Hello!
I recently attended a talk by one of my favorite authors, D.J. MacHale. He writes one of my favorite series called Pendragon. As soon as I heard the talk would be at the Sheman Oaks library, I knew I had to go. At the talk he read the first chapter in the upcoming book, and he answered our questions. He also talked about what inspired Pendragon, and how he became a writer. In all it was a very fun day! I left the library with a bunch of signed books, and feeling very happy!
With the holidays fast approaching delicious foods are on there way. Every year I look forward to eating and cooking quince cookies and pie, so this year I decided to make my own quince.
Here is the recipe:
The paste is delicious on toast or in pies!
Every year I look forward to the time of year when the day last longer into the night and the veil to the spirit world grows thin. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I always loved the idea of being someone new and not myself! I was a lamb, a fox, a fairy, a cat, a butterfly, Galadrial, a peasant, a pirate, a vampire, and a jester. All my costumes were really cool, this year is no different. My dad came up with the great idea of being a painting. We made the costume but it was harder than it looks. In the end it turned out perfect.
We ate and then headed out. Every house we went to we got tons of compliments. Mom Greg and I also saw a really cool like skit thing at a house door the street from us. It was really nice. In the end it was a pretty good Halloween. I had fun!
Just recently my class took a trip to Joshua Tree. We got on the bus at 8:00 in the morning,
and rode it for 3 or 4 hours. On the bus I sat next to My. It was fun at the 
beginning, but after 2 hours, I was a little bored. We finally arrived in Joshua Tree National Park. Unfortunately where we were they're no Joshua Trees. We unloaded the bus and I went to find the bathroom. I smell hit my nose as I walked towards it. I opened and door and I almost gaged! It was one of the toilets that don't flush, and they don't empty them for about a month. After pitching the tents we ate lunch. The class was split into 2 groups and each 
went on a walk. Our group was Jess, Rory, Wyatt, Joey, My, Alison, Claudia and me. Our guide was named Craig. We went back, ate and went to sleep.
and arrived at the rocky mountains. We climbed to the top which took about 40 minutes, then we went under. The rock caves are the spaces under the rocks that the waters runs through when it rains, I guess you could say they were more like tunnels. I felt like Indiana Jones, crawling and bending down to go under the rocks. Sometimes, it was so dark that you couldn't see without a flashlight, other times it was extremely light. We got through the caves then returned back to camp, and then we made dinner. After we all layed out on the ground and learned about the constellations. It was amazing! You could see almost every star and the milky way! We saw nineteen shooting stars.
On Thursday we climbed a mountain. First we crossed the expansive desert and the we began the climb. There was no path, and the mountain was covered in large boulders. There were also
loose rocks that people would slip on. Every time we thought we reached the top, we would look up to see another peak rising above us. At the top, we ate and I took pictures. We climbed down and crossed the desert for the last time. That night all the girls slept outside. We sung songs and 
talked long into the night. I awoke to wind wiping around me. It was so
strong that all the girls except Claudia had to go inside the tents. We still couldn't sleep.
extremely boring and everyone sang or talked or tried to sleep.
beginning. First off, I go to Highland Hall Waldorf School, if you didn't know. The first day was "beach day". I spent the night at My's house. We got to school, listened to the orientation talk, and chose our electives and got on the bus. On the bus I caught up with my friends Alison and 
Lindsay. We arrived at Zuma and set up our towels and things. The beach was sort of fun, we ran around, and talked. Overall though, it was sort of boring.
side of the school for Eurythmy (which is a kind of dance). Next we have chorus, then lunch. At lunch My and I sit by a big tree which is very fun to sit and eat by. After lunch I have Algebra 1. Every
day my last class changes. Monday it's Drama, Tuesday it's Dance, Wednesday it is Council, Thursday is Drama 2 and Friday is Dance. In drama we our doing the play The Mouse That Roared. It is amazing!!! So that is a typical day at school.
David and Kim were all there. I ordered empanadas with mom and a mango salad. They were good, but, the salad took a while. After dinner I ordered chocolate heart cake. It was amazing!!!
It was a little bowl of chocolate souffle, one of vanilla ice cream and one of fresh berries. It was very, very good!! Mom shared her perfumes with everyone. The favorite was Quercus, I think. Greg talked to the Krentz's a while about work then we went home. I read some more, then went to bed.
and pizza. The waitress forgot the olives so we got the pizza for free. As we walked to Stanley Park we stopped in a store called Accesorize.
It was full of bracelets, necklaces, belts, purses and hats. I bought a really nice multi-green hat. Mom and I walked to Chapters where I bought the book I had been looking for: Fruits Basket Volume 17. I was very, very happy. We walked to Stanley Park, and took a little trolley to the Totem Poles. They were very cool looking. Mom took pictures and then we walked on. I took some 
pictures then we walked to the market, Capers. We bought lettuce, cucumbers, chocolate biscotti and dental floss. When we came home we
had tea and the chocolate biscotti. YUM! Greg picked us up and we went to a restaurant called Moxies where we met the gang from Gregs work. Gary and his family: Maggie, Ian and Kelly, along with Barry, Ian, Ken and Dennis. I ordered the Coconut Curry Rice Bowl with chicken, it was good, but it was too much food, so I took it home. Maggie and I talked about things for a while, then I read my new book. We ate and then talked some more. Ian told us more about his invisible dog Jimmy. At 10:30 we went home. I emailed My for a little while then read a chapter. After I went to sleep.
green scarf. It's very pretty, bright green and a little fuzzy. Mom did the laundry and ironing while we listened to HP7. I also emailed with My. WeToday I had my leftovers and an goat cheese and pesto omelet for breakfast. Then I watched a Lost while knitting. I finished the began folding clothes while I watched Lost. I made salad for mom and I. I decided to play my flute for a little
while while mom was busy. I worked on duets and Lord of the Rings music. Once mom was done we walked down to the Aquabus, which we planned to take to Granville Island. On the way to the ferry we stopped by a really neat little garden store called The Urban Garden. When we arrived at Granville Island we walked around trying to 
find a paint shop then went into a little yarn store. Mom and I went into several other stores like a garden store and then we got ice cream. I got Strawberry, it was amazing. We went to public market and bought some maple syrup. We took the boat back and met Ayala, her daughter Tamya, her brother and her niece. We walked to an Indian restaurant called The India Bistro. We ordered some Samosas,
then Greg got there. We ordered salad, vegetable korma, and mom and Greg got Tandori Trout. I was good. I drew on a map of Granville Island I had in my purse, and it turned out pretty good! Once we were done, we walked home and Greg told us that he only had one more week on the film. We were all unhappy. I worked on my blog and packed. It took a while but mom helped me so it went okay. I read 2 chapters then went to sleep. Vancouver Canada is a very cool and fun place to be. I would love to to back, and I HIGHLY recommend going. Whether it's Saltzspring or Victoria, Granville or West 4th you can bet that you'll have a good time. Goodbye Canada, I have so much fun. 
Thank you.
presentation on the habitat of the area and surrounding islands, it was fun to hear. She told us about bald eagles and many of the local islands, including one called called Saltspring. We left the ferry and waited another 45 minutes to board a second ferry to 
Saltspring. It was a 30 minute ride, mom and I stood on deck and looked out at the islands. It was very pretty! It began to rain. We left the ferry and drove through the really, really pretty island toward Ganges, to a farmers market. Unfortunately it was raining so the three of us huddled together and walked around with our umbrella. It was sort of uncomfortable having all three of us under one umbrella. We bought berries, plums, pastries and chocolate. Next we looked for a place to eat and sat down at a little restaurant, the food took forever to arrive. I ordered curry butternut-squash soup, which was very good. We walked to a little yarn shop called “Stitches”, I 
bought two balls of a multi-colored wool. During the ferry back to Victoria, mom and I listened to HP7 while I began a new scarf. We drove into downtown Victoria and dropped our things off at the B&B we were going to stay at. Next the three of us strolled around the city. We saw the government building all covered in lights, it looked like an english gingerbread house.
China town which was a little creepy. We found a restaurant called Rebar to have dinner, it was very very good. I ordered an almond burger and I ate some of Greg’s salad. I also had a peppermint tea. After an excellant meal we walked back to our B&B. All three of us decided to take a bath, at the same time because there were 2 bathtubs. halfway through filling up both baths, the water went cold. Mom and Greg waited about 20 minutes then filled theirs up again. They could only fill it up halfway though because there was not enough hot water. I worked on my blog then went to bed.
cake and Spanish French toast with orange juice and tea. Once we were done we checked out. The 3 of us drove around the block then went to another yarn shop called The Bee Hive. I bought some really nice, green toned, fuzzy yarn and then we got some lunch. I got Chow Mien, it was okay. While eating we were watched by a big seagull, I guess it was hungry. We went to the house of Greg’s friend Ken who works at Rainmaker. Ken is a really nice guy, he is a storyboard artist. We talked for a while then he showed us the house, he made the door to his office look like a submarine door, it was really, really good!! It looked totally real!! His front door had a stained glass window of a deep sea diver in it. Where the helmet was there was a little window, so that the person 
inside could see the person outside. On our way to MacMilllan Provential Park we drove past a building with a live, grassy roof that has a goat on top! It was called “The We left and drove 2
beautiful hours to Cathedral Grove. It was a park with amazing, old growth trees!!! They were very tall and VERY pretty!! Some were covered in fur (moss). We walked around and saw some big black slugs! They were very weird looking. We saw a huge tree, which was spectacular, it was like 7 times the size of Greg!!! After we left, we had dinner at a restaurant called the White 
Spot. Mom and I ordered Caesar Salad with olive oil, lemon and salt for dressing. We left and drove to the ferry to go back to Vancouver but we had to get there at 10:15pm to get our reservation, we missed it by one minute, but still got on. Mom and I listened to Harry Potter 7 while I worked on my blog. Driving back home we got a little lost, but we eventually made it!
