Oops, I did it again.....

And from across the world this time. Today was Mom's birthday! (Happy Birthday, Mum!) I kept trying to get her to come up with something she wanted to do for her birthday. But all she wanted to do was surprised me with something. (I think the hobbit-air here is getting to her. ;) ) So she did! A bookarama!


The local Rotary club is having their annual book sale. So we went. I bought. I now have books that did not come over of the ship. However, I did constrain myself. But I found some books, that I literally couldn't pass up!

Here they are!

I found a sweet little Winnie-the-Pooh trivia book that I'll post a snippet from in a minute.

I was also ecstatic to find a copy of Emma from 1932! I've never seen one that early in my budget!

After being in The Miracle Worker last summer, I've been very curious to learn more about Annie and Helen. I think the 782 pages in this book might quench that thirst.....or possibly drown me.

I am very happy to report that Enid Blyton books are available here. Well, there are now two less because I picked these up today.

But my most treasured book today is:

There is a story that explains my enthusiasm for this gaudily painted cover. When we lived in England, I frequently found books to buy in the charity shops. And I found a book that I loved. It had a story about Bonnie Prince Charming that I read over and over. Much to my chagrin, it went missing. I can't remember if I got rid of it accidently or it was just misplaced during a move. The point being, I didn't have it anymore. And I wanted it. I really wanted it. However, I had always known exactly where it was on my bookshelf and had never bothered to remember the title. So while I performed numerous searches online, I could NOT find the book. If you concentrate all your imaginative powers, you might be able to slightly understand my resounding shock that literally left me shaking when I found this book on the table today. When I first saw it I wasn't sure that was the book because mine had looked like this:

But with the lettering mostly rubbed off. So I opening the cover to read the stories, and every single story I read confirmed that my nearly 16 year search was at an end.

Did I mention this was a good day? :D

So, how better to end a happy post on an exciting day (Happy Birthday, Mum!) than with a trivia question from Winnie-ther-Pooh (You know what "ther" is for, right?).

"When Pooh, Christopher Robin, an the others go on the Expotition, what are they looking for?"

How well do you know your Milne? ;)

Tiffany

And Now for Something.......A Little Different

I've been following a wonderful Writing Blog for a while now. The author is Stephanie Morril. She's written a few teen girls' novels. I haven't actually read them, so I'm not recommending them. But her blog is focusing on talking about how to write a novel. It has been great! If you've got a story in your head that needs to come out, be sure to check out her blog!

One of the things she's doing to encourage young writers is a writing competition. She gives the first sentence of a story. The contestants fill in the next 100 words. Sadly I'm too old (which seems so wrong) to participate in the contest. However, I thought it would be fun to do it on my own anyway. Then I thought it might be fun to put them on here every once it a while.

So here it goes:

It had been 4 years, but the memories still lingered.

"Hello."

David! I looked up at him, praying he couldn't hear my heart beating.

"Hello.


"You're Kate?"

"Yes."

He remembered me!

"You rode Providential in the dressage competition."

Correction: he remembered my horse.

"Yeah, that was me."

Oh boy, was that me! It was my first competition with Providential. She was ready, but I wasn't.

Seeing my nerves, David had stopped and assured me that the butterflies would eventually start flying in formation and actually help. As I listened, he grew to hero stature.

And here he was. Again finding me as I was calming my nerves before a show.

And there you have it!

Tiffany

The Real Deal

So, finally, I was able to travel around to some parts of the city to get some pictures. Again I think the pictures say more than I could, so here they are:

You can see the banister is stilling standing inside.

The building leaning to the right is the Grand Chancellor hotel.

I think you can see the crack in the tower in this picture.

This is the only part of the Cathedral you can see right now. The rest of the views are blocked off.

These are the dreaded stickers that could find their way onto a door near you:

Yellow sticker: meaning restricted use. This is the sticker our church bears at the moment. We are not allowed to meet in the building, either as small groups or the congregation as a whole.

Red Sticker: meaning danger, do not enter.


But lest you think there's no beauty in Christchurch:

Here we were in the midde of a broken downtown, and yet the beautiful hill were visible down the road.

The weather today was just perfect! The clouds were particularly amazing!

When we were here last year, we walked passed this building, I don't know how many times, but had somehow missed this saying. It reads, "Lo these are parts of HIS ways but how little a portion is hear of HIM."

The roses are still blooming.

The sun and the changing, falling leaves, with the clouds was truly breathtaking.

And for the first time in years, our family is experiencing a true Fall! True, we're used to celebrating Spring right now, but it's still wonderful to see the changing colors!

This bridge is call The Bridge of Rememberance. It so "happens" that the Grand Chancellor can be seen through the arch as you go past.

And there you have it. An up close and personal semi-tour of Christchurch.

Tiffany

BTW you can click on the pictures to make them bigger

New Pictures

Well, sort of anyway.

The exciting news is....The Lord provided me with a job! And a wonderful one too. I work at a Christian school helping out teachers in different classes. It's perfect for me!

The only downside is that I haven't been able to get out to take picture as I'd like to. (Our break starts tomorrow, so Mom and I have a planned photo day coming up in the next couple of weeks.)

However, Christchurch has put a link to this. A video that was taken to be shown at the Christchurch Memorial Service. It is able to to show you pictures of areas we can't get near.

I hope you get a clearer vision of what things are like and now know how better to pray for us.

Tiffany