International Folk Ball ~ 2011

This spring my mother and I had the privilege of attending an International Folk Ball [HSA event] in Liberty Center, Ohio. It was a busy weekend with wonderful friends, one of the main highlights being the ball.
Here's a montage I put together from our many videos from the evening - enjoy!



[please note my usual movie maker was broken, and thus, I had to use a very disrespectful video maker. xD My apologies about the quality of the film. :P ]

.On My Mind.

*~*
Actually, just some of what is 'on my mind.' I have a habit of thinking in somewhat random and completely non-related sentence-fragments, which seems to have a bad effect on people. *headdesk* reaction, as a matter of fact.
*Ahem*
Anyway... :smiles:

* ~* Mothers*~*


I have the best mother in the world.
[1983, Mother's senior photo. Isn't she gorgeous?]


I know, I know, you thought it was *your* mother, but it's not, it's mine. So there. :nods:

G.K. Chesterton described what a mother is perfectly -

I have always loved G.K. Chesterton’s words, “To be Queen Elizabeth within a
definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labours, and holidays; to be Whitely
within a certain area, providing toys, boots, cakes and books; to be Aristotle
within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can
imagine how this can exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow
it. How can it be a large career to tell other people about the Rule of Three,
and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be
broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone?
No, a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it
is minute.”

Happy Mother's Day, Mama. I Love you.

*~*Multi-tasking?*~*
About a year ago, I ran across this article by Alex and Brett Harris:

"Christians Can't Multitask".

At the time, I was very un-impressed with the idea, but, upon re-visited the article today, I realized that it was not only true, but a needed wake-up call.

"Not afraid of the potential of technology, we need to recognize its dangers and
set up structural helps and limits to keep it in its place. We should love to
use media and technology as tools for God's glory, but even more than that, we
should desire to live wisely. "

Multi-tasking is everywhere, and it's becoming very prevalent in technology. Not only is it a bad idea, but sometimes it's point-blank rude. Ever seen two people at a restaurant, eating together, but both talking on their cellphones? Or how about the person who texts while they're on the phone with you, breaking both your train of thought *and* your eardrum? ;)

This is the result of Multi-tasking. Our parents didn't warn us because it never occured to them it could be an issue. But it's an issue, and I fore-see it becoming mean, bad and ugly as time goes on. Be warned.


*~*Tangled*~*
I watched 'Tangled' last week, for the first time. Even though I'm NOT a Disney fan, I have to say... it was adorable.

Flynn: 'No, no, no, no, no. This is bad, this is very bad. They just can't get my nose right!'

"Her hair glows! I didn't see that coming!"
"Eugene!"
"Her hair glows!!"
"Eugene!!"
..."What?!"
"It doesn't just glow."
*Flynn looks at Pascal*
"Why is he smiling at me?!"

Speaking this movie, some of the young people have choreographed a dance to one of the pieces from 'Tangled"...

...the Kingdom Dance





So. Exciting.

In other news, I've been a terrible blogger, I've been living outside, I have a horrible sunburn from mowing our 3 acre lawn, I'm sick [which is why I'm not attending Church services this morning :( ] and Mummy and I are attending an International Folk Costume Dance this weekend.

*runs out of breath from run-on sentence*

Life is wonderful!

"Come Dance With Me..."

Did you know it was a song? And not just 'a' song, but a song by Frank Sinatra.

Yes indeed.

So see, it's a song, too!

~

~ Literary Ball ~

~*~ Finally... I've been working on this post for quite a while! ~*~ This April, our family hosted our first Homeschool Alumni event and English Country Dance. Did we know what we were doing? Certainly not. Was it worth it? Absolutly yes. :) It was wonderful to see good friends again... The ball was focused around a Literary theme - and every attendent came as a book character. Some of the attending heros and heroines included: Emily Elisabeth (with Clifford in attendance), Horatious Hornblower, Alan Breck, Maid Marion, Pippi Longstocking, Jimmy Olson, Rebecca (from Sunnybrook farm), Mr. Knightly, Amy Dorrit and Alice (from Wonderland)... ... as well as many more. I wish we had room to list them all here!

The worst problem with the entire weekend was - it all went so fast! . So, Friday night came, and so did the dancers. And so we danced... and danced... The detail on the costumes was amazing, esp. when you realize that many of the costumes were handmade...

One of our new favorite warm-up/mixer dances is now the infamous "Broom Dance." Ladies line up on one side, and gentlemen on the left. If a lady is holding the broom, two gentlemen come up to her, and she must pick one of them to dance down the middle with. The one left then has two girls come up to him, he must pick, and etc. The guy's antics eventually got very amusing, as did the 'competition'...

(That's my 10 year old sister - what a choice! :) )

Someone caught a lot of this dance on video...

We danced until 12, and stopped just in time to prevent being turned into pumpkins. O_o One would not want that to happen! The rest of the weekend was spent in our sprawling ranch house, with wonderful fellowship and wonderful friends!

Glimpses of the weekend...

~Sitting in the kitchen floor until 3:30 in the morning, discussing everything from the characters of Les Miserables to the ethics of propoganda.

~ Music. Anyone who's ever spent any time with our group knows that music is inseperable from us. :)

~ Discussions. Somewhat heated ones. Always very polite, but occasionally heated. :)~ Those last few moments, before everyone leaves, are always precious. Much as I do hate goodbyes, I would never miss those last conversations and hugs. :)

Last minute hugs with my dear friends, Eva (r) and Melanie (l).

Looking back, I can see what we need to change. How to work it better. But I also realize - and cannot express how thankful I am - that the wonderful memories we made will be very hard for me to forget. That when you do your very best, God allows the best to fall into place, better then you ever dreamed.

Blessings,

Kate~*

(All photo credits go to Brandon P. and Christopher L. Thank you for all your work!)

Busy-ness/Dance At The Crossroads

In my last post, I said I've been busy. That would be true. Here is a sample of my hectic, amazing, last-two-weeks...

Well, we've been doing lots of last minute arrangements for our upcoming Literary Ball (We're hosting about 16 people at our home that weekend), getting ready for an upcoming poultry show, where I'll be clerking for the judges and/or working the food table... plus setting everything up. And taking it all down. *trys not to think about it* ;)

And still doing schoolwork. Wherever it fits in ;)

I've finished my ball gown now... really, really excited about it. It's one of my favorite characters, and the dress turned out lovely! My mother is a good teacher ;)

Blogging, of course (ha!) writing letters, editing my NaNo novel, working in the barn - all those wonderful things. Hauling water and hay when Daddy can't do it, staying up all night with bottle lambs, and still trying to improve my piano skills. (It's just not fair that we've only had it for 3 weeks! *Grins*)

And the gardens are about ready. And I'm planning out a 45 minute *solo* performance, at my "Angel of Music's" insistance. And freezer cooking. And hiking.

That's a long list... I didn't realize it! ^_^

So yesh, I've been busy. What about you? What have you been up too?

Oh, and for your entertainment - here is the best rendition of "Dance At The Crossroads" I've *ever* seen! Enjoy it! *And it's the High Kings, so of COURSE it's good... teehee*

That's all for now! And what about you?

Blessings on you all...

Kate~*

Something to Consider...

Ladies, have you considered how different is too different? What you're going to be willing to do and what you aren't? Here is a wonderful video from one of my all-time favorite authors - Debi Pearl.



Extremely thought-provoking video...

Mid-Week Thoughts...

This week has been very long indeed - but here's the sad, the happy and the amusing of the week ;)

Sunday was a pretty dreadful day.
Sunday brought about the loss of a friend of mine - Ben Bradley. While I did not know Ben *that* well, we were good friends and talked a fair amount - and picked on each other. And I said he had an 'ego' and he said I was a 'midget' (What's with that? :P Am not... ;) *finally agrees* ). Anyway. He was cleaning his gun and - it went off. He was only 24. It's been a rough weekend - and I'm sure prayers for the family would be very, very appreciated. Read his story :here: ...



Ben, I will miss you very much indeed.


On a highly amusing note - (And to fill in my bitter feeling because I'm taking a facebook break... ;) ) Check out this video. It's not perfect, but you must needs admit - it's funny ;) Esp. the part about "bad-picture-tagging". *knowing sigh* And poking. Seriously.

(Please note I do not condone all of this man's videos or approve of all of his choices of language - this one is one that I (mostly) do approve of ;) )

Finally - Guess what *I* got in the mail?! My LONG awaited High Kings CD...

"Memory Lane"

(And it will NOT let me post the pictures, so I'll add them in tomorrow evening...)

Yes, finally indeed! I've waited since Christmas for it and now - well, I suspect the family wishes they'd never gotten it for me ;)

That's all for now. Writing isn't coming very easy this evening...

Blessings!

One Day More!

This was just too lovely not to share - forgive me, (or thank me) for not being as wordy as I'd like... ;)

A favorite songs from a favorite musical - they messed the song up just a little bit, but the choreography is amazing!

Princes and Frogs

After Christmas slump - maybe this will make your day just that much better :)
( I apologize about the spacing issues - can't seem to get that to work! )

Postie's

Another dance - this one isn't my favorite, but it's fun :) Thanks to my father for taking it!

~Kate

This is... My Novel!

That's right! Here is my 'offical' book preview ~ please enjoy. Yes, it's cheesy and awful and in need of editing ~ but it's a 'real live book!' And that's a happy thing, for sure ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONajvBiH2rg

Gah, I'm excited :)
~Kate