Red Falcons of Tremoine By Hendry Peart

At fifteen Leo, living at the Abbey of St. Michael in England in the 13th century, knows nothing about his past or parentage. The Abbot of the said Abbey alone knows the boy's history but tells him nothing until the heir of the house of Wardlock is killed in the crusades. Then after receiving permission from Sir Maurice (the current lord of Wardlock) the Abbot tells Leo that he is the heir not only to the house of Wardlock but also the heir to their traditional enemy the house of Tremoine. He is the child of a Romeo and Juliet sort of marriage, his father killed by his brother in law, Rolf and his mother dead soon after entrusting her son to the care of the Abbott. Much excited by this news, Leo leaves the Abbey and goes to live with his kind grandparents, Sir Maurice of Wardlock and his wife. Several happy months pass in the company of his grandparents. Then Leo visits the Abbey. Finding the Abbot absent he travels on to the place where his parents were married. There he is forcefully captured by his Uncle Rolf and forced to become heir to the lands of Tremoine. The Tremoine Temper is strong in both Leo and Rolf and clashes of will are frequent. Yet Leo's gentle side, prominent when not provoked, soon makes him friends among the castle residents and perhaps it is softening Rolf as well. In Rolf's castle unfolds an engaging tale of courage and forgiveness.

Unsharpened Colored Pencils can accomplish a good deal

I really enjoy "impromptu" or "lazy" colored pencil drawings. I have sat down at a table or at the top of the stairs and found within a very short distance (since I was to lazy to go search for better materials) hardly sharpened pencils and paper already drawn on on one side but the results are often better then some others I have drawn with much more preparation. The other day I did such a "lazy" drawing, and it turned out pretty well considering.

More Acrylics

I did an acrylic painting in art class of the chapel we visited last June when we went to the Minnesota Homeschool conference. I am posting both the picture I copied from and my acrylic so that you can compare the two. There are many flaws and differences from the original in my acrylic, but it was fun to do and I learned a lot in the process.

Back to Liber, Parma or whatever you want to call a book

Well I finally got myself into Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott and finished it rapidly, enjoying every minute of the time spent on it. This delightful story chronicles the entrance (and the time of about a year following it) of a shy orphan, Rose, into her large extended family, whom she had had virtually no contact with in her past life. The family she soon becomes acquainted with includes six lovable and attentive aunts, three kind uncles and seven delightful and rather rowdy boy cousins. After several weeks of unsuccessful attempts by the aunts to cheer up the downcast Rose, her uncle, Dr. Alec arrives. His prescription is many fold but includes no pills, but rather plenty of exercise and other unladylike activities. However odd it seemed to the aunts his method bore increasingly marked and marvelous results, including a wonderful story which I highly recommend.

Thus her health increases rapidly as does her good character. From sacrificing a day of fun for the pleasure of a maid or her precious earrings in order to keep her cousins from bad habits to being peacemaker and encourager to the seven boys Rose's adventures are sure to be interesting, amusing, touching, teaching or any mix of the above. A number of thought-provoking ideas and theories are held within the 200 and more pages in the form of very quotable utterances of the characters or commentary on the scene. To illustrate my point I quote "... in helping seven lads you are unconsciously doing much to improve one lass... "

Okay, enough blabbering for now... I don't want to bore you too badly.

Playing with Acrylics

Since we have been doing acrylics in art class I have also been expirementing with acrylics at home. I am having so much fun with them, I love mixing colors on and off the page. This is of a castle in Germany... at least I didn't trace it (:

Happy Birthday again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Pope Benedict XVI
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!

We have been discussing and loving two of his writings lately, Deus Caritas Est and Sacrumentum Caritatis, and so I can quote him for his birthday. This is is from Deus Caritas Est:

Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends.[30] But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God. Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God's presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love. He knows—to return to the questions raised earlier—that disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt to do without God. Consequently, the best defence of God and man consists precisely in love. It is the responsibility of the Church's charitable organizations to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity—as well as their words, their silence, their example—they may be credible witnesses to Christ.

Isn't that cool?????? So again,
Happy 80th Birthday Pope Bendedict XVI!!!!!!!!!!!! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is Risen, Alleluia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do watch this, it's awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Good Friday

We adore Thee oh Christ and we praise Thee

Because By Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Pope John Paul the Great

Seeing as tomorrow is the second anniversary of the death of our beloved Holy Father John Paul II and I absolutely love him, I'm going to try to pull together some kind of post. Be warned, if you actually plan to read this thing, prepare yourself for a discombobulated and crazy conglomeration of interesting facts, stories etc. That said, let us begin.

To begin with, for anyone interested in learning more about JPII, anyone who knows nothing about him but wants to learn something, or anyone who wants to see an incredible movie, find some way of seeing this, it is more then worth your time. It made me laugh, cry... and love Pope John Paul II. In fact it was mostly this movie that put him on my list of confirmation names. And I now am completely stuck trying to decide between him and St. Paul.
Anyways I also enjoy attempting to draw him as you may have noticed in these two previous posts. This evening I drew another picture of him, as you can see on the left.
Lastly I can't go without mentioning two years ago when he died. Not that I have incredible stories to share, but I watched hours of news coverage that did share incredible stories.

His life story is amazing, but I'm not the one to tell it, there is the movie that I mentioned above and there are dozens of books to explore.

Okay I warned you it was going to be a discombobulated mess, but there you have it.