Day 3: Day Tripper, yeah...

For some reason... for some reason... I don't know what the reason was... but for some reason, there was a pack of men outside on the street playing soccer (or football as they call it in England) until 2AM.
Because my grandma and I were sharing a room next to the streets, and because the windows and walls weren't that thick... well, I didn't get such a good night of sleep.
We had a busy day planned and therefore, I had to get up early to take a shower. No sooner was the shower taken, than I was besieged with a migraine. Thankfully, it wasn't the most severe of migraines - only threw up twice, woohoo! - and we were on the road by noon.

Our first stop was The Sherlock Holmes Museum, 221b Baker Street.

The Museum is first come, first serve, so you have to wait in line until the nice guardsman at the door lets you in. (Meanwhile, you can take pictures with him!)

Also, conveniently located next to the line was The Beatles Shop!

Inside, all things Beatles... CDs, books, postcards, socks (!!!), bookmarks, luggage, and, of course, t-shirts!

Lots and lots and LOTS of t-shirts! Across from the ones I'm looking at above, there were even more! I got one that has this picture on it:

Finally we reached the end of the line and were let into The Sherlock Holmes Museum!
On the ground floor is a tasteful little hat rack for guests (and a view into the gift shop). Then you ascend seventeen steps (yes, they got the number right from the books; I counted) and you are on the First Floor which includes the sitting room where so many of Holmes and Watson's adventures begin, and Sherlock Holmes' bedroom.

In the sitting room, opposite a couch for clients, and next to the fireplace, are the two familiar chairs where Holmes and Watson have often reclined. There are props available for your use as you pose as The Great Detective and his Conductor of Light.

(Notice the Persian slipper on the mantlepiece?)

(Striking a Sherlockian pose. Though for the life of me I couldn't remember if Sherlock Holmes [in the books] put his steepled hands under his chin or not! I know Benedict Cumberbatch made a comment on how his Sherlock didn't do it the right way... but I couldn't remember which way was right.)

(Who knew the Great Detective wore a blue rain jacket? [And a deerstalker, for that matter...])

On the next floor was Dr. Watson and Mrs. Hudson's rooms. Dr. Watson's room was full of memorabilia and furniture of the Victorian era, while Mrs. Hudson's room was full of display cases containing articles and clues from the books including but not limited to...

The next level was my favorite. Wax scenes from the books!

(Excuse my poor editing skills of the above picture. The room was too small and too full of people to take the full picture so I had to smush it together.)

Tintin had lots of fun with the waxwork as well...

(From 'The Man With The Twisted Lip')

("Oh, darling, what is that thing you're carrying?!" "I don't know, darling! I can't get it off me!")

(What's that in her veil? From 'Charles Augustus Milverton')

Tintin also got to meet The Hound of the Baskervilles...

At this point Tintin was having a flashback from our trip to the East Coast two years ago...

(Dinosaur at the Creation Museum in Kentucky)

One of the creepier wax figures was...

JAMES MORIARTY! 

The museum is a wonderful place to go! Especially if you are a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Next up... lunch! We went across the street to a restaurant decorated with murals of Sherlock Holmes. I had a pancake. It was very good. But I missed my cousin, whom I usually eat pancakes with. 

Baker Street is a really fun place to go!

After lunch (which we ate around 2:00) my dad and I split ways with my mom and grandma. Grama wanted to go back to the Westminster Abbey gift shop to buy a few things, so Mom decided to go with her.

Daddy and I, on the other hand, went to Abbey Road!

And on Abbey Road... Abbey Road Studios!

You walk along a low, white wall, filled with tributes to The Beatles and then find yourself in front of...

 

And across from that...

Strangely enough, this was one of my favorite parts of London! For some reason, it just made me very, very happy. 

One thing I was not expecting was how many people there were crowded around, trying to take pictures! You had to wait your turn. And if you had four people, and no one to hold the camera, men were there in green jerseys that said HELP and they would take your picture for you!

My dad and I were supposed to go to Westminster Abbey to meet my mom and grandma after this... but we made a few stops along the way.

Our associate pastor at church, when he found out we were going to London and not going to see the British museum, was outraged. "You HAVE to go and see the Rosetta Stone!" he said.

So we popped in just for him.

I am DETERMINED to go back to London so that I can spend a good few days sifting through the British Museum. It's free and it's HUGE and it has SO much cool stuff! We only walked through a corner of the Egypt section, but I wished we could have stayed longer!

Man, can you believe that thousands of years ago, someone carved all those symbols on that rock? And they knew what it all meant too! And that it survived all these years! It really is truly amazing.

(Pigeons on the glass roof.)

Our plan was to take the tube from the British Museum to Westminster Abbey. We were alright for the first half of the trip, but then we had to change trains. So, we walked (underground - how cool!) quite a good ten minutes or so only to find out that the line was being worked on... so we had to walk all the way back.

We asked a kind gentleman what the quickest way to get to Westminster would be and he said we could either take the bus over the Thames (for we were on the wrong side) or walk across one of the bridges.

We decided to walk so that we could get some pictures of Big Ben.

Tired though we were, we walked along the waterfront, passed the London Eye (whoa! LONG lines there!), and then over a bridge, RIGHT passed Big Ben!!

Once across the bridge we were only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Westminster Abbey. But we couldn't go over there without getting a picture with this guy...

As I said before... You gotta love Winston Churchill! (Once, a woman who was upset with him came up and said, "If you were my husband, I'd put poison in your coffee!" He replied, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it!")

Finally we found my mom and grandma. We had worried them because we were so late. Sorry Mom!

One of the things my grandma was adamant about seeing in London was the Tower of London, so we took the tube there.

 

And nearby, the Tower Bridge...

And quite close by all this, part of an old Roman wall that has been standing since the year 190 AD!!

Incredible, incredible, incredible to stand next this old, old artifact. Absolutely amazing. It's situated next to a posh hotel, with some houses behind it.

The end of the wall is near the tube station, and there is a nice Roman statue there as well.

 

We were getting hungry by this time (though some nice, fresh honey-roasted peanuts did tide us over) and it was getting dark... but there was one last stop that we had to make...

A real police box!!! In the 1960's, police boxes were common sights on the streets of London. It's basically a "mini-police station." It has a phone on the inside for the police, or just regular people, to call the police from in case of emergency.

The police box was made famous because of the British sci-fi show Doctor Who, where a mysterious time-traveling alien, well, travels through time and space in one of these police boxes! (Don't worry, it's bigger on the inside).

It was pouring rain by this time, though we had had nice weather earlier in the day. This was in a part of town that we really hadn't researched. We knew the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) was around somewhere... but where? We didn't know. We were trying to decide whether or not it was worth it to wander around looking for it, when we asked someone if they knew where it was. Low and behold it was about twenty feet away to the tube station (on the right)! So we popped over for a few pictures.

 

Finally we arrived back in the neighborhood of our hotel, nearly weak from hunger. Of course, the obvious place to eat dinner was the Dicken's Tavern!

 

That's where we ate the bangers and mash. 

Tintin! What would Captain Haddock say?

There ends our third and final day in London! Next, on to the Netherlands!

Slaap lekker! (Good night, have a nice sleep, etc.)

Valentine's Day

 Character Encounters: Surprise Date.

 

   A Disney-Pixar movie was in the DVD player, I was snuggled under a blanket in comfy clothes, my computer was nearby… and I was all ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day Han’s way, Solo. 

   And then the doorbell rang. My face looked something akin to Bilbo’s when the Sackville-Bagginses would come visiting. 

   Oh well, no need for me to get the door. My dad got up and, accompanied by the barking Rosey, went to answer the door. But, being the busybody that I am, I silently slipped from under the quilt (more like noisily fell off the couch, entangled in the blanket) and tip-toed Legolas-like to the sliding door, separating the kitchen/TV room from the rest of the house. I peeked around the door, but couldn’t see much. But I could use my other senses – namely my sense of hearing.

   The man at the door was enquiring for… me! The voice wasn’t familiar. Who could be asking for me on Valentine’s day? A creepy creeper! And my sword was in the other side of the house! The one time I really need it, of course it’s going to be in the other room.

   My dad was trying to dissuade the man from coming in to speak with me when suddenly I felt the strange need to go to the door. I walked forward and next thing I knew, I was standing face to face with a familiar being, though I’d never met him before.

   “It’s okay, Daddy,” I whispered. “It’s Character Encounter time again.”

   He nodded knowingly and sat down on the couch. He was on his phone watching a hockey game, but I could tell he was very alert to what was happening at the front door.

   “You are Abbey,” the man at my door stated, rather than asked.

   “Yes,” I replied. “Am I right in assuming you are King John?”

   “Yes.” He looked perplexed. “I received this note telling me to come to this address and ask ‘Abbey’ out to dinner, as it is a celebration of love in your country.”

   I nodded. “Yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day. It means that couples all over the world go out on dates together – out to dinner, maybe catch a movie… you don’t know what a movie is. Just believe me when I say they’re pretty cool.”

   “Right.” King John nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “I will take your word for it. Will you attend dinner? I have here the name of an inn.” He showed me the slip of paper.

   “McDonalds, pretty fancy,” I said with a nod. Though I desperately wanted to stay home and watch the movie, maybe if I went out to dinner with King John he’d tell me why he was such an evil overlord. “Well,” I said, “if we’re going out to dinner, we need to dress in fancy clothes.”

   “I am dressed in fancy clothes,” King John replied.

   “Yes, well, that’s not what we call fancy in this country. My dad can lend you some of his clothes; you’re about the same size.”

   Since my date would be dressed in dress pants and a button-up shirt, I decided to pull on the only dress I owned. Brown, slightly World War Twoish. Since it was freezing outside, I pulled on brown leggings to match the dress, and red high heels.

   “I’m ready!” I called. “Whenever you are!”

   A few minutes later, King John came out, dressed handsomely. He looked like a business executive. I took his arm and we went outside.

   “I brought my carriage,” King John said, opening the door for me.

   Though a carriage in the McDonalds parking lot would look strange, I would never pass up the opportunity to ride in one, so I climbed in.

   Shortly, we reached the restaurant.

   “Whoa! Cool ride, bro!” several teens said as we walked into McDonalds.

   “Wow, you are one lucky girl,” said a woman (thought I noticed that, as we turned away, she eyed us strangely… what was one so young doing out with one so old?)

   King John scanned the menu. “Hmmm… what are these ‘Big Macs’?”

   “Why don’t you let me order for you,” I suggested.

   “I am King and I am fully able to order for myself,” King John replied, holding himself just a little loftier. “Give me one Big Mac,” he told the woman at the cash register.

   “One Big Mac. Would you like fries and a drink with that?”

   “Yes.”

   “Alright. Anything else for you?”

   “No.”

   “That’ll be six-fifty.”

   “Six-fifty what? I am King! I do not pay for mea-“

   “Um, ahahaha… My date here is just joking!” I interrupted. “If we wanted royal treatment we’d be at Burger King. No, that’s a bad joke. Sorry. Anyway, I’ll be paying. You can add a cheeseburger with ketchup only (along with the meat, cheese, and bun, of course, haha) and another order of fries and a chocolate shake to the order. Thank you!”

   I paid quickly and ushered King John to a table in the corner. I sat him by the window so he wouldn’t see all the attention his carriage was attracting. People were stopping on the road to stare… little kids were being posed next to it while mommy took a picture… His carriage-driver was shooing people away like they were ants.

   “You stay here while I get our food,” I told King John. He seemed willing enough to wait. After all, he had been waited on his whole life.

   I juggled our two trays and somehow managed to pour us each root beer without dumping everything on the ground. The trip back to the table was trickier; the fries fell to the floor. After much embarrassment and apology on my side, the cashier gave me another bag of fries.

   Stupid heels… I thought.

   For the next few moments, King John and I ate in silence.

   “This is good,” he remarked, nodding to the burger in his hands. “I must instruct my cook to make this back at the castle. And what do you call this drink?”

   “Umm, it’s root beer,” I said.

   “It is the best beer I have tasted! You say it is made from roots?”

   “Not really… I’m not really sure what it’s made of,” I replied. “Let’s talk about something else. Why are you so villainous?”

   “Villainous? Me?” King John’s eyes grew wide. “Not I, surely.”

   “Well… you treat your peasants poorly and cheat them of the necessities of life. You manipulate people into thinking you’re this great guy when all you really want is power power power… I know all of the facts, what I want to know is why. Why do you manipulate and cheat people?”

   “Well,” said King John, “you said it. I want power.”

   “But why? What’s so great about power?”

   “My father and I have always strived for power.”

   “Your father, now he’s an interesting man. Why did he want power?”

   King John shrugged. “My grandparents had six sons in quick succession. The first five died before reaching one year of age. My father, the youngest, was the only one to survive. Because of this, and because he was prince, he received everything he wanted. This included the best education, which sharpened his already keen mind and made him the smartest man in First Country. He came up with brilliant strategies during the Goblin Wars and he became a hero. It is no wonder then, that he thought he could rule the all five Countries better than their own rulers.

   “The only thing he didn’t count on was having an equally brilliant son. He underestimated me my whole life; he treated me like a naïve child from the moment I learned to speak. It was my older brother he favored, but my older brother was a fool, gaining his brains from my mother’s side of the family. No amount of learning could make him smart. But my father didn’t see that. When my brother died mysteriously, my father hated me all the more. He thought that I was the stupid son, and for awhile, I bought into his lies, until I realized my worth – realized that I was stronger than him, smarter than him; it was easy to slay him on the battle ground. Now I am King of First Country, and soon, the whole realm.”

   “Interesting…” I said. “So, you’re father always treated you like dirt, made you think that you were worth nothing… and because of that, you got your revenge, and now are trying to make everyone think you are the best by ruling over them all. Thank you, this has been a very productive date! Now please take me home. I want to watch my movie.”

   King John stared at me. “Very well. Come.”

   I threw our garbage away and we went back out to the carriage. We were gone no more than thirty minutes, but I learned much. It was indeed a very productive date. 

Live long and prosper!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What am I thankful for? The usual things... what Jesus did on the cross, enough food, enough money, a nice house, great friends and family, books, a car (not my own - my mom's), clean water, blankets, Rosey, music, piano, chocolate...
What am I especially thankful for this Thanksgiving?

FINISHING NANOWRIMO!

So that I can do this:

And this:

I am so thankful to have both After the Twelfth Night finished (and published!) and to have this year's NaNoWriMo over and done with. My novel-writing juices are all but spent and I'm looking forward to not writing anything big for a few months. It's time to take a well-needed break.


A quick update-y thingy on After the Twelfth Night as long as I'm thinking about it...
1st thing: It's on Goodreads now! Huzzah!
2nd thing: I'm not sure when the eBook will be out... I had really hoped to get it out before Christmas, but now it's looking like that won't be possible. November and December are always the busiest months out of the year for me, what with NaNoWriMo, choir concerts, and other recitals.
We're headed to grandparents for Christmas, and I hope, while there, to work with my dad on the eBook. It will most definitely be out before the end of January, and most like be out earlier than that, unless other things get in the way.
So there is my little update-y thingy.

 

(Ironically, the one person who would get this joke doesn't check my blog very often. xD)

 

 

What are YOU thankful for this Thanksgiving? And are you doing anything special today?

 

Live long and prosper.



Deleted scenes from the trailer.

Initially the After the Twelfth Night trailer had three extra scenes in it that I cut because they weren't needed and didn't flow with the rest of the video.
The first scene is actually a scene from Twelfth Night, that shows how Antonio was arrested and put in jail.
The second is of Antony helping Antonio up from the ground after the "lucky explosion."
The third is of Antonio promising Olivia to "go find her missing husband."

The song is Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles, which I do not own. Well, I own the CD it came on... but I don't own the actual song.
I thought it fit nicely, because these scenes, as a result of being cut out, are now lonely...?

Live long and prosper!

A bunch of updates.

First an update on that ancient list of books I hoped to read in the future... This isn't actually my most updated list of 'books to read.' That list is over 100 titles long and I will not  be posting that here 'cause... it's just too long. xD

1. Vancouver Sun books by various authors. (I have a whole bunch of these read now. But a lot of them are still unread to.)
2. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. (I'M SO CLOSE! WHY CAN'T I FINISH IT?!)
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
4. Emma by Jane Austin.
5. Books by Charles Dickens (I read A Christmas Carol at Christmastime!)
6. Books by Jules Verne.
7. Books by H.G. Wells (In the middle of reading The War of the Worlds. I also have The Invisible Man sitting on the shelf waiting to be read....)
8. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
9. Re-read Watership Down by Richard Adams.
10. Re-read The Freedom Factor by Gerald L. Lund.
11. Re-read The Alliance by same author.
12. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
13. Leviathan by Scott Westerfield.
14. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.
15. Re-read Robin Hood by Howard Pyle.
16. A biography on J.R.R. Tolkien. (I'm one step closer.... I now own a biography about Tolkien. I just have to find time to read it.)
17. More of the Bible. (I have certainly read more of the Bible since the last time I posted this list! But this one is kind of ongoing...)
18. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. (And I just finished re-reading two nights ago! Review sometime later this week).
19. Books by C.S. Lewis.
20. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I'm one step closer... I own it now. Hurrah for the thrift store).
Now a writing update....
I finished my April goal which was to finish Camp NaNoWriMo.
To write this blog post, I took a break from my May goal: edit/add stuff to Part One of After the Twelfth Night.
Here's one of my favorite lines near the beginning of the book that I absolutely LOVE!

   I found out later that it had not, in fact, been Sebastian that I ‘rescued’ from that sword fight; it was his twin sister Viola, dressed as a man. I don’t quite understand it all, but in the end Sebastian married Lady Olivia, Viola married Duke Orsino, and I ended up in jail.

As you may know, I love the Beatles.

 

Every few months I discover a song by them that I didn't know about before... Today was one of those days. I discovered "Yes It Is" which is just a beautiful song. John Lennon said that he had been trying to rewrite "This Boy" and it didn't quite work out. But I think "Yes It Is" is just really beautiful... Calming with great harmonies.

As for books... I'm only reading five now, as opposed to the seven I was reading last week.
For literature I'm reading "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (fun fact, his name is Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He was named partly after a deceased sister and partly for his distant relative Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star Spangle Banner). I'm really enjoying this book. After I finished my chapter today I just wanted to keep reading... It's set in the roarin' twenties. I love that time period anyway, but the way Scott Fitzgerald writes it... His language is beautiful.

I'm also reading "A Hero For WondLa" which I forgot to mention last time... I'm not too far into it but so far really enjoying it! It is the sequel to "The Search for WondLa" which I read in March.

Then, of course, there is the ever present "Two Towers" and also "The War of the Worlds." I'm also reading Jessica's book Kat and Kadet as I edit it. And I suppose I'm reading "After the Twelfth Night" too since I'm editing it.... Argh.

I'm trying to fight the urge to start reading Inkheart again... I love that book. Because it is a book about books. And that makes it cool.

Anyway, back to editing and listening to the Beatles!

Live long and prosper!

P.S. My mom is having surgery tomorrow and we would appreciate prayer. It isn't anything too major.... But it's still kind of scary. =)

Rats!

No, really, rats.
The fallen apples from the trees in our backyard have been attracting rats, although we only found out for sure tonight.
For the past few nights Rosey has been going crazy when she's let out. We figured it must be rats who like to eat the rotten fruit (Mom wonders why they don't eat the nice fruit off the trees. Dad replied by mentioning Templeton the rat from Charlotte's Web who likes garbage).
Tonight Rosey was going particularly crazy so I went outside and watched her snuffling under an old board. While she was at one end, a rat about the size of my hand (despite being a piano player, my hands are pretty small and it is impossible to keep my fingers curled when playing an octave) darted out of the bushes at the other end, ran across the grass and stone walk way, and behind the shed. Rosey didn't notice and I didn't wait around to see if she would pick up the scent. I dashed inside as fast I could go and relayed the tale to my parents. It was followed by many an "ew."
So about an hour later Rosey still hadn't come inside so Mom went out to find her because it was her dinnertime.
Suddenly, "Abbey, Abbey! Get the camera and come!"
So I grab the camera and head outside, followed by Daddy.
Our backyard is mostly grass, with an apple and plum tree in the middle, a garden off to the left, another apple tree to the right, and a shed in the back right hand corner. Behind the shed is another gardeny area which is home to weeds and a pile of rocks. Also back there is a compost bin. Rosey had somehow managed to climb inside. This is what happened....

Now my little ratter is "sleeping" underneath the coffee table, although I can promise you that if there is any scent of a rat or danger, she will be awake in a moment, ready to defend the house. Too bad Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride didn't have Rosey with them when they entered the Fire Swamp....

Now on to day 13 (I believe....) of the 30 day challenge which is, "You favorite picture (or five or nine)."
This is one of my most favorite pictures:

However my current desktop background is:

My favorite Van Gogh combined with the TARDIS. How perfect.

I also really like this picture of Allied paratroopers in 1944 dropping from their planes into a Germany-controlled Holland in an attempt to liberate the Dutch. It was called Operation Market Garden and it failed, sadly.

This is also one of my favorite pictures. I love Zoot. Mostly because of his saxophone and also because he is quiet. And I love his hair and sunglasses.

Continuing with the jazzy themed pictures.... The Rat Pack (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra). I get the feel from this picture that someone just made a joke and while Sammy Davis Jr. (middle) is laughing his head off, and Frank Sinatra (right) is laughing as well, Dean Martin (left) is making a witty comeback. Of course, I don't know if that's the truth... But I love Sammy Davis Jr.'s look.

And staying with the theme of music... Here is George Harrison from The Beatles holding a kitten. This is one of the most adorable pictures ever, if you are a Beatles fan.

And now two pictures from "The Hound of Baskervilles" done by Sidney Paget. I absolutely adore these pictures. The first one is of Watson and Sir Henry Baskerville when they see the silhouette of Holmes against the moon on the moor at night.
"....the figure of a man upon the tor."

The next one is similar.
Sir Henry Baskerville has gone to ask Beryl Stapleton to marry him, not knowing that instead of Stapleton's sister, she is, in fact, his wife.
Watson, who was instructed to watch Sir Henry at all times lest he should be attacked, has followed Sir Henry but stayed at a distance so the man can do his wooing in private. Watson isn't the only watcher though. Mr. Stapleton is nearby and comes rushing angrily in to break up the couple.
In this picture, you can see everything I just described and in the far background, the silhouette of Watson watching. I think that it is SO funny and odd that out of all the other scenes in The Hound, Paget choose to draw this one. I also think it is very funny that he included Watson! Can you spot him?

Now one final Sherlock Holmes picture from the TV show Sherlock. It makes me laugh every time I see it. This isn't how the scene goes in the show... I think this version is funnier.

Now I will leave because pictures are another thing I could ramble on and on and on about.

Live long and prosper and have a great week!