going to have to wait to see how it turns out… maybe for a long time. XD While I was brainstorming this story, I got an idea for a whole series! Kalea’s story would probably be the first book, the twins’ story would be the second, and I don’t know about the rest. So maybe one day I’ll write a whole book about the twins and you’ll get to see what happens! Maybe… 😛

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, dears, and thanks for reading!

***Allison***

{Welcome to Our Room}

November 13, 2017November 12, 2018 | Allison

Hello, dears! How goes life?

Megan and I recently changed our bedroom a bit, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a room update. (You can see my first new room redecorating post here, and second here.) I also wanted to mention a few tips and tricks for making your bedroom fresh and bright and pretty – not that I’m an professional interior designer or anything. XD

Ahem. Let us begin the tour. Won’t you step inside?

Welcome to our room. Please pardon Jinx, our cat. He looks like a black boulder. O.o

Right next to the door we have Megan’s bulletin board filled with random stuff, but mostly pictures and NeedtoBreathe lyrics. XD

(Ugh, sorry for the AWFUL picture quality! This corner doesn’t get much light.) Our small but tiny bookshelf holds on top of it a framed graphic print (made by Megan) and a spiky plant that resembles green onions but is nonetheless cute. The middle shelf is currently missing the KOTLC series because our cousin is borrowing it. 😉

The mantel doesn’t look much different than it has in previous bedroom posts, so…

And now we’re at the dresser. More on that later.

Okay, now for the light garland! I love the string of lights above our bed. ♥ (They’re from Hobby Lobby, by the way.) They aren’t fairy lights, but I think they’re just as pretty. It makes the room so cozy and, well, aesthetic. 😛 Oh, and that’s Megan, listening to Christmas music BEFORE IT’S EVEN THANKSGIVING. *sigh*

Interesting story: Shutterfly had a “101 free 4″X4″ prints” deal (you had to pay for shipping, though), so Megan and I ordered it! :O Megan wanted to hang some of the pictures in between our lights, and while I was a bit skeptical at first, I think it looks lovely now! All of the photos up here are of our bunnies, except one of Megan and one of me. 😉

This is my bed, starring Jinx (again), an elephant I made in sewing class, and a canvas I painted when we first redecorated.

Also starring… a quilt made in sewing class and Megan looking at the iPad.

I wanted to make a picture mosaic with some of the other 101 photos, and I’m rather pleased with how this turned out too! I chose only the cool-colored pictures from our selection so it wouldn’t be too overwhelming.

While we’re here, this is our beloved fuzzy cube. Pretty much the only change in this corner is the (also fuzzy) needle-felted fox I made. He may feature in a later post. 😉

Now for our plants. One day we had a friend over and since we were bored, we decided to name all of our plants. Heh.

First up we have Rapunzel, who is rather hard to get a picture of, but her hair reaches all the way to the floor. Impressive, no? (Also, yes, those are random clay things in the pot.)

On the dresser we have Finley…

And Einstein, a new addition. Don’t you think the name fits perfectly?

Here’s Einstein’s brother, Sylvester.

This is Droopy.

This is not a plant. This is me. Hiiiii! 😀

And then we have our plant rehabilitation center (aka, the spot in front of the window). In the foreground we have Cottontail (it’s a Rabbit’s Foot fern), and then in the background we have Puff the Magic Fern on the left and Miss Crispy on the right. *sigh* I do hope they recover.

And… that’s about it for the room tour! Before we leave, here are my three simple but helpful tips for a fresh, clean look. I hope they help!

My tip-top top tip is to declutter your room. This is seriously the best thing you can do. Go through your stuff – the little knickknacks lying on your dresser, papers poking out from your bed, clothes piled on the floor – and either give away the extra, throw it away, or put it into a nice container, box, or basket so it doesn’t sprawl all over the place. Don’t like cleaning your room? Trust me, this will help. If you don’t have as many things to get out, you won’t have as much to put away!
Okay, that probably wasn’t a very popular tip, huh? XD But you try it and tell me if I’m wrong! Anyway, my next tip is to choose a limited color palette. Our colors are mint green, white, and purple, but mainly mint green (obviously). Keeping your decorations to two or three different colors really helps your room look more fresh, clean, and pretty, especially if you choose light colors.
Which reminds me. Choose a light color scheme. Now, this isn’t necessary of course, but light, bright colors like white, mint, light blue or pink, etc. make your room seem fresher, bigger, and even cleaner! This is important for the wall color, especially. But if you can’t change your wall color, don’t worry, the first two tips will still help a ton, and you can make your decorations are light. 😉

Well, that’s all I have for today! I hope you enjoyed the room tour. 🙂 What was your favorite part of our room? If you’d like to see more details on the parts I didn’t cover, make sure to check out my other room posts (linked at the top of this post).

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day, dears!

***Allison***