All Buttoned Up

**Notice: this post was begun on July 26.  What happened was, I couldn't think of any subject-matter for buttons after the North & South one.  I just now finished with the last two buttons.  So yeah.  I'm basically the queen of procrastinators**

 Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very special day.  Why is it a special day, you ask?  Because, my dear, thanks to Miss Rosamund Gregory, I HAVE LEARNED HOW TO MAKE BLOG BUTTONS.  Now you may rejoice. 

I didn't put the code box because this isn't an official R&M button.  But I think it is rather cute. :)

Are you done rejoicing?  Good.  I must tell you, if you've never made a blog button, get thee to Rosamund's tutorial and learn how.  You needn't be scared.  It's actually very easy.

Now, I probably won't have an official button for my blog for a while yet, because, you see, it has to be just so.  But in the meantime, I've made a couple fun little things, just to get the hang of it.

<a href="http://raindropsandmoonlight.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h456/poetgirlJMJ/thorntonappreciationclub-1.jpg?t=1343496983

<a href="http://raindropsandmoonlight.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h456/poetgirlJMJ/tolkienquote1.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://raindropsandmoonlight.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h456/poetgirlJMJ/bowtiesarecool-1.jpg"/></a>

 So, there you go!  My first attempts at buttonmaking.  By-the-by, I really do have no idea what's going on with the alignment there.  My code boxes are randomly off to the side and I'm not sure why...

Oh, and if by some chance you wanted to use any of these, I'd be delighted.  :)

GUEST POST!

My guest post for Shaylynn's Tolkien Month got published on her blog this morning!  Eeeee!  I'm super excited - this was my first guest post ever, and on Shealynn's Fairy Shop, which is a long-time favorite of mine.  It was one of the very first blogs I ever discovered!  I am honored.

Check it out here, and be sure to read the rest of the Tolkien Month posts as well.

Picking Peaches

Remember my post on apple-picking?  Well, about a month ago, on the coolest day we could find, my family and I drove down long country roads and through lookalikes of the Great Dismal Swamp to a lovely farm which had pick-your-own peaches.  We picked forty-three pounds of the the things, but even so I managed to take lots of pictures.  They came out rather well, too.  (This post is getting up so late because it took me until now to edit everything.)

From the parking lot, we had to walk about half a mile down to the orchard.  Some intelligent people drove down, but we walked.  It was just as well, because I wouldn't have been able to take photos from the car, and I'm not sure our giant of a fifteen-passenger van would have made it down there anyway. 

There was a lovely little pond with a bridge across it, so I got to practice landscape photography.

There was a lot of Queen Anne's Lace growing by that pond.  I love Queen Anne's Lace (or yarrow, as some call it), so I couldn't resist taking pictures of it. 

Now you know what it looks like. Yarrow has medicinal properties, but I can't remember what they are anymore.

 

 

 

This is the super-edited version of the first photo.  I would love fabric with this print...

I kinda sorta really like this one, even though it's a bit blurry.  It looks so fairy-ish.

Then we reached the actual orchard:

These are nectarines.  Just thought you might be wondering why they're red...

Despite asking me and my mom if every peach they picked was "good," my siblings did pretty well.  All the buckets were at least halfway filled.  (Hence the forty-three pounds.) 

 

 

Some of them had to be lifted.

I really like this sepia-toned photo.  Sepia makes everything better, doesn't it? :)

 I thought it was fun.  Orchard peaches and nectarines taste so much better than the grocery-store variety, I promise you.  Really, everything tastes better when it's not from a grocery store.

 

And yes, I am left-handed.

After we paid, we all sat out on the picnic benches and tried our lovely (and hard-earned) fruit.  I think it was worth carrying an over-ten-pound bucket (plus a sibling's smaller one) half a mile in the noon heat.  I do have a picture of us all sitting around stuffing our faces with peaches, but I'm thinking my mom would kill me if her picture was up here.  She'd say she looked fat, which is, by the way, nonsense.  My mom weighs ten pounds more than I do, and I am not fat.  Anyway, one of my brothers looks like a creep in that picture, and I wouldn't want you get nightmares.  Seriously.  He looks like the Grim Reaper or something. 

When we got home, we cut up and froze about two-thirds of the peaches.  Now my mom won't let us eat any until winter, which I protest is not fair, but she doesn't seem to care.  (I hate it when my sentences unintentionally rhyme...the rhymes are always so dumb. Ergh.)

Speaking of my mom, she did a peach-picking post (ha! Alliteration! Oh my gosh, I am such a poetry geek...) as well.  Voila: http://mrsrabbitsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/07/picking-peaches.html

Triple Tag

Nessima of Nessima's Realm tagged me with three awards!  I'm so flattered!

Rules: share seven things about yourself and pass on the award to five other bloggers.

Seven things about me:

1.  I'm VERY VERY IMPATIENT. (Case in point: we're waiting to get our orders so we can finally move, and I'm about to explode from the suspense.  Almost literally.  I feel like strangling something.)

2.  I don't like listing things about myself.  (Okay, I know that's cheating...TOO BAD.)

3.  I like raspberries.  A lot.

4.  I sew skirts...occasionally.  (When I have nice enough fabric.)

5.  I don't...really...like....cooking.  *hides from the homemakers who come at me with frying pans*

6.  I consider myself a writer, but I've only ever completed poetry.

7.  I have a tendency to lock myself up in my room and lip-sync to the songs on my iPod.  It makes me feel like a famous singer.  Yes, it's strange.

THERE. Now I'm supposed to pass these awards on to five deserving bloggers.  This is very hard for me, both because I have to actually decide something and because I really wonder if it's just a bother to the bloggers I tag.  I don't like to be a bother.  So, if any one of you doesn't want to do the tag, don't worry about it.

1.  Tara Janelle of the stunning sewing/fashion history blog A Lass of Yesteryear

2.  Imogen of Dancing with Dragonflies

3.  Mary of My Sew Called Life

And, erm, I can't think of anyone else. *blush*  I'm in a hurry because I wasted enough time today...I'm supposed to be starting my book analysis on The Robe.  It's from tenth grade for heaven's sake.  REALLY should be done by now.

On Not Dating

I came across this article from The Catholic Young Woman - one of my favorite blogs -  and I thought I'd repost it here for those of you who don't read it.  (Is there anyone here who doesn't read it?)

Clare gives a no-nonsense, convincing post about her particular reasons for not dating.  I find it so sad that nowadays young people seem to think dating is an absolutely necessary part of growing  up - what's even sadder is the amount of really young kids who think they're old enough to take on a relationship like that.  Seriously?  I'm unready (not to mention unwilling) to date, and I'm in my mid-teens.

You know, I also feel like dating really isn't that romantic, after all.  It seems so....I don't know....sort of insipid and fake.  Can you imagine Pride and Prejudice ending with Darcy asking Elizabeth to go out with him?  It would be horrible, wouldn't it?

Enough of my blabbing now.

Why I Don't Date

It still surprises me a bit when some preteen girl casually mentions her boyfriend to me. Boyfriend, sweetie? Aren't you a little young? Of course, I do know that little childish crushes have been around for at least a century. One only has to read L.M. Montgomery's books to hear young Davy confiding to Anne his plans to marry a girl at his school, or see baby Rilla watching young Ken with big adoring eyes.

But it's strange to me to see little boys and girls caught up in the world of casually dating and casually breaking up. Why would they date? It's just a fact that they're going to be getting married no time soon.

Maybe they date because they see their olders and presumably wisers doing it. I find it no less surprising that adult people are dating with no thought of marrying the person they're in a relationship with. The life of casually dating seems to be a setup for unnecessary confusion and heartache.

The only reason I've heard for dating that even sounds good is the reason: you have to learn how to relate to members of the opposite sex. Sounds good, I say, because I grew up without a single date and ended up better at relating to men than to women. I had friends who were men, and I spent time with them in group and family situations where they really acted like themselves... not dressed up to impress me.

The reasons I've had for not dating, however, been many.

Why would I get involved with a man if the relationship were only 'casual' and not seriously determined to explore the possibility of marriage? It would be dishonest of me to go into such a relationship without letting him know that I wasn't that serious. But even if I were honest about it upfront, a relationship of that nature invites attachment and because of that, heartache.

Why would I want to waste time in a series of casual relationships when I could be working hard and preparing myself to serve God? It may be true that youth is a unique time of being free with time and energy to have fun, but it's also true that youth is the best time to serve and build character. I don't like to think of what kind of habits I would be forming in pursuing a series of casual dates.

I don't date because the young men I like and appreciate I like and appreciate too much to toy around with their hearts... and the young men I don't like, I wouldn't date. I don't date because love doesn't signify just 'fun' to me, but commitment and sacrifice. I don't date because I'd rather use that time learning to serve God better. I don't date because I believe both he and I are worth the commitment of a relationship that looks towards marriage.

Visit The Catholic Young Woman to see the original post (it has a nice picture) and to read more amazing articles by Clare and the other wonderful contributors!

Stylish Blogger

I'm excited to announce that I won a stylish blogger award!

Isn't it lovely? *grin*

Now, maybe you're thinking, "oh, congratulations...but it's really not a big deal."  Okay.  Maybe not.  But see, I've seen these awards all over the place, and I always saw them as something that only professional, well-known bloggers got.  AND NOW I HAVE ONE!
Thank you so much, Imogen!  (And congratulations on your award, too.  I tried to comment on your blog, but I don't think it went through.)

Now I believe the rule is that I must tell you seven things about me...so here goes!

1.  I write poetry, occasionally.

2.  My favorite colors are green and blue. 

3.  I'm 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

4.  I wear skirts every single day.

5. I hate tennis shoes.

6.  I love Narnia and LOTR, and I despise Star Wars.

7.  My favorite subjects are English and history.

There.  Do you know how hard it is to think of seven semi-interesting things about myself?

Now I shall proceed to pass the award on to five lovely bloggers.

1.  The Catholic Young Woman.

2.  My mom at Mrs. Rabbit's Musings.  Not just because she's my mom, but because she writes on interesting topics!

3.  Shealynn at Shealynn's Fairy Shoppe.  I hope she hasn't gotten this award already...

4.   Annie at Pixels and Stories.  Such beautiful photography!

5.  Emily at Meaningful Words!

Thank you again, Imogen!

Introducing...

...My mom's blog, Mrs. Rabbit's Musings!  I'm quite happy to have inspired her.... okay fine.  I'm only kidding.  She inspired herself. :p
So, check it out!  She'll post about herbs, knitting, natural stuff....you know.  Or maybe you don't.  But it's okay, I forgive you. 

Now, go and learn/stalk/be bored/be amazed - whatever it is you do.

 - she-who-is-in-a-hyper-mood, a.k.a Victoria

Where Random Meets Beautiful

You must check out this post of Emily's.   She decided to write whatever random train of thoughts came into her head, and look how lovely the result is!  Emily, I really enjoyed reading that.  Thanks!

May I introduce...

...my friend Emily's new blog, Meaningful Words!  Go follow her, my faithful minions. :p  Her last post is a really good story that she wrote - you'll enjoy it.