Characters in Costume Challenge, March Edition: Reveal

Today is the deadline for the March Characters in Costume Challenge issued by Gillian Adams on her blog (http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/). I drew an accessory for Vix, one of the main characters in my previous story, Daysong.

Please excuse the bad photo quality - I didn't know where to find a scanner.
This is a small wooden canister on a string. It contains a piece of vellum (calf's hide), on which are written several lines of script (yes, the page I drew is blank. I haven't formulated the alphabet yet.). Vix found it on a junk heap near a mansion. She really, really wants to know what it says, but she can't read this inscription. It's actually a section of the Verses, Alt-Valor's version of the Bible. It is really quite small, about three inches long. She keeps it on the string around her neck, because she never knows when someone might help her decipher the mysterious letters that have taken such a hold on her life.

News

I have some exciting news! Actually, more than some.

First off, we got Adobe Premiere Pro - for $20. Okay, $20 a month, but still. Using it is soo much fun.

Second, I found some epic music. Jonathan Maiocco, college age, has simply blown our socks off with his music. My favorites are The Wild Hills of Erin, Ever After, 100 Cupboards, and At Least You Know Who Your Are (find them here: http://jonathanmaiocco.com/fr_home.cfm).

Third, I obtained a wonderful new book: John J. Horn's Brothers At Arms. I will be posting a review on my other blog, here, as soon as I can.

More news later! I have to bake a cake.

~Maria

Hope

Hope

The silver fire within our breasts

Possessed by all whom grace have kept

Kindled first beyond our gaze

Of mortal eyes, on which a haze

Has been since Adam's fall

Hope

Placed within our hearts

For help traversing the lonely dark

Formed by the Maker in shining lands

Crafted by his powerful hands

To place within creation

Hope

Powerful though it may be

Falters when the Maker leaves

Or is forsaken by shifting man

For lies of power and riches grand

Snares of enemy cruel

Hope

Then like a lantern begins to wane

Discarded for the dangerous game

Of destiny held in mortal's will

Apart from God they slowly fail

And sink into oblivion

Hope

Yet can enter the heart of man

If he before flees the demand

Of subjection from devil's call

Into the tender mercies fall

Of Jesus' gentle arms

Hope

Then burns brighter than sun or stars

Fed by the Power that mend the mars

In souls of men both small and great

Hope leads them through the darkest night

To Zion's glorious dawn

-Maria Rod.

"Give Thanks! x7" Challenge

"Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments."

Psalm 119:264

KBR Ministries is offering a challenge for girls and young women to write down 7 things they are grateful for every day, between November 1st and November 30th.

Read more at: http://kingsbloomingrose.com/challenges.html

Click!

Well, I got my new camera on the 23rd. A Canon Rebel T3i - a pretty new release. I am LOVING it!

Below are some pictures I took on the 25th. I edited most of them with the software that came with the camera. I got 4 programs to edit pictures - I use Zoom Browser X mostly, with some use of Digital Photo Professional. Both are useful, although I can't find a color wheel in either...

Anyway, here are the pictures.

A picture of the sky in the afternoon - unedited

Caeruleatus - latin for "Sky Blue" (edited)

My Mom's mums & a gnat - unedited

Gnat - edited

More mums - unedited

My Mom's Mums - edited

Shadow's Eye - unedited

Shadow's Gaze - unedited

That was all the pictures that I have on this account - I'll dig up the rest later.

New Guest

Butterscotch the Butterfly

My sister found her in the grass outside and brought her in.

She has a shriveled wing, so now she lives in the house.

She has her own box on the kitchen counter. That's cantaloupe she's sitting on there.

Butterfly rehab! 

Harvest

Basil & cherry tomatoes from garden

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Psalm 128:1&2