Gnome Sighting in Borobia Wildlife Preserve! **UPDATE**: She-Gnome Befriends Photographer.

      On October 18th, 2015 on a wildlife preservation called "The Loony Bin" near Bedford, MI. A young woman spotted a strange peaked-capped individual sauntering through the woods. She immediately called in an experienced wildlife photographer, who grabbed her mother's iphone expensive camera, and hurried to the scene.

 Upon arrival, the photographer, Elizabeth, followed the trail of tiny footprints leading out into the heart of the preserve.  On her way Elizabeth photographed small grassy trails, possibly of gnome construction:

Subtle grassy trail off of main path.

      After settling under the boughs of preservation pine trees, Elizabeth prepared for a long wait, camera at the ready. Fortunately, she did not have to wait long. After a few minutes, she heard quick footsteps, and occasionally a grunt, and soon a grey capped fellow came into view.

He-Gnome, Dubbed "Chuck"

  The gnome, who was quickly nicknamed Chuck, was about two and a half feet tall, and was stocky and big cheek'd. He did not seem to very interested in Elizabeth, nor did he seem frightened. Elizabeth came to the conclusion that Chuck must have seen humans before, and therefore, gnomes must be agile and elusive most of the time around the preserve.

      Elizabeth followed Chuck through the preserve at a distance and snapped some adorable intriguing photos of chuck.

And Elizabeth also managed to shoot a video of chuck frolicking and laughing to himself.

But Chuck quickly waddled from view, and Elizabeth started back to the preserve service building with her photographs. But she saw a flash of red in the brilliantly green pines.

       A She-gnome (AKA "Mrs. Gnome") was bumbling about and eating clover and talking to herself.

 Mrs. Gnome caught Elizabeth's eye and came over to her. Mrs. Gnome had round brown eyes and a Dreamy expression, and soon proved to be scatterbrained and absorbed in thought. Mrs. Gnome shyly greeted Elizabeth in perfect English.  Elizabeth returned the greeting and Mrs Gnome immediately warmed up and insisted on showing Elizabeth different plants and gnome dwellings.

Mrs. Gnome shows Elizabeth around the network of hidden gnome paths.

Mrs. Gnome's Current dwelling under the pines.

Mrs. Gnome shows Elizabeth her "brown and black worm" named Caddie.

At the end of the day Mrs. Gnome bid farewell to Elizabeth and Elizabeth returned home... But not without taking a selfie!

Before saying goodbye to Mrs. Gnome, Elizabeth had to have a selfie!

Cowgirl Boots

So, hello, friiieeeeends..... how do I greet you on the blog? Say 'hi' and then dive into the body of the post? I really don't know. How does my mom do it? Mysteries.

 Focus. Cowgirl boots. Okay. Have you ever looked at something you have and felt so exited that you have it? Like you feel really blessed? Yeah that's what I'm feeling now. I HAVE COWGIRL BOOTS! AND THEY'RE REALLY CUUUUTTTTTE! I was looking on eBay for some riding boots for my riding lessons tomorrow (yay!) and they are "used". Suuuuuuurrrrre. Okay, so you used it to test the durability of your velvet mats? I see. Oh, and you bought these for how much? $200? Okay. then I buy it for a quarter the price on ebay? Sweetness.

 Now for some cute pictures.... (Ceci also needed some pictures of her boots:)

and the design....

 

 Best Tony Lama Boots ever!

History Awesomeness

 Hi everybody, I'm sorry I've haven't been on so much, (like I ever WAS on so much at any time in my life) but I've been so wrapped up in the at most 2 hours of school I've been doing. Yeah, it's rough.

 This post actually has to do with school, and I must give myself, and my mother, a pat on the back for my mom's great idea, and my awesome 'doing the idea' -ness.
 So this year my mom says that for history I don't have to do the questions about the history chapter, because, let's face it, I got a "grade 13" grade on my comprehension test. Yep. Grade 13. Whaaaat?
 So instead of that thing that I don't need (or else I'll get bumped up to "grade 14") I'll do a project on what I learned in history over the week. So, each week I'll put up a picture of the "totally awesome" project I did over the week.
  I learned about Cuneiform last week that Sumerians used on clay tablets as a way of writing. so I went outside to take some pictures, and , of course, my dog wouldn't leave me alone, because what dog doesn't love me? Aaaanyway, I got some great shots of her.

 And it turns out that a cloudy day is better for taking pictures, so the outside picture is more pretty, and the inside picture is more read able.
  thank you for reading my whole ramblings about my life
 Oh yes, and the Sumerians didn't poke holes in them, because THEY didn't want to hang them in their room. Sillies.

 

So, we went to the library yesterday, (yes, I'm a little late on writing this) and I got a few books, one of which is a super-awesome action-packed manga comic about .... wait for it..... cooking!

Yes! The best manga for Lizzy. so, I tried to read the other books first, just to torture myself, but of course, that did not work at all. So I devoured it in three seconds, (I know you're probably thinking "what kinda mom is Dwija??" but I DID get some not manga...) and discovered that there were RECIPES IN THE BACK! Lizzy heaven! It turns out that chocolate macaroons are the most delicious, most awesome, most EASY and SIMPLE and QUICK recipe ever!!!! mmmm, yes. This book was made in Japan, so everything's measured in grams. Uh oh. So I hopped online and found a grams - tbsp calculator, looked up substitutes for almond meal, and got cooking!

So, the substitute for almond meal is coconut flour and an egg, or you can put almonds into a coffee grinder.

 

alright.41/2 tbsp butter (room temperature)

3 1/2 tbsp cake flour (all purpose would work just fine though!)

3 1/2 tbsp almond meal (or 3 1/2 tbsp coconut flour and an egg)

4 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp powdered sugar

whisk the butter (and egg, if you're using coconut flour) in a small bowl, and if you're using the egg, it won't mix in very well, but that's okay. It's like trying to mix oil and vinegar. Stir all of the other ingredients into a bigger bowl and then add the butter (and egg). mix. then roll them into one inch spheres, and bake them on a cookie sheet for 13-15 minutes. 

I had all of this written down on a sheet of scratch paper so I wouldn't get anything on the library book, but my mom threw it away (I cannot be-LIEVE it.) so I had to paw through the trash to find it. 

Whatever works.

They are the most delicious things in the world. and the go EXCELLENTLY with the brown drink of happiness (coffee).

As you can see, this photo was very craftily designed. And took with a very high quality 20$ camera. Oh yeah.

It also goes well with breakfast. (If your mom says it's okay :)

Oliver!

http://hpami.org/I have no book to review this fine Wednesday, so I'm going to give you a review on a play called Oliver! On Saturday, after dinner Katy, my mom and I got into the car, and drove (after much turning around) to Comstock Community Auditorium to see Oliver!.  We settled into our seats and after hearing the "No Food and No Photography," warnings the lights dimmed and the curtain went up... and the play started. When the opening scene singing started I braced myself for the worst. But it never came. The singing was fabulous! The play was humorous and quality. The light design was ingenious, and the costumes were great. The orphan's clothing was especially good because of all the little details. The pants were slightly too short, and the the sleeves were too. The sets were awesome! the main structure could be used as a house, the London bridge, and much more (it's a three hour play, what do you expect?). The lighting... how can I even explain? In the scary scene, everyone was a silhouette, to make it all the more scarier! when the curtain went down, I joined everyone in screaming: "It can't be over!" again and again. and I plan to keep that special ticket to Oliver! all my life. It was the best play ever.

What We're Reading Wednesday: Akiko and the Intergalactic Zoo

 It's Wednesday again, and now it's time to choose a book for WWRW. I know what your thinking, "Why don't you choose a book before today?" and yes, I'm supposed to, but I don't. Logic.  Well anyway, after amounts of searching, I found a library book called "Akiko and the Intergalactic Zoo." I know, it sounds like one of those books about a handsome thirteen year old boy who's humble and unrealistic, and, coincidentally, he has a girl sidekick who has a crush on him. Sound familiar?

 Well THIS book's not. This is actually the fifth book in the series, and earlier she goes on a mission to rescue the prince of planet Smoo. Anyway, it's about a girl in fifth grade (yes fifth grade! No teeny teen gal nonsense) who, after all the stress of rescuing a prince gets to go on vacation to the Intergalactic Zoo. Of course, it's definitely non realistic, but that's my kinda thing. I already have enough of realistic things, so I love to bury myself into fantasy books. I don't want to give it away, (who am I kidding you're all grownups, you're never going to read it!) but the vacation turns to an adventure, with surprises everywhere , but it doesn't go over-the-top. So I think this book is really good, and recommend it to every kid of ages 8 - 12. (yes, it's that good!I've been reading it since I was eight, and still am!)

Theme Thursday: Barns

Hi all, today is that day again. In other words it's Thursday. This Thursday's theme is barns, and I wish I could just send y'all a photo of my house, but I wasn't sure I could convey the message. Well anyway, here are some REAL barns...

(I took these out the window of the passenger seat of our mini van on our way from our home school partnership with my mom's camera.)