Introducing Mr. Squeaky

My pocket is a worm home.

At least, that's what my nephew, Jack, decided when I was visiting last week.  My pocket was just the right size and shape and height to make a home for his small, blue, plastic worm.  It had the additional perk of also containing chap-stick, so he could alternate putting in and taking out the worm and the chap-stick.  Who knew a pocket could be so much fun?!

One morning at breakfast he snuck the worm into my pocket.  I was already at the school where my brother works (watching him for the day) when I realized Jack had never removed the worm from my pocket.  And thus began the adventures of Mr. Squeaky, the small, blue, plastic worm.

When he first got to school he hung out with the teachers for a while, sharing some bagels and cream cheese.  (As everyone knows, blue plastic worms prefer blueberry bagels.)

Then he went to class and learned about Geometry and how to do constructions.

Having mastered Geometry he moved on to Analytic Geometry (aka Calculus) and quickly mastered that as well.  

He decided to expand his horizons beyond math and looked into science.  Science Olympiad seemed like just the thing.

 First he test drove a mouse-trap car.

 Then he helped Jack's dad saw some wood.

He wanted to ride the trebuchet, but it wasn't quite ready.  

Tired out from the day, he tried to blend in with a stained glass window so a bird wouldn't try to eat him as he napped.

Finally he headed home where he was happily reunited with his owner Jack, and they both lived happily ever after. :)

Fredrick the Christmas Rabbit Returns!

Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit of Christmas was lovingly (re)formed in the presence of not one, but two Christmas Camels.  

His life was threatened early on by a rolling pin wielding fiend, but he escaped with minimal damage to life, limb, and ego.  

 And so Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit came to be.  Again.   

 The process of gaining consciousness was not quite as odd the second time around, and he danced in celebration of life with Ginger the gingerbread girl, and Prince Halferdimple the gingerbread boy.

The boy and girl ran off to play with other gingerpeople, and Fredrick began to explore his surroundings.  The first thing he ran into was a Gingerbread Snow-Lion.  The lion growled and Fredrick's nose trembled.

"Hello?  My name is Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit who saved Christmas last year.  Please don't eat me!" he squeaked.

The snow-lion growled again and smiled.  "Of course I won't eat you!"  he said.  "I'm a carnivore, not a cannibal, and gingerbread is not part of my diet.  I'm Leonardo, the Gingerbread Snow-Lion."

Relieved, Fredrick smiled back and suggested that they make a snowperson together.  Leonardo agreed and the two of them set to work.  Being a snow-lion, Leonardo was especially skilled at forming snow and soon they finished and stepped back to admire their beautiful snow...girl?

For indeed, somehow she had turned out to be a girl.  A British Gingerbread Snowgirl.  "Hello," she greeted them.  "My name is Sandra the snow-girl.  It's a pleasure to meet you both."  She bowed, as only a gingerbread snow-girl can bow.  Fredrick and Leonardo bowed back.

"Would you like to go get a candy cane with us?" Fredrick asked.

"I'd be delighted," Sandra replied.

Soon the three of them were happily licking and nibbling away on a large candy cane.

They made short work of it.

Then it snowed on them.  Snowflakes in gingerbread land are excessively large, and it took a while for them to escape from underneath it.

When they finally removed themselves from the snowflake they found the were in the presence of a gingerbread camel.  A very old and loquatius gingerbread camel.

"My great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great.........great grandfather came to Bethlehem with the wisemen about 2000 years ago," he began.  Fredrick and his friends listened as Camus the Camel continued and told them of Bethlehem and the Angels that spoke to the shepherds, and the brilliant star that his ancestor's master followed.

By the end of the story it was getting late.  Camus the Camel fell asleep where he was and Fredrick, Leonardo, and Sandra sneaked off and headed for bed themselves.  Fredrick thought he was quite alone when suddenly he found himself nose to nose(?) with the oddest creature he'd ever seen.

"What...ah, I mean, who are you?" he stuttered, trying to stay polite.

"I'm Alfonso Henri Shlomo Ling the 7th," the creature replied.  "I'm a bacteria.  Let's go make yogurt!"

And they did.

The End.

*In case you want to make gingerbread adventures of your own, here's the recipe:

Dark Cookies:
1 c. sugar
1 c. crisco
1 c. molasses
3 eggs
(Mix together, then add:)
3 tsp. soda in 1/2 c. boiling water
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
Flour (about 6 cups - enough so the dough can be rolled out and cut)

Mix together, roll out, cut, and bake at 350 for about 9 minutes.  Then frost and decorate.  Or you can try decorating before baking too.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. sugar
Boil until it spins a thread out of a spoon - not long.

2 egg whites, beaten

Pour syrup into whites slowly, while beating.  Add 10-12 large marshmallows (cut in pieces).
If not stiff enough add powdered sugar and a little butter.
If too stiff add a few drops of hot water.

Snow attack

We were deep in enemy territory when the snow hit.  We could not afford to pause to wait out the storm, so we continued on quickly and silently, almost like the ghosts we would rapidly become if we were caught.  

Unfortunately, in this much snow even ghosts leave tracks.  Snow is a mixed blessing for those being tracked.  If enough falls, it might cover your tracks again.  If not, you might as well leave neon arrows pointing after you pass.  You'll be found just as quickly.  

Luck was not with us.  The snow was abating, and we were not close enough to safety to make a run for it.  We would have to make a stand.  

We built the fort at the base of an ancient spruce.  We worked with an energy and efficiency borne of panic, our movements almost too quick to follow.    It was a small fort, but sturdy.  We cleared the ground around it so the enemy wouldn't be able to come close without being exposed.  

We knew the attack would come at dawn.

Fortunately, ammunition was plentiful.   

Finally, we were ready.  When the enemy attacked he would be met with deadly force.  

There was nothing left to do but take turns at the watch and try to catch an hour or two of sleep before the battle was joined.  We slept, dreaming that we were ghosts already.  

 And the beautiful, silent night slowly slipped away...

Small Mercies

The horse galloped down the field, joyfully ignoring the ever increasing pressure of the reins.  She had finally been allowed to run and she wasn't going to be convinced to slow down just because her rider wanted her too.  Oops, here was a corner, but she could make it.  Slowing only slightly, she charged between the two outbuildings, her rider managing to make the turn with her.  She made out the line of a fence not far in front of her and began to plan for another change of direction.  The rider held on, waiting for the next turn, planning to make her move to stop the horse then.  The horse, still running, began to turn.  But suddenly, the ground beneath her hoofs was no longer the soft turf of a mowed hayfield.  Too late, she realized that concrete does not offer the same traction for metal-shod hooves.  She slipped, falling, sending her rider skidding across the expanse of pavement.  


The rider gathered her scattered senses and sat up.  "Stupid horse!"  She put her head to her hand and then studied it, noting that not only was her face bleeding, but her pinky finger was in an unnatural shape.  Still, as none of her wounds appeared life-threatening, she got to her feet.

Yes, this was me, a week ago tomorrow.  My mom was riding with me and we weren't far from home, so my dad was able to quickly take me to the emergency room.  They discovered that my finger was indeed broken, but that the rest of my injuries mostly looked like scrapes and bruises - not serious.  They set the finger, gave me a tetanus shot, and then decided that the break should be treated like an open fracture as there was a cut on that finger...They took me into surgery, cleaned up the wound, put two pins in to help insure straight  healing, wrapped me up, and sent me home.

So the last week has seen me do not much.  Partly because it hurt to move and I didn't have full use of either hand.  It's been rather inconvenient.  Still, in spite of the pain and annoyance of limitations, I have been constantly reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.

1. That it wasn't worse.  The horse could have fallen on me.  I could have been wearing less protective clothing.  I could have landed differently.  All in all, a broken finger and some bruises are really not too bad.
2. Guidance.  Since finding out that I won't be able to return to Israel for quite a bit longer I've sort of been at a loss.  What to do in the mean time?  I have found a few things to do, but I was beginning to look into a few other options...which are now no longer options because of this broken finger.  At least for now.  This may be a strange thing to be thankful for, but I am.  I suppose it may be because I'm really bad at making decisions - and now here are a couple things that I no longer have to decide about.
3. A chance to learn empathy.  Some people have far worse injuries, far worse pain, some of it permanent.  Hopefully I can learn to treat them with more kindness and understanding.
4.  New piercings.  Well, I'd sort of been thinking about piercing SOMETHING.  I mean, ya know, it's the cool thing to do.  No need now.  TWO pins in my finger.  Yeah, and you thought a pierced nose was cool?  Well, I have a pierced finger.  Be jealous.

And now, just because I'm weird and think it's kind of cool...here is a slide show with a few rather blurry pictures of my injuries.  Feel free to skip it. :)