Mae's Real Stories

Here she is: my Mona Lisa Barbie. This is my first -- and last -- Barbie doll in my whole life. I guess. Unless they make a Leonardo Ken with a paintbrush or something.

Labels: Mona Lisa

Miriam is 10 years old today. Here is how she looked exactly 10 years ago!

At the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena we saw a lot of art from India and places near India. One statue showed a snake goddess, which is in this picture. You can see snake coils behind her. Here's the amazing thing: the Hindu name for a snake goddess is a nagini. So now I know where J.K.Rowling got her name for Voldemort's snake. Did you know that?

This particular snake goddess is named Revati and her statue is around 1600 years old. In Hindu myths, snakes guard treasures that are underground, and snake goddesses (naginis) look like humans but associate with snakes.

Here is Alice's most recent self-portrait with Photobooth. And here she is exactly 8 years ago today --

Guest Post By Alice

Well I just watched the new Harry Potter movie, and it is very good.

The saddest part is when Dobby dies because they really exaggerate the sadness. Another sad part is when Hermione Granger obviates her parents' memories so that she can be safe and so can they.

The happiest part is the wedding when Fleur and Bill get married because Harry, Ron, and Hermione all get to see their friends.

The scariest part is when Bathilda Bagshot gets invaded by the snake Nagini (Voldemort's snake). It comes out of her mouth and it's also pretty disgusting.

The funniest part is when the defense guards come (Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Hagrid, Mr. Weasley, Remus Lupin, Tonks, Mad Eye, Bill, Fleur, Mundungus Fletcher, and Kingsley Shacklebolt). They drink a potion and six people transform into Harry (Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus). Fleur turns into Harry and still has her bra on, and says "Bill, don't look at me, I look hideous!"

Another funny part is when Ginny and Harry are kissing and George walks in with a toothbrush coming out of his ear and he stared at them for a little bit and then said "Good morning." Ginny was definitely annoyed.

In the previews and featurettes there was a funny featurette where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all having a race. They had to run and jump over logs and run really fast. It really happened in the movie because snatchers were chasing them. Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, says, "Harry wants to beat me, I want to beat Harry, and Ron just wants to keep up."

I really think you should read the Harry Potter books and watch the movies!

Guest post by Miriam:
(With an interview of Alice)
Well the Iwako Erasers are totally in. Now some of my friends own 100-180 Iwako erasers, everybody loves them.
Here are some pictures:






This is an interview from my sister and what she thinks about Iwako Erasers:
So what do you really think about Iwako Erasers Alice?
I think they are really cool because you can take apart some parts and also at the same time play with them.
What erasers do you have?
Food: I have a pink baby, a green baby, cotton candy ice cream, an ice cream in a cone, a cupcake, two cakes, and dim sum.
Animals: a cow, a pig, a giraffe, a penguin, a puffer fish, an octopus, a dolphin, and a shell.
Wow that's a lot of erasers. I have:
Animals:a baby, a pig, a crab, a hamster, a squid, a dolphin, a dog, a frog, a penguin, a giraffe, and a cow.
Foods:a piece of sushi, a crumble cake, strawberry cake, and a piece of cake.
Other:a car and a yo-yo.

Miriam and Alice are doing projects with colorful duct tape, and sent these photos as a guest post.

My mother is the little girl holding her grandmother's hand. On the two sides are her sisters. Her mother stands next to her seated father, who died less than one year after the photo was taken. The three young men in the back row are her two brothers and a cousin. Her third brother was born shortly after the photo was taken.

Sunday is my mother's 100th birthday. She died in 1967, but I feel as if there should still be a celebration and some photos. I've already posted most of them at various times in the last few years, and I've also posted this at my other blog.

First, here are some photos from the album she made when she was in high school:
The photo from 1914 is the only one I know of from her early childhood. I do not think there are any baby photos, but here is a photo of her dolls.


These were called "Nickel Dolls" because that was how much they cost. They are very small.

The next picture was taken just before she cut her hair for the first time in 1923. A cut-out of this photo is on the album page.


Here is her wedding photo, from 1941, with my father, of course:


Finally, here's a photo of my mother, father, and me, in 1964.

Miriam and Alice want to know what new music I like. This is my favorite song, from my yoga class:

Miriam named these leaf-like bugs Fall and Spring. After crawling around on her arms and hair for a while, fall flew into the swimming pool and drowned. Miriam was sad.

This spider isn't quite as big as Hagrid's friend Aragog, but she is almost an inch long. Miriam and Alice recently read all of the Harry Potter books so they knew the spider's name when the web appeared in their front yard.

"Well, I would like to whack it, but my dad says I should not do it, because it's big and would get mad at me. I kept on blowing on it because my dad said it does not like windy areas. And I still want to whack it," said Miriam.