The Icebound Land, by John Flanagan

The third book in the Ranger's Apprentice series.

Will and Evanlynn have been taken to Skandia as prisoners, and become bound to Erack as slaves.
Meanwhile, Halt has decided that his promise to Will to rescue him is the most important thing in his life; he gets himself banished from the kingdom and is stripped of his Ranger title. Thankfully, the king, being merciful, only decides the banishment is for one year. Horace, still distressed that his friend hasn't been found, tags along.
After Erack sells Will and Evanlynn, Will becomes addicted to Warmweed, a strange plant that keeps the slaves working hard just for small doses. Evanlynn learns of what it does to a person after too long, and knows that they have to escape before Will dies.
Erack, who has always felt bad for Will after noting his courage at the bridge, helps Will and Evanlynn escape.

This book was not my favorite. Again, the wordiness of the author made the story drag just a bit, drawing out small things that didn't need attention brought to them. Each was a bit more complete, whereas this one was a bit just in the middle of other stories. I guess that is how the series goes, but because not a lot  happened in the book, it didn't seem like there was as much to tell.

Geocaching Along the Canal

On Sunday, we went geocaching. It was super fun, including a crazy drive up a ditch riders road, watching Benji zoom around, and picking through the ruins of a burned house. Dad told the story of when he came up here with his sister and they set off a smoke bomb under a large tree with a beehive. The bees began to get angry, so Dad and his sister began to run to the motorcycle of Dad's. To their surprise, a badger was sniffing at the motorcycle. Dad and his sister were throwing rocks at it, trying to get away from the bees. Funny; the tree is still there, completely hollowed out and blackened. And it is still growing!
The first geocache was Camille found after a short walk along the canal. It was hidden in some rocks, but less than one minute to find. It was gross; one of the prizes inside were some false teeth. Imagine picking those up from a geocache, uggh!
The second geocache was hard, but one of the most fun. It was just up the street from Grandma's, hidden among the only standing posts of a house that burned down long ago. We looked and looked, nearly completely stumped. The hint was NE post on the NE side. The North East post didn't have anything different, only nails sticking out on every side.
Dad finally figured out that you're supposed to pull out one of the nails and the geocache falls out of a hollowed out knot. It was tiny, like the size of my pinkie finger. Best cache ever!

Halloween

Halloween with Grandma and the Scheffels was very fun. Passing out apple cider and candy is my new favorite part of Halloween. We had kids hear about our cider from the other side of the neighborhood. They sadly didn't get there until we had already finished.
Here are some cute pictures of us kids; I was a cowgirl (how many times have I been a cowgirl?), Camille was an Indian, Hailey worked at Starbucks, and Hilary was a hippie:

The Burning Bridge, by John Flanagan

This is the second book in the Ranger's Apprentice series.

After the evil beasts in the last book have been killed, Halt knows that it is not enough to stop Morgarath, the vile man who plans to take over Araluen.
Gilan, Will, and Horace go on a scouting trip somewhere (can't really remember). Once in that land, they make an unusual discovery: all the people have disappeared.
While still trying to figure out what is going on, they come across a strange girl that tells them of what happened. Gilan decides this piece of information is vital, and goes on ahead of the three of them back to Araluen.
While still trying to get back to Araluen, Will, Horace, and the strange girl called Evanlyn, run into a pack of wargals that appear to be up to some funny business. The three kids decide to follow them.
They soon discover something that could mean everything. But it is risky; they could be easily be killed.

I really enjoyed this book I think more than the first.
The only thing I did not like was a certain part in which they come across several bandits. This is not a bad thing, but the wordiness dragged it out when it could have taken much less time.

Regency Ball, 2013

The ball was awesome! It was really long; we danced for four hours!
Here are some pictures from that:

Regency Ball Dress

Finally! My last big sewing project is finished; I will never ever do so many large projects with close deadlines again. I miss my horses. I haven't ridden in two weeks.
Wow. I have planned this dress ever since March. I originally wanted to make a repro of Kiera Knightley's ball dress from Pride and Prejudice; however, as the time came near for me to actually buy the fabric, ideas started pouring from my brain.

This was the dress that I wanted to make:

The first problem I had to overcome was that no one sells a v-neck Regency dress pattern. So, after sharing thoughts with Lizzy, she gave me the brilliant idea to pin my fabric the way I wanted it (taking two pieces of fabric and crossing them the way I would want them to cross), then laying out the pattern piece across it and cutting it out on a sheet. Then you have two mockup pieces.
One thing I don't care for about the dress above is it is not really Regency at all. The waistline is far too low; it should have stopped more up high. 
An idea that I totally loved a long time ago was to put several rows of pleats down the front neckline. So what I did was I took an old sheet and pinned  5 rows of pleats in. Then, in front of a mirror, I draped the fabric in a rough imitation of how I wanted them to cross in the front, then pinned the two pieces together. Keep in mind, it hadn't been cut with the pattern yet. I laid out the pattern piece over it and then cut it out.

I used the pattern on the left

 I basted the pieces together and then tried it on.
I am rather familiar with the pattern and was aware that I would need to lengthen the bodice considerably; I have already made 2 other dress and the same problem came up. So I added 2 inches to the front and back. I also wanted the shoulder seams to come up higher, so I added some more in that area as well.
So then I went to the fabric store (one of the best parts!) and bought the fabric. I had an idea to use really light tan sheer over cream muslin; however, the costume sheer was on sale for $1.50 a yard and the only color that came close was gold. I considered gray, but again, in the costume sheer color was more of a silver.
I ended up buying cream costume sheer and cream muslin. I was really excited about the muslin; it was $10 dollars a yard. That may sound like a lot, but it was high quality and wouldn't need a lining and it was 90'' wide! So I only needed 2 1/2 yards. Altogether, I didn't spend that much money.
I really do not care for the skirt in the pattern, because it is very very straight and does not flow. I really wanted a flowy dress. I already have a dress that I could have worn to the ball; it is plain black with a empire waistline and a nice flowy skirt. So I laid out my fabric and folded the dress's front skirt piece and lined it up with the fold. Making a line with pins, I pinned all the way around the outline of the black skirt and adding seam allowances all the way around. Removing the dress, I cut it out the fabric and thankfully held it up to me before continuing.
I am so thankful I did so, because I realized that I had cut the skirt too narrow at the top to line up at the very side; it came more in front and wasn't wide enough. So I cut the skirt back with an extra several inches so that the side seams were more in front. Miraculously, by the time I was done, it somehow ended up exactly on the side. Don't know how I managed that....
For the bodice, I ripped my sheet mockup apart and used them as pattern pieces, adding where I already mentioned. After basting all the sheer pieces together, I realized that the pleats on the front neckline were terribly annoying to work with. After ironing them like 3 times and it still wouldn't stay (it made good creases!) I finally took a needle and, using threads pulled out of the sheer fabric, tacked down the pleats every so often. It took forever to pull all the sheer threads out, and by the time I was done I realized, too late, that it didn't hold the pleats down when I put it on and unattractive pock marks showed. Uggh. So I ripped the tiny stitches out.
I was now baffled as to how to keep those pleats down. So I ran to Lizzy for help and she gave me several good suggestions, most requiring to re-cut new pieces of fabric. I had plenty of fabric left, but I really did not want to start over. However, she did give me another suggestion as to how to sew the pleats down.
This new method was taking a needle and thread and pushing the needle out the pleat, and then down into the fabric. This took a while too, and I wasn't super pleased with the outcome, but I was stuck and ready to move on.
Gathering the bodice front, I decided I wanted a waistband. Sewing the bodice to the waistband was tricky; I don't know why, but it took forever to line up.
By the time it was all sewn together, I discovered I had made a mistake somehow in that the back pieces did not overlap, but barely touched. Mom had the brilliant idea to sew a placket to the back. Making the placket was easy, but because the back was rather crooked, I had to try it on several times to make sure it was tight enough in certain spots, but still crossing in the back.
I was pleased to discover that the weight of the skirt helped pull the pleats down, keeping them straight and helping to hide the tacking stitches.
The sleeves were a bit funny, because I didn't want puffed sleeves or cap sleeves, like in the pictures above. I really like the idea of making a circle sleeve, where you cut out a half circle and sew the straight side to the armhole. Since I didn't have a pattern, I measured all the way around the armhole and the free-handed a circle with that circumference. To make an underarm seam, I added a little curve and cut it straight on the edge of the round edge. Because I only used sheer for the sleeves, I had to hem the edge of the sleeve and make sure the edges underneath and the armhole seams were very clean cut and straight because you could see right through.
Poor Mom; she had to pin the hem up several times before getting it straight because the sheer was so slippery.
It's cool, because the buttons on the back were given to me from my Grandma, and she got them from her Grandma. It didn't take any time at all to get them and the buttonholes sewn on.
I think I am in love with large hook and eyes. My new favorite tool! Every dress needs one.
Note to self: small hook and eyes are worthless.

 These are the only pictures that I have of my dress; I wish I had more.

Bogus Basin

Here are some pictures from our hike at Bogus Basin; it's kind of funny, because Bogus Basin is generally known as a place to ski in the winter, but it was absolutely beautiful in the fall.

 Camille, sitting on her 'nature rock' with her 'nature stick.'

It was quite funny; the hike down was easy and really fun. The way back? Not so much. Idaho is comprised of hills. So we zig-zagged down the hill, but zig-zagging up takes three times as long.

The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan

This book is the first in the Ranger's Apprentice series.

Will, who was orphaned as a baby and left on the steps of the Castle Redmont, has now turned 15 along with four other orphans and now must choose a trade to work in. However, none of the trade masters want him as an apprentice for various reason; too small, too impatient, etc. etc.
Just before Will is certain that he is going to be left with a life in the fields, Halt, a ranger, takes him in as his apprentice.
Will is not sure of this at all. Ranger's are mysterious men, and their job is rather unclear to Will until he begins to learn.
Ranger's are almost like spies, as well as messengers and law-keepers. As the battle with Morgarath, the evil man who has been in hiding in the hills and building up his army, approaches, Halt teaches Will everything he knows.
Will also gets pulled into an unexpected adventure as he and Halt track down several savage creatures in order to save the kingdom.

I listened to this as an audio, and did not really care for the narrator very much. His voices are alright, but his narration in between the dialogue is rather boring.
There also is something about the authors writing style that was not my favorite. Maybe it is slight wordiness; for example, 'Alyss said, "Now can't we work this out without a fight?" Will knew she would say this; she was being diplomatic, as usual.' I just did not like the way they presented the characters in the beginning, because all of them said things that Will knew was 'usual,' making every character very very defined. I don't like that he pointed out that Alyss was being diplomatic, because just by her saying 'Can't we work this out without a fight' tells us that she is diplomatic without the author telling us so.
Other than that, the story was great and very original. I really do think the second book was better, though.

The Sea and the Sky

Part of this was in the story I am writing, Moment of Truth. But I liked it so much I decided to complete it a little more.

Does the Sky spill into the Sea? Or is the Sea the Sky?
I guess we will never know until we sail to the ends of the earth to find where they meet.
Until then, if the sky and the sea really are the same, we are somewhere in the middle.

Just so you know, this is a real place; it's Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.

The Castle Corona, by Sharon Creech

After a thief has been spotted, the entire castle and royal household is in an uproar trying to figure out what was stolen.
Meanwhile, down in the village, two orphans see the thief drop something. A leather pouch. The contents are strange, and don't seem to be anything of value. But they know it is important.

This book is one of my all-time favorites! A wonderful mystery, with funny characters and wonderful main characters. I have listened to the audio countless times; the audio is twice as good as the book. Jennifer Wiltsie, the narrator, does fantastic voices, and has a wonderful voice in between all the dialogue.
The ending to the story is very satisfying; my only problem with the book is there were several awesome characters that did not come into the story as much as I wanted them to.
I can not sing of the praises of this book enough!

Applesauce!!!!

Sadly, we did not make it to the orchard this year. sniff.
But, Mom did contact a lady that had loads of apples for sale. Rather imperfect apples, but still good apples for canning. So Mom bought a hundred pounds for applesauce.
This is our third year making applesauce and we have a pretty good process down. One person cranks the peeler corer slicer, one person cuts the rings into slices, and one person (always my mom) throws all the sugar and spices into the pot and makes sure the stuff gets cooked down far enough. Mom also did all the actual canning, while Camille and I really only helped with the preparation of the apples, which is a lot of it.
 The apple peeler corer slicer tool really is the handiest thing to have around. I would never, ever, ever, recommend canning without one.

All of us hard at work; in all, we made 6 gallons of applesauce! And not just any applesauce; our applesauce is more like apple pie filling!

A Door in the Wall, by Marguerite De Angeli

Robin, recently crippled by some unknown disease, has been abandoned by his nurse after his father goes off to war and his mother has gone to serve the queen. However, a monk happens upon him and takes him to live at the monastery where he learns that even without the use of his legs, he is not useless. He learns to get around on crutches and turns out to be an incredible swimmer and carver.
The story ends with Robin using his abilities to save the kingdom in a very sweet ending.

The book was a little slow, but was a very cute story using the analogy that God will always open up a new door upon shutting another. I liked how the author made the dialogue rather easy to read but still has an old English feel, using thees and thous in an understandable way, rather unlike Howard Pyle, who is rather hard to understand and whose sentences are not easy to picture in an everyday situation.

Renaissance Faire

We were asked by Phyllis, our former driving teacher, to come out to Emmet to help her out with carriage rides at the Renaissance Faire. She sometimes needs someone to hang on to the horses while they load and unload the carriage.
Sadly, we could not really help out the day she did the carriage rides, because the ball was that day. But we did go on Sunday, and she was there with her Gypsy Vanners.
Gypsy Vanners are a breed of draft horse that used to pull the carriages of the gypsies. Today, they are rather rare, but are becoming more popular because of their beauty. They are high upkeep horses with all their hair, though!
Phyllis has two Gypsy Vanners, Blue and Orion. They are both beautiful and have amazing temperaments. Because they are drafts, they are rather slow to spook, and rather slow at a lot of things! Both pull carriages, although Orion is still in training, and both can be ridden sidesaddle.
Jousting was a most exciting event to watch. Before it started, Blue pulled the carriage for the King and Queen, where, upon arriving, they took the best seats before the jousting began.
I got lots of fun ideas for our own horses, (not necessarily jousting; that would not fly with either of our horses!) but other ideas. There was one event in which the rider canters, or gallops, with a spear and tries to stab a cabbage on the ground. They did this same thing also with the cabbage on a pole anchored to the ground. Sort of like jousting, just not at an opponent.
There were all kinds of fun things to look at, although it was not really a reenactment  because there so many vendors tried to sell you their cheap imitations of medieval clothing. Many people come dressed up in what they consider appropriate clothing, but it looks more like stuff out of an old Disney movie like Sleeping Beauty.
One person rehabilitated birds, and displayed her falcons and even an owl to the public. Sword fighting was also fun to watch, and one lady had real reproductions of some of the clothing they would have had during the Renaissance.
One thing that I thought was interesting was no one could really identify what time period everyone altogether was representing. The lady in the tent said according to everyone, it was 1200 to 1600! So, not altogether organized, but still fun nonetheless.
My favorite part was definitely the jousting. The jousters did an excellent job, and really knew their stuff and were quite good at it.

 Jousting

 A lady jouster!

A giant chessboard with...faeries and gnomes.

 An owl

 A kestrel

 Sword fighting (not real swords!)

 Dress from the Renaissance

Us girls with the King and Queen!

Sagehen Reservoir, Day 4

Everyone was a bit tired from the hike yesterday, so everyone sort of lounged around for quite a while. Playing games and drinking hot chocolate, we sort of hung out in the trailer because it was a bit chilly outside. After getting sick of Bananagrams, we decided to take a quick hike up to the waterfall with Mrs. K because she hadn't seen it the last time. Mom and Dad and Megan stayed behind for various reasons, so the rest of us set off.
After arriving at the trail head and only getting about 20 steps into the forest, Benji, who had just had his leash removed, decided that he didn't want to go for a hike. So he ran back to the trailer. But we didn't know that, so Kaitie and I walked all the way back to the trailer. Everyone else waited for us, but by the time we had caught up with him we decided we didn't really want to go all the way back. Because everyone else was waiting for us, we went ahead and started to walk back.
We hadn't gone very far (about halfway to the trail head) when we met up with everyone else, who were walking back. They explained that while waiting for us, they were assaulted by wasps and Mr. K, Mrs. K, and Jo had all gotten several stings. That dampened their spirits, so they headed back. I don't know how Camille wasn't stung.
So we never really went on the hike.
The campground pickup was really quick, as all our stuff was in the trailer, so we made it out of there pretty quickly. It was rather strange, because the other campers around us left really early, so by the time we left it was deserted.

 I love this picture! Mom looks so excited about her word.

 Mr. K on his banana phone

 Jojo on his banana phone

 Dad with his fish that is actually quite small

 Jojo after getting stung (poor guy)

Sagehen Reservoir, Day 3

The third day was the best! Everyone, (well, almost everyone) went on the 4 mile hike around the reservoir. It was really fun, especially the first part where it went up and down, and twisted all around. The second part, after crossing the dam, was quite flat and straight.
Us kids kept pulling ahead. We weren't really trying to, but I think we walked a little faster and when we came to a hill we would run down it. There was a particularly large slope, so we ran all the way down; it took the adults quite a few minutes to pick their way down. So we would go up ahead quite a ways, then wait for the adults to catch up.
About halfway, we came to this really large boulder where we all climbed up and waited for the adults to catch up. It was fun, sitting on the very edge looking out over the water. We even saw a heron fly back and forth over the water, looking quite lost.
When the adults caught up, we all sat on the boulder and had snacks and drinks and licorice.
It rained a little that night, but not enough to keep us away from the fire. We sang hymns and stayed up rather late.

 I don't know why this picture is so cool to me

 Dad being....Dad

 I really like this picture

Sagehen Reservoir, Day 2

On the second day, after having slept well (and slept in), the day started out pretty great. It was really, really cold outside, but it warmed up quick.
We all went for a short hike up to a small waterfall (and I mean really short; like less than a mile there and then back again). It was really pretty; the trees grew a little closer together and it was a little greener.
Sadly, right at the end of the hike, just before turning around, Camille got stung by a wasp.

 A cool rock

 Note: all these pictures were not taken by me!