At the Zoo!

A nice day at the zoo is great - and we went to no other than Phoenix Park. It was fabulous! There were awesome animals there. We saw awesome tigers, cool seals, shy snow leopards, puppy-like grey wolves, a flamboyance of flamingos, gorgeous red pandas and many other animals besides. It was a fabulous day to spend with my mum, granny and best friend, Maeve. To get to the zoo, we went by tour bus - we wanted to show my Granny the city, and take a trip to Phoenix Park. Luckily it didn't rain (like today) and it was quite warm, so we really enjoyed the day out.
We also got ice-cream there and it was lovely (all of my scoops had some variations of chocolate and since Maeve doesn't like chocolate ice-cream, we were opposites.) I got mint chocolate, triple chocolate, and vanilla chocolate cookie ice-cream. Total choc-a-holic.
All in all, it was a great day out and what made it all the more sweeter was the fact that we had a sleepover straight after! Maeve and I had a fabulous time, laughing, writing stories and watching TV and doing other hilarious stuff. I took a few photos at the zoo too, and my mum took some photos of us on the tour bus, our hair flying out behind us because it was going so fast!
We were at the back of the bus too, so the people behind us would just be able to see some random hair from the second floor of the open-top bus. Ah, crazy times! :)

Lions

Aaaannd...we're back.

Great. It's lashing rain outside again, and it hasn't even been too long! I think Ireland is a magnet for bad weather, because rain storms come far too suddenly. I mean, really, it was a normal, cloudy day and then - yay. Rain.
Don't we feel loved?

Bull's Eye (2)

Archery was on on Saturday again, and this time it was getting harder.
We were shooting at 18 metres, I think we were using recurve bows. It's fun, firing arrows (not when you miss completely and hit the wall though...I've never done that, and hope not to. That would be awkward.)
Did you know that I'm officially known as "Goldfish" in that club? This is because I have the memory of a goldfish. Around three seconds.
I mean, it's sore when you hit your arm with the bowstring - repeatedly! They wrote down steps for me to do while shooting, and I left the sheet at home.
It seems as though I have improved though, and got four custards (we named the colours on the board after food - I don't think any of us had lunch) from 18 metres.
I think I will show you the one in the actuall centre - the ten - and the dodgy arrow.
It was actually me that (sort of) broke that arrow. I'm not fully sure what happened, all I know is that the arrow somehow snapped back at me when I was firing it - I was not hurt, don't worry! - and then something went awry. It's a worldwide mystery, what happened that day, but I managed to get a ten with that arrow anyway.
At 18 metres. I'm proud!
(The first picture is the first centre hit, the second is the freaky arrow, the third is the distance.) :)
See you all next time,
Elvish Kitty.

Logical Thinking Fails

Sometimes, life brings you strange things. Or shows them to you instead...
Architecture can be really weird, or just plainly illogical. How can you possibly put a bench five metres away from the table and not notice? I don't think it was really supposed to be so inconvenient. Or else someone was having a really good laugh. At their expense.

Celebrating Your Birth

Well, it's coming up to my birthday soon and I'm really excited! This year I'm having a party in Xtreme Adventure Centre and I invited 5 people from my (former) class. I'm only quite sad about the fact that one of my best friends is going on holidays. Ok, scratch that. She's already there!
There are going to be so many different and amazing things there that we are going to do; even the forty-minute-long drive there is very well worth it!
Archery, aerial trekking, climbing, abseiling, zip lining and the giant swing - there's a lot to do, and it will last about four hours. We need to bring a lot of water for that!
And you know...this means I will do archery all weekends. Both Saturday and Sunday. Which also means I am going to very tired but very happy at the end of the day!
How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you have any special family traditions to make the coming of a person into this world? I also like the Chinese zodiac signs. They are all animals, and - as you may have noticed - I love nature. I know half of my posts are about nature walks, but all the flora and fauna is all around you, so why ever not?
Another thing I found interesting is that I am born in the year of the dragon. Dragon. Smaug, anybody?

Natural Paparazzi

I told you already that I really enjoy walks in the park - now I will tell you again! This time, my family and I went to Tymon Park for the evening. It was still sunny and bright outside, summer's work, so we wandered around there for an hour or so.
Just when we stepped in, there was a rabbit but none of us saw it until it ran back into the undergrowth. I tried to take a picture, but why do rabbits have to be so fast?! All I got was a photo of the burrow...
I saw some more rabbits when we were passing through a field. I got really close and even filmed a video, but obviously nature doesn't like paparazzi. The rabbits were right beside a giant bush, and that with the sun on the other side equals lots of shadows.
Isn't it typical that the rabbits have to be dark too? Looking back on it, I see how ironic everything really is, but that didn't stop me from loving my walk!
On our return journey, we introduced ourselves to a family of resident swans in the lake. The dad came right out of the water and doubtless tried to shake our hands - mine in particular, for unknown reasons - on numerous occasions, but he didn't quite reach. I have no idea why I feel so relieved!
Did you know that they must have liked the look of me so much that even the small cygnet hissed me a hello?

Another Little Blog

Hello again everyone! I am back!
I just wanted to say, I created a blog with my friend Maeve Kelehan. It's called Amazing Animals, and, you guessed it, it's about animals!
We are just going to write about animals and stuff. You know, all different types of unusual and amazing animals that we come across. Also, we are going to have Pages of Honour for two of our favourite animals, a sloth for Maeve and I chose armadillos. Just because they are so cute when they are little baby armadillos!
Anyway....we are just going to be blogging every day, taking turns. Maeve one day, I'm the next. By far, we just have my introduction up.
So if you want to check out our blog, here is the link:
unusual-amazing-animals.blogspot.com
Enjoy the show then, and don't throw the popcorn at the monkeys!

Remedy Kitties

Feeling sick is not one of my favourite pastimes.
Not at all!
Sometimes it also helps having five cats that have amazing supercat healing powers. Echo, the eldest female cat and sister of Rambo, the naughty chocolatey orange cat, is one of my most favourite purr machines. Not that I have favourites of course... No way. (Oh no, now they could find out I said that and purr me to death in the middle of the night....) 
Anyway, I find it strange but really cool that they can purr for only a moment on your lap, but you start feeling better almost immediately. It's a wonderful gift.
Here's Echo on my lap!

 

Woah, I just came back and I see a blank page where this post was, and my cat (Kisik, or Lurkeeo) lying (seemingly) innocently beside my laptop. I, of course, wail in despair until I realise that it is actually about 453 spaces in the document...I didn't count, these are approximate figures. Hah.

 Well, I just want to update about my cats, because some of them are currently intent on destroying my mum's expensive camera (Yes, I am talking to you, Kisik!)

 Also, I might sound crazy, referring to my cats as if they can understand me, but you never know. Maybe they secretly plan on taking over my house and occupying all of the computers and sofas so they could read my posts - oh, I think I'm really gone cuckoo now. Never mind. My five cats are the remedy...if they aren't the cause!

Graduation Celebration!

Hello hello, dear readers!
Now, yesterday was a happy day, sad day, exciting day, whatever you want to call graduation day. I finally graduated from Primary School and looking forward to next year, starting secondary school. Oh, I know it's going to be great, but I'm also slightly nervous, meeting new people, new subjects, e.t.c...
I'm going to be studying French, Art and Business Studies, not including the other main subjects such as English, Maths and Science.
Anyway, back to the graduation...
We were all arranged on the stage in a specific order, smallest with their feet sitting down on the stage, with their legs hanging off at the edge, and tallest standing up at the back. The middle row

The First Taste of Summer

Ahh, summer has come at last!
Took it long enough too, it's nearly the end of June. How do you judge when summer starts for you? I know when the strawberries in my back garden ripen fully, and are at their most delicious taste!
Today, my mum and I went to pick some of the ripe ones in our garden, and they were absolutely huge! We picked only five, and ate two (three for my lunch in school tomorrow!). Altogether they weighed 133 grams, and the first one, the biggest and most perfect one was 41 grams alone! It was about half the size of my hand.
Here are some pictures of the giant berry garden we have. These are only the strawberries, but we have tayberries, raspberries, yellow raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, wild strawberries, blackberries and more that I can't name from the top of my head. We also have peaches, plums, pears, apples, crab apples, some nuts, and oak tree and lots of roses. Lots and lots or roses. You have to wade through a pool of sweet smelling roses to get to the other side.
And they have thorns!
Anyway, back to the point, I think we will have a truly plentiful harvest this year, as we have more than twenty strawberries per plant, and we have about 4 plants. They are also ginormous! Here are some pictures!

Bull's Eye

Hello again everybody!
Remember way back to the very first post "The Start of the Beginning: About Me" ?
Remember I told you that I would be starting archery somewhere in mid-June? Now look at the calendar. Yesterday was my second week at archery, and I forgot to post. Last week too.
Archery goes on for two hours, half four until half six. It's absolutely awesome and great fun!
Anyway, we were practising firing at a small target from a distance. I got it on my second arrow, and I was really proud of myself! Yay! Oh, and my teachers told me some stories like when they shoot at keyrings and polo mints from 90 metres (or something like that...)! Also, they told me that if someone slices an arrow with another arrow, the leader/head person owes them a drink. But it doesn't really work out in your favour, because an arrow cost more than €4, usually around €30 or something. So that's actually 26 euros down the drain.
I probably won't do so anyway, so I'm quite safe for now! Moving on, there's a picture too, of the little circle I fired at. Just so you know that I actually did it, because I couldn't believe it myself!

Elaborate Hairstyles!

One thing I love doing is making up my own hairstyles. It's so much fun when the person who wants you to do their hair wants you to do "something long and complicated, so it will take lots of time."
And I love that!!!
This hairstyle took just under a half an hour, and it looks very good. I have a video tutorial, but it is not up yet. It will be up under the page "Hairstyles", you can check it out when I put it up. If the video stops acting so strangely...
P. S. Thanks to "hair girl" (you know who you are, don't deny it!) for being very patient while I was doing this. You don't know how much I appreciate it.

Lord of the Nails

Hello everyone, and as you can see I am back! With another post! (Insert applause here.)
A few days ago, my mum and I went to the pharmacy and we "discovered" a lovely shade of green nail polish there, and also a gold stripe nail polish (the polish with the long and thin brush).
And since, naturally, I am over-obsessed with The Lord of the Rings, I decided to create another look for my nails.
I'm all about arts & crafts, and this could be a bit strange, bit I hope you like them!
LotR stands for Lord of the Rings, and the thumbs are Legolas-based clothing items with gold buckles and gold trimming. Like the other letters.

I used a green Essence nail polish and L.A Colours Art Deco gold stripe nail polish.

Magical Music

A small room with nothing more than a piano is often a good room. For many reasons.
One of them, my personal favourite is that you can relax and be yourself, express your feelings through your music. This is something me and piano teacher usually start off with, creating random music.
Oh, that's another fabulous reason: having a super-cool music teacher. Petra, my teacher, is so nice and is a brilliant piano player and singer. She has absolutely perfect tones and notes, and has helped me to improve greatly with both singing and playing the piano. My mum is thinking of buying a full size piano for me for my birthday, and I'm really excited!!!
Anyway, on a more practical note, Petra's classes are always great fun, and I took some photos of her at the piano. I also had a video, but Petra asked to not put it up, as the sound didn't go through very well from my phone... :(

Double the Gold

There is always something quite special about seeing a rainbow, for me.
I think I read somewhere that from an airplane, a rainbow looks like one giant circle of colour. Is this true? I'm pretty sure it is, if I think about it, but I have my doubts.
The (very) popular legend of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, is known to nearly everybody. And what happens when you have two at the same time? I think you get double the gold!
Looks like you've just hit the jackpot!

Little Rays of Sunshine and Splashes of Paint

Hello everyone, it's Elvish Kitty again!
Wow, this might seem a bit paradoxic, but today was the warmest day ever. I mean, Ireland and lots of sunshine? Seems unreal!
I spent the whole day outside, working on a painting I will give to my teacher at the end of the school year - which is only about three weeks away. From there, I will be on to Secondary School and then (hopefully) college. I'm feeling a bit sad not to think that I will leave all my old friends behind, because only one other person is going to the same school as I am.
It's a little bit funny, actually.
The picture I mentioned earlier is painted with Acrylic paint, one of my most favourite mediums for art. The first is probably oil pastels or charcoal. Or all three!
Here is the photo from Google Images that I am painting: (that's how I choose what to paint - I Google it.)

Butterfly!

That's about all I have to say, apart from 'See you soon!' :)

How to Sound Like Your Favourite Artists

Everyone loves a great laugh. Especially me. So that's why I'm showing you this video!
Some (maybe most) of you have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't, I felt a great urging need to share this with you.
So bombs away!

 

Did you watch this? Did you? I hope you did, because if you skipped, you missed out on a lot!
See y'all!

Walking With Nature

Taking an evening stroll through a park with your family means great fun, fresh air and many, many pictures of flowers. And occasionally, you get a lovely sight of a family of swans or ducks, or whatever other animals live in the pond nearby. Even picturesque scenery is a wonderful opportunity to get your phone camera skills up to scratch! And what do you do when you have too many of those photos? Well, I post them on my blog. Here are some of many, many of the aforementioned photographs I took in Bushy Park yesterday!
(Oh, yes, I forgot to mention something strange just happened and here it is. This is supposed to have been published on Wednesday - it was - and I decided to update something, and now, it's published today, before the other posts, which is strange! That's all I really have to say.)

Photos From Bushy Park

Most of the good pictures from Bushy Park, in relevance to my post 'Walking With Nature' will be found on this page. Enjoy the nature!

Random River

Random River 2

Knotty Trees

My Friend's Blog

Hello everyone who is reading this!
My friend has a really good blog, and I love reading it and it's altogether really interesting. Although she has deleted most of her blog entries - for whatever reason -  she is slowly starting to put them back on and they are really good, I think. Her website is called thesims42013.blogspot.ie. It's very interesting, and very cool! Check it out!