Caretaker of the House, Cooker, Organizer of Paraphernalia, Player of Music, and Reminder of Kindness; Motivated, strict, loving, Mother of our Home: They tell me your house is small with little room to work and I believe them, for I belong in this house, smelling every scent there is to smell and touching everything that is there to touch. They tell me this house is beautiful: with the lamps shining brightly through the windows and the shrubbery out front cut to its perfect place. They say they see the order of the crimson bricks and I reply: I see them every day, walking along the path, or climbing up the trees, facing our house. They say they see the woman with the basket of laundry, hanging up fabric with clothespins on the line, maybe tending to the flowers and I turn once more and say: I know that woman from all my life, you might say I see her daily. I say: Come and show me another woman who does as much work as this: washing dishes, taking flower’s care, helping out with our belonging animals, and feeding the hungry mouths that need food. No one can be better who does as much work as she, sweet care she gives to all, questions she asks out of curiosity and care. As strong as Hercules himself, using this through her mind and body, clever with her soul and spirits that perform the way she is now, Caring, Loving, Strict, Firm, Trying, failing, retrying, Under the sheet of moon or in the middle of the dusty dawn, finding ways to go through the busy work of day, Under the rippling sun with work to do in yards and rapid trips to drive, never giving up through all the tough times, Under the scary circumstances of arguments, giving advice and gaining trust through all that she tries to teach us, Under the times of impossible, where nothing seems to get done or ever begins to work with determination and effort, Smiling! Smiling the motivated, strict, loving smile of strength, having pride to be Caretaker of the House, Cooker, Organizer of Paraphernalia, Player of Music, and Reminder of Kindness.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Falling in Love with Oreo at First Sight
Every month I have a habit to plead my parents for a hamster. One cold breezy night, my mom, dad, and I went shopping, and my dream came true. “Hey, look, there’s a PetSmart here, you could go get Adela a hamster, if there are any.” My dad exclaimed. My mom smiled and said she would; I was very thrilled! I was finally getting a hamster! When we sauntered in, my mom inquired about where the hamsters were. I met two Long Haired Syrian hamsters at first. An employee came and helped us choose. “There is also one over there, hiding in his bedding,” the employee said, pointing to a cage. I looked down and saw a hamster staring at me with a pile of paper bedding over his entire body. “What gender are they?” I asked the employee. He answered that they were all male. “The Syrians are more defensive than the other one; the Winter White hamster is a little shyer,” the employee added. I decided to get the Winter White. I named him Oreo because of the mix of colors he has– a soft and fluffy gray coat and a snow-white belly; it looks like an Oreo milkshake. The shape of him when eating looks like a round snowball. When we put Oreo in his new cage, he loved it! After that night, I decided to switch to some hamster care videos on Youtube. I saw a channel called Victoria Raechel. I checked it out and discovered that Hamster balls aren’t safe for hamsters, because their feet could get stuck in the air holes. I quickly told my dad about it and we removed Oreo’s ball. I also learned that hamsters are small animals, but they still need a lot of space; my dad added a big bin to the cage to give Oreo more space. Oreo lives safely upstairs in my dad’s working room which is next to my parents’ room. Every night, my parents could hear Oreo running wildly on his wheel, which made it too noisy to sleep. My parents had to switch it into a different type of wheel, named Silent Spinner. Now Oreo runs on his wheel but doesn’t make a sound at all. So, my parents now can sleep soundly in their room. Every hour I check on Oreo and feed him a little grain mix, popcorn, worms, and broccoli. Oreo has grown twice as big as he used to be! Oreo is living the best life a hamster could possibly have. Oreo is a marvelous hamster; I knew that picking Oreo instead of the others was a spectacular idea. He is lucky to be with me. And I am lucky to be with him.
How to Sharpen Pencils, Reviewed by Brais, 11
How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Angle smiths, & Civil Servants by David Rees, is a gold mine for anyone wishing to sharpen a pencil. David Rees is a celebrated cartoonist, television host, writer, and artist. From listing the essential supplies for pencil sharpening (at a reasonable $1000!) to describing the anatomy of a pencil, to explaining how to preserve a freshly sharpened tip, this manual has it all. This truly is the ultimate guide to pencil sharpening. Rees’s guide walks the reader through different sharpening styles and how they may apply to different styles of people and professions. One of my favorite sections describes how to sharpen a pencil with a pocketknife. For example, he recommends producing a steep-angled pencil tip for people with heavy hands, as this will make it harder to break the tip off. He also advises exposing a lot of the graphite in pencils for artists, as this will make for a light sketch that can be easily erased. Rees’s love of manual pencil sharpening is only surpassed by his hatred of electric pencil sharpening and mechanical pencils. Here is one hint: Rees’s feelings about electric pencil sharpeners involve the use of mallets. Without giving away all of this guide’s secrets, I must mention Rees’s most prized pencil-sharpening possession: An El Casco M430-CN. Created by a company that once made firearms, this double-burr hand-cranked machine, Rees declares, is the best pencil sharpener on Earth. I enjoyed reading Rees’s tongue-in-check manual not just for its jokes and wisecracks, but also for its factual information, and even its lifestyle recommendations. By reading this book, I have learned the proper hand-stretching exercises to do before long pencil-sharpening sessions, that a correctly sharpened pencil is an object of beauty, and that mechanical pencils make for good firewood. This book is where I will always look to for pencil-sharpening guidance and inspiration, and it is where you should too. Recommended for middle school and up. How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Angle smiths, & Civil Servants by David Rees. Penguin Random House, 2012. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
