Learning to Write

Gemma-Rose is sitting at her computer typing. I look over her shoulder to see what she is doing. She is working on her novel. She is a very advanced writer for her age (9). She is writing long novels with perfect spelling and wonderful characters. I often stop to listen to Gemma-Rose as she reads her novels out to Mum.

I think back to when I was her age. I had never thought of writing much then. I spent all my time playing and drawing. It wasn't until I heard of NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program when I was ten that I started to write a lot. 

At first my writing skills were horrible. I had bad punctuation and spelling. I would get bored of characters and instead of making them better, I would go and find a new character to replace them.

Now after a few years of writing, my skills have improved a lot and I am able to finish novels and make my characters have personalities. When I first started writing I even forgot to put speech into my stories.

I think of the children at school who do writing programs and fill in worksheets to learn to write. I think that doing the real thing is a better way to learn. My spelling and punctuation have gotten a lot better by writing novels and reading good books, than if I had filled in the workbooks. I am lucky Mum let me learn this way.

At the moment I am doing Camp NaNoWriMo. I have nearly finished my novel. I have written 40000 words. With luck I will finish all 50000 words by the end of the month! 

Sewing Fun

We own a book called Make a Monster. It has a lot of really cute patterns for toys to sew out of fleece.

The other day Mum pulled the book out and told me that she would help me sew a toy from it. I was very excited. 

I picked up the book and flicked through the pages until I found the toy I wanted: a cute little toy with funny ears.

My first toy

"Do you want to go down to the shops for some fabric?" Mum asked me.

"Oh yes please," I answered and I ran for my shoes. 

Gemma-Rose had also decided she wanted to make a toy and so together, Mum,Gemma-Rose and I set out to the shops for fabric.

Me and my first toy

It turned out to be just the right day for sewing as the fabric shop was having a sale. We rushed over to the fleece section of the shop to choose the fabrics we needed.

"I want green and pink for my dinosaur," Gemma-Rose said. Mum hunted out a nice lime green coloured fabric and a bright pink one.

Gemma-Rose's first toy

"What colours would you like?" Mum asked me. I looked at all the wonderful colours. It was so hard to choose.

"Could I have that dark purple and bright orange please?" I asked. Mum agreed and we walked off to the counter with our arms full of fleece.

Gemma-Rose and her first toy

Straight after lunch we settled down to sew. Mum helped us cut out our pieces and then left us to it. 

I spent a happy afternoon sewing my toy together. It was a really easy one and so it was done before dinner. The toy looks really cute.

My second toy

Gemma-Rose's toy was a little harder and it took her two days to finish hers, but it looked wonderful when it was finished. She is a really good seamstress. I wish I could have sewn like her when I was her age.

Me and my second toy

After our success at our toys we wanted to make more. Mum was all willing to help. She cut us out some more pieces and we started to sew.

While we sewed Mum read to us. Sewing is a wonderful thing to do while Mum is reading because it doesn't take your mind off the story.

Gemma-Rose and her second toy

It took me a little longer to finish my toy this time because it was a harder one. Gemma-Rose ended up finishing her toy before me. But I don't care. I had a lot of fun sewing my toy. I can't wait to sew some more. 

Poetry, Poets and Writing

I love poetry. I am glad that term is back because I can study it some more. My favourite kind of poems are ballads. They tell wonderful tales.

Two of my favourite poets are Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. I love Banjo Paterson's Man From Snowy River. It is so exciting. My favourite poem by Henry Lawson is Andy's Gone With Cattle. I liked it so much I memorised it. It is the only poem I have ever memorised.

Today we looked at a poem called The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It wasn't a ballad but it was still very good. 

I sometimes wish I could write poems. It would be so much fun to write stories in rhyme. It must take a lot of talent to get poem writing down to an art.

One day I am going to learn how to write a ballad. I have a feeling writing poetry must be almost as much fun as writing novels.

What is almost as good as being able to say you have written a poem though is to say you have memorised one.

Do you like poetry? What is your favourite poet? 

Zoo

I love going to the zoo. I like walking around taking photos of all the animals.

We don't go to the zoo very often. I only remember going twice. A family as big as mine can't go too often because it is way too expensive.

It is always fun to try and take a photo of an animal in a tank. It is so hard not to have a reflection in the glass.

I like watching the bird and seal shows at the zoo. The seals are very well trained and often do funny tricks. The birds are very interesting.

One of the highlights of the zoo is the elephants. They are so big and strong. I love elephants.

When we go to the zoo it is always a whole day trip. We get up early and get home late. That means we have lunch at the zoo. We have a special picnic of ham and potato salad and rolls. Somehow the rolls taste best there, eaten outside.

I like the giraffes with their long and beautiful necks. They suit long necks perfectly. I think I would look ridiculous with such a long neck.

Last time we went to the zoo we saw three almost grown tigers. One of them was trying to eat a flower pot. He was so cute.

It was at the zoo I learnt a very interesting fact about koalas: They are bouncy in the morning and sleepy in the afternoon. I have only seen koalas bouncing about once. It was very hard to take a photo of them.

There was a fishing cat at the zoo, but it was hiding so we couldn't see it last time. It was a big pity because I really wanted to see it.

There are three Tasmanian devils at our zoo. They are so cute. They run around playing with each other. They were also hard to take photos of.

I love going to the zoo. I hope we get to go again soon.

Xylophone

Gemma-Rose playing the xylophone.

We have a xylophone. None of us can play it properly, but when I was little I used to pretend I could.

The xylophone sat in the study and the only person who ever even thought about it was me. I would pick it up and sit on the floor with it. I would hit it with the sticks making an awful racket. I don't think anyone liked me playing the xylophone.

When Gemma-Rose was a bit older she too wanted to play the xylophone. I gave her one of the sticks and we made even more noise than ever.

Then after ages of playing the xylophone, one of the sticks broke while we were playing it. I was most upset.

Dad soon fixed it with a bit of super glue and it was as good as new. He gave it back to us with instructions to be more careful with it.

Again we had a lot of fun with the xylophone, but then the stick broke again. Dad was too busy to fix it and so we put away the xylophone and our fun.

One of these days I am going to find that broken stick and get someone to fix it so Gemma-Rose and I can have some more fun. It is not half as much fun to play the xylophone on your own with only one stick.

Perhaps we should learn to play the xylophone properly, then everyone will stop saying, "Don't make such a racket! Stop that noise!"

Do you have a xylophone? Can you play it?

When I was Little

Me when I was little

I remember when I was small. I used to follow the big girls around, always wanting to be one of them. They often let me join in with their games.

Imogen would invent some wonderful games. She would be an inn keeper and we used to be people staying at the inn. Most of the game was spent making the inn. We would take our dress ups and go and fill skirts with pine needles for pillows and big dresses for blankets.

Another game we liked was being on a ship. Whenever we went to the park, the play equipment turned into the ship and I would grab the telescope and Charlotte the wheel or Imogen. They often swapped jobs. Sometimes Charlotte was a crazy cook that put nails in the soup or tyres in the bread. Don't ask me where she thought she would find them out at sea!

On rainy days we had to play indoors. Imogen had some wonderful ideas for those games as well. We would play school and libraries. I enjoyed the school games. Imogen was a wonderful teacher.

We had a lot of Little People and we played some games which went on for days at a time. I remember I often got the people Imogen and Charlotte didn't want.

I love my big sisters. They never left me out and they always let me be one of them. Do you have sisters like mine?

Very Exciting

Gemma-Rose on our piano

Today we got a piano! It was very exciting. It's an upright piano. Our piano teacher has a few pianos and she wanted to give this one to us.

This morning Dad, Callum and Imogen went out to get the piano, leaving everyone else at home to wait excitedly. It was very hard.

Finally they came home, but the truck was a few minutes behind them. That few minutes felt like years. I couldn't wait to see the piano. I had never seen this one when I had my lessons.

When the truck appeared, the men, with the help of Dad and Callum, slowly carried the piano into the house being very careful not to break the piano or the tiles. It did not take half as long time as it felt though.

Then the men left. We all wanted to hear the piano. The piano we had been playing on before was an electric one and sounded much different.

Imogen rushed off to get her music and started to play one of her favourite pieces on the new piano. It sounded wonderful, not that it needed an upright piano to do that, but it did make a big difference.

I was all eager to try out the new piano and went straight off to do my piano practice. I had not done it earlier while they were getting the piano, because I wanted to practise on the new piano. My music sounded so different and grand. I could hardly believe it was me playing the piano!

I love our new piano. It is so wonderful! Do you have a nice piano?