Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ian's Corner: The Poem of Mossflower


[Update:  The last three verses you see were added on today (November 16), but I made them a week ago.]

One day I was bored. I started drafting Valentine's Day poems but got bored of that, so I started a Redwall poem. Redwall is basically like Medieval-time stories but with animals. There are different books. I was writing the poem about the book Mossflower. Here's what I wrote so far; I have three verses to go.

Oh, this is the tale of a victory
Over vermin men;
And if you really want me to
I'll sing it oe'r again.

(Chorus) Dah mah nah nuh nah nut nah!

The tale's of Martin the Warrior;
A sturdy-built young mouse,
And though he wasn't wealthy,
He lived in an abbey house!

(Chorus)

He battled Kotir soldiers
With his teeth and paws,
Which later would outpower
Tsarmina's wrath and claws!

(Chorus)

He was put in Kotir dungeons
With Gonff the mousythief,
Who let them both escape from there,
And gave them great relief!

(Chorus)

They joined the mice of Loamhedge,
And Bella of Brockhall,
Then hired Chibb the robin
To spy oe'r Kotir walls!

(Chorus)

They joined a mole named Dinny,
To look for the mount of fire,
To search for Boar the fighter,
Of whom they just might hire!

(Chorus)

At Kotir they discovered this,
And sent three soldiers out,
To capture the three travelers,
Once they had found their route!

(Chorus)

The travelers, they marched steadily on,
Though they had noticed them,
The soldiers, when they found a pond,
They lost one of their friends!

(Chorus)

The soldiers, though they lost a comrade,
They fought gamely on;
The trav'lers found a young shrew boatman,
Who invited them on!

(Chorus)

After a waterfall crash,
To Bat Moundpit they went;
And after they found Marshgreen's tribe,
To northwest they were sent!

(Chorus)

They found a beach with seagulls many,
An' shifting sands abide;
They found the mount of fire
On the beach's sandy side!

(Chorus)

Guided by the hare,
They entered the mountain of fire;
Then met old Boar the fighter,
A strong and noble sire!

(Chorus)

Boar questioned Martin's broken blade;
Martin lent him it,
Boar used a piece of falling star
To forge and make it fit!

(Chorus)

They fought a band of sea rats
Who set up an ambush;
They sailed away in their ship,
(It took a little push)!

(Chorus)

**They sailed on back to Mossflower
To win the woodland back;
The woodlanders, they saw the ship
And thought 'twas an attack!

(Chorus)

They flooded Kotir first and then
They mounted an attack;
Martin slew Tsarmina Greeneyes
And won the woodland back!

(Chorus)

So if you're passing by those woods
Those glades of woodland green,
Remember that they weren't always
The best you've ever seen!

(Chorus and Finale)
[Editor's Note: Ian started writing this poem two days ago. As you can see from the photo below, they only changes I made were to add capitalization to the beginning of lines and to some of the proper nouns. Everything else is pure Ian. Looks like we have another writer in the family.]

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Lucy's Corner: Happy to Be Here

Our cannonball of happiness had a birthday this week. We got a video of her waking up, freshly 4 years old, but I have an unhappy hunch that it is too long to upload successfully. So instead, here are a few pictures of our lovely Lucy Q on her big day.

Here, she's happily doing a puzzle at the library.


I love so many things about Lucy, all of which are reflected in this photo. She's talking on the phone, ogling her big cake, and wearing a dress that proclaims "CHEERFUL". She's such an amazingly friendly, energetic and yes, cheerful kid. And she's been talking about when she would eat her cake for days in advance of her birthday...


This last photo was two days later, but I'll include it in the birthday montage. She's the first of our kids to be in any kind of organized sport, and we're enjoying it greatly. The coaches have one game they play with the kids in which the coaches "try" to kick the kids' balls away from them. It cracked me up when Lucy and another little friend went to the edge of the practice square, squatted whispering for a minute, and then covered their balls with their shirts. They were such a cute little pair, thinking they were outwitting the big guys.

We sure love our Lucy!