Princess Megan

This is the first good sledding snow. We went sledding last month, but could not stay long. Saturday Audrey, Dad, Mom and I went to the park. Audrey played with Cy, Dad and I went sledding, and Mom took pictures. Then we took a short walk.

Yesterday we went to the dunes, so we could have a mini vacation. The lake was very calm and nobody was there.

We went paddle boarding, it was calm enough even Mom could stand up. Cy came too, last time Cy was afraid of the water. He is almost over it now. At the end he leaped on to one of the paddle boards with Daddy and then rode with Audrey for a little bit.

Daddy was being silly and pretended to fall off, that might be why Cy jumped on the paddle board to make sure he was okay.

Ten… The clock started the countdown. I checked my seatbelt again. This was the real thing! Three, two, one, zero! I felt the G-force press me into my seat, it hurt! I gripped the armrests tight, wishing I could relieve the pressure. I looked out the window hoping for a distraction… The view was breath taking, the earth blues and greens shrouded in wispy clouds.

I needed to write a short paragraph for school about the narrator’s first blast off in a rocket.

For school this year, I am going to learn to write stories. My first one, dedicated to Andrea, is a love story, because she teasingly told me to write one.

Johnny tried to impress Barb by doing her dishes and also greased all Barb’s cast iron pans but, he accidently greased all the handles too. Catastrophe struck! Barb was flipping pancakes when the pan slipped and hit Johnny on his head knocking Johnny out, and breaking Barb’s favorite cast iron.

Barb was less than impressed by the greased handles.

To be continued…

For school every Monday, Andrea and I decided to make dishes from different cuisines around the world. Last week it was Indian/Scottish tikka masala. This week it is Italian.

Yesterday, Andrea and I made vodka sauce and gnudi (actually we made ricotta gnocchi, gnudi without the spinach). The word gnudi comes from the Italian word “nudi” which means naked. The idea is that gnudi is ‘naked’ ravioli, just the filling.

Vodka sauce is Italian/American; unfortunately, it does not have an interesting story behind it. 🙁

Monday, Andrea and I made Chicken Tikka Masala. It was very yummy.

It is from India/Scotland, Here is a legend about its creation: A chef in Glasgow Scotland added tomato soup to please one of his costumers that complained that the chicken tikka was too dry. The costumer loved it, and came back for years.

If you want to make your own click here.

I really enjoyed this 576 page oral history of D-Day by Garret Graff. He tells it with the quotes of soldiers and others involved. From the beginning, preparing for the invasion, getting on the boats, the first few hours, to the world finding out that Normandy was invaded. This book creates a bigger picture while at the same time zooming in to what these individual soldiers experienced.

No pill, no shot, no vitamin,

No potion to inoculate

Can make me feel as right again…

…As one good piece of chocolate

I just finished reading a funny poem book called My Head Has a Tummy Ache by Chris Harris. The Cure for Everything was one of my favorites.

Yesterday one of the librarians asked me to write a poem, this is what I came up with:

Shelf upon shelf

So many books fiction and not

All is quiet

For school this week I have been learning about the origins of my name.

McGuire is derived from Mag Uidhir meaning “son of the dark one”. The “Mc” is an abbreviation of Mac which means “son of”. Guire is the name so it has to be capitalized.

Now we will move on to tartans, coats-of-arms, and mottos. A tartan is a plaid design most clans in Scotland have a tartan, eventually a lot of Irish clans got them. The McGuire tartan is a mix of red, green, and navy blue.

The McGuire coat-of-arms is a knight in white riding a charger of the same color on a plain green backdrop. The white signifies military strength, the horse is a sign of loyalty to king and country. And the green signifies hope and joy.

The McGuire motto is “Justitia et fortitudo invincibilia sunt” which is Latin meaning “Justice and fortitude are invincible”.

Megan is Irish for “brave warrior”; unfortunately, there isn’t any any fun history of the name.