F is for Family Portraits

I am sitting at the dinning room table at my Grandma's house in England. Everyone is there. All around me there is laughter. However I can't take my eyes off them. They are staring at me. Just looking at them strikes fear into my heart. They are my ancestors........


In almost every family there is something that has been past down from generation to generation. Well my family has many of these things but the ones that everyone says are the most important or as I like to think of them (the scariest) are the one the only, the family portraits. There are four paintings of my ancestors in my family, two were painted in 1750 and the other two were painted in 1825. So you may be wondering what the big deal is I mean ancestors aren't that scary but trust me you need to see them to understand.


So who are these people?? Well I just called my Grandma and according to her one set is of Reverend Adam Lorymer and his wife. The other two are Mr. and Mrs. Davis. Both of them lived in Wales (the country beside England) not the thing that swims in the ocean.


My Grandma has always had enough room in her house to keep the portraits, but now that she has moved she can't keep them. Apparently they have to stay in the family, and guess who are the lucky people who get to keep them- my parents and I! While I am writing this all four of them are probably halfway across the Atlantic!! I know we're so lucky! Why do we get to keep them? Because we have the biggest house. I mean they could have gone to my cousin, he is officially the only person in my family who has ever said that they were cool. Okay, okay, he was eight at the time, but he definitely said it.


I know I've gone on about how terrible they are, but I mean no matter how creepy they look, they're family. When you think about it, if we didn't have ancestors then we wouldn't be alive. It is because of Reverend and Mrs Lorymer and Mr. and Mrs Davis that I am here and writing this. So I guess it's not that bad having them move in with us, maybe over time I will appreciate them for what they are. I may even start to like them (I'm not making any promises)


Life Lesson: Family will always be important no matter what they look like.

E is for Emma

Once upon a time at the back of a SK classroom sat a little girl with pigtails in her hair, her name was Emma. The first few months I knew her she was as quiet as a mouse. Yes... Emma was shy. I know it is hard to believe, but I'll give you a minute to get over the shock.................

Over the years there has been a lot of crazy stuff that has happened to Emma, but I promised not to make this post embarrassing and a promise is a promise, no matter how hard it is to keep. So here goes!


Emma is one of the BEST friends I've ever had!!!! Sure she maybe a little crazy and loud at times, but that's just what makes her so great. Okay, so maybe she isn't the best person to go and ask for advice because she will probably just come up with the first random thing that comes into her head. However, if you're feeling sad Emma can make you laugh in about five seconds. She always has a smile on her face. I mean even the cleaning lady, Diane calls her Smiley:-)


I've known Emma for a long time and over the years we've done practically everything together. I mean we even changed schools and came to SJK together!!!! Over the years there has been a lot of memories and random things that we still laugh about today such as rainbow rock, the cheesy wedding and even the way Emma used to say opera. Now I would tell you what all those things were but I'm not sure whether it would be considered "embarrassing" so I guess I won't.


Emma and I may be very different but she is still one of my best friends even if she is kind of crazy at times. However it is those crazy times that we look back on and laugh. I've tried to imagine what my life would be like if Emma wasn't there and I think it would be very boring and just terrible. Emma has always been there for me and I hope she always will be.


Life Lesson: Treasure your friends and enjoy every minute you spend with them.

M is for Max

The relaxing feeling you get when you first sit in the saddle, the exhilaration of flying over jumps, the happiness when you try something new. This is how I feel when I ride my pony, Max. I have been riding since I was four and have always loved every minute of it, but when I ride Max I love every minute even more. When I'm riding him I feel like nothing can go wrong, like I'm on top of the world, but I'm getting ahead of myself now. Let me start from the beginning.



It all started when I was ten, I had had a pony called Ruby since I was eight. I knew that my parents had been looking into getting a new pony because I had outgrown Ruby. I remember hearing about an ad on the Internet about Max. I didn't really think much of it, but something about it must have caught my attention because two weeks later I heard about an ad for a different pony, one who had done it all - that was when I said "What about that Max pony." It was then that I found out that my parents had already gone and seen him. Which made me really mad, but I don't know why because looking back on it now they just didn't want me to be upset about Ruby. Even though I was mad I had to go and see him myself, because to be honest he sounded wonderful - and he was!!!!! He was everything I had ever dreamed of and more. We had to go see some other ponies because we couldn't just buy the first pony that we saw, but in the end we did!

The first few months we had him were great, I was doing things that I had never done before. Max gave me the confidence that I needed and I knew he would keep me safe. Then the winter came and I don't know why, but all that confidence that we had been building up vanished. Max spooked a lot and everytime he spooked. I fell off and everytime I fell more of my confidence went away. All the times I've fallen off, which to be honest, are more times than I want to admit, Max just stands there and stays beside me.

This last summer, I had my second show season with him and this year has definitely been better. Max has been like a different pony since the beggining of the summer. He may be fast and crazy at times, but that's just who he is and that's what makes every moment riding him so much fun.

Max isn't just a pony to ride, to me he is my best friend. I can tell him anything and know he won't tell anyone or judge me. Only a really strong bond can make that happen. I can't describe how strong our bond is in words and a picture is supposed to be worth 1000 words but not even a picture can describe it. Since I've had Max you can't say we haven't had our ups and downs, but I wouldn't change one minute of it.

Life Lesson: Life is full of ups and downs, but it's the downs that make the ups seem so good.

B is for BFFFFF

A friend is someone that you trust with anything. Someone that you do everything with. Someone that is always there for you. I have always been really lucky and have always had alot of really close friends but in grade five I didn't just have a BFF I had the BFFFFF's (Best Five Fantastic Female Friends Forever). We trusted eachother, did everything together and were always there for eachother. You've probably figured out that we were all girls, friends forever and fantastic but might be wondering who the five were. It was me, Aleda, Emma, Jenny and Libby.




You might not think that all of us would be friends because we are all very different. Me and Libby were the shy/quiet ones. Emma and Aleda were the loud/ sometimes (actually most of the time) crazy ones. And Jenny was the one who was kind of in between- sorry I don't really now how to describe her but you all know her. Anyway It didn't matter if we were all very different we were still really good friends.




We went through grade 5 and everything was great but coming in to grade 6 things started to change. It all started on the first day of grade 6. We were all hoping to be together (you know in the same class) but the teachers put us in different classes:-( Emma and Jenny were in 6A and Libby, Aleda and I were in 6B. We still saw eachother at recess and stuff but it just wasn't the same maybe if we had all been in the same class all of us would still be best friends. During that year I think we kind of grew apart. We would all sort of drift away and then come back together again but then only some of us came back together again it was really wierd.




Now we're in grade 7 all of us are in the same class again. Libby and I are still friends just not best friends. I mean I've heard stories of people who were best friends but when one of them starts to hang out with different people they become worst enemies. thats never happened to me and I hope it never will. As for Jenny, Emma and Aleda I am still really good friends with them.



Life Lesson: Whatever happens never let your best friends become your worst enemies.

L is for Lily

I pick the puppy up although she looks more like a black fluffy ball than a puppy. At that moment I knew that no matter how much trouble this black thing would be we would keep her. Ever since I was born there has been a dog in our house and when our Flat- Coated Retriever, Tess had puppies I couldn't have been more excited!!!!! During the first few weeks the puppies just crawled around a tiny bit except for one, Lily was the only ball of fluff who was constently moving and climbing over all the others. She just couldn't stay still. Then I think it was around week 4 when the screaming started. The vet thinks she had colic and that was the reason for screaming 24/7. Honestly Ttat dog spent more time in our arms (that was the only way to stop the noise) than with Tess. And it didn't stop there, she was just one of those dogs that would do absolutly anything for attention. Now she is almost 3 years old and is just the same - I guess somethings never change.

Whenever I see Lily I can't help but smile. It doesn't matter whether there is a blizzard or torrential rain when I come back from school Lily runs out to meet me and then walks to the house with me. If your feeling sad she will do absolutly everything she can to put a smile back on your face. Even if your not feeling sad you can garrenty that she will try to make you laugh. I think it was about a year ago when I found Lily with the T.V remote in between her paws changing chanels. I mean what kind of dog turns the T.V on and then tries to find a good chanel!!!!!! She has also tried to answer the phone before. I can tell you that the people who were calling were a little shocked. She really is a dog in a million who can be friends with anyone and can make you happy even when you are really sad. No matter how crazy she is she is the best dog in the world and I can't imagine what things would be like without her.

Life Lesson: Always have your glass half full NEVER half empty.

Empathy

"Parvana was tired she wanted to sit in a classroom and be bored by a geography lesson. She
wanted to be with her friends and talk about homework and games and what to do
on school holidays. she didn't want to know any more about death or blood or pain."
(pg.130 The Breadwinner)

Empathy. 7 letters with a big meaning. This passage enables you to understand and share the feelings of others. in short it creates empathy. I absolutely love the Breadwinner because it is not just a few paragraphs that allow you to relate to Parvana in so many ways. Instead Deborah Ellis has managed to create this feeling throughout the whole book. There are so many passages like this one which makes me relate to Parvana, her thoughts, her feelings and the situations that she is in day after day in Afghanistan.

It is defiantly a good piece of writing when empathy is created. The question is how do authors make this happen? You need to create a character who your readers can connect to. Parvana is almost the same age as me and sometimes her personality reminds me of myself. For example she seems very determined which is like me. You also have to have to have situations which readers can either see themselves in or imagine themselves in. As an author the most important part of empathy is emotion. How does your character feel about certain things happening? Does your character feel many different emotions on a day to day basis? Are these the same as what your readers feel? These are all questions that go through an authors mind when they are forming a book which their audience will want to read because it is full of empathy.

My burqa

I hear the yells before I see the commotion. I round the corner and there they are. Three Taliban are beating a woman who is struggling to get free from their grasp. Two more soldiers are holding a man who is screaming and clutching a loaf of bread. He must have stolen it and is now paying the price. I close my eyes and pull my burqa around me. This is the one good thing about the light blue material that covers me from head to toe. You don't have to watch scenes like these, which happen on a daily basis on the streets of Afghanistan. You can just creep away without the screaming woman and children ever knowing you were ever there. You can't feel guilty about something that you didn't see can you? Anyway it's not like I could have helped. I'm a woman who can hardly see or walk because of the burqa.



Burqa. I hate that word more than anything else in the world, it conceals you, hides you, makes you feel worthless, it's the Taliban's way of saying that the world doesn't want to see you. It wasn't always like this though, I remember when I used to have many different clothes, when I could show my face. Different. The burqa has made me realize how important difference is. I miss seeing different faces in the market, different colours everywhere. Now it is just a mass of a few colours moving around. This makes me angry because it is one more thing to add to the list of what the Taliban has taken away from me. If I understood why they took my freedom and everything else away, maybe I would feel better about it. But I don't understand so I don't feel better, this is how things are and no matter how angry I am maybe I should just except it.