New Blog Title and Abundant Harvest

I've decided to give this blog a new name.

The new name is "Hat Full of Hope," because one of the things that most saddens and frustrates me is seeing people around me who have no hope. No hope for the future of the world, or their life, no hope for their children. People like this always sound depressed and cynical. I'm guilty of feeling hopeless and sarcastic, but I try to fight it, because to be without Hope is not Christian. I may be naive and sheltered, as my dad says, but at least I have hope.

Today my mom had an Abundant Harvest thingummy. What an Abundant Harvest "thingummy" is: People sign up to get a weekly crate of fruits and vegetables from local(ish) farmers, along with add-ons like raw milk, nuts, extra fruit and vegetables, etc. My mom organized it for our town, and today I went with her to the drop. It was very cold, so I sat in the car and took pictures...

Lovely scenery. Well... I think it's lovely. :)



Less than lovely scenery in reflection, and Someone's Truck:



And this is fennel. It tastes like black licorice - no kidding. I like it, though.



That's all I have to say tonight...

Awarded

My dear friend (and Fairy Tale Forum "auntie"), Lady Rose presented me with this award.



Thanks so much, auntie! :D

Now, for who I want to give this award to... that's hard. I want to award it to everyone who visits my blog, really. Every comment you leave here really makes my day. Q is my very most faithful commenter, and I don't return the favor on her blog half enough! Grace's comments are always very long and full of life and joy - it's infectious, really. ;) Alyosha's comments nearly always make me snigger, and make me see things in a more Phlegmatic-Melancholy light that's good for me when my brain is like it is now (drowning in hot cocoa). And I always love hearing from my dear sister (ok, adopted online sister, but we really are sisters in Christ!) Miss C.N.W. and my adopted "Mother," Elenatintil.

But I think who I'd really like to give this award to is Courtney, a girl I met through the blogging world, by idly looking through the profiles of Bloggers who listed Bella in their favorite movies. As soon as I saw the banner at the top of Courtney's blog that said, "As for my and my blog, they will serve the Lord" I kept reading. She's a kindred spirit and when she leaves a comment on my blog, it brightens my day. Not only does she comment on what I've written, but she usually asks further questions and I always feel she's interested in my thoughts. Thanks, Courtney!

And many thanks to the rest of you "super commenters!"

He's a Music Man!

Last night my sisters and I went to our first rehearsal for The Music Man! It's an all-kids cast (grades K-12) with 29 leads/soloists, all (or nearly all) double-cast. Since it's a workshop thing, the auditions haven't happened yet. "Audition Preparation Night" is tomorrow, and the first auditions are on Sept. 24th. My sisters and I - and my mother - are all excited about this. For my sisters, it's their first play, and for me it's my first musical and my first experience with choreographed dancing. That's going to be the hardest part, but it will be good for me.

In other news, I'm going to change the name of my blog to something else. Something longer, something nicer, something more "me." Probably something from Shakespeare, or literature. I'm open to suggestions! On a side note, I discovered that "Voices" is the title of a Catholic women's magazine! :)

School is going mostly well. I dislike Geometry, but we get along alright most days. My history book is great, English is challenging, and Biology is easy and sometimes interesting, but it just doesn't interest me personally.

I finally finished Henry IV and The Hidden Treasure of Glaston - I liked them, but it felt like I was reading them forever! ;) Now I'm working on Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton, and I'm reading Father Brown stories aloud to my sister. We both love them.

Farewell

My book review blog "Books and Windows" is going to a better place. Well... erm... if you call cyberspace a better place. I'm going to put some of the reviews from there onto this blog over the next few days, and steal Elenatintil's (very good) idea and link to each review on my sidebar.

So if you ever read and liked one of my reviews on B&W, please tell me if there's any special review you'd like saved on here.

And a review of The Midnight Dancers is coming soon. It's practically finished, the only thing that keeps me from publishing it is the fear that it doesn't do the book justice. ;)

I'm Weak - And Back Early

I couldn't stay away 10 whole days. *shrug* Oh, well. I did stay away from blogging for eight days, so now to make up for it, you're getting a double update. Maybe even a triple. I FINALLY wrote something on The Shakespeare Journal - I'm sorry it took so long! My thoughts were all jumbled and it took a long time to get them all typed down - sort of like closing a suitcase with too many clothes inside of it. Anyhow, the post is on Miranda from The Tempest. Not scholarly or terribly interesting, but so what? ;)

When the play begins, she’s lived on an island with only her father and their hideous slave, Caliban since she was three years old. This naturally makes her relationship with her father very different from the relationship many girls have with their father. She confides in him openly, though she is rather a reserved girl, as a rule. Prospero is Miranda’s world, until Ferdinand comes along, much like Cosette and Valjean in Les Miserables. But unlike Cosette, Miranda still has room in her heart to love her father as before, while Cosette pretty nearly forgot Valjean. (Selfish girl. Grr.)

And I also hope to do a post on Books and Windows. Maybe. I'm not promising anything. *sigh*

The Roman Mysteries series one arrived in the mail! EEK! :D I'll do a post on that, as I promised to Alyosha and Rebekah. :)

I'm re-reading The Man Who Was Thursday. The other day I was overcome by an urge to read Gabriel Syme's speech to the anarchists out loud. It's rather over-the-top, because he's only pretending to be an anarchist himself, but it was fun to read out loud.

I went to see You Can't Take It With You, put on by the Shakespeare Festival I'm doing Comedy of Errors with. Twice, actually. It's such a hilarious play! I was so proud. I kept thinking, "This is my town. Some of these people are people I know." It was so great.

Speaking of The Comedy of Errors, our out-of-town director stopped coming to all our shows, so the director of Can't, Peter, (he runs the Shakespeare Festival) has taken over CoE. It's going to be so much funnier now. I also get to be in another scene, jeering at Egeon, the condemned Syracusian with some other townsfolk. Fun. :P We have a performance tonight. I'm excited - really, really excited. You would think I was the director.

In other theatrical news, we're going to see Wicked in August. Unless something happens that prevents us.

Well... that's all for now, I guess.

Introducing The Shakespeare Journal

Yes. Another blog. You'll all be wondering, "How will she ever have time to keep up with so many blogs!?" But I sort of needed this. Because of The Comedy of Errors, and because I need to take a test (and write an essay) on The Merchant of Venice, I have a lot to say about Shakespeare right now, though I'm hesitant to call myself a "purist" or even a big fan.

So, here it is. It will probably be semi-regular for the next few weeks... maybe. I don't know.

Enjoy...

Got MOLD?

MOLD: Mental Obsessive Literary Disorder. Have you got it?

I have. I and some of the girls on the Little Red Reading Hood message board started a support blog for those with this curiously contagious and chronic disorder. The blog is here. If you'd like to be a blog author, contact me (or any of the other girls on the blog).

And hold onto your MOLD.

I Swear It's Not...

I swear that The Midnight Dancers hasn't been a bad influence. I'm only up at 2:45 AM because I was typing up a review of it. It won't be up for a few days, I'm afraid. I haven't said all I want to say.

Goodnight.

If Only I Weren't So Wishy Washy!

"You could be king, Charlie Brown!
You could be king!
Lucy: If only you weren't so wishy washy."

Oh, if only I weren't so wishy washy! My blogging loyalties have now been split in half between Blogger and Wordpress. So, here is My Other Blog.

I'll try to keep up with both. You'll be able to check one or the other and read the same things. Unless I decide I like Wordpress better. Or Blogger. Hmm...

P.S. Ahem. In case you hadn't noticed, that link was the first I ever put on a blogpost. "I have solved the mystery!" ~ The Supermarket Mystery.