NaNoWriMo

I am currently 41,400 words into writing a story that includes floors like these.

The Bicycle Holiday

Spinning

Harry, another day we will feel better about this
And we'll go through yellow yards, to the library lions
closing our eyes, spinning in autumn.

Harry, another day we will feel better about things.
And we'll dance through yellow yards, like a dress on the line,
closing our eyes, losing this:

I know nothing about so many, too many things,
I see I have come to the wall, come to the ending of me again.

I don't know. I...no.
What are you saying? Why don't you just-
Isn't this, isn't this funny Harry? All of this:

I know nothing about so many, too many things;
I see I've come to the wall -

I'm turning around now
I'm spinning around now


- THE INNOCENCE MISSION

Le Petit Prince

Under a new moon
Suspended in flight
I heard laughter
Clear and bright
Black canvas above
Speckled with starlight
Made me remember
That long ago night

I'm a man with a youngish soul
And the grown-ups never know
That the things you never see
Are more important than
This world they take so seriously

So I lived all alone
With no one to speak
To until the great smash
Where you found me and asked
Please, draw me a sheep

Though you wouldn't hear me
You have tamed me
Made me ever haunted
By the sheep's small muzzle
And the flower's fate

Whether skies are clear
Or flying stormy
There's one star
In the world for me

Move your chair over
Watch another sunset
From here I see you
Clearly with my heart

E.G.K. | 2011

The Fruit of my Labors

Djaq did the cover.

Mel did the Lovely Illustration. (Not to be confused with the other one.)

I did the middle part. (This is where Aunt Mel shows up. So Mel inspired that, too.)

I'm pleased.

G.K.Chesterton on Libraries

The room was comfortably lined with books in that rich and human way that makes the walls seem alive; it was a deep and full, but slovenly, bookcase, of the sort that is contsatly ransacked for the purpose of reading in bed.

From Manalive!

A Week

This is a set of cards I drew recently to post in my Etsy shop. They make me so happy, I wanted to share some more of the pictures I took with anyone who happens to stop by. :)

Family Culture

The girls at church were talking about siblings. We talked about how growing up in families, we don't know how to interact with people. For one, because whenever we go in public, we shadow our siblings, depend on (and annoy) each other, and never stand out on our own because we never have to. So we don't really know how to be autonomous people.

Then one friend began talking about something that set me thinking. She said how in her family, they tease each other a lot. And she didn't realize that not everyone is like her family. So you end up hurting people. You don't realize that you can't treat other people the way you treat your family. Because they grew up in different homes, and don't know how to deal with what your family understands. Each family has its own culture.

With my family, we don't tease each other that much. With us, we are always in this unknowingly intense pursuit of understanding and knowledge. So when we are having a conversation, as soon as we understand (or think we understand) what a person is saying, we cut them off and begin on the next step of the conversation, in pursuit of the end. This is especially strong in me, because I like to know much more than I like finding out. I like it when things are explained quickly. I don't like to wait. Interruption means nothing rude (well. . . most of the time) in our family. We understand that it means we are understood, and the other person is eager to reply to us.

Well, interrupting isn't an exactly socially acceptable practice. I caught myself doing it a few times, and thought, "oh, people don't understand what this means. I actually have to wait and let them finish their sentence." This past year, as I have been spending more time with other people's families, I have been noticing that families are not like the rest of the world. Each one has a subtly different culture. It's been kind of exciting, trying to figure out what it is that is important here, what can be done and what can't. Though mostly it's frightening. Because I'm going to mess up.

But families have cultures of their own. Maybe one thing, like jokes or interruptions, setting them apart from everyone else. Or maybe it is a good thing, like one set of manners held in high importance, that gets ignored by the rest of the world. And we children have to find out what it is that we can only do with our families and where we have to change. Or, where we have to change the world. 

A Bit of the Christmas Ball

I believe a good time was had by all. :)

We had the loveliest building ever, and Christian decorated it magnificently. There was lots of delicious and pretty food. Everyone came in their beautiful clothes and very best manners, and we danced five classic Regency dances.

This dance is called The Progressive Gordon.

The Books of 2010

Not that anyone particularly needs to know, but I love lists as much as I love books, so why not?


End the Fed
Jeeves and the Tie That Binds
The Theif
The Queen of Attolia
The King of Attolia
Whose Body?
Tuesdays with Morrie
Churched
The Man Who Was Thursday


Alex and Me
Crime & Punishment


Jane of Lantern Hill
Wuthering Heights
Locked Rooms and Open Doors
That Hideous Strength
A Conspiracy of Kings


Castle in the Air
Blink
Among the Shadows
The Doctor's Sweetheart & Other Stories
The Life of Henry the Fifth


The Innocence of Father Brown
The Wisdom of of Father Brown
Gifts Differing
The Incredulity of Father Brown
The Secret of Father Brown
The Wisconsin Story
The Scandal of Father Brown
The Great Divorce


The Princess and The Goblin
Our Mutual Friend
Do Hard Things
Start Here
Persuasion
The Tipping Point
Stepping Heavenward
Instead of Three Wishes
The Secret Adversary
Inferno


Princess Ka'iulani
The Little Prince
The Amazing D. Randall MacRae
House of Many Ways
Villette
How Many Hills to Hillsboro?
As You Like It
The Master of Ballantrae
Beauty


Gathering Blue
Don't Waste Your Life
1066 and All That
Partners in Crime
The Untold Story of the New Testament Church
The Merchant of Venice
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Screwtape Letters


And Then There Were None
Prince of Foxes
The Great Gatsby
Much Ado About Nothing
A Severe Mercy
Great Expectations


Quo Vadis?
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Flower and The Nettle
Purgatorio


An English Woman's Love Letters
Pride & Prejudice


Ordeal by Innocence
Hearts & Masks
The Princess Elopes
The Bronze Bow
Daddy Long Legs
Rebecca
Ladycake Farm
The Woman in White
The Wasteland, Prufrock, & Other Poems
The Flying Inn
The Tempest

(Most pictures found at book lovers never go to bed alone.)