Posted by Adrienne on September 29, 2008 under Books, Football | 
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock has a rather silly title, but I enjoyed reading it all the same.
DJ Schwenk lives with her family on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Because of an accident that hurt her dad’s hip, she’s forced to do most of the work on the farm, even though she’s only a junior in high school. DJ’s real passion, though, is football. She spent many hours with her older brothers playing and learning about the game, and hoping for wins for the Red Bend High football team against their arch-rivals, Hawley.
When the Hawley quarterback shows up at the Schwenk farm with orders from his coach to help with the farmwork for the summer, DJ is at first hostile (with good reason) towards him. But DJ and Brian from Hawley build a friendship during the summer, and DJ begins to heal the relationships between herself and her dysfunctional family.
I enjoyed the football parts of the book, and after spending some time in Wisconsin farm country this summer, I had a great picture of the Schwenk farm in my head. DJ is a very likeable character (and an excellent narrator), and the story moves along at a good pace. All in all, Dairy Queen was a good read.
Posted by Adrienne on September 28, 2008 under Doodles |
Sometimes you just get angry…
I don’t often get really angry, but between the bad years my sports teams are having, the inevitable hickups of the beginning of a new academic year and a political campaign that has gone on too long, I’ve had a few days where I’ve gone around with a little black cloud over my head. Drawing an angry Stewart has helped a little, and now that the school year has started and the Mariners’ season is over, hopefully I won’t have as many things to get angry about.
I drew Stewart in pencil and shaded him, then outlined the drawing with a thin black Sharpie pen, to make sure it would show up after scanning.
Posted by Adrienne on September 24, 2008 under Baseball, Mariners, Photos |
Baseball season is nearly over, so here’s a photo from a game we attended earlier in the season:
From Ballparks
On a beautiful May night, we attended a game at SAFECO Field in Seattle. Sadly, the Padres beat the Mariners, but we got to see the moon rise over the roof of the stadium. Pretty sweet, huh? Who knows what neat things we’ll see next season!
Posted by Adrienne on September 22, 2008 under Books |
Stephen Lawhead writes very good historical/fantasy books with Celtic settings. He’s a sure thing; all of his books are quite enjoyable. So when I borrowed another of his books from a friend that wasn’t a Celtic fantasy book, but rather an outer-space sci-fi book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would Lawhead prove as adept at writing in a very different genre? Would I enjoy the book as much?
Read more…
Posted by Adrienne on September 21, 2008 under Doodles |
I probably don’t need to say what this is (at least, I *hope* I don’t):
The Space Needle is easily Seattle’s most recognized landmark. It’s a must-stop for tourists, a photographer’s dream and incredibly unique – the landmark that looks the most like it is probably Toronto’s CN Tower, but even that doesn’t quite have the 60s retro sci-fi goodness that the Needle has. And as far as I know, the CN Tower doesn’t have a children’s book written about it either (it’s a good book, too. I loved it when I was a kid).
So this is my rendition of the Space Needle. I drew it in pencil first, then did the shading, then inked it with a regular ballpoint pen. The proportions aren’t quite what I wanted, but overall, I am pleased with it.
