A Love Story Part 1

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…

Gnudi and Vodka Sauce

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. 🙁

When the Sea Came Alive

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.

Origins of McGuire

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.

The Lion Of St Mark

A 303 page Historical Fiction by G. A. Henty

Francis is a good natured youth who always finds some kind of adventure, from rescuing two rich young heiresses from the clutches of a kidnapper to a full flaged sea battle. He also broke out of a ship and then captured multiple ships with only a handful of men.

This is one of my favorite of G. A. Henty’s books, mostly because I enjoy all the adventures he falls in to so often. I especially like when he sawed a hole in a wall of a ship to escape.