Lovely Little Chicks

About a week ago, Mother and I went to the farm store to buy four black sex-links to add to our jolly bunch of chickens.  They're eleven-days-old already, and they have grown a good deal, but they are still so small and cute.  They live in my room where it's warm and there is Scarlet's light, and I have named all of them and can tell them apart without trouble now.  At first it was a bit difficult, but they each have markings by which I identify them.

This is what they looked like several days ago. 

The top left chick is Little Lady.  I named her that because she was the largest and the clumsiest.  She is the same size as the others and quite graceful now.

The chick below Lady is The Adventurer, because what is chick without a Rainbowlandian name?  Certainly not a Rainbowlandian chick!

The chick across from Lady is No Name.  She was the last to (not) be named, so I called her No Name and now that's her name.

The final chick, the one across from The Adventurer, is Vespera.  She is a very special chick: very special indeed.

A New Year

It's been over a month since I last blogged, but first there was Christmas, then I was sick for a week, then there was school, and now we have a car predicament and some leaks: and besides, it's a new year.

Every new year entails "New Year's Resolutions," or as I prefer to say, "the stuff I want to do this year."  Those things for me include sewing, blogging and becoming a dancer.  Of course there are more, but those three are the most important.  Let me tell you why:

Sewing

• There are plenty of wonderful doll clothes that are easy to make.
• Liberty Jane sells simple doll clothing for a ridiculous amount of money.
• I'm convinced I can sew anything this year.  Nothing is too hard for an Adventurer.

Blogging

• In 2012 I published 215 posts.  Last year, 2013, I managed to write 27.
• I feel guilty when I blog only once a month.
• I'm positive that with lots of Rainbowland stories and pictures of turtles, I can surpass my goal of 100 posts this year.

Becoming a Dancer

• American Girl's 2014 Girl of the Year is a ballerina.
• I can almost consider myself graceful. (Behind those long black skirts and flowing dresses is a pair of wide, sausage-toed feet.) 
• Rainbowland Dancing (the dance I made up for Rainbowland) is so pretty.

I must say, I do have many aspirations this year.  As for if I shall accomplish them, well, we shall just have to wait and see.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, and if not, this sweet little face will cheer you up!

Walter, my adorable nephew

The Tale of Rainbowland

Today I'm going to tell you a story, so make some tea, fetch your favorite blanket, and curl up in the coziest chair you can find.  Now, be prepared to be taken far away into the land of a young child and her father.

Once, years ago, an imaginative little girl and her daddy created a world.  In this world were vampires and dragons; Cloneys* and horses.  Together these great beasts and strong men kept the land in harmony and peace.  They encountered and conquered many villains and creatures, especially Cobrae**, while dealing with their own troubles in their own lives.

All this fancy was created in the bed of the daddy, turning it into a magic carpet-like object as it delivered the girl and daddy to their magnificent world.

As time wore on, the girl grew into an adolescent and their world turned into hers, and her world expanded into the outdoors.

You, my loyal readers, know this world as "Rainbowland."  Though "Rainbowland" is its original name, what is inside this world has changed entirely, making it an almost unrelated world, but still the product of my mind.

As I close my story, let me remind you: Rainbowland was created and played by a daughter and her father in a simple little bed.



*A "Cloney" is my version of a clone trooper.  I came up with them while watching Star Wars with my dear brother Patrick.  In the original Rainbowland, I was Pink Cloney, Daddy was Blue Cloney and my husband was Red Cloney.  There were many more, but I am certainly not going to list them all.  They're just humans in special suits, by the way.

**"Cobrae" are like cobras.  They were highly venomous and quite common in original Rainbowland.  The "Cobrae" is also my original idea, just like the Cloneys.

I'm Back!

The title says it all; I'm back!  Did you miss me?  My plan was to blog about going to American Girl Place Seattle and my birthday back in July, but obviously that never happened.  The rest of my summer was spent doing summery things and not blogging, which resulted in two months' worth of nothing on my poor little blog.

Anyway, during my absence, I decided to change the name of my blog.  "The Blog of J.M. Newhall" is boring and unoriginal, and I wrinkle my nose when I say it, thus I have given it a Rainbowland influence.  I hope you like it, because I shan't be changing it for a long time - I think.

To end this delightful little post, I shall make a commitment to blog on either Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, depending on how busy my days are.  And, just to let you know, "Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland" will be back within a few weeks.

Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland Part 3

I didn't realize how well-loved Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland was until I posted something different: the reaction was positive, but I believe my Rainbowland posts were missed.

Now, if you haven't read the other two parts, I highly recommend you do.  Part 1 is here and part 2 here.

A few minutes later she (Daisy) walked out of the bathroom and into Kyla and Edward’s room.

Kyla and Edward have their own house now.  I only had the Johnsons and Harps in the same house because in many of my unwritten stories it worked out to be more convenient.

“It’s 7:30!  How can it be late?”

In Rainbowland people usually awaken at 5:30 to 6:30.

“If they find out of my absence, I’m afraid I would be tortured to near death."

This is a Black Rider speaking, and they (the Master) would not torture a Black Rider.  The Master doesn't really care if his Black Riders leave.

“Come on, let me take you to Sever,” she (Daisy) said.  Sever was Kyla’s horse.

Sever is now Ian's horse.

Back at the hospital, Daisy was in room 27.

As far as my knowledge goes, there are no room numbers in Cedar Ridge.  I have no idea why, though.

She had a magazine in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

Coffee?  Rainbowlandians do not drink coffee; they drink tea.

Well, that's all I found in chapter 3.  Now if you'll excuse me, I am going off to play with dolls.

Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland Part 2

Here is the continued part of last week's post.  Read part 1 here.

“I’d rather die than surrender to you,” the Black Rider said.

A Black Rider wouldn't wait to say that.  He would kill anyone immediately.

Daisy and Kayla put on their shoes and lab coats and headed out the door of their house.  

They wear special Black Rider boots (as do all the other people at Cedar Ridge Hospital) and they don't wear lab coats.

Hannah Ronen was the hospital’s main cook.

Hannah was the hospital's sole cook until Lucy joined them.

Okay

A recurring word in my book, though Rainbowlandians would never use it.  I just wanted to point that out.

They hurried up to the field.

What field?  There's no actual "field."

Sarah was six, Michele was four and William was two.

Michele is now Kathleen and they're all a year older, but their age changed because I gave them real birthdays and they just celebrated them.

“You’re under arrest,” He said to him.

There is no arresting since I removed police from Rainbowland.

Well, I scoured chapter 2 of my book for changes and wrote them here, and now I'm ready for a cup of tea.  I hope you've enjoyed part 2 of Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland: I shall post the next part soon.

Old Rainbowland, New Rainbowland Part 1

Today I'm going to show you how very much Rainbowland has changed in a year.  I shall be using my old book as a reference, which I believe is stupid now.

Let's begin:

Daisy's reddish hair gleamed in the sunlight, making her even more beautiful.

I now call her hair "light auburn."

“Wait right here while I get my helmet.”

Helmet?  In Rainbowland?  Rainbowlandians don't wear helmets, especially when riding a horse.

His sire was a retired thoroughbred racehorse, and his dam was a nicely bred Egyptian Arabian.  He had a cherry bay coat with a flowing black mane and tail.

Black Flame is the special Rainbowland breed and his coat is black while his mane and tail are red.

“Whoa,” she said to the horse as they reached the hitching post. 

Hitching posts don't exist in Rainbowland.

 She opened the door to see Sergeant Stephen Pelowski and Lieutenant Oliver Wilson. 

Just recently I obliterated everything that was related to police.  Adventurers are the police instead.

In fact, he (Deuce) was quite harmful to the Black Riders.

There's no need to worry about harming the Black Riders.  No one minds if Deuce is harmful to them, which he isn't.

The three horses were tacked up, Daisy using a double seat saddle.

Rainbowlandians rarely use a saddle, and double seat saddles are non-existent.  The only tack they sometimes use is a bridle.

I think I've written enough about the differences in Rainbowland for now.  Keep in mind that the most significant change is their speech: they use grammar perfectly and say "'tis" and such all the time.

Summer is Almost Here

Yea*, summer is almost here.  No math (just math, not school) marks the beginning of summer, and math is nearly over, so summer is almost here!  These are my plans for the next few months:

• Build Rainbowland into an amazing Land and have plenty of fun
• Play with dolls and participate in Camp Doll Diaries
• Do everything with Rosey
• Sell eggs

My list is short, I know; however, working on Rainbowland and playing Camp Doll Diaries are both time-consuming (in a good way, of course) activities.

Among other things... the reason I wasn't blogging was because I didn't have enough exciting things to write about, and if I simply wrote a small post about what was going on in my life, I thought it would sound stupid.  I received quite a positive reaction when I blogged last time, though, so I thought perchance it would be perfectly fine.


*I think it's really funny and pleasant when people use "yea" in writing.  I always think: "You probably just wanted to shorten "yeah," you think that's how "yeah" is spelled, or you simply forgot the "h."  Nevertheless, I shall pronounce it the way "yea" is pronounced and just assume that you intentionally used the archaic "yea."

The Scoop on Rainbowland

What happened to Rainbowland?  The last time I mentioned it was February 27th!  Some very exciting things have happened since then.

Remember how dear Daisy's father, Toby's family and Seth's mother were all killed by a Black Rider?  They caught him during the battle last February/March.  His name is Xavier Earl Alexander and he's one of my best creations yet.  I still love Toby, of course!  Xavier is just new and exciting and a product of my prodigious mind.

To give you an idea of Xavier, I shall describe him.  He has neat dark brown hair and striking blue eyes; he's two inches shorter than Toby.  He was a Black Rider for fourteen years.  In case you're wondering, that's a very long time to be a Black Rider.  His birthday is June 30th; he's turning 33.

Other things have been happening in RL, too.  Daisy, Kyla, Toby and Xavier are preparing to enter The Horse Games this year, which begin July 1st and end July 3rd.  You may start signing up June 1st. The annual Cedar Ridge picnic is July 10th.  All the CR patients, staff and good LOA friends are to be there.

I also have an interesting "Rainbowland Shorthand Guide" for you:

BR - Black Rider
BRH - Black Rider Hunting
CR - Cedar Ridge
CRH - Cedar Ridge Hospital
LOA - Land of Adventure
RL - Rainbowland, Rainbowlandian
THG - The Horse Games (not The Hunger Games.  The Horse Games have nothing to do with The Hunger Games.)

A Few Abstract Thoughts

What if dogs didn't exist?  Where would we be without them?  Would we feel like a part of our lives was missing, even if we didn't know about dogs?  I can't remember what life outside was like before I got Rosey, though I fancy it was quite drab and lonely.  Of course, even back then I had Rainbowland, so it couldn't have been too drab and lonely.

Rainbowland!  The very mention of that word makes me excited to tell you all about what's happening there.  My mind has a vast as large as the Sahara Desert, metaphorically speaking, and I must use at least some of my memory and space up, thus I have Rainbbowland.  Oh, I was going to tell you all the exciting things happening there, wasn't I?  Very well.  There was a big battle with the foolish Americans, and obviously the Rainbowlandians won.  Americans aren't allowed to bring guns into Rainbowland.  You know, just because they're Americans doesn't mean they don't abide by the Rainbowlandian King's laws.  Now, if I speak any more of Rainbowland, I might have to change the title from "A Few Abstract Thoughts" to "Rainbowland and a Few Abstract Thoughts," so I think I should just quit thinking about Rainbowland and start thinking about other things (I don't know what yet).

Am I boring?  I hope not.  If my writing is ever boring, annoying or stupid, please tell me and I will try to make it better.  Don't worry about hurting my feelings; you won't.  I just want to make my blog a pleasurable thing to read.

A Little Medley

I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately, but as you know, four of my pets died recently.  Now, when I wake up in the morning, I check to see if Sara and Scarlet are alive and well.  Whenever I go to throw something in the garbage I expect to hear a piercing squeal.  At first I have to admit it was nice, but now I'm getting used to it.  Two or three days ago I thought I heard Bobby clawing at the window, and on Saturday Mother put his old bed in the laundry room for Raf.  It's much more lonely going down to feed the chickens without seeing a bald head and a chicken who doesn't squat for me to pick her up.  The wagon and crate and pole we used for games and training are being used for other things or are just lying around.  I only have to fill up the pet spray bottle about every other day, even when I spray Sara.  I never knew my life was so full of annoying animals until they went and died on me like that.  I never knew how important it was to tell a little black guinea pig to shut up and dump food in his bowl.  I never knew how important it was to tuck a cat in bed with a towel and sing the Winnie the Pooh theme song to him.  I never knew how important this was...Someday, when Henna is too old to perform, Hoppy will take the stage herself, but until then, the two will be working together... I never knew how important it was to stand by a dark cage and spray, spray, spray.  I especially miss my Bobby though.  He was a big part of my life.  Now, because of him, I can't listen to the Toad song "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted."  Don't worry, though.  I'll continue to get animals throughout my life, as long as it's possible.

Let's now move on to a lighter subject, shall we?  Rainbowland is a fairly light subject... usually.
I've added a new character, Rafael le Marre (from a book, though he's nothing like the man in the book), to my stories.  As you may have guessed, he's a Black Rider.  He has dark brown, slightly wavy hair, bright green eyes and is 6'4".  There is a slight pattern with the Black Rider Masters I've civilized. Benedict Jones, 27, caramel brown hair, soft green eyes, 6'2", Toby Williams, 27, black hair, black eyes, 6'6", and Rafael le Marre, 27 (almost 28), dark brown hair, bright green eyes, 6'4" are all 27, go from brown hair and green eyes to black hair and black eyes and then back to brown and green and their height increases and decreases by 2 inches.  Oh, and they each get injured twice.  Once to get them caught and the other to increase their friendship and trust with Daisy.  Mostly I do that to keep it simple and easy to remember.  Lately I've also brought out the soldiers a little more.  There's a wounded one in the hospital now, instead of Deuce being hurt, but Deuce still hasn't left the stories.  If you know Deuce well - meaning you've read most or all my Rainbowland posts - you might be wondering if that's good or not.  It is, because Deuce is quite a crucial part of the stories.
I must go now.  Writing about Rainbowland has made me want to play it.

Rainbowland Trivia

As I was sitting on the couch sipping tea and watching Raphael, I decided it was time for more Rainbowland.  I've changed quite a few things since my last post about it (not that I can remember when that was...), and I think you need some special details.  Let's start with the lands of Rainbowland.

Land of Adventure:  The largest land, also the capital.
Polaris:  LOA's friendly rival and the second biggest land.
Rose Hills:  A rather small land that many people retire to.
Kingsland:  The land the King and the wealthiest Rainbowlandians live in.

Next up:  The Cedar Ridge Hospital staff.

Seth: A doctor and the owner of the hospital.
Daisy:  A very eminent doctor.
Kyla:  A doctor.
Ian:  A doctor.
Edward:  A doctor and the unofficial horse vet.
Michaela:  A doctor who's trying for the "Outstanding Doctor" medal.
Cara:  A nurse who acts like a dolt, but is actually rather smart and competent.
Chrissa:  A shy, sweet nurse who closely resembles a deer in personality and build (except for big ears).
Becca: The lab nurse.
Hannah:  The very sweet cook.
Victor:  A very kind young guard.
Mary:  An old med school nurse friend of Daisy and Kyla's.
Charlotte:  A crippled former patient, now a counselor at the hospital.
Benedict:  A former Master, now a doctor.
Toby:  Also a former Master who now helps around the hospital quite a lot.

There are more, but I can't remember them right now.  For now let us just move on to the quick descriptions of the "Adventurers."  Let me point out, they're all 27 years old, just to make them go together well.  If they weren't, my Rainbowland would be in ruins (don't even bother wondering why).

Daisy:  An amazingly beautiful 5'7" 27-year-old with light auburn hair, ruby colored lips, hazel eyes and rosy cheeks.
Toby:  An attractive 6'6" 27-year-old with black hair, perfect features and black eyes.
Kyla:  A beautiful 5'5" 27-year-old with blond hair, a perfect face for her features and blue eyes.

Now I must take the compost out, for my tea is gone, it's getting late and this post is nice and long.  Make sure you peruse this because I'm working on a quiz that will feature some of this and I hope to get it done over the weekend.

Rainbowland

As you all know, there are Black Riders in Rainbowland, especially in the LOA woods.  For some reason I like Black Riders.  They're not good, they're not friendly, I just like them.  Of course, if every Black Rider is tall and handsome, that's a good reason.  Well, you have to expect that from someone my age.  And besides, Benedict's not handsome, just mildly good-looking.  All right, handsome.  But that's not the point.  I was talking about Black Riders.  Not that I ever stopped... anyway, Black Riders are good to play with, meddle with, all sorts of fun things.  My goodness, I sound a bit cruel.  The truth is, I'm very cruel.  I make my characters suffer.  Deuce is also a lot of fun to play with.  Fortunately, I've formed his character quite well.  He likes to go "Black Rider Hunting," which means I get to bring in a Black Rider, which means stupid Deuce usually ends up harming both of them.  Life is good.
As a little bonus, I'm throwing in my three most recent Photo Booth photos.

I'm not really picking my nose.  Also, that shiny stuff on my
chin is saliva.  It certainly does add to the photo, doesn't it?

The three writing faces of Janet:  Archaic, humorous, eccentric.

Just more Pop Art fun.