Fairy Tales

As one would expect, Regina's children love fairy-tales just as much as she does. This morning the middle ones and I photographed a sequel to Snow White and Rose Red using the same dolls that they used for their project of the first one. I hope to have it up on the blog here soon.

Then this afternoon all of the kids and I (except for baby Polly) went on a looooong walk. They discovered a cool woods down the road, that "Looks just like a fairy-tale!!!". That was cool.

When we got back from the walk, Bowman the Black (one of the few guy members on the forum) had stopped by to say hello, so I had the chance to meet him. He and Andrew told me about his current writing project, which sounds very interesting. I'm looking forwards to reading it.

This evening two more fans arrived- Puritylover and Ella11 from the forum- both lovely young ladies! We were also joined for supper by Regina and Andrew's friends Nick and Clare. Nick was one of the models for Paul Fester (from "Waking Rose" and "The Midnight Dancers") and so after supper he gave us a brief introduction to some basic aikido moves. That was pretty cool!

Work on the addition progresses- I love what Regina is doing with her meeting/school room. It already reminds one quite a bit of the Shire from "The Lord of the Rings" (they are big LOTR fans) and we came up with an idea of putting bits and pieces of various LOTR places around the wall, going off the points of the compass for location. I hope it works out- it would be very cool.

Pictures will be on the forum or on Facebook- I don't think I'm actually going to post them here. You all know my blog policy.

Covered in Paint

Right now I'm more or less covered in paint splatters...but quite happy about it. We've all been working hard to get everything ready- so far I've done some priming, some painting, some window staining, some dishwashing, and lots of hanging with the kids. And the funny thing is that I love it all! My own siblings are quite old so it's fun to be with the little ones- and then Regina and Andrew are just awesome to talk to.

Tonight Regina and I and her eldest daughter were painting two of the upstairs rooms...we were useing a rather interesting system in which we painted with old oven mitts. Or rather, banged on the wall. Made for an interesting collection of sounds when we started singing random musical tunes...another mutual interest Regina and I discovered.

Afterwards we had a long and interesting talk about what films we find interesting and why. Apparently I need to see the film "Labyrinth" which sounds rather interesting. I picked up a few more interesting things about what inspired "Snow White and Rose Red."

This morning, of course, we went to Mass, which was absolutely beautiful. It's been a number of years since I've been to a Catholic Mass, and never in a traditional church like theirs (only Cathedrals and more modern buildings). So it was very cool.

Afterwards we drove up to an Apple Orchard which is on a very high hill surrounded by other, higher hills. It was gorgeous- we had wonderful weather today and apparently the forecast is going to be quite good for the rest of the week. We discussed the possibility of going back later this week, which I hope we can because I want to get pictures of the amazing vista.

After a visit to their son Joshua's grave, we returned to the house. The girls showed me around the property and we had a good lunch. During clean-up Regina and I got into a very interesting conversation about what makes Catholocisim differant from Protestantisim. (For those of you who don't know, I am a Protestant, Regina and her family are Catholics). Regina explained a lot to me about Marian Theology. It was very interesting and intriguing because I had never heard it explained the way she did it. Definetely a lot of food for thought there...

(I know I missed yesterday's post- it's still coming because it's rather specific, but it needs to be edited)

Visiting

Good morning everyone! I'm still not sure whether that's an oxymoron or not, but seeing as I got woken up by a kitty for almost the first time in two years, I'm quite happy. ;)

For those of you who don't know, I am currently visiting my favorite author Regina Doman and her family. I run her fan forum and several of the other fans will be joining us later this week.

I arrived safely last night, had a lovely supper with the family, and then spent the first half of the evening getting to know the house and the kids. The kids and I discovered a mutual interest in drawing, so we all drew pictures while Andrew (Regina's husband) read from Regina's third book, "Waking Rose." Then we had evening devotions and the children went off to bed.

I have to laugh just thinking about the second half of the evening because it was so fun and so unexpected- I had no idea that Regina and Andrew would have time to read the entire typed portion of the movie script on the first night! But they did! I got so much awesome feedback on the scenes...character motivations (my actors are going to squeal!)...some fun new lines and brief appearances by Fish...all this on just the first night!!!

Andrew went to bed around 1:00, but Regina and I stayed up chatting until 3:00 AM. That was pretty cool. Besides the movie we just talked about things in general...getting to know each other. It was lovely!

Now I should probably get up and see what everyone is up to- I think we're going to be painting part of the house today. (They are working on an addition to their house and are trying to get as much done as possible before the other fans arrive).

Well although Mamselle Duroc tagged me for this several days ago, I've been putting it off (I don't often do memes). However, it's been making the rounds so I thought I'd indulge. ;)

THE RULES
Link to the person who tagged you, list the rules, write six random things about yourself, tag six-ish people by leaving comments on their blogs and let the person who tagged you know that you've written the post.

1. I've dyed my hair....7...(I think) times in my life, and my favorite color so far has been the wackiest one- maroon.

2. I think I have almost ten large containers of fabric in our garage. And I still buy new pieces every year.

3. I sing. All the time. Everything from Phantom of the Opera, to worship music, to random Disney songs. In fact the only non-movie-related music that I really love is "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. And yes it drives my family slightly insane.

4. (Stealing this from Lady Rose) In our forum family I have...13 children. And live in Rivendell. And have one daughter married to the non-evil-twin brother of the Witchking of Angmar (see Lady of the Rose's blog for details), and another daughter married to Charlie Weasley. The rest of my sisters are married to various gentlemen from every thing from Anne of Green Gables to Twilight. And my favorite adventure so far has been the time we played virtual Quidditch together.

5. If my last writing project were published in book form, it would be over 300 pages long. And I'm rewriting it from page one.

6. I have a hidden wish to someday dress up as Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter.

I tag anyone on my blogroll who has not already been tagged for this meme. So if you're there and haven't done it yet....THIS MEANS YOU!

On Writing...again...

Writing is a part of my life. It has been ever since I was a little girl and first learned how to make letters into words and words into sentances.

Or perhaps it reaches back further than that. While writing hinges on words to work properly, and while a writer must be a wordsmith, he or she must also be a storyteller. And ever since I first began playing with dolls, long ago, I've been a storyteller.

In fact I distinctly remember one time, when I was a young child, going to my mother with a story I had made up in my head. My parents were impressed enough by it to type it up while I narrarated it to them. I believe I still have those papers somewhere.

So that brings me to now. Writing is still a part of my blood. However it's not a simple thing. It's not always easy just to sit down and write- and yet, I must.

I've heard over and over again from many differant wise people that as a writer, I must write. It doesn't have to be on my story, it can be something quite silly, and yet I must never stop writing.

So that is why I indulged in fan fiction this summer. That is why I go through the trouble (and joy) of keeping up the blog. It is because I am growing as a writer, even if I am not actually working on a novel.

But...I DO have a novel. I've been working on it for two years and it has finally presented a form to me that I think will actually work. So I've spent the last two weeks typing away furiously at it. Sometimes it's rather a bit of rubbish, and I use the backspace key a lot, but usually, even if I'm not in a "writing" mood, after I've been typing for about ten minutes the wheels will start turning.

Writing is work. And you've got to keep at it. But hopefully it won't kill you in the process, but instead revive and invigorate you. And who knows? Maybe someday we'll find our novels on the shelves of a store and introduce our beloved characters to a wider audience...

Indiana Jones 4

I didn't type out the whole name because technically this isn't an official review. On the advice of my father (who knows my deep-rooted aversion to aliens) I didn't expose myself to the visuals of the final third of the film (except for the happy ending) so I can't really go in depth on all of that.

My thoughts are these:

The whole alien plot is pretty creepy and stupid.

But-

Cate Blanchett does a pretty good job as a Russian

Marion is BAAAAACK!

and finally....Mutt Williams is even better than I was expecting. He's not a stupid sidekick- he knows what he's doing and really, at some points, out-Indy's Indiana himself! That was a pretty nice twist, and it makes sense.

(SPOILER!!!!)

I mean, what else would you expect from the son of Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones?

So hopefully if they go through with a 5th Indy movie (as the buzz is reporting), they'll be smart enough to give Mutt even more screen time, and pick a plot that is not nearly as disturbing as stupid aliens.


EDIT: Oh, and I should also say that there's some pretty good cinematography and cool use of shadows. It's Spielberg, so I shouldn't be surprised. He's a master with that stuff.

Many Levels...many times...

Several of my friends and I sat down tonight to watch the 2005 Pride and Prejudice together. Though I've seen it many many times before, I can watch it over and over again because it is just such a beautiful piece of art. The language, the adaptation, the music, the acting, the cinematography, the colors...and the symbolisim...

The more times I watch it, the more I can focus on things like symbolisim. Others have pointed out the meanings behind the birds in the films...and the weather. I paid particular attention to the weather this time. How it is stormy when the characters are emotionally upset, and particularily the dramatic, punctuating use of thunder in the first proposal scene between Lizzy and Darcy. (To be contrasted with the second proposal scene, which is the picture of tranquility.)

And, really, that's why we read or watch anything multiple times. It's because we can find new meanings, lines and words and emphasis's each time we go through.

The other reason is, of course, going back and greeting old friends and joining them once more on their adventures...but if it were exactly the same everytime it would grow boring. We have to approach art from differant angles- or, to put it simply, at differant periods in our lives.

So I suppose we all have our own particular "classics." Books that may never be regarded as classics by the world, and yet are to us because they continue to be relevant to us at whatever stage of life we are in. Because we can continue to find those meanings and those levels. Whether it's Pride and Prejudice, or Star Wars, or Peter Pan, we keep going back because we know we'll find something new. And, at the same time, something very old and very true.