We visited several National Parks and State Parks on our travels this summer. Along the way I worked on Junior Ranger packets and was awarded with some fun Ranger patches. I observed tons of beautiful scenery and wildlife throughout our road trip. Here are some photos of my favorite memories. Wizard island covered in haze at Crater Lake). I felt so insignificant compared to this tree (Redwoods). I thought these things went extinct millennia ago! I don’t want to know where its predator is… A beautiful sea arch. I'm in a Sea Lion's house, I'm lucky they are all out getting dinner. I wish my neighborhood could be painted like this. This is me doodling in early 1806. (Lewis & Clark National Park). The beautiful Ruby Beach on the Washington coast.
0 Comments
I’ve been back in school for two weeks so far, and it is really fun. Meeting friends that I haven’t seen for the entire summer was the best part of returning. My classes this semester include Humanities, Science, Math, Tech, Spanish, Drama and PE. All my teachers are really awesome, and they work hard to make sure that I have a fabulous year and that I learn a lot. This year my favorite classes are Humanities and Drama.
7th grade is different to 6th grade in several ways. We are expected to be responsible and make our own decisions, which is good because I get more choices and freedom. Unfortunately, with responsibility comes more homework. With homework comes late nights. With late nights comes exhaustion. With exhaustion comes a weekend lay-in. With a weekend lay-in comes refreshment. With refreshment comes a new week at school. With a new week of school comes more responsibility and more homework… The pattern seems to go on and on. I love making art out of clay, so I jumped at the opportunity to go to a summer pottery camp. Clay allows my creativity to run wild. Given a lump of bland, uninteresting clay, I can turn it into a dazzling serving plate, a favorite cup, a miniature pool scene complete with deck chairs and a cool shade-filled cave, or a useful rain gauge for my yard. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the name of this camp, “It’s a muddy world”. To be honest, it sounded a little gross to me at first. I was wondering if I’d get to make anything interesting at all. I needn’t have worried, because I ended up learning about the pottery of ancient cultures around the world, and creating works using ancient techniques, while adding my own personal flair he second country was Japan and I made a lantern. Our teacher had cut out four rectangles and a square out of a light grey clay. I cut designs into the rectangular pieces, with the needle tool. Real ancient Japanese lanterns had Kanji characters, but I just did a pattern of diamonds on two of the faces, and left the other two faces blank. Some kids did more elaborate designs, like bamboo or a panda. Using the square piece as a base, I scored and slipped the four rectangular design pieces around it, to make the lantern. Our final project was an Egyptian piece. We had the option to make either a scarab beetle or a candy dish. I chose to make a candy dish. We used a large square stamp with cutting edges to cut out a square from a 1/4” slab, and peeled off the edges. Then I chose patterned stamps, including a snowflake and one with stars and crescent moons, and pressed them around the edges of the square. The next part of the process was very interesting. I took a large sponge, put my flat plate on it, and got a large solid square stamp. I pushed this stamp gently in the middle of my flat plate, and then released it. The dish had formed, with a patterned rim. This candy dish is my favorite of the three projects. The last day of camp was spent painting my creations, and chatting to my new friends. I accidentally broke two of the rays on the edge of my sun mask, when I was preparing to paint it. I painted the broken pieces like the rest of the rays and was planning to glue them back on after the works were fired. However, when I went to pick up my finished projects, the broken pieces weren’t there. I really want to find an after-school pottery class that fits my schedule this coming school year, and I am willing to give up some other activities if needed. I’m so glad that school is over and I get to relax for the summer! The Seattle weather is finally starting to get less Seattle-ish, so I can spend more time playing outside without getting wet or cold. I like to have water-gun fights, go swimming, make music videos, hang out with my friends, jump on the trampoline, and do many other fun things. I am also doing several summer camps, including; pottery, drama, clay animation, and math, which I will talk about in more detail in my later posts. I have a lot of stuff to look forward to this summer! The last few weeks have been very busy for for me. In April, I attended a weekend Model UN conference with my after-school Model UN club, in Bellingham, WA. I represented Ireland in the Commission on the Status of Women. Hanging out with my friends was fun, and all the high school girls were super nice to us. The morning after the Model UN conference, I had to get up extra-early to go to my class Hallmark Trip. Our destination was NatureBridge, on the Olympic Peninsula, for the school week.The teachers thought we were learning the whole time, but really we were mostly having fun, and only a bit of it was learning. We all got to know each other better, and became closer friends. The sun has finally begun to shine in Seattle, and the days are longer. It is becoming way harder to spend time doing my homework, because I want to be outside with my friends. We play on my trampoline, chat, and eat popsicles. I can hardly wait for summer to come, when school is out. 🙂 I seriously can't believe that I had to have a re-take surgery last week. At my post-op appointment, my doctor said that my shunt was still moving after the first surgery, so I needed to go under again. I felt like I was being buried under a ton of rocks, and didn't know how I could deal with another almost 3 hour surgery. I got through it, because I knew it was the only option, and I just pretended that the previous day had never happened. It also helped that the anesthesia hadn't quite worn off from the day before, because it made me feel tired, and I was more willing to accept another surgery. I was very glad when the 2nd surgery was over. The tornado warning right after my surgery signified the end of my bad luck, so I got to relax in the recovery room a little while longer, before heading back to our hotel in the torrential rain. My parents wouldn't let me eat breakfast the next morning, just in case I needed yet another surgery 😉 . But thankfully the 2nd surgery worked. I would have been crazy mad if I had needed yet another surgery! I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity I got to attend the Blind Touch Backstage Tour at Cavalia recently, through the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. The performers who led the tour were super friendly and were willing to answer any questions I had. I loved meeting, feeding and grooming the horses. Tango was the horse who liked me the most, and we became good friends :D. I feel very privileged to have groomed him for as long as I wanted, which was a very long time. The management at Cavalia had a surprise for everyone who attended their special tour: four free tickets to watch the show. There was a photojournalist from our local TV station, Komo4 News, who took some video clips and interviewed me. The video he made is on the Komo News blog (opens in new window/tab): Komo4 News Vidoe of Cavalia Blind Touch Tour
What an amazing show! We had seats close to the stage where I could experience all the action. There was much dancing and prancing of horses, as the acrobats gracefully twirled, swung, and jumped. I witnessed amazing feats of skill, like performers with a foot on each of two horses, riding up and down the hills, or hanging upside down from the side of the horses as they galloped around in a circle. Colorful scenery constantly rolled by and costumes billowed behind the graceful riders. Enchanting live music and a singer with a beautiful voice made the show flow so smoothly. It was an awesome experience, and I would love to return. I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is I managed to skip the EUA this time, because my doctor got all the information she needed about my right eye at my appointment. If you are looking for only good news, do not read any further.
And now on to the bad news… I need to have another surgery. There is something called K.P. in my cornea, which my doctor told me are little spots, caused by white blood cells from inflammation in my eye. My glaucoma tube moves around every time I move my eye, causing the inflammation. I am sad that I need to have more surgery, and I am not sure when it will be. First, we are going to try to get rid of the K.P. with a steroid drop, and then we’ll schedule the surgery. Although I managed to avoid anesthesia this week, I didn’t really get away from it. It has just been postponed for a few weeks :-(. |
AuthorSarahRose The goal of my blog is to increase awareness of childhood glaucoma and other eye diseases, and to unite kids like me living with visual impairment.Archives
September 2020
|