Where I'm From

I am from dancing shoes and rollerblades, from books and the smell of Ivory soap.

I am from San Diego apartments, a small 19th century farmhouse and a 70s subdivision.

I am from Hyacinths and Lupines, from the farmland and faraway mountains.

I am from long road trips to visit cousins and reading in the bathroom, from "Irish outlaws" and "people from the hedge".

I am from noisy dinners, house projects and getting lost in books.

From "everyone get in the car" and "whoever's not here say your name"

I am from Catholicism, from the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

I'm from Milwaukee and San Diego; from Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, from bratwurst and cheese; spaghetti and sourdough bread.

From crutches, a broken wrist and driving to the Emergency Room with a stick in my leg.

I am from slideshows on a bed sheet with an old projector, dozens of computer files, many scrapook attempts, photo albums and seldom looked at baby books.

Introducing...

.... ChesterTeens!!!!!!!!!, An Unofficial Society for Teenage Chesterton Fanatics.
This is my new blog, well not just mine it is a group blog which is rapidly attaining more and more teenage chestertonians including adriana, now known as Gilbert Girl, who you may remember as one of my friends who sometimes posted on this blog and her sister Margaret both of whom started their own blogs as well as working on ChesterTeens.
I hope you check it out sometime, it is going to be a lot of fun.

My Summer Reading List

So many bloggers have been posting there summer reading lists I thought it was about time to follow suit and post mine. Although I don't think I will get close to finishing it here is my list......

Pride and Predjudice By Jane Austen
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
Ivanhoe By Sir Walter Scott
The Man Who Was Thursday By G.K. Chesterton
Heretics By G.K. Chesterton
A Tale of Two Cities (audio) By Charles Dickens
Sherlock Holmes By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
memorize one of Shakespeare's sonnets
Leave it to Psmith By P.G. Wodehouse
Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal By Robert T. Reilly
Big Johns Secret By Eleanor M. Jewett
The Merchants Mark By Cynthia Harnett
The Cargo of the Madelena By Cynthia Harnett
Presenting Miss Jane Austen By May Lamberton-Becker
The Strange Intruder By Arthur Catherall
Becky Landers, Frontier Warrior By Constance Lindsay Skinner
The Scarlet Pimpernel By Baroness Orczy (Don't worry I have listened to the audio book, I just haven't read the book yet)

....... pretty ambitious huh?

That's my main list but there are also these which I will read as soon as I can get my hands on them (they haven't come out yet)

John Paul 2 High By Christian M. Frank
Waking Rose By Regina Doman
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book 13 By Lemony Snicket
Harry Potter: Book 7 By J.K. Rowling

I might also reread some of my favorites:

The Lord of the Rings By J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shadow of the Bear By Regina Doman
Black As Night By Regina Doman
The Chronicles of Narnia By C.S. Lewis

Well there you have my lists, at the end of the summer I will post how many I actually read, I bet it will be a lot shorter list.

Update:
I finished Pride and Predjudice and my mom finished reading The Man Who Was Thursday outloud to us, these were both great, I hope my whole list will prove as enjoyable.

The Minnesota Conference- Post 2- Saturday

I'm back, posting on ( as our friends on The Shrine of the Holy Whapping would say) The 8th Annual Denim Skirt Invitational (isn't that a great name? I love it)
Anyways on saturday we had to get up at six for 7:15 Mass after staying up till midnight. But it was well worth the effort, Mass was beautiful. The chapel on campus is just gorgeous, and the music especially at Communion, and of course the atmosphere with so many homeschoolers all these thing made such a neat Mass, I loved it. At Communion first they sang this song that was really neat, I think of one of the choir had actually written it. Then they sang a song that I really like called Holy is His Name, and they sang it really well, it was amazing.
Then it was on to the vendor area. My friend,Liz, impressed everyone within hearing range with her violin skills, delighting us with classical and irish, it was awesome.
My mom gave two talks and then it was time to while away the hours until dinner with some other homeschool teens. You see, during the speakers banquet the kids of the speakers had to go somewhere, the answer, out to pizza. We had so much fun trying to eat pizza while joking, laughing and watching the amazing acting abilities of a young girl in our party.
Then everyone but Liz and I left and we decided before going to our dorms to check in with our moms. We made a good decision, sitting next to my mom was, Chesterton?, almost, Chuck Chalberg, Chesterton impersonator (very cool guy).
Then Liz and I went back to the dorms and talked for quite a while until our moms came back. We went to the lounge and talked about TAC until about midnight, went up to our seperate dorms and talked for about another half hour and then finally went to bed. (we sure did get alot of chatting in that day)

The Minnesota Conference- Post 1- Friday

My mom and I just recently returned from the minnesota conference. We drove up with friends, two kids and the mom from a family of seven. A girl who is several years older than me and a baby. You must imagine the six hour drive there, we were chatting the entire time, it was soooo much fun. Then we got to Minneapolis, then we got to the campus, it was beautiful. The buildings were just gorgeous and there was so much green and the weather was delightful too which made it even better. Well we got to the dorm, unpacked and then ran off to the Chesterton impersonator. We were a bit late but that was fine, I really liked it. It was the same guy who had done the quotes on the EWTN show. So it was really neat to see him in person. Then we went back and had a dorm party with some of my mom's friends from TAC then we went off to hear the dads panel, we were late again but that didn't matter much, it was really good, and funny. One dad would always start out his answer with a funny answer. Like when the question was. "What would you change about your homeschool?" He began "Nothing my homeschool's perfect!" then he set down the microphone then picked it up again and did his actual answer, but he was sooo funny. Well then we went back to the dorm got some food, hung out for a while then our friend took out her violin and started practicing. A while after she was finished we got invited to the dorm next door, where Mrs. Braga-Henebry and some of her friends were having a party, for her to play and I ended up dancing too, it was really fun. We stayed up kinda late and had to get up kinda early but that was ok, we had soooooo much fun.

Othercott

The best way to lessen The Da Vinci Code's success, go see Over the Hedge this weekend and make it the top movie in the box office.
Read more about it here.

Doodle (or maybe not)

I was doodling today, at least that's how it started, the result is this, probably one of my better pictures.

My New Background

Ever since my mom and brother discovered the possiblities with changing your blog look they have been anxious for me to follow suit. But we could not find the right background, until yesterday that is.

We were sitting at the local dance studio waiting for Bernie to get out of class. I had brought The Ballad of the White Horse (as usual). My mom, being rather bored, decided to read some of it out loud (we were sitting outside the studio). While thus engaged we realized that the illustrations of that book would be quite suitable for my blog.

The picture I chose is that of King Alfred dressed as a minstrel in the Danes camp about to sing his song (which I love). King Alfred was dressed in this poor attire to go about the country and see if his people would help him in overthrowing the Danes. It was on this journey that the famous story of Alfred and the cakes came about.

You see he had asked for dinner at a small cottage and the woman had consented if he watched her cakes that they would not burn, while she went to round up the sheep. He fell asleep on the job and when the old woman returned, she scolded him severly and likened his failing to watch the cakes to King Alfred's failure to watch the country. This along with the woman's assurance that her husband would help in an uprising, helped him a great deal in his decision to take the country back from the invaders.

Anyways back to his song, after many of the Danish lords sing their songs Alfred takes up the harp,

"When God put man in a garden
He girt him with a sword,
And sent him forth a free knight
That might betray his lord;

He brake Him and betrayed Him,
And fast and far he fell,
Till you and I may stretch our necks
and burn our beards in hell.

But though I lie on the floor of the world,
With the seven sins for rods,
I would rather fall with Adam
Than rise with all your gods." (305-310)

"What have the strong gods given?
Where have the glad gods led?
When Guthrum sits on a hero's throne
And asks if he is dead?

"Sirs I am but a nameless man,
A rhymster without a home
But since I come of the Wessex clay
And carry the cross of Rome

I will even answer the mighty earl
That asked of Wessex men
Why they be meek and monkish folk
That bow to the white lords broken yoke
What sign have we save blood and smoke?
Here is my answer then.

"That on you is fallen the shadow,
And not upon the Name;
That though we scatter and though we fly,
And you hang over us like the sky,
You are more tired of victory,
Than we are tired of shame." (330)

That thought you hunt the Christian man,
Like a hare on the hillside
The hare has still more heart to run
Than you have heart to ride

That though all lances split on you,
All swords be heaved in vain,
We have more lust again to lose
Than you to win again.

"Our monks go robed in rain and snow,
But the heart of flame therein,
But you go clothed in feasts and flames,
When all is ice within;

Nor shall all iron dooms make dumb
Men wondering ceaselessly,
If it be not better to fast for joy
Than feast for misery." (350-355)

"Therefore your end is on you,
Is on you and your kings,
Not for a fire in Ely fen,
Not that your gods are nine or ten,
But because it is only Christian men
Guard even heathen things.

For our God hath blessed creation,
Calling it good. I know
What spirit with whom you blindly band
Hath blessed destruction with his hand;
Yet by God's death the stars shall stand
And the small apples grow." (370-375)

Soon after, the Danes were put to flight by the determined Wessex Men led by King Alfred the Great. Although the untrustworthy Danes made trouble for long after, the peace to come would never have happened if it weren't for King Alfred.

My First Communion

Today is the sixth anniversary of my First Holy Communion. Wow I looked really different six years ago.

The elbow next to me is that of my cousin who shared the special day with me.

My Mom's First Communion was 28 years ago yesterday, both of ours came out on the same day as they had 6, and 28 years ago, pretty neat.

Update on My Ballad Memorization

In the last few days I have been working on my memorization alot, trying to make up for the month or so of neglect. Before I started this attempt I knew about forty-eight stanzas including seventeen I memorized in book three, I now knowseventy. My efforts have brought me up to and past one of my favorite stanzas,
The men of the east may spell the stars
and times and triumphs mark
But the men signed with the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.
I have three stanzas left to perfect my knowledge of in the first book before I begin my conquest of the next. Memorizing this is going to take a long time.