Outside Today

I’m thinking…
I should like very much to say I am thinking thoughts of many great and deep subjects, thoughts worthy to be recorded in a fitting style for this journaling page, however, I don’t think I can. For, the thoughts that fill my mind are ones dwelling on the sunshine and the soft breezes that fill the air around me. My thoughts are focused on the bee that is going from daisy to daisy on the lawn and on the little mound of freshly mown grass that is piled up just across from me. Perhaps it should have been better if I had stayed inside to write this, yet the outside world was calling me and I obeyed.

Just now I am sitting with the laptop propped up on my knees while leaning against the wooden pillar on our porch. The sun is shining rather brightly so I have to squint to see any of the words appearing on the word document. I don’t really need to see them at all though; one doesn’t if one is simply writing and not bothering about editing till later. It doesn’t matter what words are leaping from your fingers to the page, you can worry about such things later, for now it is simply writing them that matters.

I love doing what would normally be considered “inside activities” outside. I have such lovely memories of reading different books outside on warm sunny days. I remember reading ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ for the first time outside on this porch. It was the middle of summer if I remember right and I had gathered up many pillows and blankets and made a nest of them, and then I settled down with a book that was almost as big as I was. It was a collection of all of the Narnia stories gathered up into one book.

I also enjoy writing outside, like I am doing now. There’s something so lovely about being able to type away as the wind blows your hair in your face and you can hear birds up in the trees and fish rippling the water of the pond for an instant as they momentarily come to the surface.

That’s the lovely thing about having a laptop; you can just pick it up and take it wherever with you. I know you could write with pen and paper but it slows you down so very much. When I write I want to be able to type away as fast as I can, to get caught up on the stream of words and not stop until you wish to pause and think about something new.

Those are the thoughts that I am thinking on this lovely spring day with the laptop propped up on my knees.

Outside my window…

 
Now, this is a peculiar situation, is it not? The “outside” of my window is what is usually considered the inside. That sounds rather like something from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ everything upside down and turned around. It sounds most strange to say “outside my window I see the dining room chairs and table” yet, that is so. Sitting outside looking in is rather amusing. It makes me think of ‘Peter Pan’ though, and how he was waiting outside his window to be let in and he never was. Such a sad thing to think about. The window he expected always to be open for him being closed and he shut out of his own home.
 
I’m wearing…
 
Black sweat pants, a flowered blouse, my sailing sweatshirt and my hair tossed up in a messy bun. Oh lovely Monday and I am staying home today!

I’m reading…

Now that is a rather complicated subject. I am reading quite a few books at one time right now. Which is bad of me, I should just pick one of them and stick to it, but these are all books I’m rather interested in and I want to read. To add to the books I mentioned last week in my journaling page I started reading the first few chapters of “The Great Gatsby” last night.

 Around the house….

 Now why should I want to be inside doing anything when I could be outside writing this? I am quite content and happy as can be sitting here so I shan’t mention anything inside that I would rather be doing, because there isn’t anything.

 From the kitchen…

Soon it shall be luncheon. Isn’t luncheon so much nicer sounding than simply “lunch”? Also, have you ever noticed how lunch rhymes with munch? Rather amusing come to think of it. It also reminds me of that scene in Lord of the Rings with Pippin and Merry pestering Aragon with their “second breakfasts’ and teas and suppers” There are so many different names for meal times come to think of it, but I don’t think any of us can compete with the amount of Hobbit mealtimes.

I’m listening to…

I have moved inside now, so I am listening to the sounds of spoons and bowls making contact, the phone ringing, chattering brothers and oven doors opening and closing.

 A few plans for the rest of the week…

       A.)   Sleep

B.)   Lots of sleep

C.)   More sleep

D.)   Reading

E.)   Writing

F.)    Drawing

G.)   Work

H.)   Sipping coffee and turning the page to my book

I.)     Naps

J.)    Enjoying the sunshine

K.)   Dancing around the house

L.)    Singing Disney songs that randomly come to my head

M.)   School

N.)   SAT study

O.)   Conversing with lovely dear people

P.)   More reading

Q.)   More drawing

R.)   More sleep

S.)   Thinking happy thoughts

T.)    Breathing

U.)   Seeing

V.)   Listening

W.)  Being

X.)   Playing my violin

Y.)    Seeing the beautiful

Z.)    Finishing this list.

Picture thoughts I'm sharing...

Okay, just so everybody knows...I WANT THIS!

THIS.

RIGHT HERE.

WOULDN'T THAT BE AMAZING?

I CAN'T EVEN SAY HOW THE IDEA EXCITES ME *prances*

Someday I have this frying pan and I keep it forever.

There's No Place Like Home

I’m thinking…

My thoughts are, at the moment, focused with some slight frustration at the header to this page. For some reason the font I have chosen isn’t looking right to me this morning. Which is quite ridiculous, I know. I often use this font without a thought of its uninteresting qualities. In fact, it is because it is the most uninteresting, staid, font that I choose it. Often having a rather boring font helps me to focus away from the appearance of the type to the actual words that I am typing. I am easily distracted, I know.

You ask why I am not instantly switching fonts if it is a feature of frustration to me? Well, you see, I’m trying to be a good little writer and not so easily distracted. I know that the instant I start critiquing the font I shall feel that the words I have thus far written are all wrong and that I should fiddle with commas and sentence flow and in the end I shall never get anything written at all.

I was thinking the other day of different places you could go to write; coffee shops and libraries and parks. I would rather like going to a coffee shop to write I think. There is something about the smell of coffee flouting around on the air that simply asks for words, words already written by someone, or words asking to be written down by you.

The funny thing about writing in places like those is that the attraction is also the drawback. What I mean of course is being out and about amongst people.

On the one hand there’s nothing that sparks inspiration so much as “people watching.” Just sitting in your chair watching the people go by, wondering who they are and what they are like. Story ideas just seem to come from nowhere and suddenly you are writing out thoughts that have been in the back of your mind for years and years but you’ve never yet put them into words.

Then again on the other hand there’s nothing so distracting. You think of those moments when you are trying to read, say in the library, and you desperately wish to get back to the lovely scene in your book, but you just can’t focus. That happens to me all of the time in the library. I end up sitting back in my chair and staring dazedly around the bookshelves thinking thoughts of great weight, or perhaps no weight at all.

I think, really, there is no place to write like home. No place where you can settle down properly with your inspiration and make something of it. My favorite place to write is of course, my bedroom. I will settle down on the chair in the corner or perched atop my bed and write wildly into the night. The hours slip by like minutes and the light fades from the room. My word document goes from a blank page with a few scattered words to a thing of several thousand words, and I go from being calm and happy to feverish and excited to sleepy and contented.

I suppose those other places are the places you go to when you are looking for inspiration, and home is the place you go to when you wish to make something of that inspiration.

In the end, there’s no place like home.

 

From the kitchen…

The coffee pot just gave its final noise, showing that it was turning off and the coffee was about to begin to grow cold. Of course I had to dash across the wood floor as quick as my feet could scamper to refill my red coffee cup with steaming coffee before it all grew cold. Law of nature, one must always do that when they hear the coffeepot alarm going off.

 
Outside my window…

The first thing my eyes settle upon as I glance out the window are the little baby daisies still all closed up in tight little buds. Is there a proper name for those daisies? I’ve always just called them the “baby daisies” they are the little ones with all of the small white petals just tipped with pink. I like them much  better than the big daisies that you see sometimes. My favorites are these little ones that cluster in the yard in little clumps. I love how they close up in the evening time and open up again as soon as the sunlight hits them. It’s so sweet, as if they are bidding you goodnight and then sleepily waking up in the morning. *beams* and yes, I did make up stories about the little daisy fairies when I was little.

 
I’m wearing…

 A deep blue peasant blouse with white beading all around the neckline, jeans, and black ballet flats.

 
I’m reading…

 I’ve just started reading ‘The Three Musketeers.’ I was going to start that one as soon as I finished reading the Sherlock Holmes but I was distracted by some fairytales by George MacDonald. I didn’t remember how absolutely funny his writing is from when I read it when I was much younger. I remember the ‘Light Princess’ always rather frightened me for some reason. I think it was how well I visualized the prince almost getting drowned and I was at a point close to tears, but dear me, his writing is just hilarious. I was stitches. I suppose it’s the sort of humor that a child doesn’t quite get at first and then when you read it years and years later you are just giggling and chortling with every sentence.

 Quotes that I like today…

 “Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there’s no room for the present at all.”

Brideshead Revisited- Evelyn Waugh

“It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really have them, is it?”

Anne of Green Gables- L. M. Montgomery

 “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.”

-C. S. Lewis

Picture thoughts I’m sharing…

Emily was tagged *beams*

It has come to my attention, dear reader, that I have been tagged. First by Meggie from Magic, Ink, and Dreams, and then by Victoria of Raindrops and Moonlight, and I must say I am feeling rather flattered to have been thought of *beams* Having thus informed you of what goes on I shall proceed to let my fingers skip merrily across the keyboard and fulfill the assignment that I have been given. *settles a pair of studious glasses atop her nose*

 First off, my dears, rules and regulations. Order above all things, you know!

 1. It is imperative that these rules be plainly visible to all who can see and will see your blog. Therefore, post them at the top.

 2. Because random facts about people tend to captivate interest, post 11 personal and insignificant facts about yourself.

3. Answer your friend/acquaintance/fellow wanderer's 11 questions as well and as fully as you are able.

 4. Ask 11 more questions on hopefully philosophical or otherwise thoughtful subjects.

 5. Find 11 more friends/acquaintances/fellow wanderers to tag--gently, please.

 Go to their blogs and inform them of the happy fact that they are now Officially Tagged and Must Do Your Bidding.

 To begin with, eleven facts about myself:

1. I love to draw. This is perhaps not a new fact to those who read my blog or who know me. However, I can also tell you something with regard to this love of pencils and page that you cannot possibly know, which is, I have just now finished drawing a picture of a bunny in a teacup, and I’m rather pleased. Bunnies and teacups are both rather sweet, you know, and add to that a few colored pencils and a bit of imagination and you have a very happy Emily.

2. It was just my birthday yesterday. I turned seventeen, which is really, quite ancient. So I am now a little old lady who sits in a little rocking chair knitting away with her red wool. This also makes me happy.

3. I recently wrote a very sad, slightly melodramatic story. One would expect writing such a story would make one such as I; feel dismal and sad while writing it. On the contrary I was as happy as could be and I rather reveled in the sorrow, the “if only” and the emotion. I found it most enjoyable. It was not that I liked thinking of people being sad, but I liked portraying and trying to bring across a sense of sorrow. I liked trying to grasp at a feeling and emotion and through my words express it in a way that you empathized and understood. So yes, writing sad stories makes me happy now.

4. I am obsessed with writing emails. Obsessed. I shan’t even say how many I send out in a week for fear of embarrassing myself. Let me only say writing and receiving emails is one of my favorite things. Though I am dreadfully slow sometimes at responding to the people whom I delight in sending longer more rambling emails too (Hi, yes, I know. *scuffles feet* I’m sorry, dears. I shall try to do better. *hugs* just scold me dreadfully and I promise I shall finish sooner next time.)Writing emails makes me happy.

5. Handwritten letters too. They make me immensely happy. I just love getting an envelope addressed to my name in the mailbox. Especially ones from Australia. I am really happy for days afterwards when I get a nice plump letter in the mail.

6.I just recently created a tumblr, for posting pretty pictures and random happy little thoughts. Also because I wanted to play with new blog designs and I really couldn’t bear to change this one around. Raindrops on Roses

7. My favorite hours are those when dusk has settled down upon the world and I can curl up with a blanket and enjoy those night hours. In fact I always end up staying up far too late into the night because I don’t want to let the nighttime come. I don’t want to slip into sleep and waste those lovely hours. Though, in the morning, when the sunshine is peeping in through the windows, there’s nothing more that I want than sleep.

8. When I was a little girl my favorite game to pretend was that I was a little shepherd maiden named Margret. In fact I do not remember a time when I did not have a way of slipping into my alias as Margret at the oddest times. Margret has a way of going from being a common shepherd girl, to a princess, to a poor kidnapped maiden, to a inn-keeper’s daughter at a moment’s notice, but she was always named Margret.

9. I have to say, I really like the name Theodore right now. My brothers think I’m quite mad for some reason, but Theodore! It’s so- Theodore-ish, and his nickname would be Teddy, which I just find awfully sweet.

10. I love springtime, but then again I love winter too, and fall and summer. I just love the seasons. There’s something so beautiful about each of them. Each of them has their own special sort of something that makes it the most beautiful of all.

11. In the month of April, I have so far finished four books. Jane of Lantern Hill, The Count of Monte Cristo, Crime and Punishment, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Now I am working my way through The Three Musketeers.
__________


Now, *looks with satisfaction at her random facts* now, to answer Meggie’s questions:

1.        Would you trade your siblings (or other relative) for anything in the world?

No, no, I really have to say no. There’s nothing in this world that I would trade for my four brothers and my baby sister. If I had to lose anything I wouldn’t want it to be them, because I love them all more than anything else I could mention. So as unimaginative as that is- I would have to say no. *giggles*

2.       If you could spend your day as an animal, what would it be and why?

A little golden kitten curled up in a puddle of sun, because I have been described as such and I was so pleased with the description I shall choose that. It would be rather sweet to be a kitten for a day, you know. Enjoying the sunbeams shining down, exploring through the grass that was as tall as jungle trees, curled up in a lap with someone patting your head. Yes, it would be very nice to be a kitten for a day.

3.       When you were picking a name for your blog what were some of your ideas? And did you type them into Google to see if someone else had used it?

Well, the really only name I remember coming up with, besides my present one was “Grow Where You are Planted” but I decided that was rather long for the purpose and it didn’t really stick. The other ideas I came up with were never of real consideration so at the moment I can’t even seem to remember them. It’s such fun to brainstorm for blog names, you know. I remember what a wonderful time I had just thinking of all of the things I could name it.

Actually, I didn’t even think of searching to see if anyone else had named their blog by the same name, it didn’t even cross my mind, I don’t think it really mattered to me either. I wouldn’t have cared if there were hundreds of other blogs by the same name, it only mattered that I felt that name was the most fitting name for my blog that I could come up with. That is was the right and only name that would fit my blog just right.

4.       Did you ever get caught lying?

Hm, well I think I remember once upon a time saying I hadn’t eaten the cookie when in all actuality I had and then my younger brother had gotten blamed. I remember it torturing me so much that I confessed. I don’t think there’s a worse punishment, child or adult, than a guilty conscience. It is the worst feeling in all the world *shudders* (*is suddenly inspired to write a story about a guilty conscience* *opens eyes wide* Inspiration.)

5.        Try to picture yourself in ten years. What will have changed? What do you hope for by then?

I’m not going to write out a picture of myself as a fulfillment of all my hopes and dreams, for I feel that so much will change by then,  I will have changed so much and I’m open to those changes and I don’t want to set myself in stone for one particular road or another. What I will say, is my hope is that I will have continued to grow and branch out and explore new possibilities. That I will have found or begun to discover my vocation and that I will be working hard on the path to fulfill it. That I will stepped past some of my shortcomings and that I will be working hard to overcome others. My hope is that I will always have people surrounding me that I love and that love me. My hope is that I will be so many steps more along God’s path for my life. My hope is that those ten years were well spent and full of growth. That is my hope for myself in ten years.

6.       If you were to lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling, what do you think would be the first thing to come to your mind?

Rainbows. Rainbows and butterflies. Fields of flowers and little bunnies hiding in the garden. Oh and sailboats and clouds. Oops, was I supposed to just mention the first thing? That’s how my mind goes, skipping from one thing to the next till I don’t even know where I began. That’s what would happen if I were lying staring at the ceiling above me.

7.        What is one thing that, more than once, you’ve longed to do?

Start singing at the top of my lungs as I was crossing the street and pretend I was in a musical. I shall still do it someday. Just watch me, and it shall be stupendous! Perhaps I may even get all the bystanders to sing with me and it shall be just one great big happy musical world.

8.       Who is your favorite character from Lord of the Rings? Why?

Sam. I love Sam. Can I even describe my love for Sam? Sam. Oh but I love Sam. He’s ever loyal, a faithful friend. He’s honest and stouthearted. He sticks to the path of goodness and truth and beauty that he has chosen and he protects Frodo no matter the costs. He’s funny and sweet and darling and oh but I love Sam. If I keep going on this strain I shall never stop…but I love Sam.

9.       If you had been given the choice of periods in history, which one would you pick to be born in?

Oh that’s an easy question! Without a doubt the period of cravats and country dances, the period of gentleman and ladies, of bows and curtsies and a beautiful meaningful language, the period of Jane Austen. May I please go back in time? Please?

10.     If you could change one thing about your country, what would it be?

Abortion.

11.      If you had been betrothed from birth to someone you didn’t know, would you marry him anyways?

Now if I were a heroine from a work of fiction I should certainly say with a toss of my head I should not! For what heroine wishes to marry a man she was betrothed to since birth? In fiction, it simply isn’t done.  However, I find it quite a shame to refuse the poor fellow simply because I happened to be betrothed to him. I should have to meet him first and then come to my decision. *looks very prim*
________

And now for Victoria’s questions!

1.        If you had a choice between spending a day in a mountain forest or at the seaside, which would you choose and why?

Oh dear me, I must choose? And I’m awful with decisions! Well, I must say that if I were to have to pick between them for an excursion say tomorrow, I should choose the seaside. Simply because at the moment the seaside sounds delightfully pleasant. A lovely day dabbling your feet in the ocean waves and curling up in a sandy corner and reading. Walking along the shore and finding seashells. Yes, it is to the seaside we must go!

2.       How do you define true beauty?

This is one of those questions where there is no simple easy answer I might give. There are so many good answers and so many good thoughts to be contemplated in this question. It is one of those questions where you could write paragraphs and paragraphs upon that subject. What I want to say though is that true beauty is what is good. True beauty is never separated from what is true, from what is right, and from what is good. Where something is true and right and good it shall be beautiful. You cannot take one without the other. That is true beauty. True beauty is a reflection of God’s grace.  It is a reflection of Him and that is what makes it true and beautiful.

3.       What is one thing that, without fail, will always touch your heart?

A person, who is lost, who’s one desire is to be loved. A child who looks at you and you can tell, all they want is a little love. All they want is a hug, a kiss, an “I love you darling” that’s all they want, and they don’t get it. I will never cease to be touched and heartbroken when I see that in their eyes. When I see them light up at a moment’s notice simply because you smiled and talked to them for a few moments. It is the saddest sight in all the world, those little lost persons just looking for love, and I will never stop aching to take them into my lap, cuddle them, and tell them it will be all right. I will never stop feeling touched to the heart when I look at them and see that look of begging for a little love.

4.       What is the one thing that, without fail, will always make you want to scream and yell and generally have a fit?

Mornings. *giggles* I don’t think I need to go into more depth than that. Mornings.

5.        What is your opinion on parasols?

Is there really any person in all the world who has an unfavorable opinion on a parasol? I don’t believe it. Parasols are utterly delightful in any way that you could possibly imagine. They just ask for you to lean it gently against your should and take gentle steps as you walked down a sunny lane. Who doesn’t like a nice frilly parasol? If only I could have a parasol such as that, my life should be quite complete! That is all I can say!

6.       If an old guy in a pointy hat came to your door one fine morning and asked you to participate in an adventure, what would you do? Think about it now!

First thing to appraise: Tramp or Gandalf? If tramp; scream, slam the door, hide under bed. If Gandalf; YES I WANT AN ADVENTURE PLEASE AND THANK YOU AND IF I NEVER COME BACK THAT’S ALL RIGHT, I UNDERSTAND, AND CAN YOU DIRECT ME TO THE SHIRE PLEASE?

7.        Poetry,  hate it or love it? Why or why not?

It depends on the poetry. I really don’t like free-verse poetry at all but I love metrical verse. I love poetry that when you read it aloud it just sounds beautiful to the ear. Poetry can be beautiful or ugly just like any other things, so I love some and hate others.  It just depends. (*feels wishy washy saying “it depends” all the time*)

8.       Do you have any passages of literature memorized? Why did you choose to memorize it?

Oh dear me, yes! For years and years my family would hold little afternoon tea parties during the school year where we memorized poems and poems! Robert Louis Stevenson was always a great favorite! One year I memorized almost the entire poem of The Lady of Shallot, *cough* Did you ask if I happened to pick that poem because it is recited in the Anne of Green Gables movie? Now why would you think that? *cough*


9.       What do you wish most to accomplish by blogging?

To grow in my writing and perhaps by having my blog as inspiration write down thoughts I would perhaps never have thought to put into words unless I had that idea in mind. Also, to have a way of recording these past years and the thoughts and words pertaining to them.

10.     What do you base your like or dislike of a film off on?

*cough* whether it’s similar to the book? *cough* of course there are bunches of other things that come into play at creating a good movie- but if it’s a ruined version of the book- I cannot like, no matter how good a movie.

11.  Do you believe in the cliché saying “follow your heart”? Why or why not?

Yes, and no. To follow your heart is a good thing but it must also be balanced with good sense and judgment and moral standing. If you were simply to follow your heart without regard to any of those other things you would get into an awful mess before long. It is a good thing to trust what your heart is telling you and guiding you to do but you must also use sense and judgment to evaluate choices, and prayer.
___________


Now, I'm going to be very bad and not tag anyone, because all my favorite blogs have already been tagged and I hardly think I shall tag them again. To keep in the spirit of things however I shall come up with eleven questions and pose them to whoever feels in the mood to do this. If you do happen to decide to "be tagged" by me, would you please leave a comment so I can go to your blog and enjoy reading your answers? Thank you *beams*


1. If you were to compare yourself to a character from fiction, what character would you choose? Why?

2. Do you ever feel like climbing a tree and just sitting there?

3. If you were to pick a flower that fits your personality, what flower would it be? Why?

4. What is a favorite memory of yours?

5. Do you have a favorite quote?

6. Do you like to prance, to skip, to dance?

7. Has writing changed you in any way? Do you think you would be a different person if you did not write?

8. Do you like or dislike rainy days?

9. If you could go anywhere in the world, where should it be?

10. If you could slip into any book for a few days, what book would it be?

11. Do  you believe in happily ever afters?

Little things that are making me happy today...