This is hearby a notice...

That I'm fifteen!
Actually, I have been fifteen for...about 20 days now, but...
:)
Now I get to change my profile!
Yippee!

This is also hearby a notice that...I probably won't be posting for a while.
:-P
Sorry, but my week's full.
so is my month.
My year, however, may be a different story
:)
Here's the last three stooges quote for a while:
"If you have a knicknack with with a nick in it, we'll knock the nick outta the knicknack with Brighto!"
- Larry

Hubert Sparrow Tells It All! (Detailed Earwitness Account)

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT.

Suddenly, a shot rang out.

...But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

Yes, you are.

That's my conscience. Rotten little chap.

Anyway, it all began at the Operahouse.

No, it didn't. It began with someone being shot :) I like seeing people shot. :D

Okay, that COULDN'T have been my conscience (rather, I hope it wasn't!).

Back to the story.

It was in fact a dark and stormy night. (I was sweeping the sidewalk in front of the Operahouse Extraordinaire. Not that I have anything to do with Operahouses; after seeing The Phantom of the Opera I generally stayed away from those places.) But I did happen to be sweeping the front sidewalk, hoping to see a telltale stray grain of Chinese rice, when IT happened.I happen to enjoy sweeping sidewalks in the rain. It makes one look productive when one is in fact doing nothing - all the dirt and debris (and, sadly, Chinese rice) is really being washed away by the wind and rain. But when I'm the one standing on the sidewalk with the broom, everyone attributes its clean appearance the next morning to moi.

BACK to the story...

To introduce myself... I am Sparrow. Hubert Sparrow, to be exact. Not to be confused with Huberta Sparrow, my ex-wife. My seventeenth ex-wife to be exact. I am now in the process of making a twenty-second ex-wife.

I do like long rabbit trails, don't I?

Except, I don't like rabbits. They dig up nasty holes down which any innocent(or not innocent, as the case may be) bird can fall.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was 'sweeping' the front sidewalk in front (good thing it wasn't behind) of the operahouse when the shot rang out. The first shot. For, in actuality, there were two. At first I thought someone had spiked the cymbal master's breadcrumbs. It wasn't until they carried out poor Turtle Dove that I realized the dreadful truth: a murder had taken place.

Turns out that the murder wasn't directed at Turtle after all, as I thought it was. It did seem perfectly logical that someone would want to shoot him, for he was always in the way in a most bothersome manner (not to mention the fact that he was incredibly short on savvy). I never liked the chap much anyhow...he was dumb enough to be standing right there when the allegedly misfired bullet ricocheted off of soon-to-be victim's gold watch and planted itself in his...well, you get the idea.

As I was saying, he was a pretty lame-brained chap and not an overly handsome one, either. He made his living sitting on telephone wires begging for extra nuts. His great-uncle, you know, was fried by a wire when he sat on the electricity instead of the telephone and got his claws in it the wrong way (or so the rumor goes). The Doves aren't the most popular family, and I do wonder if the bullet was purposefully directed toward the soon-to-be-victim's gold watch so that it would hit Dove.

My best guess? It was a mercy kill. Someone saw his ineptness and pitied him. Doves aren't anything like us Sparrows...we are sharp, cunning, witty, and popular (not to mention famously handsome and good-looking and all that).

But I digress. I was just an innocent bystander. Dove was just an innocent bystander who unfortunately was stupid. Or perhaps, he was a not-so innocent victim against whom the murderer held some grudge (probably his dopish qualities, lack of good looks, or maybe it was one of his ex-wives).

There. You have my theory, and my story. You shall have to wait 'till the next bird posts to get any more.

this post is for the birds.

Goldfinch - Evil Nephew of Fat, Rich, Miser
Chickadee - Fat, Rich Miser (AKA temporary main character)
Oriole - Fat, Rich Miser's wife (AKA partial reason for temporariness of said husband)
Cardinal - Proprietor of the Operahouse
Bluebird - FBI (Federal Bird Investigation) Agent
Starling - Pickpocket
Bluejay - Maniacal Reporter who Accidentally Stabs - oops, that's chapter 267
Sparrow - Undetermined Ordinary Person
Magpie - Gossip
Pilated Woodpecker - Pointless Character who Whines ("Ohhhh....I have a pounding in my head!")

To be Started, Continued, Edited, & Finished sometime in the indetermined future. =D

"Ever seen 20,000 pop bottles?"

I know I certainly haven't...:)

woohoo, another post! I'm just one of those procrastinators, always telling myself I'll make a post later...50 years, of course.
:)

The above quote is one from the trip to and from OKC last Thursday when we had to send Evelyn off to Scotland. I'm not sure what it was advertising...any ideas?
Don't think it was a Coke advertisement, 'cause they're always blazing red. This one wasn't. That help?
:)

Anyone ever been to Europe or Great Britain before? Besides the Gamgees'. :)

That's quite a time difference. Most of yesterday I was thinking what time it would be in Scotland vs. what time is was here. Evelyn arrived in London 7:00 a.m. their time...1:00 am our time.
Six hour time differences always make life different, don't they?
:)

We traveled to Enid for the Bible Study last evening(an hour trip by car) in the F's big, white, 15-passenger van. Dani and Ruth and I sat in the next to last row, watching the pattern of a pen on paper while talking about different things and listening to Fric and Frac's (the two youngest F's, aged 7 and 5) animated conversation about aliens, horses, bulls, etc.
Later that evening, after dinner and the Bible Study we played tag together. Fric was it, ferociously chasing anyone within sight. Ben(one of the middle F's, aged...10?9?) and I were taking a break in the W's small courtyard when Fric appeared at the entrance. Ben and I declared we were times-out inside the courtyard, and Fric couldn't get us. The afore-mentioned personage said we had to get out of the courtyard and play. When I stuck my hand out of the gateway, she made this statement: "No, you have to get your whole body out. And your bones, too!"

:)


Now we get to the punch line...:)
Some of you may already have heard the 'BIG NEWS'

For those of you who haven't...
I and several other younger (and a few older) kids in our church and from the homeschooling group are in an Irish dance class. It's a whole lot of fun and all of us enjoy it, but we've just finished for the year. Or so we thought...
We just received an email from Mrs. H, our dance instructor, asking for four of her students to perform with a live Celtic music group at the Public Library in a few weeks. Guess who the four were... Dani F(11? 12?), Abigail P. (13), Will P. (11?10?) and...yours truly!!!
*gulp*

Wow, what an opportunity!
We'll also be dancing with 6 of her OKC dance students, so hopefully all 10 of us will be able to get along :)

It's a rather expensive venue tho... the proper dance shoes and poodles(special knee socks) have to be found and bought.
There's also a special uniform to be found...
But in the end, it will definitely be worth it!
Let's just hope I don't stop dancing just to listen blissfully to the live music, or, even worse, get so nervous I forget part of it.
:-P
:)

"If this was my place, I'd throw ya out of it!"
- Moe

Basking in the Sun?

A new post.
Aren't we all excited?
I considered making ya'll have to wait until I condescended to make a post...for about one second. Now you see the result.
*sigh*, I just can't bear to see people suffer
:)
:-P
yeah, right...

Has anyone been doing the above thing?
I've had plenty of chances...first door-to-door outreach in Enid during 102 degree weather, then a carwash with Evelyn's friends last Saturday, and, finally, getting to weed for our next-door-neighbor in...only 94 degree weather. How humiliating.
however, it was in open sunlight...so maybe I can get away with saying how hot it was.
:)
The same neighbor incidentally hasn't watered her garden (by her own admission) for a few weeks if not months.
She was so horrified when I came to tell her I was done she gave me a wet rag to clean myself off...Not until later did I have a chance to look in the mirror.
Now I know why...
:)
Life has been rather boring recently. We (Evelyn and my mom and I) spent literally all of yesterday making a large picnic basket. LARGE
It...isn't quite done yet. At least, mine isn't. Evelyn(that workaholic:) got hers done fully an hour before I even got to the rim (where I was made to stop for the day).
However, it is some comfort that my mom is behind me, even. Only because she had to take time out to help me...
You should see our baskets. :) Evelyn's is rather round, bulging out (I kind of like it Evelyn, though you may not:) below the rim. Then my mom's basket is huge, almost too wide for the rim to fit. Then my basket...straight up from the base with no nice little bulge to make it bigger.
*sigh*
I'm thinking I may have tightened it too early.
nuts.

I'm getting more and more dismal here...
but it's the truth.
Evelyn's leaving on Thursday.
You only notice how much you miss older sisters when they're gone.
Of course, I've kind of gotten used to only seeing her on the weekends...but a WHOLE MONTH?!!!!

Anyway, on a more cheerful note...
I GET TO MAKE DINNER TONIGHT!!!
woohoo!
For those of you who didn't know, I love cooking.

Anyone know yet what they're wearing to the CY costume party? I still haven't decided.
Evelyn wants me to go as a chef, but, since everyone already knows I'm going as that, I wanted to do something different to surprise them.
I haven't thought of anything yet.
AND IT'S TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
*gulp*

Has anyone seen the new Pride and Prejudice who's also read the book?
We just finished seeing it last Saturday. I kind of liked it...I couldn't see anything wrong with Kierra Knightley, but, of course, I haven't read the book. According to the scholars sitting next to me, it's waay off.
However, I'm not feeling an urging right now to read the book. Acting a small part in a Jane Austen play and having to read the entire script was enough for me.
Incidentally, I was the youngest cast member of that play.
I also played the oldest part. :)
It was rather interesting, but I'm not sure I want to act the old granny again in Emma.

"Our genius ain't appreciated around here... let's scram!"- Moe

What's 'note'?

Ever asked yourself that deep question?
What dark secrets lie behind those 1...2...3...4 letters? What daring mystery would be revealed if the meaning was discovered?
The answer:
go ask your pop
:)
As it turns out, the real meaning also is contained in four letters... MILK
GOT MILK?
Raychel sure does...
At least, she really wants to say that almost all the time...
I babysit Raychel and her younger brother Joe (schmoe:) twice a week...I've gotten rather tired of hearing the words "want note" uttered from that golden-haired 2-year-old.
Anyone want to guess what happens when no 'note' is delivered?
the afore-mentioned girl throws her arm dramatically over her eyes, peeking through every now and then to see if you're paying good attention, and starts screaming.
It usually works, tho... especially if Joe just happens to be asleep at the moment. Not all kids that young are heavy sleepers, you know...
:)
However, the 'note' has to be delivered in a very special way. Raychel has one cup a day. If another cup is brought into that day, then it's bad news. Especially if the proper cup has been mysteriously misplaced...
;)

I've made two biking trips around S. Lake today, first with Frodo and then with S. It's very lovely about this time of year, after all of the 6 inches of rain we got. Even though it's not as pretty as it would have been if we'd gotten rain before May, it's a WHOLE lot prettier than if we had gotten no rain at all.
As Frodo will find when she gets home tomorrow....
Let's just say both her room and the bathroom smell like honeysuckle.
:)
That stuff is everywhere at the lake. It smells wonderful and looks even better.

On my first trip around the lake with Frodo we stopped at the beaver's dam. I was planning only to see the creek, how far the water had gone down from the big rain, and if the bridge Dan, S, and I had put up was still there. However, we soon found our path along the creek blocked by some very unhealthy, lush poison ivy. Remembering S's experience, we decided to turn around and go back.
In the process of turning around and going back, we decided to walk a little way down the creek...or up it, which ever, and climb the steep hill on the side opposite the path(and our bikes:) After walking up(or down:) the creek a ways, we found a beautiful green indentation in the hillside, rather soggy, but looking as though a house used to be there(the cement slabs, the old oven, and the mattress springs were just the smallest hint:) After climbing up the hill we came upon the most beautiful green field of johnson grass, dotted here and there with thistles about to bloom. Some bushes which could have been a garden (the kind you buy at Wal-Mart:) lay close to the trees, and what could have been an old wall(rather grass-covered, but there were still those trusty old concrete slabs:) rose out of the sea.
It was, all in all, very 'picture-perfect'
:)
By the by, Jasper(famous Three Stooges' line:)...I read in a book once that the 'perfect' girl of the story, when she saw flowers, she stopped and looked at them, then went on to the next, not 'picking them like any other cruel little girl would do'
Would you say that's
a. just fine
b. idolizing flowers
or c. polluting (hey, some people are allergic to pollen, you know:)

There just doesn't seem to be much to say.
Except one thing.
Or, maybe two, we'll see...
:)
NEVER PLAY SOCCER WITH A SKIRT ON!!!
Soccer itself is fun.
If you are wearing the right clothing.
Let's leave it there...

The second...
I'm waiting.
for your
comments!!!
Thanks to Shadow and Frodo....
but I'm wondering if the rest of you possibly...lost your internet connection?
ooh... what an accusation.
which happens to be true of some...
:)
"Meet the wife, and don't laugh." - Shemp

Sign of getting old? Don't think so...

I had my violin recital just a few hours ago. OK, so it wasn't MY violin recital, but I did have the most pieces there. Four to be exact, although Pippin's piece was probably longer than all four of mine combined :)
There are now only 7 students left in Mrs. F's class. *sniff* everyone's either too busy, or...PLAYING ANOTHER INSTRUMENT!!!
harumph
anyway...
Four pieces are a lot. Especially to play in front of so many people. I like all of them very much because of all the feeling that you can put in them. They were all arranged by the same composer, so I guess they have to be similar at least in one area...:)
I started out with a relatively easy one. It only goes up into fifth position, so it's not as hard as some. And it only has two flats...which is almost a cinch compared to others. It's the piece Mrs. F. calls the 'tippy-toes' song...officially, though, it's titled 'Aucasine and Nicolette'. I'm not sure I spelled that right...Anyway, it does sound like a little girl tiptoeing through grass. At least at the beginning. It gets faster and more exciting in the middle, then back again it goes to the peaceful little 'Heidi'
:)
And then there's the Negro Spiritual Melody. It's actually the theme from the New World Symphony, but the arranger (if that's a word:) decided to name it something else. It's actually a rather good name, I suppose. As always, Mrs. F was able to come up with an illustration for it...She said it's rather like a great big negro guy singing out in the fields...at least, that's the huge sound she wants me to mimic. It's really pretty at the beginning of the piece, just the simple theme on the 'd' and 'g' strings, only going up to fourth or fifth. Then it gets to double-stops, and I have to go all the way up to sixth and beyond playing two strings at once, trying desperately to keep the notes in tune. I was probably making some pretty funny faces, like I always do when I'm trying to concentrate. :-P
Thirdly, I played 'The Toy Soldier's March', one I've only had for 5 or 6 weeks...That made for very interesting playing, but it wasn't too awful, I hope, because it only goes up to third position. Relatively easy. :) The only problem was the bowing and the tempo. As you would think, with a song named 'toy soldier's march' you have to keep the tempo straight. Rather hard to do when playing with an unknown accompaniest. What was worse, though, were the bowings. By the time I got to this piece I was starting to get rather shaky. Thus the title...:) I kept switching the bowings back and forth...Not certain if I got one right in the middle part of that song. :)
Finally, I played the Rondino. It's probably, besides the 'Negro Spiritual Melody', my favorite one, and my next-to-oldest one. (A+N is my oldest) It's a whole lot of fun to play. Someone who played it before me (most likely Pippin :) wrote in the moods it's supposed to be. The slow, vibrato part is the 'vocal song', with a variation titled 'opera singer' Then there's the 'dashing man sings a serenade'. Of course, the hero gets two echos, while everyone else has to survive with one... The dark, fast part is titled 'The VILLIAN!', and, like a good little Rondino, it has an echo imaginatively titled 'the villain's echo' :) Then there's 'the waltz', with the 'graceful dancer'
All in all, it's a very fun song to play. If someone really tried, I bet they could make a great story out of it...:) any volunteers?
Of course, it had to be my easiest, most fun song on which I messed up. All the others were relatively fine (except for one moment in the 'negro spiritual' when the accompaniest misplaced her music and Mrs. F dashed by me in record speed to help her:) However, when I got up to my easiest song...the nervousness had built up and I almost completely blanked out. Good thing I didn't completely, tho...since I forgot the music :)
;-)
Well, here I am sitting on the nice black study chair, wearing my nice fuzzy navy blue skirt. When, who should come along, but... Sandy! The one cat who just happens to have brilliantly white fur right about now. Of course, I scooted over to make room for her on the chair, so she wouldn't get any fur on my nice dark skirt. And, of course, she decides to hop right onto my lap, to give my a lovely gift of nice white-and-orange fur.
Those cats must be plotting something again...
They've been eating too much grass lately, which (so our vet says) has been making them sick. Therefore, they've been banned from going outside for 48 hours. Hey, what do you know, they're finally allowed outside, and, where do they go? straight for the big clumps of grass.
Smart cats. :)
:-P
"Well being as there's no other place around the place, I reckon this must be the place, I reckon."
- Curly
"I baked a cake once, but it fell and killed the cat."- Moe

FRODO'S COMING HOME FOR THE SUMMER TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


better go clean the house
<:-O