If I were...

If I were a gemstone, I’d be a peridot.


If I were a scent, I’d be sugarplum!


If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be suede boots with fringe or ruffles.


If I were the weather, I would be the day of the first snow and around 30 degrees.


If I were a facial expression, I'd be serious.  (Even when I'm happy I tend to look sort of mad...)


If I were a car, I'd be a pink Hummer or a girly pick-up truck.


If I were a time of day, I’d be sunrise.


If were a month, I’d be May and November.


If I were a place, I'd be a brook flowing over polished stones.


If I were a liquid, I'd be grapefruit juice.


If I were a taste, I’d be tart apple pie.


If I were a sea animal, I’d be a dolphin.


If I were a food, I’d be a thick slice of french bread slathered with butter .


If I were a color, I'd be turquoise blue.


If I were a musical instrument, I would be the banjo or guitar :)


If I were a flower, I’d be a small violet.


If I were a song, I’d be a soft country song...or a bluegrass tune!


If I were a planet, I’d be Neptune.


If I were an object, I'd be an umbrella stand.  (Caught you off guard, didn't it?)


If I were a fruit, I'd be a wild raspberry.

If I were a day of the week, I’d be Tuesday.  (*shrugs*)

If I were a sound, I’d be the rhythmic beating of horse hooves against earth, or the quiet sound of wind on water.

This tag is for everyone! Thanks, Nela and Olive Tree.

(Horse) Bucket List

I was spending the evening with a great big stack o' Horse & Riders given to me by Margaret Rowena when I came across a "Things to Do With Horses Before You Die" kind of article.  Naturally, I decided to do a blog post on mine.

- Gallop my horse on a beach.
YES! This is one of my most important.  And while I'm at this "beach", I might as well...

- Swim with my horse.
I did this at camp three years ago, I think, and it was safe to say that it was the highlight of the whole week.  And it was a fun week, too.  I rode this big black Percheron named Jack, and one of the counselors led us around in the water.  I could have done it forever, but we only got two turns.  And it'd be way more fun to direct the horse yourself.  :)

- Go foxhunting.  (Draghunting; aka, no real fox.)  I got this idea from the magazine.  Wouldn't it be awesome?

- Go on an overnight horse camping trip.  Ahh, just like Darby and Hoku in the Wild Horse Island series.  Except I don't believe I'd want to be alone.

- Ride with a drill team.  This is one of my more feasible goals.  I just need to do a little research on 4-H drill team.

- Go on a cattle drive.  YESS! A real old-west thing to do, this, with no judges peering over their glasses at you with little notepads.  Hours in the saddle ending with beans and bacon over a campfire, only to wake again and start all over, blissfully sore from so much riding.

- Do the apprenticeship program at Miracle Mountain Ranch.  My parents and I have already discussed this, and I hope to go when I'm 18.  In three years!! This is most of my motivation for PSEO.

- Teach a child to ride.  I've done this for maybe one time per child, but I think it would be cool to actually watch their progress.  One girl I led around on Indy wanted to trot, but I told her I didn't think we could because I told her mom we'd just walk.  Indy, however, had his own ideas and trotted in a little circle in response to some loud noise.  "Well, Grace," I said.  "That was a trot."  She responded with a big grin and a loud, "COOL!!!"

- Learn how to trim hooves.  A very useful skill indeed.

- Do an Extreme Cowboy Race.  Looks extremely hard, but really fun, if you had a good horse for it! Here's a video.




- Ride bareback, bridleless, and well.  I've loped with just a halter, but not with the best control! There was a video of Stacy Westfall I was going to post here, but it was "removed by the user." :( Here's a picture, anyway...(not mine)

I may be ambitious, but no sweat if I don't do any of these before I die...I'll just do them in heaven! :)


Love,

Ellyn

A Book's Cover

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but really, everyone does.  Literally speaking.  A cover can set in your mind what the characters look like and what kind of world you're going to enter when you open up to the first page.

I'm copying Margaret Rowena and doing a post on my most favorite book covers!

This book is really fantastic, and I've had a craving to read it again for quite some time...it's got such a rich, "scrumptious" feeling all through the pages.  McKillip makes you taste the tender roast lamb and feel the briny air on your face.  She really has a gift with imagery.   Here's another one of her covers.

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I had to include this one.  It looks much more amazing in real life, though.  My dad LOVES this book.  He reads it all the time and he says he wishes I could read it, but as it is, I have to wait until I'm married....

AH! Fall of a Kingdom, a book which holds a fond place in my heart...(though book 2 is my favorite in the trilogy, its cover and that of book 3 are both kind of ish).

EAST! A fabulous book which I've been meaning to do a review on for months.  Sorry this picture is blurry.  Again, its much more amazing in real life, and I could - and have - spent a long time just looking at the detail on that polar bear's raised paw.  

Aagh! Blurry again...I just love this cover...you can see the fire in the girl's eyes and I've always longed to see the rest of her face...the horse is amazing too.  Naturally.

The images in this post are not mine.

What are some of your favorite book covers? And have you read any of these books? What did you think?

P.S. Our snow is melting, so its gone from Christmas to spring in just a day...I'm so confused.

Love, Ellyn

Blizzard!

Ha-ha! I think my state beat all of yours for the earliest and biggest amount of snow.

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 4 something to blow my nose and cough.  (I have a cold.)  I looked out the window - something I always do if I wake up in the middle of the night - and saw SNOW! A glorious white layer of snow that made the yard look like a MiniWheat caked with frosting.  :)

Around six-thirty, my brothers and I couldn't wait any longer.  It was still dark, but the snow was falling fast.  And best of all - it was sticky!

My brother making a snowball.

It kept snowing.  The flakes grew bigger and bigger and after breakfast, we put on all of our stuff and went out into the winter wonderland again.  We rolled huge snowballs and I made a snow horse - I would have shown you a picture, but its head fell off.... :)  Snow horses are something my mom always made with us from the time we were small.

Check it OUT! :)

By the end of the day, we had at least four inches.  

Our pond is a beautiful steel gray color...

Later though, we had to shovel the driveway.  Our driveway is made of dirt / gravel, and since the snow was packed with water, it was extremely heavy.  That was a job.  But Dad got the bright idea of rolling snowballs down the driveway.  It didn't work quite as well as we hoped, but it did help lighten our loads.   :)

This morning, my cold was worse and we couldn't go to church because our power was out.  It was supposed to be out until 1 this afternoon, but luckily it came back by 7.

So here I am, holed up in my big old house, writing to you, hugging my littlest brother, and feeling very cozy surrounded by snowdrifts.  I think I'll go put on some Christmas music.




And if the power goes out again, that's okay...I've got a nice warm hat...   

There's plenty of firewood outside...

And our new wood stove is burning downstairs.

Besides...with a family like mine, who needs electricity? :)

Love, Ellyn

Magic in the Air...

I made this little blurb for Seaspear on Picasa :)
The tagline is temporary - I just made it up on the spot.

Seaspear is not my "Nano novel" - but I'm still honoring National Novel Writing Month and pounding out words every chance I can get.

A blessing on you real Nano folks!
And of course, everyone else too.  :)

Love, Ellyn

Tagged Once More

Thanks Lily Litten! :)

How this works:

You share 7 likes, 8 hates, and 1 love. I seriously don't understand the random numbers.  

I like pirates

I like apple orchards

I like Crooked Still

I like awesome dreams

I like sledding

I like waking up early

I like Jawbreakers and Shockers! (candy)

I hate sweating

I hate human trafficking

I hate anorexia

I hate Satan

I hate being stressed!

I hate filth and clutter

I hate blobby pens

I hate bananas :)

I love.......

Jesus!

( I know it said only one, but I'll go on to say - 

Special people!

Laughing!

Horses! 

And I tag...

Margaret Rowena

Nela

Gwyn

And anyone else who really wants to do it :)

Love, 

Ellyn

Pirate Love

I finally saw The Curse of the Black Pearl! Ah, Pirates.  Love them.  If there was an all-good aspect of being a pirate, I'd totally be a pirate.  But then...pirates wouldn't be pirates, would they? ;)  

Lt. Gillette: This ship cannot be crewed by two men.  You'll never make it out of the bay!

Jack: Son, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow.  Savvy?

"I practice three hours a day...so that when I meet a pirate...I can kill it!"

Will: You...cheated!

Jack *nods*: Pirate.

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This has definitely got me psyched for Seaspear! I love my characters right now....I changed the pirate captain's name from Shiloh to Chambers, and his first mate is now Valenci (val-ench'-ee).  I can't wait to actually begin writing, but I've got a science report and the Corday project both on the line.  For any of you who are writing ship stories, I found a terrific book called Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution.  It has tactics, terms, and diagrams.  I was enjoying it at the library, and the librarian asked me if I was doing homework.  I said, "No..." ;)

Also, I take the PSAT test tomorrow, so your prayers would greatly be appreciated! To put it in two words, I'm terrified. 

Hint on what's coming up: I plan to do a series on the Parelli seven games.  Stick around! 

Also, how do you like my new design?

Love always,

 Ellyn