Poetry

A rose, sweet and innocent,
Grew in a field alone,
It was kind and beautiful,
But it still had it's thorns.

One day a man was in the field,
And saw the rose alone,
He plucked it from the ground,
And then he took it home.

He showed it to his girlfriend,
And knelt down on one knee,
And then pulled out a diamond ring,
For all the world to see.

All things die... New and old,
No matter how beautiful and sweet-
But really it's their purpose,
That makes their life complete.

Book Swap!

This week, me and my friend decided to do a book swap- I have to read her favorite book, and she has to read mine. So far, we are both about halfway through each other's books. She has to read 'The Fault in Our Stars' and I have to read 'The Selection'. Being the typical girls we are, they are both romance novels that involve a lot of drama, sadness, and love. However, so far we are both enjoying the books, so it was a good idea.

We have agreed to trade back the books on either Monday or Tuesday of next week (depending on when we see each other at karate). It's fun, anyway. I also have a few classes coming up over the weekend that my Dad and I signed up for- they are free and being held at a nearby lake in Peterborough. We are doing Bird ID, Orienteering, Leave No Trace, and a few other outdoorsy ones.

I am going to end my post here- I want to get ahead on some of my schoolwork because I want to have my friend over on Friday being school is out.

Maddie

The Swimmer (A Short Story Analysis)

The first thing I want to say about this short story is I enjoyed it very much- but I didn’t get the underlying meaning behind it. To tell you the truth, I didn’t like the underlying story as much as I liked the story itself, and it kind of annoyed me how something good turned into something that was, in my opinion, really crappy. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the story AND it’s underlying story.

I at first though the story was a time warp or something, because everywhere he went he seemed to be forgetting things and people treated him horribly when he thought he was close to them. I didn’t even THINK of the nervous breakdown until Dad told me, but I did pick up on the alcohol in every part of his swim. I think Dad was somewhat correct about how the swim was a metaphor for his life, but I also think he may have gotten the nervous breakdown theory wrong. After seeing both his and my own renditions of what happened, this is what I came up with:

I think that the “swim” is really just showing the stages of alcoholism. It starts out easy, almost party-like- and as it progresses, it destroys you. It makes you lose your family, your friends, your house- and even your life (because if you remember, at the end of the story, he is almost dying). But even though he is “dying”, what does he ask for? Alcohol. It truly shows how addicting and harmful it is, and how you can be oblivious to how it slowly kills you. It would also explain his memory loss as the swim progresses.

However- I think I may have also been on the right track with the time warp statement- because it shows him aging! The season he started in was mid-summer- but as he swims on, the season seemingly changes into autumn. So maybe he swims in the warp, but at the same time his life is still passing and his illness is progressing. At the very end of the book, it seems his life is at it’s end and his house is gone- and there is no sign of his family anywhere. If the warp is true, then maybe his wife passed away in the process as well.

All in all, I think the story represents the type of crisis that Mom went through- the fun, innocent days of happiness, the downfall and the strive to keep plugging on, and finally, her death because of what was so “fun” in the beginning. In fact, Neddy kind of represents Mom in my opinion- she lost friends, dignity, AND memory because of her illness. She also lost her family and her home- it all ties in; the story is clearly showing a story of an alcoholic and perhaps even the deteriorating marriage.

Perhaps you were right too- maybe it was a nervous breakdown BECAUSE of the deteriorating marriage which was CAUSED by the alcohol! BAM! Wow, deciphering this stuff is actually really fun once you figure it out (and get help from Dad). Dad and I should do this some time for fun- is there an after school club for this? Anyways, I really enjoyed the story and I enjoy my own version of what happened even better than yours.

Maddie

The Snipping Tool

Today I want to talk about one of my favorite tools installed on my computer- the snipping tool! You can literally take a picture of anything that is on your computer screen, and I find it amazingly useful. Me and one of my friends pass time playing the Sims 3, and use the tool to snip photos of our newly created sims. It is much easier than digging through files to find sloppy screenshots from the built in game camera.

The snip tool is also useful if you want to show someone a technical problem with your computer if you are corresponding through IM or email. It goes as far as you want and best of all? It's free and installed on most computers! You can go through your list of apps and find it and add it to your toolbar if you want- that's what I did. It also allows you to write on pictures, though I usually don't because my internet "writing" looks more like my little sister playing on Paint.

I hope you like the snip tool as much as I do! It can be fun if you want to take pictures in a game- let me know how you like it in the comments!

Maddie

The cursed stone

The Cursed Stone
By Madison Nef

A long time ago, in 1692, (the year of the Salem Witch Trials) there was a witch named Betty Sawson. Betty had 2 daughters who were the loves of her life: Judy and Kelly. Judy and Kelly knew of their mother’s witchcraft, but were not witches themselves. Betty had seen many of her friends hanged from the gallows, and knew it was only a matter of time before she herself hung too.  

The day came- she was caught. But instead of just taking her, the court ALSO took her daughters. They insisted that being related, her daughters also must be witches. They were all thrown in a jail cell together. Betty was distraught- she didn’t want her daughters to hang for her own sins! But try as she would, she couldn’t get the court to release her daughters… and 5 days after their capture, her daughters went to the gallows without her.

Betty was distraught- she HATED the court! How could they just hang her daughters!?! THEY WERE INNOCENT! She slowly drove herself insane- the court must pay for their mistake! As she sat in her barren cell, she noticed a small rock was loose from the wall. She pulled it out and turned it in her hand a few times, and as she did, a plan came to her. She would curse the stone- that anyone who had wrongly accused a witch or killed an innocent would suffer deeply for his mistake.

She started with that basic curse, but as the days went on, she added more and more black magic to it, so the small pebble grew to be the size of her fist. A month after her capture, the day came for her to be hung. Slipping the rock into her hand, she slowly walked towards the gallows. Before the noose was slipped over her neck, she stopped short, took the rock- and launched it into the nearby lake. She then laughed an insane laugh, and was hung.

The rock stayed in the lake for centuries before it was touched again, but its magic was still present in the town. People who had wrongly accused others fell ill with an incurable disease- and died shortly after. Nobody remembered old Betty Sawson’s hanging- or the object she threw into the lake. Now, in the late 1900’s, a little boy was swimming in the lake and found the VERY SAME ROCK- it had been washed in closer to shore. He was collecting rocks with his little sister, and saw that it was very nicely sized. It was the largest rock he had collected all day, so he took it and dropped all the others.

The little boy happened to be visiting his grandmother a few weeks after he found the rock. She lived in a house in Rindge, NH. The boy very rarely got to see her, and so he was very excited. He took the rock with him to show her. He arrived at her farmhouse, and after eating a healthy lunch, was asked to go pick corn in one of the farm fields. The boy had forgotten about his rock, and took it with him to the field- and lost it while in the corn. The boy was distraught, but forgot when his grandmother gave him a nice dinner with corn muffins that he had helped to make by collecting the corn. Years later, that very field had a house upon it- and the rock was still there, deep in the soil, waiting for someone else to find it.

And soon, someone did- a 12 year old girl looking to do a school project for her Dad. She picked up the stone, looked at it and sighed, and then turned to go back to her house. She then wrote this story... not knowing that she had actually just written the true history of the stone.

Mug Cake

This week, I tried out a new and very simple dessert recipe- Nutella Mug Cake. It's a basic cake that only takes about 5 minutes to make (yes, including bake time!) and is made in the microwave. I gave it a shot, and while I was doubtful about the results, it turned out WAY better than expected. The ingredients needed are below.

4 tablespoons self-rising flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Prep:
Very basic- combine everything in a large mug. Make sure that you stir well (I suggest using a fork) and break up all the lumps in your batter. Then, put your cake in the microwave for 2 minutes. WATCH IT- the cake rises up very quickly. Depending on your microwave, you may have to open the door to let the cake collapse a bit so it doesn't make a mess of the inside of your microwave. If it isn't baked all the way through, just keep adding minutes until it is done.

I hope you enjoy this cake- I love it. It is a quick fix if you feel hungry in the middle of the night and in my opinion tastes like a brownie. Leave me a comment if you tried it!!!

Maddie

A Morbid Death Calculator and other things to do when you are bored

Today I am going to be blogging about: DEATH. I know, I know, it sounds grim, but it really isn't. I was bored earlier today and looked up a calculator that would give me a rough estimate of when I would die. Naturally it is fake, but it occupied me for a little. It turns out that I will die on December 24th of 2080- at age 79. Well, at least I'll have had a full life... HAHA. Here is the link:
http://www.deathclock.com/

Another thing that my Dad actually found to do today is the game "Find the Invisible Cow". It's very funny, and a very addicting time killer. You can unlock 2 animals (3 if your willing to make a donation). The aim of the game is to basically move your mouse around and listen to the different sounds. As the sounds get louder, you can identify where the cow (or other animal) is. Check it out here: http://findtheinvisiblecow.com/

The last thing I recommend to do if your bored is to make ice cream! I found another recipe online that goes with my ice cream maker, but can actually work with any maker. It was for vanilla ice cream so it used vanilla extract, but in all honesty you can use any flavor/extract you want and also you can substitute stevia or artificial sweetener for sugar. Here is the link to the recipe- my family made it using butterscotch extract and it turned out great!
http://krups.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/96/~/ice-cream-recipes