The Spontaneous Combustion of the Anticipation

The first days of school when I were little were almost magical. You'd be so excited with your brand new school supplies. Squeaky new pencils, crayons with sharp tips, shiny new notebooks, it was like an exciting world of replenishments. It seemed as if the school year would be filled with perpetual happiness. The magic always wore away, but I never minded much because I never minded school, I was an eager learner. But this year for reasons unknown (to even me) school didn't start like this. I started with boredom. The day that was supposed to be a new start, a new beginning was monotonous, irksome, like any Tuesday out of the middle of March, or some time like that. It wasn't like the first day of school! What happened to the excitement??? What happened to all the anticipation??? I don't know, it probably fell in a black hole or got flushed down a toilet or spontaneously combusted on the way to my house. Just my luck. Not even the next weeks brought me any remote feeling of beginning of the year-ness. It was this year I needed the anticipation the most. I was overwhelmed in the monotonous, befuddling world all the end of last year and the feeling never really went away in the summer so I needed change to shake me up a bit and put me down with a whole new perspective. I guess this wasn't the change I was looking for. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Flora Segunda

Hello, How has your summer been? I can't believe summer is over all ready! It went by really fast!

Well, there is this really good book I read that I think you should read called Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce. It is a story of a girl growing up in the land of Califa. Her house, Crackpot Hall, used to have a butler, like the rest of the magical houses in the city. But now the house is broken down and there are only a few rooms in the large house that they can use without fear of getting lost forever. But Flora is a girl of spirit, and one day she stumbles upon the banished butler and sets out to restore the butler and the house to their former glory. If only that was the only problem on her mind....

Friendly's

On Sunday, July 18th, Friendly's turned 75 years old. I think we all need to say Happy Birthday to a good old dinerish resturant with good grilled cheese, ice cream, and a good attitude. Happy Birthday! For more information click here.

Moisen World is making July 18th Friendly Day!!!

Happy Fourth of July

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

Happy Independence Day to all!!

It is the United States of America's 234th birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Summertime

Its almost here! We are home free!! We can see it and taste it, but we still have 3 days. And of course our teachers still work us hard. But that shouldn't spoil it for us! Summer is almost here! Summer is not just a break from school, it is two months of freedom. Summer stands for not just vacation but for time for us to live as we want, without our teachers, homework, and tests getting in the way. People who look forward to summer from the first day of school aren't learning-haters, they are just freedom lovers. In the summer you are free to do as you like with no cares! You can play and run and jump and laugh, and you won't get hushed! Kids are very controlled, and I know it is for the better, but they still need time to decide what to do themselves. Summer offers freedom, and that is why everyone loves it.

Cinco de Mayo- Fifth of May

This past Wednesday was Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May). Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the victory over the French in the battle of Puebla in 1862. Cinco de Mayo is one of the most well-known Mexican holidays in the United States, so I was always under the impression it was a very big holiday in Mexico, like the Fourth of July here. But my Spanish teacher told me it really wasn't. It is not, as many people think, Mexican Independence Day, which is in Septembr. Cinco de Mayo is primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla. It is recognized and celebrated in other areas of Mexico, but not as much. CInco de Mayo is actually celebrated as much above the border as it is in Mexico. As well as people with Mexican heritage who celebrate it in the USA, the commercial industry has promoted the holiday, with products having to do with Mexican food. Cinco de Mayo has always been on the calender, but not until this year did I actually learn what it was!

Here is the website that my Spanish teacher showed me about the holiday. Click here.

More Than an Author

I walk through the high, waving grasses of the Kansas grasses. There is no sign of human life, just the earth and me. The birds are chirping in the scarce trees, and the wind is blowing to the west, a sign the world wants us to move. I turn back to the covered wagon to see my family as well as Laura's waving me over. We are preparing continue our journey to unknown western lands.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is an author with a gift, she can make dreams. She has created dreams like that for kids all around the world... including me. Her writing has a magic draw for people with imaginations. Perhaps it is the way she makes the prarie of long ago come to life again. Maybe it is her details, that lets you feel as if you are there. Or maybe it is how she makes her characters feel like friends. Whatever it is, it makes her stories some of the best in the world.

Most people these days don't live on open praries. We live in towns clouded by buildings, cars,

and machines. We have many good things Laura didn't have, but we are missing a lot too. She creates a mysterious pictire to us, miles of miles of untouched land. Her stories have helped me to learn to appreciate all the untouched land that we stll have. She has inspired at least me to love and protect nature. Everyone who reads her books wishes at least once that they could live as she did.

Yet another reason Laura's books are so popular is her unique style of storytelling. Everything she is writing about is so vivid to her, so she can make it vivid to us. Don't call me crazy, but people agree, her books are often better than television. She gives tons of discriptions, but still leaves scope for imagination (as another famous character would say.) I've watched many T.V. adaptations of her books, but none are as good as the real books. No one can capture her memories as well as she can. She is a naturally good writer, but she is her secret to stand out in the croud. Her descriptions and her attention to detail make her one of the best storytellers of all time.

The most compelling reason, to me, that her books are such a success are her characters, these were real people and she can use words to bring them alive again. I have great friends and family, but sometimes you need to go away. Laura's family have always been there for me. I know I can always rely on Pa's fiddle music, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace's cheerful play, and Ma's helpful advice to clean my soul. Pretty soon I am ready to go bak to my world with a pleasant attitude. They all have became very real to me. They have always been there, and they always will. I can count on them.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is more than an author. She is a wizard of storycrafting. From simple words she can create emotions almost as real as the true things. She has a way of telling stories no one else will ever be able to capture. I love most books I read, but the Little House books have always stood out. Plain out simple, her books as, well as she, are amazing, and I hope people recognize it.