The cookies

I whip out the recipe
my grin betraying glee
I have a huge smile
that stretches a mile
That those far away can see.

I opened the flour bag,
and watched that flour sag,
while a powder went floating
Like snow that is gloating
Oh! And I opened that flour bag.

I poured out a cup of milk,
That looked like watery silk,
It splashed impressively,
splattering, sadly
on the counter; wasted milk.

I pulled out an egg that was fat,
and promptly it fell with a splat;
Oh, egg you are gone!
This recipe was so long!
But at last I got through all that.

I grasped the vanilla tightly,
And adjusted the lid slightly;
The vanilla was poured,
And relieved I toured
The pantry, nicely and kindly.

I mixed with a spoon,
And hummed a tune,
The cookies were coming out fine,
I shaped them with a cutter of mine,
They would be done soon.

I held in my hands a tray,
With the cookies all looking my way,
And I opened the door
and saw the interior
Of the oven, and - O, I say!

The oven was hot,
and I was not,
And I stood contemplating heat,
With those cookies I wanted to eat,
Unsure of what I sought.

The cookies were finally baking,
And oh, so long they were taking!
At last they were finished,
And not diminished,
As I took them out, hands shaking.

But, alas, for my fate
(and how that word I do hate),
Was to trip on a ball,
And to promptly fall,
Dropping the cookies on plate.


(I know, I know, Kirk! The meter isn't right! :P )

After the Odyssey 2

The previous post introduced a blog which claimed to have serious articles posted on it. This is not actually so. They are posts of an unusual nature masquerading as serious. Everyone knows Miss Ell can't keep the normal serious type of blog. It just doesn't work. But anybody who hops by this should indeed go read it nonetheless.

After the Odyssey

Since this blog is in one of the remotest corners of the blogsphere, I feel more comfortable about introducing my new blog, SpaceyHead. It is the typically dry blog with serious articles on it, written for school purposes. And there you have it!

The Odyssey

This years schoolwork assigned me the reading of the book the Odyssey, by Homer. Here is my review of it:

The background information: Ulysses leaves his wife Penelope and their infant son, Telemachus, in Ithaca, and journeys to Troy. His men are lost after a series of misfortunes and he alone remains. The goddess Minerva has made him her pet, and she has managed to preserve him. Ulysses is being held captive by a beautiful goddess, who wishes to make him immortal. Minerva has just convinced her father, Jove, to let him be released, and has managed to get him started on the way home.
He has been gone for twenty years when the story opens. Here we see their son a young man, and Penelope, the grieved wife, convinced of her widowhood. Ulysses estate is being squandered by a group of young men. These young men are in the "prime of life," sons of prominent people in the city. They are trying to convince Penelope to marry one of them, and are plotting to kill Telemachus and divide the estate amongst themselves.
Penelope has succeeded in fooling them for several years, but will not say whether she will marry one of them or not. In the meantime, the men are eating the best cattle, drinking up all the wine, and making a general havoc of the estate.
Minerva comes to Telemachus, and convinces him that he must go and search for news of his father. So Telemachus leaves the scene for a short time.
Through many trials and things, Ulysses arrives home again, but he is disguised (by Minerva) to appear as a poor old beggar. He is received by his faithful swineherd who rambles on about the sad misfortunes that befell him after his dear master, Ulysses, left. In the middle of their conversation, in which Ulysses declares he shall tell the truth of his history and proceeds with a dreadful lie, Telemachus enters, just returned from his journey. He has learned enough to expect that Ulysses is alive, but in captivity.
When the swineherd leaves the room, Ulysses reveals who he is to his son, and the two plot about their revenge on Penelope's suitors.
The long and short of it is, Ulysses and his son gather a few faithful servants, and sneak into the house where all the suitors are feasting. They kill all of the suitors, and succeed in convincing Penelope that Ulysses is, in fact, Ulysses.
The problem now, however, is that the suitor's parents are all mad that their sons were suddenly wiped out of existence. They wage war against Ulysses. Minerva and Jove make plans to have the war go on for a few hours, so that some, but not all of the suitor's parents are killed. The war ends with Ulysses making peace with them, and thus the book ends.

This book was hard to read in that the noble characters were not so noble. Ulysses is hard and bitter of heart towards the suitors, and sleeps with any number of women. You are left wondering if he is really great and strong, or if Minerva is the strong one who keeps helping him out because he is too weak. When in disguise, he tells people he is going to tell them the truth, and rambles on in a fearsome lie, in which, he has always met Ulysses and finds him to be the greatest man on earth.
Penelope is sly and deceitful, yet in, comparison to her husband, is a nicer character.
The gods and goddesses are stupid and confusing, always changing shape, and acting very immorally. Minerva is convinced Ulysses heart needs to be hardened considerably more against the suitors, until you are quite annoyed with her.
Telemachus and two of his friends, I think, are in all the best of all the people, in that, they merely followed Ulysses around and helped him with his scheme. They were not exactly plotters themselves.

The hopeless attitude of the story makes one weary and at last, when the story is done, you feel quite like throwing the book out the window; the gruesome descriptions of the hacking off of noses and thrusting through with spears of the battle against the suitors, and the seemingly total normality of seeing and smelling blood that Ulysses has is ugly.
I would advise avoiding the reading of this book unless you have to.

Christmas! Whoa, that came fast!

I sit in the living room and hear,
A joyous shout and yell....
I sigh, it's that time of year,
When store begin to sell:

Millions of plastic, glass and wood,
Cardboard, paper, scissors rocks;
Anything worthless they could:
A host of printed, colorful socks.

My sister decided to come to me,
Jumping around; They've got a bed,
A doll-bed! White! Look, see!
In this catalog," she said.

I take the catalog with a sigh,
We go through this every year,
And now I'm wondering, "why?"
The answer falls on my inner ear:

If all is in vain, like the Preacher said,
Yet, he urges us to toil with joy,
We can rejoice in doll beds,
And take delight in many a toy;

Yet let us not lose sight this year,
Of why we can have delight;
'tis because Christ was here,
He who was the true Light.

An Introduction post

I looked at the note in my inbox yet again. Was I seeing things? Or had someone actually invited me to join management of this blog? I smirked mischievously, and grinned wickedly; what things I could now post on here! But the feeling of exhilaration disappeared as soon as it came, as the weight of greater responsibility settled on my shoulders.
I knew that when one is invited to these things, they ought to try to leave it better then before they came. I immediatly began planning a bright pink and purple background with blue-striped titling. Yes, that would definetly add to it, but I think that with a blog, one wants to encourage readers with their content firstly and formostly. Appealing backgrounds come in due time....
So this is me... (who cares if it's from 1892?)
As the other contributors read this, their hands begin to sweat, and they scan hastily for a "delete this contributor" button. So why did the original authors choose me, after seeing the things I post on my own blog?

A Fall Reading Snack

This is a reading snack update for the fall:

• Pretzel sticks
• Raisins
• Peanuts
• Candy Corn

I tell you, candy corn with raisins is amazingly tasty!