Ophelia's Little Corner

Picture Collages

2012-02-04T19:54:00.004-06:00

I have been playing around a lot with my new iPhone 4s that I got myself for Christmas, and one of my favorite things to do with it is create collages with my own personal photos using a free app called PicCollage. Because it is free, the app is very limited in terms of background selections, sticker art, and font choices, but it does allow you to use your imagination to create a variety of different collages with the tools it does provide. I personally like its simplicity and have been quite addicted to it since I first started using it last month.

Lately I've also been creating collages using images from movies that I've seen and really liked, such as this one you see here on the left, from the movie X-Men: First Class. In that movie, James McAvoy plays Charles Xavier, who later becomes the world-famous Professor X. He is an expert in the field of genetic mutations, and he starts the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where young mutants can feel like they are part of a family and can learn to develop their special powers. After seeing this movie, it made me wish I could attend this prestigious school and be one of Professor X's students! Any idea how I could apply? :)

Captain America: The First Avenger is another movie I really enjoyed recently. Chris Evans, who played another comic book superhero in the past (Johnny Storm, also known as "the Human Torch" in Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), is Steve Rogers, the puny young man from Brooklyn who decides to accept an offer to become part of a top-secret military experiment and transforms into the muscular Captain America. I was truly impressed with the way they made Chris Evans look so skinny and small in the beginning of the movie and then later become so big and strong! I'm pretty sure all the ladies in the audience had to wipe off the drool from their mouths after seeing his amazing transformation! (I guess that includes me, ha ha ha!) The movie was so much fun to watch because there was a good mix of action, humor, romance, and villainy! After seeing this film, I've got to say that I'm really looking forward to seeing the upcoming Avengers movie, in which Captain America teams up with other superheroes such as the Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor! From what I've seen in the movie trailers, it is one that I will have to see on the big screen for sure!

I also made a collage of pictures from Red Riding Hood, which is a romantic thriller starring Amanda Seyfried as Red Riding Hood, Max Irons as her fiancé Henry, and Shiloh Fernandez as Peter, her lover and childhood friend. Although Valerie (Red Riding Hood) was not in love with Henry, I liked his character a lot. I felt bad for him when he realized that his fiancée was in love with someone else. I thought this movie was a very imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale and I loved it so much that I got me a copy of it on Blu-ray! And I'm so very glad I did because the Blu-ray set includes an Alternate Cut version (not seen in movie theaters) with extended scenes and a very different ending. Without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it yet, I will say that I liked the alternate cut a lot better than the original theatrical version. It just made a whole lot more sense to me, and the additional bloody scenes made it more authentic, too. Do remember that the movie is rated PG-13 and is really more a love story which just happens to be set in a village that is attacked by a werewolf, rather than an actual horror flick, so do not be expecting a whole lot of blood and violence or you will be very disappointed.

I guess that's enough rambling from me for now. I will try to write again soon and not let another two or three months go by without posting again, but who knows. I keep wanting to post about my French lessons and share my excitement about my upcoming trip to Paris, but I keep getting sidetracked. Let me know what you think about these collages, and feel free to share your thoughts on the movies I talked about as well. See you again soon!

Going to France!

2011-11-19T11:28:00.001-06:00

Awesome news, my friends! I'm going on a short, educational trip to Paris, France in March 2012! Yes! It is official! Back in September, I decided to apply for one of the upcoming study abroad trips that my school is sponsoring, and when I saw France as one of the destinations, you bet I got super-excited! I hurriedly put together my application packet, which included filling out an application form, sending in all my college and university transcripts, and paying the nonrefundable application fee. (Well, if you don't get selected to go on the trip, then you will get your application fee refunded. But if you do get picked as one of the participants, you can't get your money back if you later back out, so you better be sure you really want to go before applying--I was 100% certain that I wanted to go, so I did not have to think twice about it.) After sending in my application, I was on pins and needles waiting to hear from the study abroad committee. I kept worrying that I might not get chosen since I don't know much about France and have not yet taken any courses in the language, nor have I recently taken any courses related to the art, culture, or history of the country. So, when I received notification via e-mail last month that I was one of the lucky students selected to go on the trip, I just couldn't believe it! Even a whole month later, I am still pinching myself wondering if I'm still only dreaming. But, I am definitely not dreaming, and this trip is really going to happen. The trip, folks, will be for ten days during what would normally be our spring break.

In preparation for this trip, I decided to start getting more serious about my French language study. Although I've, of course, signed up for a Conversational French class for next semester, I cannot wait until January to begin a learning program. So I checked out Pimsleur's goFrench audio CD set from my local library, and over the past couple of weeks, I've been listening to the lessons in my car on my way to school and back home. The program consists of eight 30-minute lessons, and you are supposed to listen to one lesson per day. If you are a fast learner, you could get through the entire program in only eight days! (This is just very basic French, by the way. Don't expect to suddenly become fluent like a native speaker after only eight days!) I am a fast learner, so I got through the lessons fairly quickly. In the beginning, however, I listened to the first few lessons several times before moving on to the next set of lessons, just because I'm kind of a perfectionist, and I wanted to really master the vocabulary, phrases, and grammar covered before moving on. It was so much fun whenever I was able to respond correctly to the prompts and found myself answering questions I couldn't previously understand. What a rush, I tell you, when I finished the last CD the other day. I find myself hungering for more. I am definitely going to look for more learning materials at my library.

In addition to the goPimsleur program, I've been using the Mango Languages mobile application on my iPad, as well as on my laptop computer. I started out with Chapter 1 last week, then I finished Chapter 2 this week. I was able to fly through the lessons, actually, because most of it has been purely review for me, after all that I learned in the goFrench so far. They present the lessons differently, but one of the things I like about having something other than Pimsleur is being able to see the spelling of the words being spoken. Pimsleur's method of learning mainly through audio is excellent, but for me, it also helps to see the words. What would be even better, though, is a program which also incorporates video and graphics. I'm more of a visual learner, which is probably why I'm so fascinated with the use of multimedia in classrooms. In any case, I'm still thankful for having these two different approaches to learning the language for now, and I shall continue to look for more learning materials that suit my style as time goes on.

I will keep you all posted on my progress, and I will be sure to take a lot of pictures and videos while I am on my trip to share with you all. Until next time, my friends, au revoir! À bientôt!

Discovering the Internet (Book Review)

2011-10-11T10:42:00.000-05:00

Discovering the Internet: Complete Concepts and Techniques by Gary B. Shelly

Currently reading this book for a course in Introduction to the Web. It's not just some kind of simple manual on how to use the Internet; it's more of an overview of a number of Web-related information for someone who not only wants to learn how to use the Web safely either for personal or professional purposes but also wants to be more knowledgeable and skilled in the use of this ever-evolving technology.

Topics covered include the history of the Web, important Web terminology and acronyms, strategies for being an efficient user of the Web using Internet Explorer, e-commerce concepts, online communciations, and also a beginner's guide to creating one's own Web page. Seems to be a good starting point for someone truly interested in learning more about the Web, whether a newbie or not.

As the title suggests, it is for those who wish to "discover" the Web, so there are a lot of exploratory activities in each chapter and a lot of additional information and extended activities available on the book's Web site. This is a fun book, so far, and even though I've been using the Web since the early 1990s, I am learning a lot because so much keeps changing over the years, and I'm sure we can expect a lot more changes and improvements in years to come.

View all my reviews

With you in your dreams

2011-09-03T23:36:00.001-05:00

Dear friends,

I can only write a brief entry today, as I feel so weak and tired and desperately need to get some rest. I haven't slept well the past couple of nights. I haven't been able to eat nor drink as I should, but I have been forcing myself to do what I need to do each day when I get out of bed. Even getting out of bed has been extremely difficult lately. I've been crying my eyes out, uncontrollably, nearly non-stop for hours at a time. I never knew I could feel this helpless.

Over the past three days, my family and I have been in mourning. We are still trying to accept the reality of the untimely passing of the newest member of our family - my dear nephew, the firstborn son of my youngest sister. He came into this world three months prematurely on August 2nd, only to die in the hospital thirty days later. He was so frail from the start, being only one pound, seven ounces at birth and the size of a Barbie doll. Like most preemies, he was isolated immediately and was taken care of by the nurses and doctors in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital. I was in Virginia visiting my family when he was born, and I am so thankful that while I was there, I was able to spend even just a few precious moments with one of God's littlest angels, the only moments I will ever have with him, and I will cherish those memories forever.

A beautiful song called "With You in Your Dreams," written and sung by Hanson, the 90's teen pop/rock sensation comprised of three brothers from Oklahoma, comes to mind at this time, and I would like to share the music video here with you. This is a song which was inspired by their late grandmother, whose presence still lives on in their dreams and memories. A few lines from the song which echo in my head right now do help me feel somewhat better as I imagine the words coming from my nephew's tiny lips, if only he would have been able to speak:

"If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry.
And if I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye.
Don't look back at this time as a time of heartbreak or distress.
Remember me, remember me, 'cause I'll be with you in your dreams."

This part, especially, is a good reminder that in spite of all the pain that we feel after losing our loved one, we need to find a way to move on with our lives, and know that even though he is no longer with us in flesh, he is still with us in spirit and will continue to live on in our memories:

"I don't want you to cry and weep.
(Oh) I want you to go on living your life.
I'm not sleeping an endless sleep.
(Oh)'Cause in your heart, you have all of our good times.
(Oh) All of our good times."

From the bottom of my broken heart, I dedicate this song to my dear sister and brother-in-law. I pray for your gentle healing (and mine), and I fervently pray that we may all find peace in our hearts so that we may embrace the new day ahead of us, as each and every day we are given on this earth is truly a blessing from above.

With love,
Ophelia

Back to school!

2011-08-27T19:47:00.000-05:00

So I'm back to school full-time again this fall semester, and this time I'm taking seven classes! This has got to be the most number of courses I've taken in one session! But not to worry - I am looking forward to learning as much as I can and finding new and creative ways to use my newly gained skills and knowledge.

I'm presently enrolled in a two-year certificate program, specializing in medical transcription. But I've also been taking classes here and there in other curricular areas, such as computer software and web applications, and for fun, I enjoy taking continuing education courses in foreign languages. Eventually, I would love to become somewhat of an expert in a few of these interests of mine and hopefully someday be able to share my passion for these subjects with others in the classroom! All my life, I have always loved learning and teaching, and that is a part of me that will always remain unchanged.

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." That is a Chinese proverb that has always stuck with me since I first heard it so many years ago. That, to me, sums up very well why education is so important, and it's one of the reasons why I continue to want to learn and grow and share with others what I know, in whatever shape or form I possibly can.

I also am a strong supporter of public libraries and have been a regular library volunteer for the past couple of years. I used to work at least three days a week at one of my local libraries here in Kansas, but my class schedule is so full now that I'm only able to commit to one full day a week and occasional weekends. Although working as a volunteer may not have any financial benefits, the emotional rewards are so great that I cannot see giving it up!

By the way, if you are new here to my blog, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed so that you can keep up with my latest posts! Also, please share your comments - I would love to hear from you! If you have previously subscribed when my blog used to be called "Ophelia, Rose Blossom Queen," you may have to re-subscribe as the URL has changed (my apologies for any inconvenience). Please also feel free to follow me on Twitter! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you again soon!

I'm Back! (Yeah! Believe it or not!)

2011-08-21T09:17:00.000-05:00

Hi there! ¡Hola! Bonjour!

Gosh, I've been away from the blogging world for well over a year now (see "¡Me Voy!" (my last post in March 2010) - but after a much needed extended break, I'm now back, and I've made some radical changes here on my old blog. Oh, don't panic, change is good! If things were to always remain the same and we could always predict what was going to happen next, how boring life would be! Don't you agree?

For those of you who've been hoping that I would revive this blog and have been bugging me about how much you missed reading my random stories online from time to time, well, thanks to you, I've finally decided to start blogging again. Although there are only a handful of you who have been here from the start, I hope that in time I might gain some new blog buddies who share similar interests and would like to keep the conversations going! So, rejoice! And let's get this party started!

If you are new to my blog, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you, and please do come back again to visit soon! Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feeds (links on the upper right corner) so you don't miss my latest posts! :) Do feel free to check out some of my old posts (they go way back to 2006!), and don't hesitate to write a comment if you have something to add or share on the topic at hand. I welcome all perspectives, though please note that I do have comment moderation enabled in order to minimize spam or inappropriate comments.

I am glad you have come to visit today, and I look forward to chatting with you soon! ¡Hasta pronto! À bientôt!

¡Me voy! (Saying good-bye to this blog)

2010-03-06T23:43:00.007-06:00

¡Hola! ¿Qué pasa?

It has been about five months since I've last posted anything here! So I am thinking it is about time that I write one final entry, to let you all know - in case you haven't already guessed - that I have decided to close this blog. Yes, that means I will no longer be updating this blog, effective today.

Before I leave, however, I would like to thank all of you who have stopped by to visit my blog today, and very special thanks to those who have come by regularly in the past to check up on my latest updates, or those who have subscribed to my RSS feeds. I want you to know that I've always enjoyed the comments I've received and had a great time exchanging thoughts and ideas on a range of topics such as raising ducks, keeping a fruit orchard, cooking from scratch, reading books, visiting libraries, and learning Spanish! Oh, and don't forget about my obsessing over Jakob Dylan and Sean Pertwee! :) Unfortunately, as we all know, all good things must come to an end. And so, while I remain passionate about a lot of these things, I have decided that after nearly four years of writing here, this shall be the end of this blog.

At this time, I would like to leave you all with this beautiful music video for the song "Me Voy" (which in English means "I'm Leaving") by one of my favorite singers, Julieta Venegas. Her latest album, Otra Cosa, comes out on March 16, 2010. (I'm so looking forward to it!) This particular song, however, is not from that album. It is from her 2006 album, Limón y Sal, which I wrote about last year, and you might recall I also shared the music video back then for the title track.

Hope you enjoy this selection! Good-bye!

¡Adiós, mis amigos!

Booking Through Thursday: Weeding

2009-10-15T12:21:00.006-05:00

So Deb over at Booking Through Thursday is moving in a couple of weeks, which prompted her to ask the following set of questions about weeding one's collection of books:

Questions for 10/15/09:
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?

Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)

And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?

My Answer:
How timely to be asked this set of questions, as my family and I just moved recently ourselves, and of course - we moved boxes and boxes of books with us! As I mentioned in my last post a couple of months ago (so sorry for being MIA for so long!), my family was moving from Virginia (on the East Coast) all the way to Kansas (in the Midwest)! We took three days to do the long drive, from September 20-22, 2009. And now we are here! This is me in my personal library in our brand-new home here in Kansas. I will have to write another post later on to tell you more about the move! For now, let's talk about books!

Every time my family moves (we've moved, oh, about half a dozen times in the past couple of decades), we always have to sort through our books to figure out which ones to keep and which ones to either sell, donate, or give away. Before our most recent move, we donated over half a dozen boxes of books to a couple of libraries as well as a thrift shop.

When we are not moving, we do occasionally trade in books at a used book store or swap books with family and friends. I've also donated books to our church and local schools. I never throw away books, unless they are seriously damaged (like this one time when we had a leak in our ceiling and a few books got drenched from the heavy rains!). I cannot imagine how anyone can simply throw away a perfectly good book when there are many options for donating or selling. So I wonder, dear readers, what do you do?

Booking Through Thursday: Recent Best

2009-08-20T15:05:00.006-05:00

So I haven't been active in my blogging recently - and nobody seemed to miss me! (Sigh!) But that is not going to stop me from posting my response to today's Booking Through Thursday meme, as I just recently finished reading one of the best books I've had the pleasure of reading in a really long time, and I have to tell everyone about it! I read this book at the airport while waiting for my flight back home to Virginia, as well as on the plane, after having spent the past couple of weeks with my family in Kansas (where I will soon be moving, by the way - more news on that later!) Yes, this was a very good read, which is why I gave it five stars on my Goodreads (and it isn't often that I give out such a high rating!)

Question for 08/20/2009:
What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

My Answer:
The best book I've read recently is Bella at Midnight, a Cinderella-type love story for young adults, by Diane Stanley. I will admit that I picked up this book at the library, mainly because of the main character's name (Bella), and it so happens that her father is named Edward. (Any other Twilight fans out there?) Not the best reason for choosing this book, I know, but how fortuitous it turned out for me!

This book is told from multiple perspectives - each main character in the story shares his or her tale, in each his or her own words. In this moving love story, Bella is a girl who is actually a knight's daughter, but she was raised by peasants, not knowing of her true identity until she was a teenager, when her father (Edward) decides to take her back. While growing up, Bella becomes friends with and falls in love with a certain Prince Julian, who also falls in love with her, but dares not reveal his true feelings for a long time, perhaps because it simply was not appropriate for royalty to fall for a peasant. Of course, there's far more to the story than that, but that's the basic idea, and surely one will want to continue reading until they find out if these secret lovebirds finally end up together, and if so, how they make it happen. (Not as easy as you might think!)

Bella at Midnight is full of pleasant surprises, several twists and turns, unexpected betrayals, but also a good amount of faithfulness, and a touch of magic! I dare say I really loved this book to death and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a refreshing love story, one that you would want to read from start to finish, without putting the book down.

Booking Through Thursday: Recent Funny

2009-07-30T21:24:00.007-05:00

Question for 07/30/09:
What’s the funniest book you’ve read recently?

My Answer:
Oh yeah, yes, I've recently read quite a number of funny books (I mean, really, totally hilarious is more like it), and I am not sure which one I would say is "the funniest," though I have a few that might tie for that coveted spot! These are all juvenile books, by the way, because I happen to love reading children's/young adult books, even though I have been an adult now for many years. I do also enjoy reading books for adults, but not nearly as much!

So, anyway, here's a list of three of the funny books (not in any particular order) which I read not too long ago (and mentioned in previous blog posts too):

1) Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle (absurdly, ridiculously funny, like a Roald Dahl book)

2) A Fate Totally Worse than Death (a parody of young adult horror novels)

and 3) The Possibilities of Sainthood (a peak into the life of a teenage girl who dreams of becoming the first living saint, particularly the Patron Saint of the First Kiss)

How about you? Tell me about the funniest book(s) you've read lately!

Heavy User = Big $aver!

2009-07-15T15:24:00.003-05:00

Saw this poster on one of the bookshelves at the Grissom Branch Library in Newport News today. It shows you a side-by-side comparison of how much the average Newport News public library user spent from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 (a one-year period) by borrowing materials from the library versus how much a non-user of the library would have spent by purchasing and renting the same materials from a store. Check it out, the total cost for renting 5 DVDs and purchasing 4 adult books and 2 juvenile books is $95.50 (nearly $100) - wow! Whereas, it costs absolutely nothing to borrow the materials from the library! That means, the more you use your library, the more money you could save!

So guess what my personal advice for today is? Yup, start making good use of your public library, if you haven't been already! The libraries are there for you to use. Take advantage of what they have to offer, whether it is for self-improvement, entertainment, or to supplement your required materials for class (if you are in school). As the poster in the library says, "Improve your life, save money!" And I say, start doing it today!

Learn how to brachiate!

2009-07-08T10:32:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading a very funny and exciting book by David Elliott called Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle, a story about a young girl whose parents are mysteriously lost in the jungle, and how it is up to the girl to find them and bring them safely back home! I enjoyed it so much that when I was done with it, I had to go back to the library to go find its sequel, Evangeline Mudd and the Great Mink Escapade. (I finished reading that one last week.) The sequel is about how the girl teams up with an animal rights group to save minks from getting butchered in order to be turned into clothing for ridiculously rich people. These stories were simply fabulous! They reminded me of many of the silly stories by Roald Dahl, who is one of my favorite children's authors (in case you didn't know).

In these books, the main character is a girl named Evangeline Mudd. She is the daughter of primatologists, who happened to have studied the golden-haired apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle. Her parents felt that the apes were great role models and decided to raise their daughter the way a golden-haired ape would. So naturally, she learned how to brachiate (i.e., swing like an ape) from a very early age. You know, prior to reading the first book, I was unfamiliar with the word "brachiate," so hey, I was so glad to have learned something new! And I bet you can imagine how I was filled with even more excitement when I witnessed brachiation in full action - expertly performed by a siamang (a kind of gibbon) at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida, during my family's recent visit!

OK, let me end here with a short video from my new set on Flickr called Nature Videos, in which you can see the very ape I was just talking about!

Los arándanos (blueberries)

2009-07-07T15:44:00.004-05:00

First harvest of the season! These blueberries were picked from our very own blueberry bushes just today, July 7, 2009. There are plenty more to come! Just taking their time to ripen to perfection! :)

My Florida Vacation

2009-07-05T18:46:00.005-05:00

Cocoa Beach Public Library
Originally uploaded by Ophelia R Griffin

So it's been a couple of weeks since I've last posted here on my blog. So much has happened in just a short period of time! Funny how time flies when you are having fun, huh?

Yes, indeedy, I was enjoying some time off of the computer and spending more time outdoors. In the days following my last post, in which I shared the latest photos from our homestead, I did more work around the yard (and have lots more to do - it never ends, does it?), then I went on vacation for a week with my family. We were in Florida from Monday through Saturday. We had a wonderful time!

While in Florida, we visited some really neat places. One day, we went to a nature park called Jungle Adventures, where we got to experience a hands-on wildlife show, watched alligators being fed, went on a "jungle swamp cruise," and more! On another day, we took a stroll around the Brevard Zoo, where we witnessed (and I managed to capture on video) a siamang - a kind of gibbon - as it was showing off how to properly brachiate (swing like an ape)! Then, of course, we visited a couple of libraries (such as the one pictured here), and we ate at a couple of excellent restaurants, including one called Roberto's Little Havana, which serves authentic Cuban cuisine. My, the food there was super-yummy!

I will be uploading pictures (and videos!) on my Flickr soon, so you can also see some of the exciting things that I did while on my vacation. For now, I have a few pictures that I added to my Libraries collection, in a new set called Libraries in Florida. Feel free to check those out, and please don't go away, because there are going to be a ton of photos coming up real soon! I promise, you won't want to miss those!

Homestead Update!

2009-06-22T21:09:00.007-05:00

Today was a good day for doing some yard work, as it was sunny but not too hot, and just cloudy enough in the right areas to give me some shade. I spent over an hour today working in my backyard, mostly pulling weeds and that kind of unpleasant stuff. But, the good news is that while digging up those weeds, I found A LOT of earthworms in the garden beds! What a surprise! I've never seen so many of them in our beds before. This is really good news because earthworms can help make the soil better. And better soil means healthier plants!

I wasn't able to take any pictures today (I was too busy weeding), but I did take some pics yesterday, so here are a few to show you how things are looking around our homestead nowadays!

The blueberries are full of fruit again this year, and this time we expect to be able to harvest most of it (rather than most of it going to the birds like last year). Yup, we put up bird netting this time! It will be great to have fresh blueberries before too long!

Yippee! Look at our five-in-one apple tree! It is fruiting like crazy!! This is actually our only fruit tree that is doing well this year. The others are doing OK, but not as good as this one.

And here is one of the asian pears. I've not been a big fan of asian pears, but I enjoy them, especially when they are fresh from our very own asian pear tree! I prefer sweet cherries actually and am still planning to plant more cherry trees in the near future.

Which reminds me, in my Spanish class this morning (did I mention that I am in summer school?), we were discussing nature (la naturaleza) and ways to care for the environment (el medio ambiente). One of the questions we have to answer for homework is ¿Qué haces tú para proteger el medio ambiente? (What do you do to protect the environment?) My friends, wouldn't you agree that growing our own fruit trees, as well as doing organic gardening, are just a couple of ways in which we can help protect our environment? Every little thing we do to the earth affects our environment - whether it is the air we breathe, the water we drink, or the land we live on. Creo que es necesario (I believe it is necessary) that we all do our part in taking care of nature. The earth is precious, and it is all that we have.

The Haunted Mansion

2009-06-20T21:34:00.008-05:00

I spent the entire day last Saturday with my family and friends at the Kings Dominion amusement park in Richmond, VA. It was my first time there, and most likely not my last. I had so much fun! I felt like a kid again, enjoying the various rides and playing games, and also watching a 3-D movie! My son played one of the ball games and was a lucky winner! He brought home two Sonic the Hedgehog stuffed animals. Pretty cool, eh?

But what was super-cool to me and quite a thrill was going through the Scooby-Doo Haunted Mansion! See pics below.

This here is a view of the spooky building from the outside. I took this picture while I was standing in line, waiting for my turn to explore the ghost-filled structure. The wait wasn't too long. And even if it were, they had TV screens all over the place where you could watch episodes of Scooby-Doo, so you would not be bored.

Inside the mansion, there were many rooms. This was my favorite of them all. The library! Of course! And who wouldn't love being scared, I mean, greeted by this skeleton figure there? Besides, he had some yummy cookies there to share!

My second favorite room was the dining hall. This is where all the ghosts go to enjoy all those scrumptious meals that are prepared following the step-by-step recipes on my blog, such as my pronto pasta bake! Ha ha ha!

And finally, here is where all the poor souls are laid to rest, those who were too terrified by the shockingly disturbing sights in the mansion and simply could not make it through... May they all rest in peace...

By the way, while I was going through the Haunted Mansion, I got to thinking about how totally awesome it would be if a Goosebumps amusement park existed. One of my favorite books in the Goosebumps series is called One Day at Horrorland, and so I wondered if maybe such a park already is around and I just don't know? So I looked it up online, and I discovered that the company that brought us the Scooby-Doo Haunted Mansion (Sally Corporation) just signed a contract some time last year and now have exclusive rights to create dark amusement park rides based on the Goosebumps book series! It may not be a full theme park yet, but a ride or two sure is a step in the right direction! I am so happy to hear this! Hooray for Goosebumps!

Weekend in Washington, DC

2009-06-19T17:45:00.004-05:00

Washington, DC
Originally uploaded by Ophelia R Griffin

Boy, am I so far behind on my photo uploading these days! But, I am working on getting all caught up! As you can see, I finally got around to sorting through the rest of my photos taken during my family's Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, DC.

Last time, I shared with you the photos I took at Mount Vernon, home of our country's First President, George Washington. Those were taken on Saturday, May 23, 2009. We spent the entire afternoon at Mount Vernon, walking all around the estate, and enjoying the tour. I was impressed with how grand it was! One could spend an entire day there, and still not get enough of the incredible views and exhibits. I would love to go there again someday and see more of it!

The following day, Sunday, May 24, 2009, we walked all around the National Mall and visited the various Memorial Parks. Here is a pic I took of the statue of Abraham Lincoln. This is, of course, at the Lincoln Memorial. It was actually very hard trying to get this shot because the place was super-crowded, and there were always people posing in front of the statue. I had to find the perfect angle, and I think this turned out pretty good.

You can view more of favorite shots from that day in my National Mall and Memorial Parks set on Flickr.

At Mount Vernon

2009-06-10T16:42:00.006-05:00

At Mount Vernon
Originally uploaded by Ophelia R Griffin

Yehey! I finally got around to uploading on Flickr some of the pictures I took during my family's Memorial Day Weekend up in Washington, DC. Sorry it took me so long! I am still going to post another set later, with the pictures taken at the various national memorials, but for now, here is a set of photos taken at Mount Vernon, home of our nation's First President, George Washington!

This particular photo here is the Tomb, or George Washington's final resting place. He and his wife, Martha Washington, are both buried there. If you want to see the rest of the pics, please visit my Flickr and look for the Mount Vernon set within the Parks and Zoos collection.

What a trip back in time, huh? It was a wonderful and worthwhile field trip, and I hope you also get a chance to see this amazing national treasure someday, if you haven't already.

A fun meme about reading

2009-06-07T15:32:00.007-05:00

I found a fun meme about reading over at Regular Rumination, and I liked it so much that I decided to go ahead and answer some of the questions here on my own blog. There were a lot of questions, so I am going to select a few of them to answer now, and maybe I will save the rest to answer in another post. Here goes!

Which author do you own the most books by?
Hands down, the answer for this will have to be R. L. Stine. I have a collection right now of 55 of his Goosebumps and Fear Street novels (wanting to have a complete collection at some point!). You can see which ones I already own at my LibraryThing, where I try to keep track of my special book collections!

Which book do you own the most copies of?
I don't believe I own multiple copies of any book, but we do have several versions of the Holy Bible in our household.

Which book have you read more than any other?
Most probably Matilda, by Roald Dahl. I just love this story! You might remember that I picked Matilda as one of my favorite female lead characters in my Booking through Thursday blog post about heroines last year. Next to Matilda, I think I've read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the most times, and after that, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
I don't know if I would say I've read anything worth calling a "best" book of the year, but I did enjoy reading a lot of books and can mention a few that I thought were really good. One book in particular that comes to mind is Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys. This is a parody of children's classics, and it is especially hilarious if you've actually read the classics that she makes fun of! Another parody that I read recently is A Fate Totally Worse than Death, which is a satire of teenage horror novels. It was published in the mid-1990's, which was around the height of the popularity as well as my fascination with R. L. Stine's Fear Street books, so I see how he might have been poking fun at those novels. Very cleverly written and totally enjoyable. By the way, I've been trying to keep track of the good books I've been reading (since late last year) over at Goodreads (books in English) and Shelfari (books in Spanish), so if you want to see which books I've been reading and rating, feel free to visit!

What is your favorite play?
Absolutely love Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest! I read the book previously, then saw the movie, and finally watched it live at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News a few years back. The play was incredibly well acted by the students, and how I would love to go see another live performance of it again someday!

OK, folks, those are all the questions I am going to answer for now. Thanks for reading! I hope to hear some of your responses to these questions too! More later!

Speaking in Tongues

2009-05-31T12:05:00.005-05:00

Today in the Roman Catholic Church we celebrate the Pentecost. This is the feast in which we commemorate the Descent of the Holy Spirit among the Apostles. As I mentioned in my blog entry for Pentecost last year, that was an amazing time when everyone was able to hear and speak the word of God to one another in each his own native language. Being the lover of languages that I am, this is one of my favorite feasts of the liturgical calendar!

Last year at this time, I shared with you the words to our Lord's Prayer in two languages: Tagalog and Kapampangan, which are the two Filipino languages I learned how to speak while living as a child in the Philippines. I remember how I used to attend Holy Mass in those languages, as well as in English, when I was growing up there. There are times when I miss being able to sing the church hymns in the languages, which I can still hear and feel deep in my heart. These are lyrics that continue to guide me spiritually and, no matter what, will always be an important part of me.

Nowadays, as you know, I have been learning yet another language, Spanish, and every day I am getting closer and closer to my goal of becoming fluent in it. I am happy to say that I just finished a year of Beginning Spanish I and II (I took classes in the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters at a community college) and am presently enrolled in a summer course of Intermediate Spanish I. Assuming all goes well, I will be able to take Intermediate Spanish II this coming fall and you betcha, I am already so excited! I am totally looking forward to attending Mass in Spanish before too long! :)

I would like to leave you now with the words to the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer) in Spanish.

Padre Nuestro

Padre nuestro,
que estás en el cielo.
Santificado sea tu nombre.
Venga tu reino.
Hágase tu voluntad en la tierra como en el cielo.
Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Perdona nuestras ofensas,
como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden.
No nos dejes caer en tentación y líbranos del mal.
Amén.

(From Catholic Online)

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-27T10:06:00.004-05:00

Wow! Memorial Day Weekend has already come and gone! But what an amazing and memorable weekend it was for me! I was able to go to Washington, DC with my family to spend the long weekend there. We visited Mount Vernon on Saturday, the National Mall and Memorial Parks on Sunday, and then enjoyed some time with friends at their new home outside of DC on Monday. I took lots of pictures of the various sites (of course!), which I plan to upload to my Flickr soon. You know me, it takes me a little while to sort through the snapshots before I post them. So, for now, here are a few pics that I would like to share with you, and as soon as I get the rest of the photos up, I will let you know.

Welcome sign at Mount Vernon, estate of our country's First President
View of the Lincoln Memorial from afar
At the World War II Memorial

I also captured a short video of some ducks that were swimming in a pond at one of the parks, and I will try to post a clip of that too. So, more to come my friends! Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend celebrations! Till next time!

Children's Book Week

2009-05-17T07:58:00.004-05:00

Today is the last day of this year's Children's Book Week. I should have posted about this week-long celebration earlier - but, I didn't, so I apologize. But, hopefully, those of you with kids have been spending more time reading with them this week! And, of course, I hope you have been visiting your local public libraries and participating in the various special programs they offer (we sure have!), or at least picking up some new reading materials to celebrate this special week (I think I might have gone just a little bit overboard in my selecting items to check out again, oh well.)

Here is just one of the many books that I enjoyed reading out loud this past week, mostly to practice my Spanish, actually, but it turned out to be a really cute story that would be great to read over and over. The main character in this story happens to be super-forgetful, which provides a good reason for the repetition of certain events, and thus the clever repetition of phrases and sentences to get beginner readers actively engaged in the story.

Arroz con frijoles... y unos amables ratones, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Joe Cepeda. This is a Spanish translation of the children's picture book, Mice and Beans. In this story, Rosa María is preparing for her granddaughter's seventh birthday party. So she prepares a list of chores to do, food items to buy, and so on. Every night before going to bed, she sets the mouse trap, only to find that she must have forgotten to set it, so she goes ahead and finds another one, sets it, and then goes to bed. Every day while preparing various delicious foods, such as arroz con frijoles, she notices little things strangely disappearing, but she dismisses them, and makes do with what she has. On the day of the party, everyone is happy, and everything miraculously works out, including the piñata being filled with candies (although Rosa María doesn't recall having filled it). After all is said and done, she realizes that she must have had some help from some scurrying little friends, those tiny creatures she was trying to trap night after night. Do you want to know what she decides to do then? Well, read the book if you want to find out! Also, as a special bonus, you can find Rosa María's recipe for arroz con frijoles on the back cover! I think I might have to try that out some time soon! :)

Fresh strawberries

2009-05-16T17:55:00.003-05:00

Fresh strawberries
Originally uploaded by Ophelia R Griffin

My son and I went strawberry picking at the Lilley Farms U-Pick Strawberry Patch in Chesapeake a few days ago. We were able to harvest one bucket each, and in this picture here you can see the fresh strawberries from just one of the buckets! We have been enjoying eating the fruits over the past few days and are so very glad we went.

If you are in the area and would like to pick some strawberries for your family, it is not too late! Strawberry season around here is normally late April to early June, depending on the weather. You can visit the Western Branch Field located in Chesapeake, which is open every day but Monday or the Bennetts Creek Field located in Suffolk, which is open every day but Sunday. Check out the Lilley Farms website for more details.

I am hoping to go strawberry picking again, with my son and also my husband, before the season is over, so that we could have enough to make some strawberry jam! Yum-yum!

Booking Through Thursday: Gluttony

2009-05-14T18:19:00.006-05:00

Question for 05/14/09:
Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

My Answer:
I will have to say that my eyes are probably bigger than my book belly. But my bad habit (is it really such a bad habit?) is not so much buying up books faster than I can possibly get around to reading them, it's more of borrowing way too many books from my local libraries. Yes, plural, libraries. As you may know, I often visit several different libraries in my area, and I always find something to check out. It's a miracle I can keep up with my library due dates. (OK, so maybe I end up returning some items a little overdue from time to time, but for the most part, I am pretty good at staying on track.)

The picture I posted above was taken a couple of months ago. Those are all items I had checked out at one time from libraries in four different cities around me: Chesapeake, Newport News, Portsmouth, and Suffolk. That is pretty typical of how many items I have checked out on a regular basis. Most of the time, I am not actually able to finish everything before they are due - so I end up having to renew. And then once I've reached the renewal limit, I have to return them whether or not I am done. I usually get to finish at least half of what I check out, maybe more if I am lucky. If I don't get around to a particular book one time, I try to remember to check it out again some other time when it is available (if I am still interested).

As for buying books, I am generally a controlled buyer. I usually only buy books that I want to add to my special collections - such as my Nicholas Sparks collection (I am currently up to date on all of his books!), or my R. L. Stine collection (um, used to be a huge devourer of his Goosebumps and Fear Street novels back in the '90s). I also buy books that I really want to read but cannot find at the library (like when I decided to buy Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, because it was always checked out, and I didn't want to wait like 40 weeks if I put myself on the waiting list!). Or, if I borrow a book from the library and really, really liked it enough to want to keep a copy for myself (such as Cornelia Funke's Inkheart).

So, there you have it. It's true that I can get out of control when I'm borrowing books from the library, but I am generally in control when I choose to buy books for my collections. How about you?

The Possibilities of Sainthood

2009-05-12T14:00:00.008-05:00

As it is currently Get Caught Reading Month, I thought I ought to share with you all a book that I just finished reading last night. It is called The Possibilities of Sainthood, and it is the first young adult novel by Donna Freitas. First of all, I loved this book to death! It was so hilarious, perhaps a bit too ridiculous at times, but definitely a book that would make you smile and laugh throughout. The only possibly negative thing about it, I think, is that it was very predictable from the start. I knew, for example, that things were not going to happen the way the main character would have wanted, and I also knew who would end up being her first love - first real love, that is. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

The story is told from the point of view of Antonia Lucia Labella, a fifteen-year-old, Italian-American, Catholic schoolgirl who lives with her mother and grandmother above her family's grocery store (they sell the best homemade pasta ever!) in Rhode Island. Antonia has a secret wish to become the first living saint in all of Catholic history, so she petitions the Vatican on a monthly basis year after year to be considered for various possibilities of sainthood, such as being the Patron Saint of Figs (she even did her research to make sure there wasn't already one!), or maybe the Patron Saint of the First Kiss (Lord knows, she says, the world so desperately needs one - she knows firsthand how extremely difficult, if not impossible it is to get a first kiss in the first place!)

Interspersed throughout the chapters are excerpts from Antonia's secret Saint Diary, as well as copies of letters and emails that she sends to the Vatican. These are very important windows into her soul, which I think helps the reader understand the main character better. Having read her private thoughts and prayers, I feel as though I really know her!

If you are interested in a fun, quick read, you may want to try this book. Happy reading! And happy Get Caught Reading month as well! :)