For all you Russian history junkies...

well, I guess that just means me.

This is Yale's online catalog of the last Romanovs' photo albums. (as in, Anastasia.)

They are quite extensive. Unfortunately, they don't have any captions except the faint illegible scribbles in the margins.

It's really late.

(It is now August 30, 2005. I have returned to edit the disjointed contents that follow. They look fine now, so enjoy. Love, The Ghost of August 29...)

And I have no time. But I have to say something, because my guess is I won't be back for quite awhile.

Highlights from babysitting last weekend:

~flying on the trampoline
~making paper dolls
~reading The Great Divorce
~hearing stories about Africa
~watching the fish
~not having a single mis-hap.

A brief review:

Nickel Creek's latest cd, summed in one word, would be bitter. Bitter of all sorts: sweet, angry, sad, and tired.

If you would like to get a taste of it, try the e-card link. The sound bites are a bit longer than Amazon's.

Worldview. There are three (at least) songs dealing with relational infidelity (though all but one put it in an absolutely negative light), and then there's the title track: Why Should the Fire Die, which is the plea of a husband to his wife:

I know I'll never understand you, but please let me keep trying.

Every song (except When in Rome, Doubting Thomas, and the instrumental tracks) is a love song of some sort. That's strange, but I think most songs come back to that, no matter who's singing them and what genre they are.

Doubting Thomas disturbs me, because it has very distinctly Christian innuendo in it, but loudly declares that NOTHING is safe. As if instability was the only dependable thing in the world.

Not for easy, casual listening.

And there. I've warned you. My advice would be: don't buy it for the above reason. It's best to just hear it once all the way through every now and then when you have an hour to kill.

Also, I'm reading this marvelous book. A Chance to Die, by Elisabeth Eliot. A biography of Amy Carmichael.

I've noticed so far:
~Amy's determination to go without knowing where she was going . She spent time in Japan, learned the language, then left for Ceylon, where she also learned the native tongue. It was amazing how she threw herself into her present tasks without asking any questions.

~How much she worked as a missionary before she ever went overseas.

~How Christ's command to count the cost had an impact on her decisions--she left when it was unpopular to be a missionary. Today, we glorify overseas work as if it were some sort of glamour celebrity job (or I have seen it made out to be so), but then it was really frowned upon.

Well, Mama really thinks I should be in bed. And I really agree. More on the book will appear later, perhaps.

Good-night.

School Days and Siblings

School started on Monday.

And ever since then, I've been poring over my Saxon Advanced Math textbook (and Solutions Manual) for hours on end. The ticket to survival? Let me tell you: Silence, very good lighting, a clicky pencil with endless life, and a particular cd of music, used by me since the start of highschool two years ago. That is, Uncommon Ritual by Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, and Mike Marshall. All things rhythmic, beautiful, and brilliant are to be found thereon: Bach, Sarasate (though this one's lost on most people, who like the violin version better), and Byrd, as well as a bunch of jazz and bluegrass and other beautiful new-age stuff (Sliding Down, In the Garden)...

It is incredibly suitable for algebra, geometry, trig, and so forth.

Unfortunately, if you're not a geek, you probably won't like it. Fric came into the room yesterday evening while it was playing, and ever-so-helpfully reminded me she shouldn't be listening to so much music (because Mrs. Kane said so). All the while, she was reaching for the "stop" button.

But anyway. We went swimming last night at the 'Y.' Frac, recently inspired by "March of the Penguins," informed me that he was a leopard seal and I was a penguin. "Leopard seals eat penguins," he told me. And then he attempted a sinister-looking butterfly stroke across the pool, all the while floating on his green noodle.

Have you ever been told about Fric's water antics? In the kid section of the pool (where the deepest part is... maybe four feet?), there's a place where Fric can't keep her head above water. And this place is right by the rope. So. On go her goggles, and out she goes, right in over her head. Then, grabbing the rope, she sinks under the water, and starts bobbing for air in "the Deep End."

Whenever we turn our back, there she is again. We drag her back to where she can touch bottom, but to no avail. The Deep End is the happening place. (sometimes she has a noodle instead of the rope.)

And here's another impression of school: the violin lesson.
Mama installed a practice record yesterday. And also, I've started scale studies. Seven keys, five positions, in three rhythm patterns: One, Two, Three, Four... One-and, Two-and, Three-and, Four-and... One-e-and-a, Two-e-and-a... All with a metronome going Tock, Tock, Tock, Tock....

It numbs the mind, but fills about half of my daily practice quota. o_O Handy thing, wot? Especially when Mama's monitoring the minutes.

And then, I've been put back on Fric's therapy duty. The funnest part was putting her on headphones. She has a specially rigged headset, and has to listen to Adventures in Odyssey every day. So yesterday, sensing her special interest in slapstick humor, I put on The Spy Who Bugged Me. I lay on the floor and read Matthew Henry, watching her burst into spontaneous giggles every few minutes.

Then there's the button-and-string routine. She has to hold a button between her lips and teeth, while I tug on it with a string. But being a faithful prankster, she'll put it behind her teeth when I'm not looking. ;P

Okay. One more story. In the W--'s latest batch of hand-me-downs, there was a pair of fluffy, feathery, shiny socks. Huge, pale blue things. Well, into my bedroom comes Brother2, looking for a pair of socks, because he doesn't have any. "Can I borrow some socks?"

No, there aren't any his size in Fric's drawer. Nor do I have any with sufficient elastic (in sufficiently ratty condition--see Perv's puddle-jumping post). So, to make him laugh, I offer him the fluffy blue pair. NOOOO! GIRLSOCKS!! He laughs, and runs away like the plague's after him.. (besides, he explained later, it wouldn't do to get them all muddy.)

And we fast-forward to later this evening:

"Libby, can I have your blue socks?" Brother2 comes in wearing them. "See...? They fit me."

So I let him wear them to bed last night. Silly brother.

Gadgets, Appliances...

and what happens when dumb people use them. The following vignettes were written on a boring afternoon, for some cheap laughs. We just sat down and started jamming away on the keyboard, so if the grammar and syntax don't impress you... that's why.

Physical comedy courtesy of Annie, Pervinca, Marigold, and Sam:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened to the dude when he put on his headphones?

Well, first he turned on his Rolling Stones cd at top volume.

Then he realized that this was his sister's burned and mislabeled copy ofToby Keith and the Dixie Chicks Live.

HORRORS!!Anyway, it was blasting away for ten full seconds before it hit him, andby that time, he'd blown out his earphones. They fuzzed and fluffed away.

So he turned off the music, moaning and groaning under his breath....and proceeded to fix his headset.

First, he took off the foam coverings...then he snipped the cord...and disconnected the headband from the actual earphones, severing wires in the process.

Then he got out his sodoring kit and put it back together.

Plugged the pick-up into the wrong socket of his walk-man.

ZAP!!!!He fell in a heap on the floor, lying there in agony until his batteries gave out.

Two hours later, he came to. He autographed his name onto the laser-read side of the cd, permanently obliterating any remnants of sound to be heard thereon.

Smashed the walkman..

But he took his headphones home. He had to make a few more adjustments. Maybe his friends would enjoy the surprise.
:-P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened to the dude when he dialed his girlfriend on his cellphone?

Well, first he left a message on her machine--"Hi, honey! I love you. How'bout dinner?"
Then he received a message back. From his boss. "I already am going to dinner with my wife!"

Furious, he proceeded to erase his entire address-book, convinced that ithad led him astray!

But he accidently changed the ring-tone...

TO A CHEESY RENDITION OF THE BAT-MAN THEME SONG!

Thoroughly enraged, he threw the unlucky phone into the toilet, and flushed it down, satisfied that he would never see it again. It cost him plumbing problems. Unfortunately, he was a plumber. By the time he had salvaged his own rotten phone out, paid money to repair it, it was already late that night.

Too late to ask his girlfriend out!

Livid with rage, he flung open his front door, screamed "I HATE YOU!" and threw the cell-phone as hard as he could. His girlfriend stood at the door!...Or had been standing there a minute ago...He fell to the doorstep in a fit of sobbing and penitence.But she was already gone!

Leaving him with nothing but his cell-phone.

Sooo...He dialed her number, and left a message, asking her out to dinner.

*P.S. Go back to the beginning and keep reading.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened when the cute chick tried to wash laundry?

Well, first, she loaded her white silk blouse and new hot pink skirt she wanted to wear to her date that night. Then she dumped half a box of Tide in. Then she set it on "Hot." Then she went to open the door of the laundry room...

SHE WAS LOCKED IN!!!!!

After tugging, crying, coaxing, kicking, and screaming, she sat down onthe floor and sobbed.

Suddenly, she realized: the washing machine was rumbling and shaking like a rocket about to take off!

'Uh oh.'

The resulting explosion was loud.
And worse, it was wet.

And sudsy.

Hot, hot water, large white suds, and clothes tumbled around her.

Her yelp was louder than the explosion. The good thing was the door burst open.

She dragged herself to the garage where she kept the mop and bucket.She cleaned up the water.She picked up her blouse and stared at it.The yell was louder than the explosion and yelp put together.

THE BLOUSE WAS HOT PINK AND THE SKIRT WAS WHITE!

*Buy hearing aids*


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened when the dudette tried to use the elevator?

First, she pushed the "up" button, got in, and chose the 13th floor.T

he elevator started moving up. She started singing a high-pitched, off-key song that resembled "The Hunting of the Hare." Suddenly, she realized the elevator had stopped.'Oh. I guess I reached the 13th floor.' She looked at the display above the door and saw that the 13th floor light was off. So were all the other lights above the door. She tried opening the door. No go. She tried pushing the 13th floor button again. No go, either. She pushed the emergency stop button.

"Uh oh."

In the movies, they always went out through the roof. She looked at the ceiling. It was a TALL elevator. So, she sat in the corner and tried to sing "Into the West." It just made her feeling like dying. So, she tried "The Unquiet Grave", "Withered and Died", "Annan Waters",and "Old Man Time." By this time, she had resolved herself to being a ghost."

It shouldn't be TOO bad..."

The elevator started moving.She fainted from relief. She revived. It stopped. So did her heart.The doors opened. She stepped onto "solid" ground on the floor that she had started on.Then she saw it...

"Out of Order."
:-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened when the dude tried to make hot dogs?

First he took out the skillet. Noticing that it was somewhat dirty, he cleaned yesterday morning's scrambled eggs off its surface with a fork.Then he hunted for the plug.

While searching through his utensil drawers, he discovered an old coke can, a rat, various assorted and otherwise disgusting food crumbs, and a nold, dilapitated spatula. But no plug.

Finally, he found it, still plugged into the electric outlet. He touched the metal end - that connected to the skillet - just to be sure it worked.

Fifteen minutes later, after his hair stopped smoking, he finally managed to connect the skillet to the plug. Then he got out the hot dogs. Only he couldn't find them.Then he realized he had purchased them just yesterday, and that they were probably still in the back of his pick-up. So he went out to look for them.

After digging through the back of his pick-up (the contents of which included rusty tire chains, last week's eggs and milk, a spare tire, and rotten fish bait), he discovered the hot dogs.

'Mmm. Slightly warm, but good nonetheless.' He thought to himself, tossing away the Wal-Mart bag that had previously clung, half-melted, to the hot-dog package, which was also half-melted. This fact prevented him fromseparating hot dogs from hot dog package, so he threw the whole thing intothe skillet, set it for "BROIL," and strolled out to his back-porch, to see if any chicks passed his line of vision. Unfortunately, his hedge (which had grown considerably since he last trimmed it five years ago) was blocking his view of the street, so he proceeded to hack it down with his very high-tech and cool weed-whacker.

He turned it off, sniffed the air, and frowned.'Man, does this thing stink or what?' He thought, staring in disgust at the weed-whacker. 'I gotta find a different brand of gasoline!' Putting this behind him, he strolled towards his open back door, noticingthat the bad smell was only getting stronger.This seemed odd to him, but being a dude and not very keen of mind, he never associated it with the....

Hot.Dogs. Black smoke was pouring from the general direction of the skillet, and the odor....He collapsed on the floor, the smell having totally knocked him out. By the time he revived, the skillet had blown a fuse, and was off...but not before it was reduced to a pile of singed plastic, melted metal, andcharred hot-dog, and a mutated rat, who unfortunately was attracted to the rotten hot dog before the entire mess had malfunctioned.

At first he sobbed! He wailed! Then he ordered carry-out.

>:-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened when dudette tried to hang her calendar?

First, she needed a nail in the wall to hang it upon. So, she got out thehammer and a nail. Then, she put the nail against the wall and closing her eyes, swung the hammer.

A dent appeared in the wall. 'Oops..' She swung with her eyes open.

And dropped the nail, making another dent in the wall. She eyed it, and carefully holding the nail, swung with the hammer, keeping her eyes open and singing "The Lucky One" for confidence.

'OW!!!!!' She had hit her finger. She ran whimpering to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. Securing it around her finger, she went back to work.'Maybe I haven't been swinging hard enough.' She swung hard.

Missed...And made another dent in the wall. She blinked hard to keep from crying. She swung HARDER. A hole appeared in the wall. 'If this keeps up there won't be anything left in the house!'

Holding the nail steady, she swung again.The nail went in...So did the some wall. Crying, she threw the hammer in despair. It hit the bookshelf, knocking off some books. She sat and cried for while. Then she went and picked up the books.One was titled "101 things to do with thumb tacks."'What a tacky name.' She thought, picking it up. It fell open to a page.The page said..."A great way to hang up calendars without the fuss and bother of nails and hammers..."

She set to work, taking a thumb tack and the calendar to a secure part ofthe wall.Voila! It worked. 'Wow!'

With her task finished, she know had a brighter perspective on things.'Well, I always thought it might be neat to have a window between the laundry room and the hallway...'
:-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What happened when the chick turned on the light?

Well, first she juggled the groceries she was holding and opened the door. However, she dropped a can on the floor while struggling to get her keys. It rolled off the only step leading to the house and onto the sidewalk. "Oh, well, I'll pick it up later." She stepped inside and turned on the light. Nothing happened."Drat!" she exclaimed.

She dropped the groceries and stumbled, falling several times, to where she kept the lightbulbs. She grabbed a ladder, flipped on a light, and headed back to the entry-way. She stood up and twisted in the light bulb.

AND GOT SHOCKED!!!! She fell down and landed on the groceries. She came to a few minutes later and got up.The good news was that the light shone brightly.The bad news was the rather fragile groceries (fruit and eggs!) were squished. She went to where she kept the mop, broom, paper towels, dustpan, and bucket. She brought them back to the entry way and cleaned the mess up. Then she remembered that she had more groceries in the car. With a sigh, she turned to get them. She stepped out of the house and off the step. And onto the can. Her foot shot out and she landed several feet into her yard. She recovered, a bit later, and got up, determined to finish her mission. She unloaded the groceries and hauled them into the entry-way.

Finally, she finished. She picked up the groceries and headed for the kitchen. She reached for the light switch. In the struggle to get free, she dropped a can.S he flipped on the switch. Nothing happened.

: O

THE END!

Okay. I'm home.

from a very long and wonderful trek through historic Illinois, and a visit with family.

The upsides: seeing grandmothers, second cousins, second cousins once removed, and third cousins twice removed, first cousins, an aunt, great-aunt and great-uncle. Going on a historic tour of the places my mom haunted, the Lincoln Living History Museum, the John Wood museum in Quincy, and also the mall, trying on costumes at my second cousin once removed's house (we have pictures), going to Warren Dunes (THE WATER WAS COOL AND VERY CLEAR AND PERFECTLY CALM...), the Morton Arboretum (lovely hiking trail. Again, pictures.), and my little cousins' house in MI (there are five of them now). Seeing several incomparable sunsets (I got one in my journal), having conversations, playing chess with my second cousin and Puppy Race with my first cousin (age two), having a dinner party and a talent show. Creeping around outside at 11:PM outside my grandmother's farmhouse, waiting for Papa to get home. Putting together a 700+ piece puzzle and watching episodes of The Lucy Show, especially the two that had Carol Burnette. :D

see why you won't get a detailed description?

The downside: being sick the whole time. In the car Tuesday (the way up), I had aches all over, chills, and developed a fever that night. The fever turned into a sinus infection and sore throat, which turned quickly into laryngitis (I lost my voice completely, which gave rise to several jokes), and that turned into BRONCHitis. And now I have a cough.

However, it was a wonderful, irreplaceable experience, and I'm glad it happened.

I have a brand new cousin. He's three weeks old, has blue blue eyes and thick black baby hair. And he really didn't like me to hold him, but that's okay. I was sick, anyway.

Time to get off. Bybye.

P.S.--ever heard The Grass is Blue, by Dolly Parton? Cute song. On that tribute album, Just Because I'm a Woman, Norah Jones sings it, and I was reminded of it because Perv just had it pop up on Launch.