A Change of Scenery

It happened again – the desire for something new. I need a change, a new name, a new identity. I got tired of this URL. And so, since we cannot change the URLs for our blogs here on WordPress, I have imported my posts, pages, and other ephemra to a new blog. I am currently working on the theme, but you can head on over to https://foreverlostinthewoods.wordpress.com/  and give me a follow, if you want. I’ll go ahead and keep this one up for now. I hope to see you all on the new blog.

 

T O R I ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Linkage

If you are interested in keeping up with my poetic writings, please visit Within The Desert Beside the Forest. That is where I will be uploading my poetic ramblings from this day forward.

H e l l o S p r i n g

⇇ h e l l o 🌸 s p r i n g ⇉

 

They said that she would return, to bring the spring flowers and warm breezes – they told her she would soon see the sun overhead, and hear the songs of the bluebirds filling the air.

She exited the dank stairwell that led up from her Underworld, out into the sunlight that poured through the trees. She gripped the cool stone of the cave entrance, peering out to the path that led to her home, to her mother, to her family.

A wreath of Starflowers and Baby’s Breath adorned her soft auburn curls, and wildflowers grew from her arms as if her flesh were the richest soil. Hepatica, Violet, Marigold – they fell from her wrists to awaken the other wildflowers that lined the path.

The path was still covered with patches of white snow, but as she stepped from her hiding place, the snow began to melt away, feeding the soil, giving it life. The branches that were bare dropped tears of joy on her cheek, blossoms bursting forth from their winter beds.

She danced down the path, touching the tree limbs, sweeping her lithe fingers through the tall grass, bringing to life the rainbow of flowers that signalled her return. She ran through a field of golden stalks, leaving in her wake millions of tiny Fire Pink blooms.

Her return meant warmth and life – something she saw very little of in her Underworld. But she was home, above that dismal place, and she had brought the colors of Spring with her.

My Writing – Update

So, I’ve been trying out some new concepts for writing – namely, Prose Poetry. The definition of prose poetry is:

Prose poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poeticqualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis and emotional effects.

I’ve been experimenting with this style and seeing what I can do with it, especially with my current writers block in my ongoing projects. I came up with an interesting piece, and even more concepts for future pieces. I don’t really know where this is going, it could just be a fleeting fancy of mine that dwindles out – much like the others have. *shrugs* Who knows.

I also have decided to rewrite some of the Bran and Bryn tales – specifically the Alphabet ones, seeing as they were originally much longer parts. They have become short pieces that make it easier to tell my children so that their attention is kept. Other than that, haven’t really been doing a lot recently with writing. I miss it, especially writing poetry. Hopefully this is not a passing interest and I keep on with the prose poetry.

A Little Update

Ok, so I have been failing at the whole updating regularly thing. I just can’t seem to stick to a schedule, and life never lets me take a break when I want to.

Homeschooling has been off to a very, very slow start. It has taken us three weeks to get through the first week of the curriculum! Between friends moving away, bad days, inspections, family coming to visit, and no one ever respecting the fact that we homeschool, we have had to put off lessons a few days at a time. Well, not anymore. I guess I am going to have to advise friends and family that we are not available until lessons are finished, which will likely be between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. Sunstone has been getting better at his Form Drawing – we worked on Straight and Curved lines. It was pretty nifty. I decided to supplement the Waldorf curriculum with some typical school workbooks, so I can feel like he is at least meeting the Common Core for our state (he is picking up on a lot of different words, and his reading is improving!). We do a few worksheets every day, and have a spelling test every week. I am keeping the sheets sort of connected with our Main Lessons (he has practiced writing A and E, learned about the Short Vowel sounds for those letters, etc).

His Form Drawing does need improvement, and listening to directions is something we really need to work on. He got very upset that the final product he put in his MLB was not good (in his opinion) – he is a perfectionist, like me. But I encouraged him and told him exactly how I felt – that it was perfect for where he is right now, and he will get to see how he improves through the course of the lessons. That seemed to help him a bit.

I have some pictures to update as well, but I may as well make those a part of a different post, something like a walkthrough of our stuff? LOL.

What Makes Me Happy?

I think I need to focus on some happy things. There is a lot of stress and tears and sadness floating around right now, and a lot of anger too – I’m finding myself struggling with so much, and I really need something positive to focus on, even if just for a moment while I write this post.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

1. My children’s smiles
2. Cuddling with my cats
3. Watching movies with my children
4. Hearing my husband say that he loves me
5. The way my husband winks at me (it always makes me giggle)
6. A sweet, creamy cup of coffee on a quiet morning before the kids get up
7. Trying a new recipe and my family enjoying it
8. Sunstone’s curiosity
9. Moonstone’s imagination
10. Those few precious hours of solitude after the kids go to bed.

These are just 10 things that make me happy. There are, obviously, more – but these were the first 10 things that came to my mind.

Dear God in Heaven

These children are going to kill me. Maybe not literally, but already my right hand is hurting. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories provided in our curriculum are not engaging enough for these sweet little ones. Once I introduced Bran and Bryn, Sunstone and Moonstone have been uninterested in the other tales I’ve been telling. You know what that means, right?

I have to write more. And with no printer, and a current lack of funds at my disposal, I have to write it all by hand. With arthritis. Needless to say, I’ve only written about four pages… of the first chapter for form drawing… I’m going to die.

But, you wanna know something? First of all, I am really enjoying writing more (even if it isn’t my normal topics), and if it gets them engaged and willing to learn, what the hell?! I’ll do it. We are also going to follow a different type of Form Drawing block than the one provided (just for the Main Lessons, everything else will remain the same).

So, now we have The Alphabet, The Esbats, and Form Drawing as adventures for Bran and Bryn to go on. These little kids sure are busy bees!

The Tales of Bran and Bryn: The Alphabet

As promised, here is the prologue for Bran and Bryn’s Alphabet Adventure. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, especially since I created Peg People of Bran and Bryn (Bran wears a red felt cloak, and Bryn wears a light purple felt cloak). No art for this part of the story yet, but maybe I will do some at a later point. We will hopefully get to the vowels this week, so then I’ll be able to post those parts! Hope you all enjoy!

Chronicles of the Eternal

Many years ago, I read Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. This set me on the course of being an author. I had characters, setting, a story – but I never finished the first book of the series. Victoire has haunted me ever since, for 16 years, poking and prodding and trying to inspire me to finally finish her tale. I’ve started it many times, more times than I can count, but I never seem to stick with it for long.

Well, however unfortunate it is, I started it up again. I’m going for a different style, less methodical and routine, more free flowing. The parts are written in verse, at first, and then fixed up in prose format. It is what I would consider “poetic prose”. Thus the reason for no capitals, as you will see. Even the punctuation is not hard – everything about this writing project is soft.

I hope you will enjoy it. I will post a link shortly.

The Erenon Chronicles, Update

It has been a very long time since I updated anything on The Erenon Chronicles. No, unfortunately, I haven’t been writing it… But I am starting to get more inspiration again, which means I will likely be starting it up once again. My current inspiration has to do with my characters. I feel a total disconnect from them, so I thought about doing some Aesthetics for each one. I hope to have a biography of each character to go with the images, in the end (once they are all finished).