Book Recommendation!

A Murder Is Announced- by Agatha Christie
From agathachristie.com: 

‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm.’ So appears the invitation in the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette. How exciting! The villagers expect a game. A crowd gathers. The murderer is chosen. The victim falls. Then the lights go out...

It’s suddenly no longer a game when a body is discovered. How could this happen? Where did the game go wrong? Fortunately Miss Marple is on hand – the greatest player of them all!

Okay, I don't LOVE the Miss Marple books.
I don't know why. It's not like I have a thing against her WHILE I'm reading, but I just like the IDEA of Hercule Poirot better. Though, 4:50 from Paddington is a great read...

This book changes matters for me, though. The structure of the mystery is very similar to my favorite Christie book, And Then There Were None. (Also published as Ten Little Indians.)

Perhaps it is this reason why I like this book. Sudden turns and unexplainable circumstances.... hey, I even gasped a few times. Multiple murders... It all is very intriguing.

Though the multiple characters and crossing stories make it a little confusing at first, once you get well into the book, it is hard to put down.

If you enjoy Agatha Christie's books, and like the idea of a gripping mystery, try reading A Murder Is Announced. I'd recommend it to any mystery fan.

Rating: 9.5/10

Tent Fun!

We had a really fun time last night!
The meteor shower was two days ago but we forgot, so we decided we'd just watch what was left of it.
SOO....
We set up a cute little pink tent on the deck,
got 4 sleeping bags,
4 blankets,
3 thermarests,
two foam pads,
two pillows,
two books,
one dog...
aaaaand VOILA! the perfect night!

We had a lot of fun with pictures and shadows and things. PLUS we both are reading wonderful Agatha Christie mysteries!! I'll make a book recommendation post later....

Hannah actually saw a shooting star, though! I didn't... we sort of fell asleep, forgetting about stargazing. 

Deer

Dog

Baby and Parent..... I love this shot. :)

YODA

Well, I WAS fake sleeping.... but raney looks pretty cute.

Hannah's book cover for "Mystery on the Blue Train"

I'm close to finished now!!! Probably my favorite one so far... after And Then There Were None. Although I DO like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

The night sky....

silly pictures= me eating Hannah's head.

Our living quarters.

-hANDs

Camano Island!

On Thursday after Driver's Ed, Papa, Celeste, Sarah, and I went to Camano Island! We like their campsites... we went there on the first day of summer last year. :)
Some photos to capture the moments....

Settin' up camp

The water was pretty cold, but Raney liked it. :)

This was a really cool plant!

Good times.... :)

my hot cocoa... and Papa's legs.

We brought Nilla Wafers for s'mores... So good! :D

Celeste makes Jiffy Pop.. sorry this vid is so long. :\

Anyway, the trip was really fun! The tent was a bit interesting... we brought air mattresses, and two were queens and one was a twin, so Celeste, Sarah and I slept in two sleeping bags zipped together on the queen and our dad was on the twin. It was a little tight, but it all worked out. :) The meals were yummy! Probably the most fun one was pancakes! Those were good. :)

When we came home, we had a drive with an instructor, and so we went to that! We worked on Parallel Parking and backing around a corner and then we did some driving around some streets. It went well... Sar had some trouble backing around a corner, but it all worked out!

We went to the Library before that and I got two books: an Agatha Christie mystery and then one from Alexander McCall Smith, who wrote a series we liked: The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. (This was a different book though... The Sunday Philosopher's Club.)

Have a great day!

-hANDs

Happy Day!

:) Hi!
Yesterday we went shopping at Old Navy to find some cute clothes for school.

Mine! We got a cute purple tank top to go under it.

Hannah's new top. And she'll put her hand like that in her pocket when she wears it, too. ;)

 

 

My new sweaterish thing. I like this neck.

Hannah's sweater. She got a yellow camisole to put under it. :)

 

My sweater. Hannah said it reminded her of Hermione so I got it. Actually this color grey looks good on us, too. And I got a grey "perfect tank" as they call them, to go under  it.

EEE!! And Hannah's scarf!!!!!! It's really cute. It goes so well with her yellow sweater and hey! mine too! And also her blue shirt.

And now we're off to go camping at Camano Island! We'll get back on Saturday.

-hANDs

Happy Tired Sleepy

What a awesome day!
It wasn't NEARLY as hot as it was yesterday, which was nice. This morning, it was a little grey even. (It sure got warmer, though!)

Sarah and I worked on writing our Salt essay. Summer homework. :P We had to read a 450-ish paged book and then write a journal with important quotes from it and then now we are working on an essay. I've finished my intro paragraph and now I'm 2/3rds done with my first body paragraph.

Unfortunately, so true.

Later this afternoon, we went to our piano teacher's house and said goodbye to her and gave her a gift, since we aren't taking lessons anymore. Eight years of piano! We'll still keep playing though. We are, however, giving Celeste lessons! She already knows some but we'll teach her some theory and make sure she gets little star stickers every time she practices. ;) Hee hee.

At 5:30, we went to Sehome and ran hills. It was actually a little harder than a week before. But we did lifting afterwords, and that was easier than last week. :) Yay! The ab workout, in particular, was easier than last week.

When we came home, we were driving on Lakeway back home and I picked up a little bubble container that we keep in the car. We were at a stop light next to another car, and I was blowing, and once they saw the bubbles, they were smiling and nodding their heads at us. :) And then as we drove past, a pedestrian looked and saw I was the bubble-blower and smiled. :) I love making people happy! And bubbles are great for that, because who in the world can't smile at bubbles?

 So, I'm tired, but happy, and a little sleepy. Kind of a good combo, if you ask me. :)
Mama made some cobbler, and it is YUMMY! Raspberries and peaches and blueberries and vanilla ice cream on the side! So good!

So long!
-hANDs

Sierra! & a trip to the Lake.

Our good friend Sierra, who moved to Texas last year, came back in town today! There was a surprise birthday party organized at Lake Whatcom at the Sudden Valley Marina. She was stuck in traffic while we waited for her, for about an hour. We played Ninja and 10 Fingers, which is a game where you say all the things you haven't done. If you've done it, then you loose a finger, and you try to get others out and be the last one with fingers.

When she was coming, we hid behind a shrubby area and then ran out and hugged her. There were like, 8 other girls there. Once she came and we ate our burgers, we got our bathing suits on and played in the water! We found a nice sandy part away from the rocks and hidden sort of from the other area. There was a drop off too, so the sand near there was really sink-y and anyone who got caught in there sort of screamed, and everyone knew why. :)

We tried playing Marco Polo, but Sierra was cheating and opened her eyes. When she yelled Marco, she was really close to Hannah, and Hannah whipped her head around and Sierra looked up and her nose hit Hannah's forehead! Sierra got a bloody nose! It wasn't too bad, but she said it hurt and both she and Hannah got headaches. :|

After swimming we got out and opened her presents/mostly cards. And then we ate some really good carrot cake!

It was so fun to see Sierra today! She's a good friend and very sweet.
Plus, she likes Gone with the Wind, too!

-hANDs

Gyoza lunch time!

I made Sarah and Celeste some yummy gyoza for lunch today! I made it in the microwave instead of on the stove and it was pretty good!

Yesterday we went to Sehome and went on a run and then lifted weights.... oh, and also, yesterday morning we were going to have a drive with an instructor, but they, for some reason, didn't have it on their schedule! :P But we scheduled another one and it's on a Saturday afternoon.

Well, it's not quite as sunny as I wanted it to be today, but it's not raining yet!
Have a happy day!




PS-- Post #100!!