More hot off the press!

If you don't know what I'm talking about by "more" hot off the press, you'll have to read the explanation in my preceeding post. The first few are from the bibleschool's trip to Friendlies, which I mentioned a month or so ago. The other two are from the more recent youth weekend.

I love candid photos when I'm brave enough to take them! I finally got up my courage to try it out at Friendlies, and here is one of my results. Even though Bria appears to be looking at the camera, she really didn't know I was taking the picture until right afterward!
I love that girl.:)

Clyde and his 12-scoop "crowd pleaser" caused quite a stir!

I've found the secret of taking pictures of camera shy Megan--the telephoto lense! Since she was all the way down at the other end of the table, she was even partially oblivious to the fact that I was plotting her picture. She glances at the camera, and snap! I am satisfied.

I suppose when you heard about "bobbing in jello" you hoped that people took pictures. Yep, well I did! Or just a couple anyway (I might have more on my next roll, I don't remember). Here is poor Cara Beth braving her way through the hard-to-see-through messy stuff. But in case you can't tell, she had a fun time as well!

Here are the victorious jello smeared Cara and Becca!
Don't you just adore them?
(too bad I didn't get to Cara before she wiped her face first though--I almost asked her to stop for me but realized that would be too cruel since her team's time clock was running)

Comments would be lovely!
(e.g. "they're very messy;" "he's so ridiculous;" "she's so gorgeous")

Hot off the press

The problem with film cameras is that they're just too slow. I love film, but if you're trying to save money like me, by the time you get your film developed the pictures are a month old or so. What's more, if you're also like me, you don't get around to scanning them for another couple months and by the time you think of putting them on your blog they're ancient history! But today I'm changing that. So, although some of the pictures are still over a month old, I'm taking them on the very day I received them, scanning them, and putting them up for all the world to admire my latest masterpieces. Hence, I'm going to put up my favorites in two different posts.

The floating star candle that Meredith gave me for Christmas
(thanks Meredith!)

Um, this is a squashed pumpkin in our front yard. I found it hiding partly under our porch from last fall, and I thought "Color? Photo op!" So I stuck it on our front lawn and when the ice storm came I snapped its picture. The problem is that the ice froze it to the ground, and now it lies buried beneath the snow to wait until spring. Pleasant thoughts. . . .

My favorite sister trying out her new toy!

Three Blunders

Lately I've been e-mailing my posts to my blog in order to save time going on-line with dial-up. The problem with this is that I just discovered that one of my e-mails didn't get posted! Therefore, although this is nearly a week old and not as interesting (to me anyway) as my latest post, I shall not neglect the proper chronicling of my life, so here it is:

The blog, of all strange creations, is supposedly meant to report about your life. Unfortunately, if I were to truly report everything I did right here on my blog, it would not only be very uninteresting, but it would probably put you to sleep with its somnolence. However, I must report that if you didn't already know it, I just attended a youth weekend. So I gathered up all my personal belongings, crammed them into a duffel bag, and made the long 45 second drive down to join the ranks of all the other young folk who were arriving. And to put it in short, the weekend was spectacular. But then you probably aren't surprised at that, because aren't youth weekends supposed to be like that? Anyway, I hardly feel like reporting everything we did. Let it suffice to say that we had some swell meetings about the Holy Spirit, played games such as telephone pictionary, guess-the-person's-name-stuck-on-your-forehead (e.g. Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes), Moose, bobbing for candy in jello, snow sculpting, commercial making, scavenger hunts, spoons, fuse ball basketball, take-a-warball-and-hit-the-paper-bags-of-candy (some would call it a very ugly pinata), sledding, amazing games of ultimate frisbee, twists of warball, soccer, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture.

As I mentioned, we went sledding. Yaaaayyy! The majority of the young people went (um, maybe fifteen or so), and it was jolly fun coasting down the semi grand slopes of the golf course. Meredith the Southern gal even claimed that she had never been sledding besides in her back yard, which had accumulated a mere five inches of snow, so this was pretty much a brand new experience for her, which was neat. As we prepared to leave and go home, I went down the hill for my final time, and just felt like standing there before moving on. Then Josh (meaning the one from bibleschool), who was standing at the top of the hill, started to yell for someone, so I looked up and heard him calling, "Jonathon, come up here! Jonathon, come! Jonathon A_____ come up here this instant!"

I was puzzled.

Having a nagging suspicion, I looked around, and saw Jonathon sitting calmly in his sled at the top of the hill a little ways down from Josh. He seemed to be turning curiously in response to Josh's order, perhaps trying to figure out how he was supposed to turn and obey if he wasn't disobeying in the first place!(or maybe he wasn't thinking such noble thoughts, but reading little boys' minds is beyond me) I then glanced all around me and realized with a shock that I was the only one at the bottom of the hill. Josh was mistaking me for a five-year-old boy! Oh my goodness! Still uncertain, despite the horrifying evidence, I yelled back up the hill, "Jonathon is over there!" I pointed. There was a pause, as Josh turned to verify my statement. Who knows what mortified thoughts might have been flooding through is mind just then, but if he was at all embarrassed, he did little to show it, and only replied, "Oh, I thought you were Jonathon." Jonathon, indeed! As Joe March from Broadway would say (or rather sing), "The nerve! The gall!"

Ugh. I made a mistake of my own. We were playing sports, my water had run out, and I was extremely thirsty. Very bad combination. I also knew that if I didn't drink something before going on to the next sport, I would probably start to feel sick. So I hurriedly ran out to stuff snow into my water bottle in hopes of it melting. Too impatient, I took a handful, stuffed it into my mouth, and started to go back inside. "Puh!" I spat it back out. In my eagerness to relieve my dehydration, I hadn't observed the snow very carefully. Actually, I couldn't really scrutinize it at all because it was too dark outside. So because of this I had managed to cram a bunch of dirty snow into my hatch! What a rude awakening. . . I then had to attempt cleaning out the grit from my teeth by spitting as much of the dirt out as possible (outside in a safe spot of course). As some great genius once put it, "Ew."

The next morning I volunteered to do dishes after breakfast. Instead, I received the assignment of vacuuming the library, parlor, and front hall. That's not so bad. After all, I'm not really all that afraid of vacuum cleaners any more, and I thought it might be faster than doing dishes anyway. So plugged up old Kirby, received a few instructions from Bria on how to run the clunky antique, and prepared to begin. Danny even came in the library, and when I commented on the age of the weighty artifact, he chuckled and said that they bought it brand new when he was in bibleschool about thirteen years ago (I guess I should be careful when I call something antiquated because it might make someone feel really old) Anyway, I began my task. Huh, my arms were still sore from playing sports--man, this vacuum cleaner is heavy! I tackled the machine with a weak vigor (if that makes sense), practically using my whole body to propel it forward, marvelling at how very awful it must have been for everyone to use such vacuum cleaners all the time. I must just be extremely wimpy. . . no matter, it really wasn't so bad when you got used to it. Hence I finished the library, and then the parlor. As I completed this last room, Vanlora came over and asked me if the vacuum cleaner was working. Yes, it was working fine but it was just kind of heavy, was my cheerful enough reply. She looked at the vacuum cleaner and flipped a switch.

"Um, you had it in neutral. That should be easier now."

"You had it in neutral, Kayla?" Bria cried with a tone of great distress and sympathy. "I'm so sorry!" Sheepish, I laughed and said that I guess I didn't listen to her instructions well enough. You see she told me about having to take it out of neutral and putting it in drive, but it didn't really occur to me that it would be in neutral to begin with (um) and of course my ignorance caused me to labor away unnecessarily. I then proceeded to vacuum the front hall, and couldn't believe how light the vacuum felt! As Peter Pan would say, "Ah, the cleverness of me!"

claim to fame?

 I was in the video rental store today looking at the new release shelf when something caught my eye. It was a DVD, unlike any other DVD, for in bold red letters the title read "KAYLA." Oh my goodness! Has my outstanding reputation finally reached its well deserved fame? Am I finally to reach the zenith of my life, as my marvelous name goes down in history books and is broadcasted all over the world? Will I now be known and loved by all who behold me?(none of this smile fading thing as I walk into ConVal)

 

Curious, I picked up the DVD so I could scan the plot and see if they portrayed me in the right light. Then I burst out laughing. For lo and behold, I was holding a dog movie! What's more, it seemed to be about a boy building this relationship with his sled dog named Kayla! What's the matter with these people? Is my valued name now to be dragged through the mud by being bequeathed to a canine creature? Now I know how Beethoven would feel if he were alive today to watch movies about a slobbering St. Bernard possessing his name. And just imagine the hurt feelings every Scottish lass must have been having as laudatory reports of Lassie were rampant around the world. Not to mention how crushed some people may have felt when movies came out about Toto, Wishbone, Snoopy, Benji, Chips, and all those other noble heroes in the doggie world. But then again, I think I would have felt crushed already if my name were Toto or Wishbone, so I doubt their situation could have been much worse.

 

Granted, I s'pose they couldn't have picked a much better title for a movie. . . . even if it is about a dumb dog.

 

 I guess fame isn't really up my alley anyway.

Doubles volleyball rocks! (if Shawn is on your team:)

Volleyball was interesting last night. For one thing, hardly anyone came.
Perhaps everyone was just tired out from skating, or maybe they felt
loaded with assignments or just wanted to stay in their room and read.
Who knows?

Well, it started out with Shawn, Bria, Kate, and me against Diane, Clyde,
and Josh. After a couple games, it was Shawn, Kate, and me against Diane,
Bria, and Josh. And then finally we were down to just Shawn and me
against Diane and Bria. Now I don't think I had ever played doubles
before, and if you haven't, then you should, at least if you have someone
like Shawn on your team. And I think it worked pretty well to have two
quite good players like Diane and Bria against a really good player like
Shawn and and a not so good player like me. Basically Shawn hit it, I set
it, he spiked it, over and over again, with some variations in between
(like I did spike it once). It was sweet! Did you bump it a little too
far back? No problem, Shawn was there. Did you set it a little too far to
the side? Pshaw, it didn't matter, Shawn could cover it. In fact I think
Shawn was better at covering most all of the court than Bria and Diane
were together, even though that duo had some excellent hustles, and they
played quite well. One time the ball came over the net and I went to bump
it, but I was backing up too rapidly and just as I hit it, I slid and
collapsed to the floor. I was quite convinced that I had botched it, but
when I scrambled up, I discovered the ball was magically on the other
side! Somehow, Shawn had done it again.

But in Shawn's defense, he shouldn't be mistaken for being inhuman. After
all, there was a time or two when I made a perfectly good set and he
missed it, which is actually a relief because if everyone was a perfect
volleyball player, then how would God still be able to better us?

Anyway, I've decided that playing doubles can be fun, and it's also fun
(although it's not why) when you win both games as well.:)

Skating on Ice (what else would we skate on in the winter?!)

Guess what? I just went skating for the first time in a year or more! Anyway, Shawn and Gretchen were on duty, and they decided (with an invitation of course) to take the bibleschool over to my cousins' to skate on their pond. So. . . I asked if they had room for me, and with a little juggling (leaving little Jamie behind with Aunt Sharon) they did, and away we went!

 

The time was great, and the ice was fun, although it was a little bumpy for me who used to be spoiled with a skating rink, and they said the ice wasn't in the greatest condition, but that was okay with me. Hey, it was ice, and I got to actually skate on it! It's amazing how skating comes back to you, like riding a bike. But I found that I can't really skate too well and play hockey at the same time, which I guess makes me a hopeless cause in that game. Actually, we never really played hockey, but just passed it off to each other and tried to hit a board that Aaron or Ryan would be guarding. It was enjoyable to see Michael getting into it--and he was probably hitting it better than me.:) Speaking of Michael, one time he came sledding down the hill straight at me! I should have moved a little more quickly as I watched him come closer, but luckily I did have enough sense to move at all, and his sled only managed to briefly dislodge one of my skates from the ice. But thankfully, I didn't even trip, or at least I didn't fall.

 

 After a little while some people took a break and we stood around munching or toasting hot dogs and marshmallows, visiting all the while. Some people went inside, but I stuck around for awhile more until it began to get dark. Vanlora was quite determined to stay until the end though, claiming that she was a "die hard," even when she went flying on top of the ice on her stomach (quite by accident). The spot where she slid cleared some of the dusty snow off, which of course gave Andrew B. the idea to go flying across the ice on his stomach (which was not quite by accident). Except he would do it for twenty feet or so, little caring that this whole flying on your stomach thing was the same way that he managed to split open his chin on the gym floor (I think that was by accident). Anyway, eventually I went inside to thaw a little bit, and we sat around chatting and sipping hot chocolate, which I quite gorged myself on. Then it was about six o'clock, and time to pack up and head home in time for study hour.

 

On the return trip, however, we held a sort of singing party. It started (and ended) with choruses, but had a lot of other things in between. So we sang King of Kings, Behold What Manner, Happy Am I, As the Deer, Winnie the Pooh, Row Row Row Your Boat (at Michael's request), Knick Knack Paddy Wack (also at Michael's request), Chitty Bang Bang, Rejoice in the Lord, Praise Ye the Lord, Jesus Loves Me, I'Nama Tov (I have no idea how to spell Hebrew!), By the Waters of Babylon, and How Great Thou Art, which were but a few of the many songs that we sang sporadically the entire trip home. Also there were attempts at songs from the Lion King, and I even tried to teach them a song I learned in Australia ("Cast Your Burdens," sung with an Australian accent), but everyone laughed and got confused when I came to the "higher higher" (or "higha higha") part, and Andrew was half convinced that I was pulling another joke on them like when I told him that Australians set their table places upside down. Anyway, we arrived home happy and content, and I came right home to thaw my feet and write this brief summary of my afternoon.

 

Now you're in the "know."

Sledding!

Guess what? We actually have sufficient snow for sledding now! Yaaaaayyy! I went to the golf course with Bria and Kate today. It was a lot of fun, with the snow being in great condition. We took great delight in going forwards, backwards, standing, sitting, lying down (with our head in any direction except upside down), standing up, etc. Though the standing up was fairly timid, I assure you, and only on the gentlest of the golf course's intimidating slops, and even then near the bottom. But it was good balancing practice, though we took a tumble now and then.

Ahh, the pleasures of winter. . .

The War of the Fans

I don't know if you read my mom's blog or not, but she mentioned that we went to another basketball game. You really must excuse me mentioning them so much, because it just so happens that besides school, bibleschool sports, violin, and swimming lessons (which maybe I should talk about sometime), they're about the only semi interesting thing that has been happening to me now and then. And what can I say? Once a ConVal basketball fan, always a ConVal basketball fan, especially when your brother is the coach. This time was particularly weird and singular because Cotie M. was playing on the JV team, and although he's my cousin (or second cousin once removed), he was our enemy. But he played well, succeeding in making sixteen points, though probably a quarter of them were made at the free throw line. Anyway, the ConVal JV sadly lost, but not by much.

The Varsity game was something else. Basically it seemed to be the "War of the Fans," seeing which side could be more loud and aggravating. It got to the point where it seemed to go beyond just rooting for your highschool's basketball team. No, this had to do with your precious school's honor, and whether or not you could hold your head high to be part of the highschool in Milford or ConVal. Therefore, it was war. I'm not trying to blame Milford for being present at an away game to support their team. But I must say that ConVal fans were already vicious, and the noisy Milford fans made them even worse. So as our varsity guys lagged behind by fourteen points in the third quarter, the Milford fans started yelling for us to check the score board and soon started the cheer: "Just like foot ball *clap* *clap* *clapclapclap*." (Presumably Milford must have a fairly good football team that has probably beaten ConVal). Not to be outdone, the ConVal fans pulled out their proudest flag and started retorting, "ConVal baseball *clap* *clap* *clapclapclap*." You see what I mean? This was definitely going beyond basketball. As one lady next to me put it, "You would never see this at a soccer game."

However, the Milford fans weren't taunting when ConVal was ahead by one point (44-43) at the end of the third quarter. And they certainly weren't bragging when they tied and went into overtime. Or even double overtime (71-71). But I must say, it was a very unsabbatic game and although it was exciting, a four point loss didn't really help. But maybe the double overtime was a comforting factor through it all. ConVal's 2-8 (the second number unsure) record may not sound positive, but it doesn't say that every loss could have just as easily been a win, just like this game. It's tiring to watch people lose, when you know they can win.