Great Authors

Monday, February 28, 2011

Here's a shot from Central Park. The statue is of Hans Christian Andersen and

farther down in the park is a statue of the Mad Tea Party. I thought that it was

neat, seeing writers and characters portrayed in the same space.

Quote Of The Day:

"Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words - the words

live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audience to

hear them. It is immortality..." ~ J. Michael Straczynski

50 Word Story:

Whispered Words

Pen scrabbling against paper long times ago. Individual letters and words

stay the same no matter which voice they are said in. However, sentences and

fragments are woven like steel spider webs. Each is unique and remembered,

immortalized in a different way. No author, published or not, ever truly dies.

I'm Just Walking...

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Another picture from New York! What a surprise! New Yorkers are

downright crazy when it comes to traffic and crosswalks. I saw people

standing in the middle of the street, waiting for a car to pass before they

crossed the other half. Nobody waits for the walk signals and it's a miracle

that they make it across safely.

Quote Of The Day:

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

~ John Muir

50 Word Story:

One Foot Forward

Double check shoe-laces. Tied and ready, they set off down the road,

admiring the color and culture as they passed through each different place.

Their feet sore, they continued pressing on. Just walking, hardly a care in the

world. No idea where the destination is. Freedom and time to discover.

Rich in History

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Here's a picture of the mill wheel outside my grandma's house. This house was

originally a flour mill and was later changed into a bed and breakfast, and

finally a home. When General Washington and his troops were camped before

crossing the Delaware, he got his flour from this mill. One can still see the

wheel up on the third floor of the building.

Quote Of The Day:

"People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them."

~ James Baldwin

50 Word Story:

Brush With Fame

Traveling to the area is like taking a giant leap back into history. Stone

buildings and the remainders of battlements. Markings to show where

founders traveled and replicas of their quarters and possessions present

in the land. It's wild to stand where someone so important had a long time

ago.

Skyscrapers

Friday, February 25, 2011

New York City is skyscraper central. Like my dad and I both mentioned

before, it's as though you're walking in a canyon when you're on the streets in

the city. The buildings are absolutely beautiful...just...staggering.

Quote Of The Day:

"A skyscraper is a boast in glass and steel." ~ Mason Cooley

50 Word Story:

Gargantuan Towers

As the sun rises higher over the bustling city, it catches the sparkling glass

of the towers that rise up on every block. Reflections of the city can be found

in their tinted glass. The numerous skyscrapers reach towards the sky. To

stand on top of one is somewhat extraordinary.

Constellations

Thursday, February 24, 2011

When we went into Grand Central Station in New York, I was first struck

by how big it was, and secondly by all the designs inside the station. I really

enjoyed the constellations on the ceiling. They had lights inside the designs so

that key stars in each constellation lit up brighter than the rest.

Quote Of The Day:

"Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night,

we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor

between well and badly arranged constellations." ~ Alan Watts

50 Word Story:

Starry Artist

A dark, velvety background in the night sky, perfect for drawing on. A clean

slate, a dark secret, the will to draw. Tracing lines through stars in the sky that

many people will use to guide their travels. Names such as Orion, Taurus,

Gemini, and Capricorn. White chalk. Black sky.

Fun Times in Times Square

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

In case you haven't already gathered, Times Square is nothing short of

INSANE. The place is absolutely crazy. It's never quiet, it's never not jam

packed with people and cabs, it's never dark. Like I said in yesterday's post,

the only thing that changes are the advertisements on the big screens and the

color of the sky. I-N-S-A-N-E.

Quote Of The Day:

"At 11:30 at night, there is probably no more exciting place in

the world than Times Square." ~ James Goldston

50 Word Story:

24 Hours of Nonstop Energy

There is no equivalent to Times Square anywhere else in the world. The

colorful billboards can compete with the skyscrapers, the honking taxis and

chatter can compete with the loudspeakers, the people can compete with herds

of cattle. It's impossible to absorb everything in this area. One can only gawp.

New York, ♥ Me

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Wow. Okay. I took over 350 pictures in New York. I was in the city yesterday

and the greater part of today, so that's why these pics are coming tonight. The

first shot is one of a yellow taxi cab, which are extremely common in NYC

streets. Honks can be heard on nearly every main street. The second picture is

Times Square at night. The only difference between the square at noon and at

midnight is that it's dark in the sky. (Notice how I specify where it's dark, as

the light is phenomenal in there...) People are still out at 2 AM. Crazy...The

third picture is of a cathedral (I can't remember which) that is the largest

Gothic cathedral in the world or something impressive like that. The next shot

is a tile on a fence of 9/11 memorials. The tile reads "tower, love, NY." Next

picture is of the arch at Washington Square. Quite a nice park in the craziness

of NYC streets, though it's not as vast as Central Park. The last shot, one of my

faves, is a shot of the Empire State Building at night from the observation deck

of Rockefeller Center. All in all, my trip to the Big Apple was awesome...tiring,

but definitely an experience worth everything.

Quote Of The Day:

"One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much

in five minutes as in five years." ~ Thomas Wolfe

50 Word Story:

Culture Shock

Giant billboards and flashing lights welcome travelers into New York. Long

blocks, skyscrapers so tall it feels as though you're in a canyon. Honking

yellow taxis taking people across Manhattan and beyond. The Statue of

Liberty holds her torch in the distance. Smells waft through the air. NYC

welcomes you.

Crazy Clown Institute

Monday, February 21, 2011

Okay, so we went for a walk today up in town and had fun looking in

shops, etc. One shop had all these old mannequins tied up outside the

back of the store. Nearly all of them were masked and none of us could

quite figure it out...

Quote Of The Day:

"If there are twelve clowns in a ring, you can jump in the middle

and start reciting Shakespeare, but to the audience, you'll just be

the thirteenth clown." ~ Adam Walinsky

50 Word Story:

Normality? Guess So...

Around the back of the building reside about twenty mannequins, each

dressed in a different, scattered outfit, each with a cheap, black costume mask

on their face. Passersby pay the "display" no mind at all, though it looks as

though the bunch could've come from a crazy institution. Go figure.

Wind in My Hair

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Another shot from those sandcastles we saw a while back...This was one

of my favorites throughout the whole display. The quote on the sculpture says

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die tomorrow."

Quote Of The Day:

"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."

~ Winston Churchill

50 Word Story:

Wind Dance

Cool wind blowing in from the north, ruffling the leaves in the trees and

causing a hissing noise. Threading its fingers around flags and into hair.

Teasing birds' wings and swirling snowflakes up off the ground into a

miniature tornado. Dancing through overcoats and doorways, competing

with heaters. Playful wind.

Can We Pretend that Airplanes in the Night Sky are like Shooting Stars?

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Took some pictures with my iPod Touch on the plane today...didn't

turn out half bad!

Quote Of The Day:

"I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to

me that they are wonderful things for other people to go

on." ~ Jean Kerr

50 Word Story:

Cabin Fever

The jolt of takeoff, all the passengers pushed back into the backs of their

seats, ear splitting engine noise overtaking the cabin. Though the view is

spectacular, the flight is long, turbulent, and passengers are eager to land. The

plane dips as it descends, wheels skidding on tarmac. Long flight.

It's Not Rocket Science

Friday, February 18, 2011

I apologize for the bad quality of today's picture, but I think the subject

makes up for the complete awesomeness of the whole thing...We built bottle

rockets in science last week. Best. Unit. Ever. We had a competition to see

whose could make it from the balcony at our school to the forest across the

road. My friend and I made this one (Hoshi - Japanese for "star") and it got

third place!

Quote Of The Day:

"We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain

showers can delay the launching of a space rocket."

~ George Carlin

50 Word Story:

Science Rocks

The smell of duct tape hangs heavy in the air as the bottle rockets are

assembled in various colors and shapes...some more promising than others.

Finally, each rocket sent flying. Some nose plant on the road, some soar into

the forest. Young, eager aeronautical engineers running down to retrieve

them.

World Canvas

Thursday, February 17, 2011

This was an early sunrise on a road trip I went on in the last year...So

pretty. Math quiz tomorrow, sorry to be brief.

Quote Of The Day:

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the

paint you can on it." ~ Danny Kaye

50 Word Story:

The Brush Holders

The world in gray scale, blank like a child's coloring book. Waiting for that

one person to be the first to paint their signature, to make their mark. And

slowly the color comes, each color unique on brushes wielded by different

individuals. Slowly, carefully, painting the world an extravagant rainbow.

Angel

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Sorry, both posts for today will be short...math quiz tomorrow. This is my

friend's dog, Molly. In the lighting, she struck me as slightly angelic, fittingly

so. This dog is so sweet.

Quote Of The Day:

"The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves

lightly." ~ G.K. Chesterton

50 Word Story:

The Truest Angels

The truest angels are the ones who look farthest from what we see in

illustrations. No wings, no luminescence, nothing that singles them out as

extraordinary. They watch from the shadows, going about daily business.

They reach out with a helping hand when one needs it most, then vanish again.

Looking Back

Tuesday, February 15, 2010

Looking back, I realized how much nice weather we had that we don't

have now. Huh. Interesting how we thought nothing of the weather before,

when we, or I, would really like it back now. Okay, I'm tired of rain. Yes, I

love the sound of it on the roof, but this much? Really? And cold....Sigh.

Quote Of The Day:

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and

realize they were the big things." ~ Robert Brault

50 Word Story:

Missing Weather

Long summer days with their warm sun and bare feet. The days fading

into autumn and winter, the warmth slowly creeping into frost and long nights

when the sun sets early. Whatever happened to those long rays of sun?

Waiting for the rain to stop with memories of better weather.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day. I know mine was lots of fun.

We had a class party and everyone was having fun making cards and eating

lots of who-knows-what-all sugary stuff. I just ask that today you tell

someone you love them, but also keep in mind those who don't usually receive

valentines...

Quote Of The Day:

"Love is the flower you've got to let grow." ~ John Lennon

50 Word Story:

Happy Heart Day

Hearts and candy galore, bursting with color and glittering sparkles. Hearts

for family, hearts for friends, hearts for loved ones. Fun messages and warm

feelings that make everyone happy. Hugs to go around and handmade hearts.

Valentines made for those unrecognized by others. Everyone kept in mind and

in heart.

My Day Today

Sunday, February 13, 2011

This is my day. Soccer at seven in the morning. Homework. Eat. Homework.

Homework. Eat. Homework. Homework. Homework. Dinner with friends.

Homework. Blog. I've gotta go cross off that last thing on my list...

Quote Of The Day:

"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to

think about besides homework." ~ Lily Tomlin

50 Word Story:

Day Consuming

Typing away furiously, trying to get projects done as soon as possible when

there's still some time left in the day. Hours slipping by, no time, no time. Math

and English, social studies and Spanish. It seems all to sit there in a huge pile.

Finished, finally. No daylight left.

Sky High

Saturday, February 12, 2010

Today I went to a friend's birthday party and we went to Sky High Sports,

which is a trampoline place. All trampolines...It was a pretty good time. :) I

took this picture a while ago and though it looked kind of cool, and besides, I

couldn't find a picture of a trampoline...

Quote Of The Day:

"Only from the heart can you touch the sky." ~ Jalal ad-Din Rumi

50 Word Story:

Head in the Clouds

She stepped cautiously onto the trampoline, watching everyone else and

listening to the squeak of springs. Ever so slightly, she began to bounce.

Higher and higher until she felt as though she were flying. Stepping out of

her shy body, she reached up, up, up for the puffy, white clouds.

Gentle Teachings

Friday, February 11, 2010

There are few people in one's life that are not only mentors, but friends

and stand-in parents as well. Not only through photography, this woman has

taught me lots and continues to make me laugh and make me happy. I'm

thankful for the friendship we share and I'm lucky to have her. ♥

Quote Of The Day:

"Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight."

~ Author Unknown

50 Word Story:

One to Trust

Advice and gentle correction, hands reaching over, altering the grip on the

camera. Fix ISO, check the white balance, and turn off the flash. Now hold it

steady. Stand-in parent, ready to help and have fun. Not only these, but also

a friend. One to laugh with, one to trust.

Class Spirit!

Thursday, February 10, 2010

This week it's been spirit week at my school. Lots of fun. :) We've had

pajama day, decade day, sports fanatic day, and tomorrow is class color day.

My class color is pink, and, until a short while ago, I owned nothing pink. I

think I'm allergic. However, it's spirit week. I now have a pink class t-shirt, a

pink bandana, and a sweatshirt and some pink shades I borrowed from a

friend. Class color day, here I come....

Quote Of The Day:

"Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic." ~ Dale Carnegie

50 Word Story:

Class Color Day

The whole school decked out in their class colors - orange, green, blue, pink,

purple, yellow, red, and black. Even the faculty gets dressed up for this day to

show enthusiasm and class spirit. The school becomes a rainbow of color,

delight, and downright fun. What an end to spirit week.

Traveler

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

I've always liked this book. It has wonderful information and pictures, as well as fun facts you might not always get out of another book about a country.

Quote Of The Day:

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." ~ Lao Tzu

50 Word Story:

Off and Away

Off to see the sights of the world, whether it be by plane, by boat, by car, by train, or by foot. Exotic sights in far off jungles and savannas, or historical places closer to heritage or home. Passport stamps and travel guides, ready for a new adventure. World traveler.

Tomorrow Comes

Tuesday, February 8, 2010

I took this picture today and I've figured out that the bathroom is the only

room in my house with sufficient lighting. Anyway, I played with the mirror

for this shot and thought a little color splash would be fun. Anyway, sorry for

not posting this yesterday, I had a math test.

Quote Of The Day:

"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we

forget that he is someone today." ~ Stacia Tauscher

50 Word Story:

The Bright Side

Stuck in the dumps today. The sky is grey, the rain falls down in an ugly

drizzle and the wind bites at noses and hands. It's a nasty day. Rough time at

school, plodding home, trying to avoid puddles. Nothing going the right way.

However, there's always a sunny tomorrow.

Searing Sparks

Monday, February 7, 2010

Grabbed this picture real fast today...I've always liked fires, not sure why.

They always remind me of camping and roasting marshmallows, but I also find

they can be really frightening...in a good way...if that makes sense at all.

Anyway, I thought this looked cool with some soft editing. On another note -

I'm SO excited for mid-winter break. I'm going to visit my grandma! :)

Quote Of The Day:

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is

like fire. It burns it all clean." ~ Maya Angelou

50 Word Story:

Hot Embers

A crackling, popping fire in the ring of rocks, sending small clouds of white

ash into the night air. Tongues of flame licking at anything in their way - logs,

marshmallows, fingers. A small circle of warm, dancing light, illuminating

faces and casting long shadows across dark corners of the forest.

Funny Signs...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Happy Superbowl weekend! :) Are you Packers or Steelers? I'm rooting

for the Packers, personally. On a different, more relevant note, I took this

picture a while ago and just thought it was really funny...If you pay attention,

there's all kinds of really funny signs around the city. Also this:

http://sosohappyonline.com/meet-us

Quote Of The Day:

"When this sign is underwater, this road is impassable." ~ A sign

on a Tennessee highway.

50 Word Story:

Double Take

Walking down the street, admiring the lights and fun things in shop windows.

Tilting heads as a sign most would not see pops out to their eyes. They read it,

do a double take, then read it again, laughing. Someone's put something utterly

hilarious up there, intentionally or not.

Waterslides

Saturday, February 5, 2010

Yes, I am aware this is not a water slide course, but it's as close as I can get.

I went to a waterpark with a friend today...So. Much. FUN! We did all the

slides and had a blast! We were swimming/tubing for about nine hours...I'm

so tired.

Quote Of The Day:

"I have never seen a river that I could not love. Moving water...

has a fascinating vitality. It has power and grace and

associations. It has a thousand colors and a thousand shapes, yet

it follows laws so definite that the tiniest streamlet is an exact

replica of a great river." ~ Roderick Haig-Brown

50 Word Story:

Splish Slide Splash

Two girls running up the stairs, carrying a large tube. They stand in line,

waiting for their turn. As they reach the top, they take off down the slide,

laughing and screaming all the way. Into the splash pool, grins on their faces.

Up they go to do it again.