post five

A Christmas Smell

Audra Baker

              On Christmas Eve of this past year, my mom, dad, twin brother, Aaron, little sister, Adrianna and I went to my grandparent’s farm to celebrate Christmas. The farm is in Logan County and is about three miles from the tiny town of Emden. They raise pigs ranging form twelve days old to about twenty weeks old. Then they go to the next farm were they live for a year. My grandmother, who was the farms accountant, and I had spent the week before making Christmas cookies, fudge, and buckeyes, which is peanut butter balls rolled in chocolate, for everyone to eat at the party.  She had wrapped presents for everyone and made cards special for each person. 
            Her house smelled like freshly ground nutmeg from sprinkling it in hot chocolate and egg nog that was like a mountain piled high with whipped cream and sugar.  Staring at the Christmas tree, I realized it was as bright as the sun and smelled like a forest of pine with an assortment of colors and patterns all over.  As the family sat down for supper, my grandma brought, ham, bread, veggie pizza and many other wonderful sides to the table from her tiny fridge and nice, warm stove.  After the dishes were cleared from the table, my siblings ran to the colorful tree. Quickly, they started to sort the present into piles by each person’s name.  Rip!  My family started to open their gifts.  I was given a small glass piano for my shelves in my room and a tea set that my grandma gives to her granddaughters when they turn fourteen.  The best of all my gifts was a keyboard for my room so I could play piano whenever I wanted.  
            As we drove home all my little sister talked about was Santa and his reindeer.  It was a fun day and I can’t wait till next year for the holidays and what it brings to come.  This event was memorable, because it was the first time in a long time that my family was all in the same place, since my parents had started school. 

post two

Book Review

 



           I read The Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades by Rick Riordan which is about Greek and Roman demigods fighting together to stop Gaea from rising. I selected this book, because it is part of a book series that my friend suggested to me. I choose to read it, because the fifth book of the series came out last fall. My first thought about this book was excitement, because the book before it ended with a cliff-hanger. I also was worried because two of the main characters had just fallen into the depths of Tartarus. The setting of this book is Tartarus and the Mediterranean area. Annabeth and Percy are traveling to the Doors of Death in Tartarus, while Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Nico and Coach Hedge are on the Argo II sailing to the Doors of Death in the Mediterranean sea. All that is happening Reyana, Octavian, and the whole Roman demigod legion is preparing to attack Camp Halfblood, which is the Greek demigod summer camp in Long Island. This is all happening during July for about two weeks. 
        The time setting is half the month of July and it time setting is just the modern world today. I know this because of the technology that is used and the frequent said dates in the story. In the story, Percy and Annabeth have just fallen into Tartartus, the Underworld, and are making their way to the Doors of Death with the help of Bob the giant to meet their six friends who are coming to close the Doors, so monsters can't portal through them to the mortal word.  Their friends are traveling to the House of Hades, which is the temple that holds the Doors, on a ship Leo and his siblings built called the Argo II.  If the two groups do not completed this task Gaea will rise and destroy the world.  Gaea's plan was to have the Roman and Greek demigods kill each other in a battle between the two camps.  If she succeeds the whole world will be her domain.The story takes place in the Mediterranean area, Long Island, New York, and Tartarus. I know this from the book because of the descriptions of the settings in the different chapters. The setting was very important to the story, because if the characters weren't on their quest it would not succeed and Annabeth and Percy would of died.
         Percy, son of Poseidon, has dark shaggy hair, green eyes and his personality is calm and humorous. Percy can control water, breath underwater, create hurricanes and other sea storms, and has a pen that turns into a blade. Annabeth, daughter of Athena, has blonde hair, gray eyes, and her personality is serious and very levelheaded in any situation. She is very smart and can come up with insane battle plans. Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, is from Cherokee descent, with brown choppy hair braided with a feathers, brown eyes and her personality is loving but serious.  Piper can has a sword that tells the future, ability to charm-speak and a magical cornucopia. Leo, son of Hephaestus, has curly brown hair, brown eyes, and his personality is funny and mechanical. Leo can control fire and can build anything from his tool belt. Nico, son of Hades, has black hair, brown eyes, he only wears black and his personality is dark and alone. Nico can control the dead and shadowtravel. Coach Hedge is a protector satyr and his personality is being crazy. Hedge can make medicine and take out anything with his baseball bat. All the characters above are the main Greek demigod from the story. Here are the main Roman demigods. Jason, son of Jupiter, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and his personality is very serious. Jason has a coin that turns into a sword and other weapons, create storms, has the ability to fly, and summon lightning. Frank, son of Mars, is Chinese with black hair and brown eyes, and his personality is shy. Frank can change into animals and has an amazing shot with a bow. Hazel, daughter of Pluto, has brown curly hair, hazel eyes, and her personality is serious and dark. Hazel can summon precious stone and metals from the ground, control the Mist, talk to the dead, and has a very fast legendary horse named Arian.  Octavian, son of Apollo, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and his personality is self-centered and jerky. Octavian sacrifices stuffed animals and can predict the future. He was the one that was going to start the war between the two camps. Reyana, daughter of Bellona, has black hair, brown eyes and a very bold personality. Reyana can send her strength to her warrior during and is a Roman praetor. My favorite character is Nico, because of his personality and how he fights in battle. My least favorite character is Octavian, because he is a jerk to everyone. 
     In the story Leo, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Nico, and Coach Hedge are traveling to the House of Hades to seal the Doors of Death and rescue Percy and Annabeth from the depths of Tartarus. While all that is happening the Greek and Roman demigods are about to have a big war against each other.  The overall conflict of the series is to stop Gaia, the earth mother, from rising, but the main conflict in this story is to close the Doors of Death. It is resolved by Annabeth and Percy cutting the chains that held the Doors in on place down in Tartarus and Hazel and Leo doing the same on the mortal side. Nothing really surprised or confused me in the book because the stories of this series do plenty of foreshadowing and explaining. I would not change the ending, because the demigods split up in two two groups to finis the prophecy only making it the story better. Nico, Hedge and Reyana start to shadowtravel the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Halfblood and the others continue the quest to stop Gaea.
        My favorite part of the book was the ending were the Doors are closed and the demigods are back together.  I don't like the parts were Octavian started to gather an army to fight the Greek demigods. What I learned from this story is that you have to work together to get things done even if that group or person is your biggest. Yes, I would definitely read more books from this author, because he puts in humor in near-death experiences in his books. I would recommend this series to other students because it never gets boring. This book has a very good plot and plenty of action and humor.  

post four

Three and a Half Inches Tall

Audra Baker

 

              The first thing I remember after waking up was looking at a huge black wall and standing on a field of blue, tiny loops. I looked around the land with many obstacles.  I looked behind me and saw a huge, light blue wall with a big flower plastered on it. To my right I saw a glass wall with many relics on it shelves. The glass case had a huge map inside that had new places and pictures all over it. I looked farther in that direction and see a tiny gap close to the ground. I wondered were it led to. I looked up and instantly regreted it. The ceiling was as bright as the sun and the air was a cold as snow. The land ended with big stones stacked on one another. I had to escape from that room. It was way to cold.  I walked to the gap, crawled under it and hoped for a better place to explore.
              On the other side of the gap there are more loops, but there are big metal doors everywhere.   I followed them until I reached a sand-colored ground.  I stepped on it and it was freezing cold, but I continued on my trek. It was brighter and colder there, but I had to explore more to find my way out of it.  I walked until I saw a big structure and stopped. It had a small ledge that could be used when it rains and another big glass wall. Beyond the glass was a bunch of pedestals holding small people just like me, except they weren't moving.  I wondered what happened to them. 
             As I turned the corner a few times, I walked into a very, very cold room. It was very dark and had very big black curtains that would sway every time you touched them.  It smelled like rotting wood and had a very dusty floor.  There were tall, wooden structures all around me and the wall reaches up into the sky.  I explored a little more and found some steep stairs.  When I reached the top I saw the place I had come from before and many new ones too.  It was much warmer and brighter up here and it smelled much better.  It was very far from the ground. There was a big forest of white all around me and very small walls from a grate that lead to the edge of the cliff.  I started to get drowsy and I fell asleep.  When I woke up I was five feet tall and in my school’s auditorium. I wondered how I got to be three and a half inches tall.

post three

My First Amazing Campout

Audra Baker

English 1

                On a dark, breezy night two families talked and fished, while eating under the stars.  A nice toasty fire and some light up bobbers on the lake were the only type of light anyone would see if they were to join the fun.  These families were my own and some very close friends.  I was ten years old and this night was the best night of any camping trip I have ever been on. 

                In summer of 2011, my mom, dad, brother (Aaron), sister (Adrianna), and I went on a camping trip in central Illinois with the Mcmullens (Hannah, Izzy, Ray, and June).   As my dad and Ray drove the two families to a Yogi Bear campsite, I wondered what camping was like this far from home; Scary…, Fun…, Sad…, I had no clue.  When the vans hit the parking lot, the kids were out of the car in seconds and up to the door of the big, oak lodge.  As the parents received the campsite number, Hannah, Aaron and I looked around the canteen.  It was basically like Walmart, but in a smaller space.  It had everything!  As Aaron turned the corner, he said,”Whoa”.  There was a picture of this cat fish that was, so big it wouldn’t even fit in the bed of a pickup truck.

                Aaron asked,” What is that?”

                “That is a catfish was lifted out of the lake after it was stuck in some of the reeds by the lake” the campsite manager said.

                Aaron, Hannah, and I thought that was wicked.   Everyone went back to the cars and the dads drove the ladies and my brother to the campsites.   The parents set up the tents, while Hannah and Izzy unloaded the luggage and Aaron, Adrianna and I unload the kitchen stuff.  The campsite had a few, tall oak trees, an old picnic table, and a man-made firepit.

                Later that night, the boys were fishing and the girls were chatting with each other.  It was even more fun, because Ray brought this really cool light-up bobber that made the lake look like a light-up disco ball.  My dad made beef stew for supper and brownie smore’s were for dessert.  Brownie smore’s are two brownies and a toasted marshmallow squished it together.  The sky was crystal clear and allowed all its bright shining star shine in the sky.  There was a small breeze in the air that made the trees dance in it flow.  The lake looked non-existent, because of its dark murky water.  The tents glowed from the lanterns inside.  The fire was golden and orange on the tips of it licking flames.  It made crackling noises as the flames rose.  The embers were cherry red and the wood was black with cracks all over.  The stone pit was covered in ash from cooking and glowed a dim orange from the flames.  The gray, glassy smoke rose straight up in the air trying to grab the star up above.  Eventually the boys did catch some fish and after a long time everyone fell asleep.

On a mid-summer night, I sat with my closest family and friend on campsite fishing on a lake.  My family and the McMullen had a wonderful time and it was the perfect day for camping.  I was only ten years old and so far this had been the best campout of my life. 

post one

      My name is Audra Baker.  I am fourteen years old and live in Hopedale, Il.  Some of my favorite things to do is play with my seven pets and shoot my bow and arrows .  In my opinion I am a horrible writer, but others say differently. I am most skilled in creative writing and historical writing.  I enjoy creating presentations and skits, but I don't like presenting them.  My biggest challenge as a writer is correct grammer and spelling.  I am horrible at both.  My goal as a writer is to improve my writing skills by the end of this class