Summing Up Summer

special moment

As Apache broke into a run on the dirt road, I urged Indy to do the same.  The stampede strings on my hat sawed against my neck as he took the lead, hooves pounding in perfect rhythm.

As the dirt turned to gravel, Shelby and I straightened up to slow our horses.  I plopped my hat back on, shadowing the huge, silly grin that had spread across my face.

What am I going to do when summer is over? I wondered.  What am I going to do when I have to actually think about things and solve problems? Math problems?

l-r: pheona, demetria, guinivere, me (gisella)

"What shall we crash next?" Pheona asked the rest of us, leading the way across the parking lot.

"County Market," I replied.  "They have candy.  Although we might already have enough at Guinivere's."

The rest of the party agreed, and in we went.

Guinivere got snagged by the bridal magazines, and so we settled down on the floor of the supermarket, oblivious to passing stares, and "oohed" and "aahed" with great pleasure.

I looked around at my three best friends (I have more than three, but these three all go together) and smiled with anticipation for our long weekend ahead.  I don't ever want this to end.  We can't go another year without doing this again.  We just can't! What will I do when summer's over?

kaylee and anna running tandem

As I galloped over fields during the benefit trail ride...

lovely

As I gathered sea glass with my brothers at Duluth...

unedited!

As I plucked the first strawberry from our garden...

the brothers being very supportive of me in my old age

As I turned sixteen...

war and peace

And as I lounged in the hammock, reading - sometimes ignoring the background noise - I would think to myself, What will I do when the summer's over?

The answer? I'll start school.  And I'll realize that life is not over.  I'll still ride, I'll still read, I'll still enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  And added to those pleasures will be the crisp pages of my textbooks and my new black moccasin school shoes.  When I start PSEO classes on the 22nd (that's in three days, in case you didn't know), I'll get to exercise my naiveté.

I'll also get to smell my newly sharpened pencils.  I've always thought they smelled like brown sugar.  Your thoughts?

In short, summer is over, but life is not.  Not by a long shot.

A Little Bit of Small Town Flavor

Today, my family and I paid a visit to the event of the summer - the county fair.  When we moved about two years ago, we switched county fairs.  I like this one a lot.

4-H-ers almost dominate it, which means lots of horses, drill team performances, and barns full of livestock, photography, Lego creations, and other products of hard-working young minds.  Our family is not part of 4-H, but we enjoy marveling at the creativity and skills of others.

Not that those good qualities passed us by or anything... 

sarah on raisins

One of my favorite things to do at the fair is people watch.  I take in everyone - the groups of young teens giddy at newfound independence, the wispy-haired kids silently marveling the soft fur of a bunny rabbit, and the old ranchers - hats clamped over balding heads, spurs polished and secure on clunky boot heels as they sit back to watch the youngsters ride. 

county fair talent contest

Of course, we all enjoy the cool thickness of a smoothie on a hot summer day and the greasy contentment a french fry bucket can bring.

vendors hawking their wares

I loved watching my friends in a timed O-Mok-See horse show.  I miss you, Grace!

grace on mariah

And then there's the colorful world of the midway - where stray tickets fall underfoot in the hurry to board the Tilt-a-Whirl and Tarantula.  Kids form lopsided lines, jigging in excitement while they wait to pop balloons, chuck rings, and send their stomachs up into their throats.

my least favorite part of the fair :)

Yeah, honey, I'd take a horse over the ferris wheel myself.

little girls, big dreams

I was surprised how many people I recognized at the fair, from other social activities / classes in town and such.  I'm pretty good at remembering faces, but still...that's a small town for you!

a random cowboy on a pretty horse

Are you a regular guest at your county fair?

Love from a tremendously tired,

Ellyn

Pretty Rocks and Water

About vacations.... it doesn't matter how far away you go, as long as it's somewhere you can relax.

the biggest, cleanest, and (i think) most sparkly great lake

And that's a good thing, because with a family of seven (eight, counting Grandma), it's hard to travel across the country whenever we need to get away.

my brothers and i aboard the "vista star", a tourist boat.  it was a cold ride, but a fast and a fun one.

This week, we took a road trip to Duluth - a city on Lake Superior.  This is the Boston and New York City of Minnesota, in my opinion, and you can't call yourself a true Minnesotan until you've paid it a visit.  This was my second time there.

the famous lift bridge

We only stayed for two nights, but we milked them for all they were worth.  Besides the trip on the Vista Star, we went indoor rock climbing (I enjoy these battles against my inner fear of heights), swimming at a waterpark hotel, and got malts at a malt shoppe on the boardwalk.

The second place at which we stayed serves s'mores every night.  Needless to say, those were much enjoyed.

my own brother wouldn't hold his marshmallow still, so this picture is of another kid's sugary treat.  i seem to adopt little brothers wherever i go.

remember what i said about 'most sparkly'?

The high on Thursday in Duluth was in the fifties, quite a drastic change from our hundreds at home on Tuesday.  The average water temperature of Lake Superior is 39 degrees fahrenheit.  So, no swimming.  But there were boulders heaped up along the coast near our hotel, so we climbed around on those.

Also, in the pebbly sand, we searched for sea glass.  A piece of sea glass is glass that has been worn away and tumbled in the water.  This pieces look a lot bigger than they actually are - don't be deceived.  That green one on the left is a little larger than my thumbnail.  

But we found a lot.  And if we found a piece of regular glass, we tossed it into the water to be sea-glass-ified, as was our duty as sea glass hunters.

Oh yeah - my family got to see this movie - one of my favorites in the entire world. 

Rapunzel: "Well...I do like ducklings!"

Flynn Rider: "Yay!"

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"Hey! Gimme back my guy!" - Rapunzel

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"Rapunzel, please, stop with the mumbling. You know how I feel about the mumbling. Blah blah blah blah, it's very annoying! I'm just teasing, you're adorable. I love you so much, darling." - Mother Gothel

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"Here's your pan, here's your frog." - Flynn Rider

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"BEST! DAY! EVEERRR!" - Rapunzel

After so much climbing and sailing and rock hunting and wave watching and huddling on boulders in fifty-degree weather, it was no surprise that our time of relaxation backfired into exhaustion.  

But I mean the good kind.

- Ellyn

The Best Prize

Here I sit, with dirt under my fingernails.  I smell of dirt and sweat, and my legs are stiff from a long horseback ride yesterday and multiple treks to the woods today. 

I wouldn't trade that feeling for the world.

(However, I also wouldn't trade the feeling of a nice cold shower in summer.)  

I spent today doing what I love - farming.  That is, if farming means chasing chickens and lugging sheets of rotting plywood around and smelling the lilacs by our border.  

snowshoe - my garage sale chicken, currently molting.

i cleared that path through the wreckage of an ex-fort today.  i would have done more but there were fumes of rotten wood and...maybe....a dead skunk....

It was raining earlier, but now there's a warm, almost tropical breeze blowing in from who knows where.  We got the garden planted, got the chickens into the orchard, my brother mowed the lawn, and I cleared out the stuff you see in the picture above, as well as hand mowing a little.

I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't learned how to love work.    Remember, it will be hard before it will be easy.  You have to just jump right in and get started.  (Even if you're jumping in to a tangle of raspberries up to your waist.)

  

So go on - I dare you.  Go work 'til your back aches, get your hands dirty, tie up your hair and roll up your sleeves.  Work for God.

Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters [...]

I make that a double-dog dare.

- Ellyn

Let's Go Fly A Kite...

It's an Easter / near-Easter tradition at our house.  A Spring kickoff.  And lots of fun.  The above kite was the star of the event.

My brother snapped the above of me with my kite.  I think this was just after we got it down from the apple tree.  My other brother kindly got it down for me.

He's very skilled.

But then this kite - remember? The star of the show? -

Ran out of string and...well...didn't come back.

Oops.

Now it's in a neighbor's tree, and we pass it every time we come back from town.

Nevertheless, it was a fun day and we're hoping to fly some more of these babies on Easter.

And here's a...um...spontaneous photo of me with braces.  :)

Have a happy Easter holiday.

He is Risen!

- Ellyn

I'm Back!

Wow...I'm feeling seriously out of the blogging groove :)
It's good to be back, and I had a full month - I actually have no clue of how I'd even have managed to blog, if I was allowed to.  Here's an update on life.

Braces - I got 'em.  And I need headgear too, but only for 12 to 14 hours a day.  :)

Firearm Safety - Readers!!! Yours truly has actually shot a gun at a target! *squeal* We only have a .22, so there's not much kick.  But still, I feel so accomplished! :D

Behind the Wheel - the first time, I had no clue what I was doing.  But I'm getting better at driving, slowly but surely.

And also - I've started a book review blog! While offline, I wrote tons of book reviews and read tons of books, so I'd love you even more if you checked it out and clicked the "follow" button.  Again, I've got A LOT of reviews to get out there - good stuff is comin'!
Here's the link: The Book Trapper


Missed ya!

- Ellyn

Goodbye, My Friends....

I come with news.  I'm doing a challenge that requires taking the whole month of March off from Facebook, blogs, and all other such things.

I get 15 min. a day for personal email time and 5 min. a day, six days a week for emergency internet time.  And I will honor Sunday by staying off the computer completely.  Not even writing that day, which of course doesn't count for the said challenge.  :)

What's the point of this, you ask? To grow closer to God.  The challenge requires 15 min. spent with God each day (or more), and I really need to start a daily prayer time, so I hope to get down on myself about that :)

If you want to do the same challenge, you can find it at http://lovingthelord.org/, and it's called the "Winter Media Minimization Challenge."

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So, it will be a long time.  But it will only be thirty-one days until I am back - your happy blogger once more! And there will be changes.

- Behind the Wheel: Ja, ja.  I've only driven three times so far, and only once on a real road.  It was...interesting.  I had both Mom and Dad in the car, because we were going to my ortho consultation, but I think they both did very well. :)  I even got up to 40 mph.  Shocking.

- Firearm Safety Course: I admit to all you hunters that I've never shot, much less really touched, a working gun in my life.  It will be good to know how to handle one - please pray I don't shoot anyone through the head.

- Braces: Not too excited about the sour candy discipline of these metal bars, but I am excited to get my teeth straightened out.  When I come back in April, you'll definitely get pictures.

As well as the above, and spending time with God, I want to start reading Little Dorrit (we watched the TV series and OH MY was it good!), make a key-lime pie, lunge/ride Indy every week, get up to 200 pages in Seaspear (is it possible?), and try my hand at either steampunk or sci-fi.



Mwa! Bye! I love you all! While I'm gone, could you vote on my poll? I'll use the results to get back into blogging on April 1.


- Ellyn

Life. Is. Sweet!

Over at Shilah, Ara's doing a deal where every week, you list ten things that make life sweet for you.  :) And there's an added bonus - if you enter four times, you can get four extra entries to the last blog makeover that My Designer Girl will be doing! Permanently! 

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10 things that make my life sweet

: Cats - period.  Especially their silky ears and Mitzy's round yellow eyes :

: Sunsets where the sky is a deep blue and all the trees on the horizon a bright, bright, gold :

: A rainy Saturday - full of possibilites :

: Riding bareback in the snow :

: Writing a lot and knowing that what you wrote is good :

: The annual Threshing Show we go to every summer :

: Getting a letter from your friend in the mail - just because :

: Discovering a new song or book series that you absolutely love :

: Shockers, sweetarts, sour patch, and other such delicious candy you find on the posters at the dentist's office :

: The fact that we have hope in Jesus for the future (and therefore don't have to worry about the sad state of the government) :

What makes your life sweet?

Warning

I probably won't be posting much for a while, because I'm starting Drivers Ed tonight and I have it almost every night for...three weeks, I believe.  Time with God, Indy, chores, school, and writing take priority over blogging.  But I'll be back!

- Ellyn

Thankful in Words

I lay flat and quiet, cheek pressed against the freezing snow.  When Will's footsteps faded to other side of our man-made sledding hill, I moved one arm an inch up and pushed myself forward with one foot.  My coat crinkled against the crust and I stopped, holding my breath.


It took me a long time to move again.  Finally, when Will grew impatient and started yelling, "I give up!"
I waited to move until he was at his loudest pitch of the phrase.  Grinning, I knew not one of us was going to give up, even if he came down from the hill to look for us, like he threatened to do.


He was wiser than to expose himself to the anger of me and my brothers, though...he stayed on the hill.


I moved forward again.  Now I was in a tricky place - beyond two trees close together, there was no real cover against the stark white snow.  What if I go between the trees? Hmm.  Could be painful.


From Will's place, I was pretty sure I melded into the tricky moonlight gradient of black, gray, and white.  But the silence of the trees wouldn't mask my breathing, or my noisy snow clothes.

not my image

That's the kind of thing I do with my brothers.  Risk my sanity, strength, and voice while playing pirates, fencing, and yelling across the pasture.  Or in this instance, freezing my chin off while pushing myself on my belly through the snowy woods at night, trying to get to our sledding hill while not being seen.  (Pretty impossible, by the way.)

But it's this kind of thing that makes me feel thankful ...
- For my four brothers
- For hot chocolate and a warm house
- For snow
- For quiet
- For a challenge

Every night for thirty days, I'm going to be writing down in my notebook what I'm thankful for.  I've already done it for three days and it's amazing how much sweeter life seems to me.  Sometimes, I'll put what I'm thankful for in posts, like this one.  But only sometimes! :)

Next time, I'll give you your second fencing lesson.  Or a book review on Leviathan...we'll see what I feel like first.  :D

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P.S.  I'm also happy to say that God helped me get my poetry muse back! I was worried that I couldn't write poetry anymore, but the other day, when I was supposed to be writing a school poem, I thought of this great one and wrote it down and needless to say *takes deep breath*... I am so happy!


P.P.S.  Speaking of thankfulness, I've just discovered Ara's blog, Shilah! I think she's my new favorite blogger.  Also, my two pals  have started blogs and I know they'd appreciate it if you head on over and help them get started in the blog world.

My dear friend Amber at Blessing Blog

and

Pheona! (remember her?) Who I'm happy to announce is using that screen name - anyway, she has a babysitting blog at lemons and lemonade



Love!

Ellyn

Miracle Mountain Ranch

This post has been long delayed! Nela asked about MMR a long time ago, and I want you to know I have not been paid to advertise them in any way.  I plan on going there if God wills it and want you fellow horse-lovin', Bible-believin' Christians to know about it too.

Miracle Mountain Ranch Ministries, set in Pennsylvania, do a variety of things but what I am mainly interested in is their apprenticeship program.  I love how horses, although one of the main aspects of the program, are not the reason or the very center.  The reason you work with the horses is to glorify God, improve your character, and learn lessons that you can apply to other parts of your life.  Through hard work, good Christian company, and Bible classes, you learn how to keep God the most important part of your life.

And one of the best parts - you don't have to be really advanced with horses! They've got classes for beginning riders, intermediate, and advanced, as well as horse training classes which would totally be a go for me! :)

So, if you think you're interested, pray about it and check out their website: http://www.mmrm.org

To hear one of the apprentices talk about her time at MMR, watch here.


Apprentices - Episode 1 from Miracle Mountain Ranch on Vimeo.

Here's the Horse Lover's Camp video.


Fall Horse Lover's Weekend 1 2010 from Miracle Mountain Ranch on Vimeo.


Thanks for reading!
I hope you're having a merry Christmas season.

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And now, for pure random enjoyment, here's what happens when a girl and her brothers are home alone for the whole day and snow is falling hard and fast outside.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  We had videos too, but I decided against that....you know, better to "keep your mouth closed and look like a fool than open it and remove all doubt." :)

Love, your very 'umble pirate,

Ellyn

Give Thanks and Eat!

I'm amazed at how fast Thanksgiving came and went.  Did you get the same feeling?

I hardly got any pictures this year...not even one of the bird before my dad carved it up.  I guess that's good though - I was thinking about family and having fun and not about blogging.  Find the good in every situation, right?

Here's a picture of our full house - every name on our guest list is present.

I could describe in glowing detail who everyone is, what they do for a living (like Uncle Bill, who is the groundskeeper for the San Diego Chargers field!), and everything we did together...

But you would not enjoy it.  We just have too many in jokes, and if I tried to re-tell everything, it would lose its charm.  So...

Here's another picture.  The cousins!

Stuff we did..........

Saw Tangled.  (My favorite animated movie second only to Up! It was adorable and Rapunzel was so cute.  Even though I sensed a few bad underlying themes, you gotta see it.)

I learned how to play poker.  Not for keeps, of course.  :)   

Went on an excursion.  1 1/2 miles down the highway in the snow to get fried chicken...then we walked back.  It was fun.  And while we were there...

Returned a cell phone to its owner.  My brother found it, so we took it into the restaurant with us and scrolled through all the pictures (grand total of three) and finally, Uncle Bill called the home number and had this conversation.  

"Hello?"

"Who's this?"

"The person who found your phone."

"You found my phone?!"

"If it's your phone, I found it."

He said his name was Dwayne, so we left it at the counter for him to pick up.  Every person that walked into that restaurant was temporarily branded as Dwayne, until Dwayne himself finally walked it.  We didn't give ourselves away, and on the way home all our jokes were centered on Dwayne....oh, and hitchhiking.  With Dwayne.  Poor Dwayne.

Played games.  Battleship, Settlers of Catan, Taboo...and Sequence.  The Original Sequence Team has been going for maybe five years, and the teams consist of Blue: Cousin Frank and my brother John, Green: Cousin Larissa and me, and this year, since Larissa got married, we had to add Jimmy to the mix, so Team Red: Jimmy and Brothers Eli / Will.  

Red did very well, but I think it was partly because Green would much rather have Red win than Blue, and Blue would much rather have Red win than Green.  But Green did not do very well this year.  At least we won the last game.  Last Thanksgiving, Blue didn't win once though, so it was okay.  Here's our yearly team picture.

Ate a lot.  Of course! Sadly, the pecan pie and the peach pie didn't turn out, but the apple and pumpkin were good.  The 24 pound turkey was very good too.  And Thanksgiving Lunch - now that was a wonder all in itself.  Olives, crackers, fancy cheeses, salami, veggies and dip, and dark chocolate make a great feast, don't you think?

  

Naturally, I'm sad today since everyone is gone.  :( But I think a romp in the snow will do the trick.  I'm off!

Love from a very thankful,

Ellyn