A Few Weeks 'Rest'

Well, now we've got about 3 weeks in Dubai before heading off to Holland. Aside from seeing friends and lots of music, we're getting ready for the next school year. I've also been trying to find piping students and pubs I can play at or outside of.
How are your summers going?

Home again, with time for photos.

Ohio Scottish Art School

Some of the people I hung out with most; Chris, Roberta, Carl, Stephen, and Gwen. In the photo is Stephen, Heather, Carl, and Roberta.

Erin and I

Stephen...with shaving cream all over his face...don't ask =P

Gwen and I!

Kaitlyn and Chris, two of my room mates

Michigan
dear friend Kristen and I at Naomi's wedding

Sara's mom's birthday at church =)

Green tea latte...which I couldn't finish, sadly

Starbucks before sleepover with the homeschool girls

Best friend Sara

Pennsylvania

At the ceili - Carl storytelling

Ceili - talking pipes

Dahlia with strawberries we gathered in the backyard

Brother and Sister

Best friends

Table spread for the ceili
Making Cranachan for the ceiliWashington
Hannah at the gum wall...where we all left our mark =P

Pike's Place Market Gum Wall

All of us silly cousins

Sparklers!

Sophie, Chloe, and Candace

Hannah, Kyleigh and I all have claddaghs.

One of mom's old dolls

Making ice cream

Lucy, cousins' darling dog

Goofy cousins Luke and Mason

Sophie, cousin

"This one time at bagpipe camp..."

We leave tomorrow! Time has rushed, and I'm not excited per se, to return, but it will be good.
I can't wait to see Dad and my Sunny (who allegedly is tearing up my room).

This will be just a summary - facts post, which photos to follow when we arrive back in Dubai. It's been a crazy time!

I've already written about the visit with Katie - then I flew to Ohio for the games and Scottish arts camp. The Games were fun; I hung out with my friend Erin and we watched celtic rock (Needfire) and our friends' highland dance competitions. Oh, and competed...the reason we were there. I played TERRIBLY and messed up; but placed 5th and 6th in a new, high grade. Not too bad for someone out of practice and expecting only good comment sheets.
Camp itself...pretty indescribable as always. The teaching was amazing. I was in advanced piping and advanced piobaireachd, both of which were beautiful and helpful. Andy Rogers and Reay MacKay were my instructors. I won a scholarship which was very exciting! It slightly increases my chances for getting to go back next year. Four of us piped for the Variety Show to represent the advanced class, which went really well - though we broke tradition and didn't dress up like the wacko pipers that we are.
Relational-wise it was fun; lots of crazy times and mixed up conversations, though by the end of the week it was frustrating because people are, well, disappointingly human! We did have a great time together though. There was a newer girl I was able to try and draw into our little group, though I think she felt a bit intimidated. There was also Gwen, a friendship I intend to keep! We were remarkably similar.
There are a million memories I can't really list or describe, but it was the best week of the year, as usual.

The time in Detroit was great too; visiting friends, having too much coffee (the last two weeks I have lived on coffee and chocolate...camp food not exactly being edible), talking with my best friend Sara, going to Naomi's wedding and seeing lots of old Dubai friends, including Kristen, a very dear friend.
There have been overwhelming things...plans, emotion, thinking about figuring things out for the next year and the future. It's scary but thrilling. Right now I'm me, with no strings attached and it is delightful. I'm not the one in control!

More packing awaits;
Love, Cait

Pennsylvania

Well, we're safely in the states. It's very green and fresh! Katie lives somewhat in the country so it's really nice. I can't post photos yet so this is just a quick update. There probably will be no photos or real posts til I get to my grandparents'.

Last night we had a ceili - which consisted of cooking all day to have a good Scottish meal, singing, piping, dancing, with bodhran and low whistle. It was lovely! We had it at a park.
We've been watching Wives and Daughters, a great old fashioned long film, though at the moment I'm a bit frustrated with all the characters except the main one. We'll see when it ends!

Right now I'm about to cut Katie's hair for her; she wants to donate it to Locks of Love.

I'd better go. The competition is on Saturday, followed by camp, so I'm getting nervous and practicing a ton!


Love,
Cait

house of twisted suns

really bad quality scan...

My head is a pretty crazy place to be at the moment; I'm not really sure what God's doing in it. This lyric sums it up pretty well - 'whatever You're doing inside of me/it feels like chaos, but now I can see/this is something bigger than me.'

We're leaving in 4 days and I'm already packed! Golly, something's wrong with me, not rushing around last minute ;)

Love,
Cait

Get thee hence, Mathematics!

A day early, I finished trig for the year and for ever. Though I expect some reviewing of the test, I won't be taking math next year. Throughout my life I've been known for writing cruel things in my math textbooks (and I poked out the eyes of the author's photo when I was little) and calling it 'the bane of my life.' Haha. Nothing else in school has caused so much frustration, time, and tears. All gone! Struggling through it is definitely a good thing though, and I am not quitting merely because it is difficult or I dislike it - I'm not bad at it but not gifted in it, and it's not something that I have ever forseen using in my future apart from what is mandatory. Just a disclaimer there...
I'll finish Physics tomorrow as well, which, ironically, I have enjoyed. Next year will be a bigger focus on things I am interested in and will really use. The stress of my two worst subjects gone will be a huge relief. So far the schedule looks like -

- Literature/Writing/Grammar all one program
- History (continuing the curriculum put together by dad, including several textbooks and lectures)
- Dutch (I love Jol., my teacher, but she's hard to learn with)
- Bible - this will really take over next year, since instead of continuing what my dad wrote, we've ordered a huge curriculum for this which is a bit intimidating. It has lectures, video, social and cultural studies, world religions, essays, books, etc. Kind of a full course and will take a lot of time.

And of course voice with Sara and piping on my own. Hopefully I will have more time to invest in helping around my own family, handcrafts, and art.

I've advertised for piping students but unfortunately that's a rare interest...


This Friday we are hopefully meeting with JW and RM to discuss what us students came up with at our meeting for Submerge a few months back. If you think of it, please pray that it would be beneficial. And think of Sunny, she's recovering from surgery (of course won't sit still).

love,
Cait

P.S. I met a girl yesterday who also is obsessed with Eisley, mewithoutYou, art, peacocks, and weird clothes. Coincidence!!

Dahlia's Customization

So, it's done!

Sorry for the terrible quality of this photo...plus it looks like I'm murdering the poor doll.Opening her head and cutting off the scalp

Replacing orange eyechips and taking out damaged blue eyechip

All taken apart...

Sanded face, new make up, carved lips, new eyelashes

I also boggled her eyes, which means that the eyelid no longer shows at all so they are more opened (her lashes are now longer though and I'm still working on getting them to curl up - so you can't tell her eyes are wider yet). I also gave her 'sleep eyes' which means her eyes can be closed for photos and such, whereas before they only closed when changing the colour.

Before and after -

=D I'm relieved to be done; it was pretty frustrating at times but I love the finished result. You can see more of the photos here. She's coming to the Oasis banquet tomorrow.
I was debating cutting her hair but probably won't, partly because if I ever get the Blythe I really want next (Ichigo Heaven, who has bright pink hair) I would definitely bob her hair because I've seen photos of that and it looks much nicer short...anyway, don't want two dolls with the same hairstyle.
Sorry if this bored you all! Maybe it was a little step toward either showing you I'm insane or showing you they're not silly dolls. heh.
One more week of school and I'll be a senior =)
The Vespers concert is on Tuesday, eek.

I've begun 'piping' the air or whatever is in reach again, and it makes me smile. It's been many months since I've done that - guess I'm practicing more again.

love,
Cait

Video & Shoes

My friend Rachel recently asked me to draw on her shoes, and I greatly enjoyed it.






Unfortunately these are the only videos of the No Talent Show I have as they are the only ones on our camera. No one else has put any up yet.

Pachelbel's Canon

Irish Dance

And The Foggy Dew (ignore the mistakes and don't watch it, just listen =P).
Funny part was that Shehan introduced us as doing "the Braveheart theme."

Hope you enjoy them =)
The banquet is this week and I went with Elaine and Lisa (and Sonja and Susanna) to get decorations at Dragon Mart. The theme, coincidentally, is Chinese, and we're going to have live black fish as centerpieces. Candles will reflect beautifully off the water.

Candace is 7! And got her ears pierced. Nate is now 10, hard to believe. Oh, and the mice had babies.

Doll is currently 'healing from surgery.' I'm about to take the rubber bands off that are holding her drying scalp together. Eek, she's so pretty now.
We watched The Hiding Place, which is powerful/deep/sad. It is a lot to process but a movie well worth watching.
Today was good.

with love,
a pretty happy Cait

No Talent Show & Bubble Tea

Creepy photo but the best tea ever. It's (apparently Chinese) milk tea with tapioca balls in it which come with the tea through a wide straw. It's so different. Our new favourite.
Kyleigh doesn't appreciate my amazing pink retro sunglasses.

So, the No Talent Show was last night and it was pretty fun. Some of the most interesting acts were -

- 'Airplane,' the hilarious skit Lindie and her little brother did.
- Daniel playing the guitar with a violin bow
- Ky and Sarah's beautiful Pachelbel's Canon with oboe and violin
- the Irish dance (Vashti, Hannah, Kyleigh) choreographed that morning with lots of fun
- Mitch and Denis's stunning guitar/drum piece (Wes's drum duet with Denis was cool too)
- the Beaver song...I cannot tell you how glad I was after seeing it that I refused to participate! The chicken dance at DC 2006 was embarrassment enough for these two years. They did wear cute little masks, but Jarod's dancing was...something...

Kyleigh and I played The Foggy Dew. Her guitar was pretty, of course, and the singing went alright I think, though I faltered once. People seemed to really like it which was encouraging. Sonja said it was 'haunting and depressing,' which is perfect, because the purpose of any singing is to tell a story, and in this case it was a haunting (though inspiring) story about the valiant men of Ireland (see lyrics at the end of the post). Having sung this song for the past five years, we learned a new tune for it on Saturday and performed that one.

Dahlia is undergoing surgery and I will report at length about that in time. Also I should have the video of The Foggy Dew at some point.

love,
Cait

As down the glen one Easter morn
To a city fair rode I,
Their armed lines of marching men
In squadrons passed me by.
No pipe did hum, no battle drum
Did sound its loud tattoo
But the Angelus' bells o'er the Liffey swells
Rang out in the foggy dew.

Right proud and high o’er a Dublin sky
Hung they out a flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar.
And from the plains of Royal Meath
Strong men came hurrying through;
While Brittania's Huns with their long-range guns
Sailed in through the foggy dew.

And the bayonets flashed and the rifles crashed
As the incoming soldiers win
In a land of rain seven tongues of flame
Did shine o’er the lines of steel
By each shining blade a vow it was made
‘To Ireland we will remain true’
When morning broke still the war flag shook
Out its fold to the foggy dew.

The bravest fell, and the requiem bell
Rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Easter-tide
In the springing of the year.
While the world did gaze with deep amaze
At those fearless men but few
Who bore the fight for freedom's light
Might shine through the foggy dew.

And back through the glen I rode again
And my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men
Whom I never shall see more
But to and fro
In my dreams I go
And I oft-times think of you
For slavery fled
Oh, glorious dead
When you fell in the foggy dew

oh, excitement and cooking.

After a rather uneasy and down week, Friday was a welcome surprise. Someone came up to my mom and I and said she'd heard about a culinary school that had been open in Dubai of all places, for two years. It's run by believers and they have students from all over the world. They're looking for students to come in to interact with the others as well as study, because as the teachers they can't say much (make sense?). It's very pricey but if you're coming for both reasons or just can't afford it then they will help you. It's a 5 month course, and they've had several very successful graduating classes - so much so that restaurants have in fact asked for their future graduating students. Imagine graduating and not having to even apprentice afterwards like you usually have to as a chef!
Needless to say I'm very excited and it's all I can think about. Now there are so many things I would like to do (this, Yemen/India, l'Abri, helping with Oasis...) after graduating that it's beginning to get to the point where I'm motivated to try and figure how it will all fit together, if at all.
It's amazing how it all falls into place though - the lady who told us didn't even previously know I was interested in culinary arts, it's in Dubai, it's for ministry as well as cooking, it's something I can always use.
I never thought I would actually have the chance to be a chef - God is so amazing.

One catch - I've just looked it up and the site mentioned a minimum age of 21, since that's how old you have to be for a Dubai work permit. Hopefully it's not official or we can get around it - because of knowing people or the fact that I'm not actually looking to work after graduating! Part time if anything - I don't want a career and even if I did, being a top head chef is a completely life-consuming job. No life, no ministry, no family, no nothing. Mm, no.

I hope all you dears are doing well.
Hoping this week looks up - God is faithful and I need to stop being paranoid about everything I don't know.

Love,
Cait

P.S. Listen to this.