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Sampler Saturday: Shadowgate

CHAPTER 2: Shadowgate
by Elizabeth, age 11

Elizabeth and Espio exited their safe little hideout and set out for a new adventure. The two had had so many adventures already! From traffic jams (Elizabeth brought some bread and peanut butter, just to be funny), to desert struggles, to quicksand encounters, to the beach.

“This adventure is going to last at least a week, perhaps a month!” Elizabeth said. “So we need to gather four week’s worth of provisions…just in case.”

So the two packed things that they thought they might need — even if they end up not needing it after all — including two swiss army knives (one for dining and one for any-old-time purposes), a flashlight, a bicycle helmet, a roll of scotch tape, some shuriken stars (explosive and non-explosive), a bottle of hand sanitizer, a canteen filled to the brim with water, a sketchpad, a pencil sharpener, five pencils that were so sharp, you could actually bleed if you touched the tips, Elizabeth’s favorite eight-and-a-half-sized sneakers, a pair of boots, an extra pair of Espio’s shoes, Elizabeth’s karaoke machine, a ton of batteries, Elizabeth’s pastel purple bathrobe, a bobby pin, a sleeping bag that could hold up to two people, two pillows, two mugs, some hot cocoa mix, a thermos filled to the brim with hot water, a bag of marshmallows, some kleenex, a matchbox, five emery boards, and a month’s supply of food. Elizabeth’s supplies were put into one bag, Espio’s supplies were put into another bag, supplies that the two would be sharing were put into another bag, food and water were put into another bag.

After Elizabeth and Espio packed their supplies, they headed to the castle Shadowgate, the first stop on their journey.

(This is a very long chapter. Click through to read the whole thing.)

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Categories: books, Dragons, Gaming, kids, Life, Sampler Saturday | Tags: | Leave a comment

Sampler Saturday: New Format

Elizabeth has stopped drawing comics for now, and started writing a chapter book. It’s turning out to be quite the entertaining read. Right now she’s on Part 2, Chapter 18 and still rolling right along, so I thought it might be fun to start posting her story here on Sampler Saturday, a chapter at a time. I think she has a real gift for storytelling; I hope she keeps developing it as she grows.

So here we go:

THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH AND FRIENDS
Chapter 1: Interspecies Friends
By Elizabeth Silkotch, age 11

Once upon a time there was a young chupacabra girl. She looked human except that she had the ears of a rabbit, the tail of a cougar, the wings and claws of a dragon, the horn of a unicorn, and a strange purple marking (the source of her magic) on her nose. Her name was Elizabeth, she was a great artist and a beautiful singer, and she was reading one of her custom-made comic books while listening to her purple iPod.

Meditating in a corner was her friend, Espio. He was a sixteen-year-old ninja humanoid chameleon. His skin was a bright magenta/purple and his eyes were yellow and sometimes looked innocent. In between his eyes was a short yellow horn that stuck straight out. Like all chameleons, he had a coiled tail and a sort of crest on his head. Espio also had a sort of heart shape on his belly. He didn’t know why it had to be a heart shape, but Elizabeth thought Espio had so much love in his heart (he just refused to show it sometimes), that it just had to show on the outside too. Espio wore pure white gloves with purple triangle shapes on the back and gauntlets covering his wrists. He also wore shin guards and purple shoes. There was a single black stripe running across each shoe. And to top that off, there were three black spikes running vertically down his spine.

Espio just woke up from meditation and walked toward Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth,” Espio said.

Elizabeth, who could barely hear him over the sound of her iPod, paused her music and looked up.

“What?” She asked.

“I feel thirsty for adventure right now.” Espio replied.

Elizabeth and Espio had lived together for only a year now, Espio taking care of Elizabeth like a parent, only letting her have some fun when she wanted it*, teaching her some of his ninja skills, going on adventures whenever it seemed necessary. Espio also possessed every single little thing that a ninja possessed, (including shuriken stars and whatnot) and he even gave Elizabeth one fifth of his shuriken collection. Some of Espio’s shuriken stars were explosive and he didn’t give Elizabeth any of those because he said he didn’t trust her with any of his explosive equipment. He let her handle the non-explosives though. Espio had been a good teacher, parent, and friend to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth loved him to pieces.

Together, Elizabeth and Espio had become great friends and gradually, Elizabeth was winning Espio’s trust with his explosives.

**********************

*ED: Hmph!

Categories: Animals, books, Family, Fiction, Friends, Humor, kids, Life, Sampler Saturday | 1 Comment

False Spring, Hollow Trees and Flying Monkeys

The kids are out of school for “Presidents’ Week,” and the weather has turned gloriously springlike, so Elizabeth requested a trip to Riverside. I love that my kids are getting to play in my old stomping grounds; I get nostalgia and family outings all wrapped up together!

After all the winter rains, Riverside looked like Ireland.

Our first stop was Mt. Rubidoux, of course.

We took a different route when we came down the mountain this time, and got to see some new stuff. This tree was a mystery to us: it’s completely hollow, nothing left but bark within six feet of the ground, but somehow it supported a thriving set of branches and leaves:

Next we had a picnic at Fairmount Park, and then walked all the way around the lakes.

After that we went to the big Riverside Library, where Elizabeth finally found a book she’s been searching for, only to discover that we couldn’t check it out because apparently the Riverside Library is no longer connected with the county system. We would’ve had to go all the way back there to return the book instead of being able to return it to the Anza or Temecula libraries. Whassup with that, Riverside Library??

Then we wandered through the Mission Inn and the Marketplace, where I broke one of my New Year’s Resolutions less than two months into the new year. This is supposed to be my Year Without Stuff; I wanted to find how long I could go without buying any useless shiny objects we don’t really need. About 48 days, apparently. Elizabeth found this package of freaking adorable tiny Flying Monkeys…

…and said that she wanted them to be little messengers for her toys. My anti-consumerist principles could not withstand such unbearable cuteness. And then I couldn’t very well tell Luke he couldn’t have the little antique-styled trucks he wanted. Note to self: No Buying Stuff resolutions work better if you don’t go browsing around in pretty little antique-themed toy shops with your kids.

Man, could this weather BE any nicer? Why am I even in the house right now? Must go soak up some more sunshine….

Categories: environment, Family, kids, Life, trees, Weather | 2 Comments

Sampler Saturday: The Cheeseburger War

I could fill pages trying to explain the story behind this pic, or just post it and let you make of it what you will:

Click on the image for a much larger version (you can see more of the details, and there are a lot to see).

Death to cheeseburgers!

Categories: Animals, Artwork, Comics, Humor, kids, Life, Sampler Saturday | Leave a comment

Winter Slushyland

The rain we’ve been getting all week turned to snow last night.

This was a surprise; I’d heard the snow level was supposed to start at 6000ft elevation and we’re only at 4000ft. The kids are happy — the schools are closed, so they get a 3-day weekend.

I’m loving this weather. We desperately need all the rain/snow/whatever form of water falling from the sky that we can get.

It’s starting to come down heavier, and now the forecast says more snow tomorrow. Glad I just stocked up on supplies and filled the firewood rack! Being snowed in for a few days is kind of cozy and nice as long as there’s no shortage of food, heat or dry socks.

Categories: environment, Family, kids, Life, Weather, Winter | 4 Comments

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