Our Dog, Abby

 This morning, I woke up feeling like I had a head cold coming on. I've been feeling like that for weeks now because of allergies. I ALWAYS get them this time of year. Ugh! But this morning was worse than usual. I went down and sat on the couch in my parent's room. Abby came over, jumped up next to me, looked up at me so sweetly and laid her paw on my leg. Then she laid her head in my lap and looked up at me a couple times. Isn't it funny how animals and little kids just sense when things aren't right? I love our dog, she's just the best! :-)

Her only flaw - considering she's beautiful, sweet and VERY smart - is that she's extremely high-strung. Especially when we take her on walks and when she's in the car. See? :-P The funniest thing happened when we put her in Dog Training School. She barked herself until she sounded hoarse and her eyes were bloodshot. They ended up asking us to remove her from the class because she needed a private trainer. Um, WOW. xP

Now her theme song is that song from Grease, but it goes "Training school kick-out...no graduation day for you, training school kick-out..." LOL. :-)

Pictures From Canada

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So, ever since my Dad was little (we need not reveal the year...) his side of the family has owned a small cabin, on a remote island in Lake of the Woods, Ontario. I've been vacationing there since I was a baby. It's one of the most beautiful place in the world, to me anyway (:


Me, Mom, Dad and brother E went there at the beginning of August. I don't know why I haven't posted about it until now - didn't get around to it. I need to be more diligent in updating my blog!! I know that years down the road, I'll be really glad that I did.


Anyway, the picture above is of the "Mouse House", where we stopped for cheese. (We live in the Chi-town area, so we go straight north.) Normally we stop at "Humbird" cheeses and we have for I-don't-know-how-many years, but this time, we left a full 12 hours later than usual (at 6 pm rather than 6 am) so Daddy could get in a day of work before taking off.


Here is the place we stop for doughnuts, in Minnesota. If you're ever near Orr, go!! I don't even LIKE doughnuts (I know, I know) but I LOVE these. P:
 

Then we were in Canada! Here's all my favorite Canadian candy.

Ahhhh, here's the cabin. Isn't it so pretty? It's an eight-mile boat ride to our island. Nice and rural ;-P The waves made our boat go up and down. It was so much fun! Small pleasures :-)

This is the view from our cabin. I wish the picture was bigger but that's okay. I may be a little biased, but I do think we have the best view in all of Lake of the Woods. :-)

Inside our cabin. I slept on that futon over there. The nice thing about not having as many people staying in the cabin is being able to choose a better sleeping place! (sister L had to work/go to Cosmo school and sister A and bro-in-law J also had work. We missed them.)

View from one side of the island.

This was the first morning, when I took my bible and devotional notebook down onto the front dock. It was such a pretty time!

One of my favorite things to do in Canada - catch crayfish. They're SO fun. :-)

I caught a total of 5 fish and this was the only good picture ;-P Sadly, they were all about that size and no bigger. Although I think Daddy was more bummed about this then I was. Hah!

Canadian Sunsets are the best.

The coffee that makes my existence that much more worthwhile. :-)

Happy (Belated) 9th Birthday, Hannah!!!

Tuesday was angel Hannah's 9th birthday. She went to Heaven when she was 5, and in celebration of her birthday I (and many others) put some of my sparkliest things on and went to class like that :) Those are my sequin shoes and star clips. I sure hope Hannah would approve!

Different European Architecture

For my Literature class, our homework was to choose (out of a list) certain projects to do. We're reading the book Trumpet of Krakow, which takes place in Poland (COOL!) and one of the choices was to write a report comparing three different architecture styles: Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque.

Gothic-style structures are similar to what would come into mind as soon as any teenage American hears the word “Gothic”. The word “gothic” these days refers to teenagers who listen to Punk music, are very quiet, have their hair dyed black and shop at Hot Topic. All this in one word: “Dark”. When I see a Gothic-style structure, the intricate detail and almost menacing look of the building makes me think of the word “dark”. Gothic-style architecture features lots of turrets with spikes or knobs on top, extravagant windows and many different facets along the windows, doors, etc. It has the look of a place a king during the Dark Ages would live, maybe even a dictator (or someone similar), because of the said “dark” look. I think the sinister minds of a lot of people in that day had a lot to do with the looks of their architecture. People want to live in a place that fits them, so they designed buildings that expressed their own personalities.

Renaissance structures are similar to Gothic structures in some ways. They have the same extravagant and detailed look, but are definitely softer around the edges. They have more rounded roofs and windows that give it a “cathedral” look. They are very royal looking, and compared to Gothic, almost a bit more classy and modern. It’s interesting to see styles morphing throughout the years, and to see certain aspects of certain styles being influenced onto other styles.

Romanesque structures are plainer in comparison to the other two styles. They are strict looking, made of stone and almost have a Greek look to them. They have more rounded windows and roofs, but the starkness of the buildings gives it a rather pointed look considering the round corners. I can imagine a school having a Romanesque style because of the serious and studious look it possesses.

Comparing all three styles, I would say that Gothic is the darkest and most extravagant, Renaissance is the prettiest and most religious, and Romanesque is the most serious. It would be like a dark, menacing, respect-demanding father, his pretty Catholic wife, and their straight-A student son.

I hope my Lit teacher likes this! I think the personification at the end might have been a little over the top, but oh well ;-P