Just checking in to say we’re going mushrooming for chanterelles today! I’m so excited. We went mushrooming last year and got loads of mushrooms (in fact, we ate the last of the them about a month ago–hurray for freezers!). ^_^
So while this isn’t a proper post, I promise there will be one soon, ’cause of course we’re taking along the camera and it’s a sure thing to get lots of pictures. 
Seeya in a bit, my flower! (Anyone recognize that quote? Besides my lovely sister… 
).
Like all babies, stories must (eventually, in my case) be given a name. I happen to move at a snail’s pace when it comes to naming my stories, and by the time I get around to it, the “baby” has grown up quite a bit. >.> The snail’s pace is not very fun in times like these:
Person: Ooh, sounds interesting! What is it called?
Me: Umm…well, for now… *insert very boring title*
Person: *pause* …awesome.
Me: *wince* Yeah. I haven’t thought of a more interesting title yet…
Photo credit: Naomi.
But, moving on to the positive side of this post. After many many months of wincing every time I spoke, wrote, or thought the title East Circus, I finally present to you its new name:
Wanted.
*cue wild applause*
I’ve actually had that title in my head for about a week now. I was slaving over what on earth I should name my book, when it popped into my head on my way out of the barn one night. At first I dismissed it. But it sort of grew on me, and I ended up naming my book it after all. XD YAAAAAAAY! I quite like it now. ^_^ Hopefully you do too.
And hopefully it doesn’t make you think of burly guys on wanted posters, because the MC is female, and not burly at all. (Danie: *NODNODNOD* What she said.)
If you want to read more about the story, you can visit Wanted‘s own little page over here.
Earl and Elsie are my potted plants. 
Earl is the chives plant, and has a lot of spice; his wife, Elsie, is a jade plant and a homebody–likes watching the sunrises and sunsets from her very own pot.
Meet Elsie.
Elsie is robust. Her family came from the desert, though she germinated here in Oregon. She spends her time watching the seasons change out my window.
Meet Earl.
Earl germinated right on my windowsill, and is rather spindly. He’s over a foot in length (not counting his roots) and is definitely ready for a new pot. I really should get on that…
And here they are as a couple. <3
Since Earl is prone to tipping over, his dear Elsie lends support. In these pictures, they relocated from my windowsill to the front porch. I can’t say it was a very big change of scenery, since the grey clouds overhead remained the same, but hopefully they enjoyed it.
Well, I think the fact that winter is coming has finally sunk in. Rather grudgingly, anyway. Our garden work changed from weeding summer crops, to taking out the crops altogether, and preparing for new ones.
On Saturday, we started work on the beans and cucumbers–getting the last of everything off the vines, and then tearing the plants up and feeding ‘em to the sheep. The sheep were very happy.
The beans took up the majority of our time. We had left a good number of beans on the vines a month or two ago, so they would dry and we could use them in stews and such later on. We had to harvest all of the beans (literally hundreds O_O), untangle the vines from the rope supports, and cart everything away.
Wow, that sounds a lot simpler than it really was.
But eventually (six *pant* hours *gasp* later) everything was done, and we could pick tomatoes, take pictures, and then head home. It was very satisfying in the end.
Out in the main garden, the leaves on our pumpkin plants had withered and died, to reveal bright orange orbs of October-ness! Because pumpkins are rather symbolic of October, wouldn’t you think?
So that’s that for the garden update. ^_^ I’m not quite sure what we’re going to plant for winter, but we’ll figure it out soon!
Normally I sketch with a plain old pencil and eraser, but a few days ago I drew a portrait of Naomi with my Sharpies. It was so fun! XD The picture doesn’t really resemble Naomi, but I’m delighted with it all the same.
Naomi doesn’t like the picture very much, but for some reason she never likes the drawings I make of her. 
Sorry, Naomi.
I’m wearing mismatched earrings today… XP
So…I’m sure you’ve noticed the new look. It’s black. Black as night. *eerie music* I really love it, though, and I am a happy person! It’s just I like the darkness of this theme. XP
“I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”
-Anna Quindlen
While I was drawing Pippi Longstocking 1 out in the woods today, I thought about blog posts, and this sprang to mind. ^_^
Good characters are amazing. I’m afraid my own characters aren’t quite up to scratch when it comes to complete development (*sound of outrage from aforementioned peoples*), but fortunately they have models of perfection to look up to while I’m getting my act together.
Photo credit: Naomi.
So. Let us begin. My favorite characters ever–in any book I’ve ever read. In no particular order.
Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. YAY for Bilbo! *hugs the little guy* Even though this list isn’t in order, he definitely takes top spot. I love him because he’s a Hobbit–ordinary, never did anything unexpected for his whole life–and then he went on this great adventure, bumped around in barrels, wielded a glowing sword, bested a dragon. He’s just so utterly inspiring. That’s why I love him.
Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. She’s so much like me it’s scary. Though I suppose I’m so much like her it’s scary, since I’m pretty sure she was around before I was born. But we’re not exactly the same, since I’m not as smart and enjoy goofing off more than she does. Anyway, ’nuff said. She’s awesome.
Sekker Equinox from Fable Weaver, by Carlie Gernhart. Don’t read this if you haven’t read the book. XP But he…made me cry. *cough* Halfway into the book, he betrays the heroine, but a while later it turns out he was on the good side all along, and then he gets trapped for eternity in the void between worlds. *sob* Heartbreaking. I cried myself to sleep the night I finished the book.
Beast from Beauty, by Robin McKinley. I happen to love Beauty in the story as well, and Greatheart the horse, but the Beast takes the golden medal. He’s so…complex, kind, and sad, and has trouble reading books because he can’t turn the pages with his unwieldy claws! Wonderful detail, that, by the way.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Okay, now, really, you had to know this was coming. They make the perfect couple, and as such, do not deserve to be separated into their own paragraphs. <3
Jo March from Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. Lovely, lovely character with all the struggles of an aspiring novelist=win. And yes, I would be freaked out if someone burned my notebooks, too. *shudder* Oh, and her name! I love her name. So quirky and short and utterly perfect for her character. B-)
Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. I think I like putting couples together… *blink* Anyway, firstly: THEIR NAMES! Don’t you just oh-so-much love their names?! And then, yeah. I just really love the whole book, and the complexity of Mr. Rochester, and the honesty of Jane (plus her artwork, if you’ve seen the movie).
And now, because the favorites of my own characters are lobbying for a part in this post, please give a warm welcome to…
Reyn Aduis from East Circus (working title), by yours truly. He’s my favorite villain, and a master of disguise. He actually (SPOILER) poses as the mentor for the first two-thirds of the book. ^_^
Chloe Erila from my NaNoWriMo. She is half English, half African American, an aquaphobic, and modeled after my sister just a bit. I like her because she’s so drastically different from my other MCs (main characters). Cilla and Danie had more of a personality based off myself, and even though Chloe does too, she has more freedom to express herself, which I think rounds off her character more. ^_^
Savannah Buckle from my NaNoWriMo. She’s as loyal as they come, and very revenge-driven until about the middle/end of the story. Quite the learning process for her. *hugs Vannah*
Nella Cutt from my NaNoWriMo. She’s…just…really my best mentor. I am definitely looking forward to writing her. She was tormented by the villain all her life, and yet somehow she manages to have that little spark still inside her somewhere–she’s not quite crushed yet.
Aidan Clambuson from Freedom Trek, also by yours truly. He is my first ally, and even in all his first-novel-ness, he’s pretty cool.
Lianne Staide from (you guessed it) Lianne Staide. She’s rather moody, determined, and most definitely belongs in the Civil War era. I’ve tried rewriting her into different places around five times, but she remains firmly planted there… I’m playing with the idea of keeping the civil war concept, but making it fantasy. We’ll see. ^_^
And lastly, Swift Blythe from Lianne Staide. He’s ally to Lianne and amazing! Ilovehimsomuch. One of my favorite allies, but obviously, ’cause otherwise he wouldn’t be on this list. He is desperately loyal to Lianne, and also to his cause (unfortunately for you I haven’t figured that out yet, otherwise I would tell you XD).
Okay, this is getting really long, at 900-some words. So I’ll wrap it up now. Toodles! xD
We found this MASSIVE spider lurking in the beans while gardening today. He was pretty cool. Check out his coloring! It looks like a face! Albeit a somewhat creepy face…
Even though Naomi is a little freaked out by spiders in general, she was interested enough to take this picture. Which–and I think you’ll agree–is a pretty awesome picture.
I’ve been really interested in phobias recently, ’cause my NaNoWriMo heroine is an aquaphobic. And I have very little idea what that means, since I love water. So, yes, I need to do some research. ^_^ Are there varying degrees of aquaphobia? Will she be terrified of something like drinking a glass of water, or is it only bigger things that freak her out?
The autumn weather officially started about a week and a half ago. Normally I’m quite happy to see all the rain, but this year I want summer to stay. Maybe it’s because I spent so much time away from home this summer, and so didn’t get my share of Oregon sun. At any rate, winter is coming on fast, and this morning during barn chores, my fingers and nose felt the cold. *shiver*
In honor of the rain, here’s a quote from one of my stories:
Rain dribbled off the tent sides and slid into the sand. Rain, marking my departure, the coming winter, plopping angrily at Father. It was raining in the desert….
On second thought, that isn’t that great of a quote, though (I think) it works well in the story. Oh well. It’s from the very beginning of chapter two, and rather melancholy. ^_^
And speaking of my stories, I have officially (it was unofficially decided quite some time ago) to have each chapter of my NaNoWriMo equal a day. So “Chapter 1″ is “Day 1.” Should be sorta cool to write!
Time to bid you all goodbye, ’cause Naomi has an orthodontist appointment (an insanely early one, if I say so myself ) and it’s time to leave for town. *waves*
Yesterday, I took a bite out of a hot pepper, thinking it was a bell pepper. Cue ten minutes of agony. OW…
At the end of the ten minutes, after I’ve drained my water bottle, eaten a banana and several tomatoes, and am finally feeling better, Mikah holds out something red and says,
“Haniya, would you like another tomato?”
My heart melted just there.
“Oh, no thanks, Mikah… I would, but– MIKAH!”
I recognized the red “something” in his hand.
“That isn’t a tomato!”