NaNoWriMo! :)

This month is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  The point of it is to write 50,000 words during the month of November.  Last year, I attempted this feat and failed miserably.  This year, I am well on my way to doing the same thing.  I do, however, have one chapter (4,869 words) so far, un-edited and just about as random and rough as it could be.  I wanna share it, but just keep in mind as you read it that I have not edited yet.  If I ever get around to editing, I will update this post, but in the meantime please just forgive the mistakes.  Thanks, and enjoy!

Adventures with Sasquatches

Chapter 1: Abducted

Common Ground Fair

No, I'm not continuing my story about Perugia yet.  Sorry... haven't had the time... but I wanted to post about the Common Ground Fair!

Firstly, I'll just get it out there: Common Ground Fair is awesome.  TOTALLY awesome.  It is way the heck up in Maine, about four or five hours from my home in the Concord area of New Hampshire.  It is on a lovely, big fairground with barns, gardens, and fields, surrounded by forests.  All food sold there must be organic, and it is strongly recommended that it can be grown in Maine.  Other vendors sell local and hand-grown or hand-made products, from yarn to hobbit-holes.  There are also workshops all weekend, and New England musicians play on several stages.  Many children's activities keep little ones happy, and there are lots of volunteer opportunities in all areas.

Morning Musings

It is eight o'clock.  Sunday morning.  Outside, the fog blankets everything; the sky is white.  If you look closely, the bright blue sky is waiting, and if there were no fog it would be a cloudless day.  The sun has been up for about two hours now, but still it has not broken through.  It is not dark, but it is not yet light enough to turn off the lamp.

Yesterday, it was hot and sweltering.  In mid-morning, August pushed September aside and made a comeback.  Last night, the fan was on, merely shifting the heat from one place to another.  Not a night for blankets.  But this morning I was cold; September quietly returned while August slept, tucking her in with this blanket of fog.  "Sleep; you have had your turn.  Now it is my time."

Piglets!!!

We have piglets!!  Our very own piglets, from our very own pig!  Late last night, or early this morning, Patience the pig had fifteen little pink piglets.  They are adorable.

Ode to an Apple Tree

There was a tree stood in our yard
Its gnarled branches gave us much:
Shade and apples, joy and laughs.
We climbed this tree and perched up high,
Nestled safe in cradling boughs
To read a book, or just to climb.

Scuola Maggiore

The rooms where we practiced (2 hours allotted to each person) were in a building called Scuola Maggiore.  This is also where most of the lessons were. It was about 15-20 minutes away, depending on how fast you walk.  And, of course, it was gorgeous.   I'll let the pictures speak for themselves; you can see the route I took to get there almost every day.

Some pictures of Scuola Maggiore, Inside and Out

Outside Scuola Maggiore

The trip to Perugia

The trip to Perugia was loooooooooong.  Really, really, really long.  Extremely long.  (Did you get that?  It was long.)  First, an hour and a half in the car from Epsom to Boston.  That was spiced up a bit by a HUGE rainstorm on the way there; the highway was more like a river.  Fortunately, by the time we got to the tunnel all the water had drained out, so it didn't matter that we forgot the submarine.  Some may think that a rainstorm was an ominous start to the trip, but I prefer to look on the bright side: there was a rainbow!  It was even a triple rainbow.  One doubly thick rainbow, and a faint extra one above.  (It is there, I swear it is.  Extra points if you can spot it.)

Preparing for Perugia

More about Italy!

I was in Italy for two weeks, from the 2nd to the 15th of August.  The reason?  To participate in a classical music festival for piano, voice, and strings called MusicFest Perugia.  The Director of Programs there is a piano teacher I know, and he invited me to attend after he heard me play in a competition.  I was so honored and excited!  He explained what it was all about, and one thing stuck out for me.  At this festival, anybody who wants to can play a concerto with a full orchestra.  There are not very many chances for young musicians to perform with an orchestra, and usually one has to audition in order to get that opportunity.  With MusicFest Perugia, if you were accepted or invited to go, you could play with the orchestra.

The Tomato Expedition

This is the Tomato Jungle.  The tomatoes just love the greenhouse and they grow, grow, grow...

Italian Toothpaste

You may be thinking, "Italy?  What's this about Italy?  She went to Italy?"  So, by way of explanation, yes I did go to Italy.  For a couple of weeks at the beginning of August, I attended a music festival there.  In Perugia, to be exact.  It was intense, with lots of practicing, lessons, master classes, and concerts.  I played piano (it was classical music) but there were also opera singers, violinists, and cellists.  So much music, all the time, at such a high level; it was amazing.  Never fear, I will post more about it.  All in good time.

In the meantime, here's a short story about the toothpaste I brought.

A few slices of Heaven...

Something I didn't mention in my introductory post: I have a LOT of hobbies. This is one reason that I don't get around to actually helping out around the farm as much as I feel like I should. I'm always doing something, but it may not be exactly what I'm supposed to be doing...

First blog post!

Hello!  Welcome to my blog!

I guess I'll start with some introduction of myself and this blog.  Just for a test, just to have something on the homepage.

I'm a homeschooler living on a farm in New Hampshire with my brother, my father, a couple of Border Collies, and a whole bunch of farm animals.  Cows, sheep, pigs, chickens...  A whole menagerie.  One of my aspirations is to follow in my dad's footsteps (to some extent) and have my own farm.  At the moment, this goal is primarily what I say I want to do, not what I am actually doing.  This is because I'm not doing much in the way of farming.  Why is that?  Because of music.  My other aspiration is to be a musician.  I love playing music, and I play a range of styles from folk to classical.  I play many instruments, so practicing takes up a bunch of my time.  What I'm mainly interested in is fiddle music, in French-Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Cape Breton, and New England styles.  And on top of that, since I'm still in high school, I have schoolwork to do...  There's just not enough time in the day.  But that doesn't change my career plan to be a musician and a farmer.