The Meetings

NUMBER ONE!!!

WE MET... anyone know? O_O *bursts* EAGLESWINGS!!! *gasps for air* OK, so its out. XD Finally. So, we met EaglesWings. Am I repeating myself? Oh, well. ;)

To put it dramatically, 'The Eagle landed at 11:00 yesterday!' Quote partially taken from Jake's--and Manny's, methinks, own words. :D We went to sign up for the OYAN conference, and then we sat back to wait for Eagles.

Earlier, she'd told him that she'd be wearing a green X-Men shirt, so that we'd know what to look for. Jake just said that he'd probably be wearing a KU shirt. ;) Like always. So, we waited, and then finally she came. Introducing transpired, and then we wanted to have them over for supper. So, my dad left Manny, Jake, and I there with Eagles and her mom while he went to the store. We walked off to the dorms and into the lounge, and we talked to a few people about their novels. :D

Mom came along in the Suburban to pick us up, dad still being at the store. We got back to the house and... well... Ry was introduced, and we talked. A lot. At least, Ry and I talked a lot. ;) Poor Eagles.

EaglesWings looked at my art, and 'twas very nice about it. :) She is quite an exceptional artist herself. Then, she looked over my paintings. :D That was fun.

We at a supper of steak and sauce and rice, along with corn--and, of course--water. :) Mom was asking questions about homeschooling and such. :)

Well, they left soon afterwards, and today was the first day of Jake's One Year Adventure Novel Conference. :) The morning was made of lectures, then he came back for lunch, then he went to critique groups, and after that I'm not sure... but he came back for supper and back at around ten. :) He stayed for a bit afterwards with Eagles and her mom, and I found it funny that he couldn't seem to talk to other people; make conversation. On the internet, he's all out. In real life, when he has no idea who people are, he's completely an introvert.

Tomorrow he shall go back, and my sisters and I shall go to a co-op get together while he's gone.

THEN!!! The other meeting. Not with an Elf, nor a blogger.

'Twas Lee Hammond! OK, so maybe you haven't heard of her. Most like, you haven't. :P But she's one of my favorite artists, and turns out, she lived really near us, so we went to see her!

Dad nearly stepped on a cat on the way in, and said, "Oh, a dead cat." Then it moved. "Oh, wait, it's alive." XD We stepped inside, and Lee Hammond hugged me. :D She was extremely nice.

Her dogs welcomed us, and dad nearly stepped on a cat named Mindy. :) Turns out, there's a thirteen year old Manx cat, who is super narrow and skinny, his fur his horrible. :P The poor cat is not aging very well, and he's thirteen. Now the other cat, Mindy, she's just fine, just as healthy as ever--but here's the catch. SHE'S TWENTY ONE> O_O O_O O_O

Old cat. O_o She also had two dogs--a purebred Labrador, yellow, and she was real sweet... I forgot her name. Shame on me. But anyways, she's way smaller than she's supposed to be--half her size. XD But she's perfectly healthy. She's supposed to be eighty pounds, but she's forty. :)

And the other dog... she's real sweet, too! I'm not sure what kind of dog she is. Her name is Penny. She's thirteen, and the star of Lee Hammond's books. If her books have to do with dogs, then she's in 'em. The dogs crowded me when I stooped. Like I said, really sweet dogs.

In one of Lee Hammond's books she had a Great Pyrenees mix--well, there's a story behind her. She was part wolf, actually! But in her neighborhood, she wasn't allowed to build a fence, so they had an underground one. Unfortunately, the dog liked running... away. She didn't care about any old shock collar. They even put the huge kind that shocked right at the base of their ears--that's for cows! But she was caught one day (her name was Misty) and Lee Hammond would have had to pay a fee. Lee said she was willing to pay, but the dog would just run. This was a shelter that didn't put dogs to sleep, so she left her there to be adopted. It was better for the dog. :) Lee was already over her limit for animals.

We looked around--and some of the paintings and drawings framed on the wall were familiar from Lee Hammond's books. :) I recognized some. There were some adults working on drawing there, and it was fun to see what they were drawing. One was drawing her sister's grandchildren, another a husky, another painting floral, and another painting trees reflecting in water. :) Very pretty.

In a small closet-like room Lee had what was sort of a mini art supplies store. There were even a few of her paintings for sale. :) My mom was going to buy me a kneaded eraser and blending tortillions--but we waited till the end. She had all of her books on a shelf--at least the ones still in print--and there was one that she was going to have at a booksigning--a crayon one. 'Twas epic. Penny was in it. :D As well as Mindy.

She asked what I liked drawing, and I said horses, and she asked if I had the book, 'Draw Horses.' Better yet, I had it with me!! She took it and signed it. :D :D :D :D So now I have her signature on my battered copy of Draw Horses.

My mom was looking at drawing lessons schedules--and was talking to Lee. My mom signed me up for a five -day seminary this July!! Its from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. :D For five days. I FINALLY GET LESSONS!!! FROM LEE HAMMOND!!! And then, she saw crocheting in my bag, and turns out, she crochets! And knits. She knits bed things for the shelter nearby. I said, "Oh, I should learn to do that!"
And she said, "Oh, then we'll fix that too!!" She was EXTREMELY nice.

We went back for the kneaded eraser and the blending tortillions, and we were going to pay her. But surprise, she actually gave them to me--for free! I keep repeating myself, but SHE WAS REALLY NICE.

So, I am rather content. She asked me to get some Bristol paper and some reference photos. Whats funny is that she only had adult classes, but she said I'd fit right in, and she's putting me in the seminary anyways. :) *wide smiles*

So, all in all, a wonderful week so far! :D

--Vrenith