Jamaica Bay!

Last weekend, Inky took me to one of her favorite places in New York City - Jamaica Bay! It's hard to believe that the city could house such a pretty wildlife refuge with all of the cement and skyscrapers, but NYC is full of surprises after all. :) It's located within Brooklyn and Queens on the southwestern tip of Long Island.

The salt marshes surrounding the bay are home to migratory birds and other wildlife. Inky wasn't sure if we'd be able to see the birds, given that it's already autumn, but they hadn't migrated yet. It was neat to see them flocked on the bay.

And, finally, isn't this photo of me great? I love the background showcasing the pretty changing leaves of autumn.

~Sophie

Pumpkin Carving w/ Violet & Inky!

On Halloween, I found myself wandering the streets of New York City, frantically looking for my next host's apartment. You see, I'd never been to NYC till now, and I was a little nervous. I really haven't walked city streets since leaving Paris anyway.

But I was even more nervous about making a good impression on who I was about to meet. Je sais! You're probably wondering how extroverted me could be nervous about meeting someone new. After all, I've met dozens of nice girls over the past year, and I've never been nervous about meeting anyone. Why start now?

As I rounded the corner, I felt fairly sure that I was approaching where I needed to be, and when I saw a familiar face, my earlier suspicions were confirmed. I smiled, glad that I had gotten to the right place and that I wasn't too late.

Hearing my approaching footsteps, the girl I'd recognized turned towards me. Smiling, she called out my name, "SOPHIE!" At once, my nervousness faded, and I responded by calling out her name, "VIOLET!" I ran over to my friend (as best I could with a heavy suitcase in hand!) and gave her a hug. It'd been over a year since we'd first met back in Utah, but we definitely hadn't forgotten one another.

Suddenly, we both got quiet and looked to the other girl standing with us. For a minute, we just looked at each other until Violet spoke up, "Inky, let me introduce you to Sophie Moreau! Sophie, this is my best friend, Marina. We always call her Inky!"

Of course, Inky and I have been blog friends for quite some time now, but we haven't had the chance to meet until now. We greeted each other warmly. "Hi, Sophie!" "Salut, Inky!"

Then Violet suggested that we go up to Inky's family's apartment to start carving the Halloween pumpkin. Heading to the festively decorated living room, we gathered the supplies that we'd need and started in on the process.

We chose the nice, softer pumpkin over the harder one, and pretty soon we had this:

A pretty neat jack o' lantern! Now all we had to do was insert a tea candle and turn out the lights to see our pretty jack o' lantern glow.

I must say, this was probably the best Halloween I've celebrated yet! My classmates usually skip the whole pumpkin carving thing, but I think it's pretty fun. :)

~Sophie

Autumn Fun/ Meeting Haley & Ruthie!

While I was in CT, Haley arrived!

Since we've been blog friends for a while now, I was so glad that we were finally able to meet in person. :)

On October 2nd, we spent the day watching some go-kart racing together. We also checked out this pretty beach:

Haley and I also got to meet Ruthie. Ruthie lives on Water St., where I visited earlier this summer. I didn't get to meet Ruthie then because she was out traveling herself - she even visited my school back in Virginia!

Ruthie arrived in time to accompany us on an apple-picking expedition on October 10th. Three traveling girls on an adventure together! How often does that happen? See the apple-picking album HERE.

On October 16th, Molly J., Ruthie, Haley, and I all got dressed up in Halloween costumes to attend the 20th annual Keene Pumpkin Festival in Keene, NH. Haley chose to dress as a 1950s girl in a cute kitty skirt while I opted to dress as a magician. Here we are in our costumes, and behind us, you can see the tall scaffold of lit jack-o-lanterns:

To see more pictures from the Pumpkin Fest, click HERE.

Also, the photo-story from the Star Valley Block Party that I attended is up over at Cherished Playtime! Check it out, if you have the time. Jess also has a web-show episode covering the event.

If you're up-to-date, I suspect you know that I've since moved on to a new host. I'll post about that soon. ;)

~Sophie

Mystic Seaport!

On Monday, September 27th, Marina and Liz took me to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT! It's a 19th century-inspired living history museum with ships and a village to explore.

Marina and I got to be pirates again!

Then Liz joined us for a pretty picture by a fountain. It's not a trip to Mystic Seaport without pictures by the water!

We also found a cannon to climb on - much like Traveling Ruthie did on her last visit to Star Valley. ;)

Here we are exploring the interior of a schooner called the Australia. Wouldn't it be fun to solve a mystery in a setting like this? Hmm, a nautical mystery...sounds intriguing!

Here I am on a carriage ride going around the seaport village. The horse's name was Xena! Boy am I reminded of a certain show about an infamous warrior princess...

Before we left, I got to sign the guestbook so that everyone knew that I, Traveling Sophie, had been to Mystic Seaport! Maybe future visitors will read that and come online to find my blog? Hey, since when did a little bit of shameless advertising hurt?!

Then Marina, Annie, and I headed to Mystic Aquarium to watch a sea lion show and see other cute marine animals...

...like these penguins!

To see the whole album, click HERE.

~Sophie

An addendum to my last post.

Salut!

Oh, les pirates! Some of you were a bit surprised by the fact that I like pirates enough to participate on Talk Like A Pirate Day - or Journée Internationale du Parler Pirate, as us French know le 19 septembre.

Bien sûr, I can't really say I'm all that obsessed with pirates. To be honest, I'd probably forget all about the significance of le 19 septembre if it wasn't for AGPT's more than subtle reminder. C'est le film s'appelle "Les Pirates des Caraïbes" que j'aime beaucoup. Johnny Depp comme un pirate est sexy, non?

But, anyway, I got to thinking about les pirates français - French pirates - and that led me to countless Google searches on the matter. How would les pirates français talk anyway? Is there a version of Pirate Speak en français? Would they just speak English and use the general Pirate Speak so many of us love? I mean, I know we French have our own chatspeak what with the rise of cellphones and texting (For instance, J'm can often be a shortened form of J'aime), so there's got to be a French version of Pirate Speak. Right? I've yet to find the answer.

I did find something pretty neat, though. Sabine, tu adores la chanteuse s'appelle Édith Piaf, oui? Admittedly, I haven't listened to her all that much (I know, I'm a bad French girl), but she sang a song called "Le Chant Du Pirate."

Et les paroles (en français naturellement) sont ICI.

Happy Listening!

And, if you should find anything about French pirates and if there is a French version of Pirate Speak, let me know. :)

~Sophie

Avast, me mateys, here's a pirate tale for ya!

Avast, me mateys! Bootlace Betsy here. Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, and if you didn't know that, save yourself the embarrassment and walk the plank already!

Aye, lassies, I've a real booty for ya today - a swashbucklin' tale that's sure to have ya shouting, "Shiver me timbers!" It's a tale landlubbers and privateers alike will take delight in, so kick off those shoes you nicked from that last ship you raided, grab some nice, cold grog, and enjoy!

Just click thar and follow the links to read:

Th' Legend o' Albus Hickleby!

Now, if ya'll excuse me, I'm off to parley with a scallywag y'all might otherwise know as Cap'n Jack Sparrow!

~Bootlace Betsy

Exploring NH, VT, and MA with the Star Valley crew!

Salut, mes amis!

Guesting on The Jessica McConnell Show wasn't the only fun thing I've gotten to do while visiting New Hampshire's own Star Valley.

My visit began with a trip to Weston, VT to see a musical called Marvelous Wonderettes at the Weston Playhouse. My new friends Molly (of Water St.), Sarah, and Peggy accompanied me, which was great fun since we all love theatre!

On August 16th, Gwen and Alison took me to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. Isn't the basketball-shaped building pretty cool looking?

We all thought this large basketball shoe was pretty neat, too:

Speaking of large basketball shoes, here I am as compared to one of Shaq's. Haha, either I am small or Shaq's feet are ginormous (or maybe it's a little bit of both)!

On August 29th, the town of Star Valley hosted their first annual block party. I was so excited that my visit had coincided nicely with the event that I convinced Sarah to dress in coordinating outfits with me. Here we are perusing crafts made by Molly M., Emily, Susan, and Linda at camp:

The block party consisted of a talent show, live entertainment by Peggy on her guitar, delicious baked goods, and - the best part - friends galore! Following the party, a dance was held because we were just having too much fun to quit. ;)

On August 30th, Sarah and Linda took me on another sightseeing trip. Our first stop: Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, MA! It was here that I got to missing Laura a bit because she's actually been to Deerfield - even if that was about eight or nine years ago now.

Barnard Tavern wasn't open, though, so no drinks for us, haha! So, we just walked around a bit, admiring the gorgeous historical buildings - even passing the Wilson Printing Office that was featured in the Pleasant Company AG Club handbook (Felicity's section).

I was particularly amazed by the many signs of autumn that I saw on my walk around Deerfield. The leaves were already beginning to turn orange, yellow, and red, and quite a few had already fallen to the ground. I guess I'm too used to the onset of autumn in late October/November, but I could easily get used to this, too. Oh please, Laura, can we move to New England? S'il vous plaît?

Feeling as bold as Felicity, Linda, Sarah, and I walked atop a fence a bit before walking through a real working farm and then looking at some old gravestones in the burial ground. Spooky, no?

Next stop: the Deerfield Yankee Candle Flagship store! It's sort of become a tradition for traveling guests to visit this store, and I didn't want to break tradition. ;)

We checked out some of the ornately dressed nutcrackers, met a bear searching for a frontier girl named Kirsten (haha), listened to some carolers, and took in a wonderful concert put on by the Rolling Bones. I even tried to befriend a knight, but unfortunately, he wasn't at all interested in me or what I had to say. Oh well!

On September 5th, I borrowed a pioneer dress and visited The Fort at No. 4 in Charlestown, NH, a living history museum teaching what it was like to live in an English colony in 1740.

Here is a bird's eye view of the Fort:

Sam and Liz accompanied me on this sightseeing trip.

We played with some Colonial toys - ring toss, a pretty doll that Sam is holding, Jacob's Ladder - and then checked out the rest of the Fort. Liz and I tried to do some weaving, but quickly gave up on that, LOL! We watched some re-enactors firing off a cannon, wishing that we had ear plugs all the while. We checked out an Algonquin wigwam and saw some birchbark canoes. We also went to the Colonial schoolroom where I wrote, "Sophie was here!" on a slate. :)

Just a pretty photo of me as a frontier girl! (Don't get any ideas, Laura, this is just a one-day thing! I'm too modern to become a permanent time-traveler!)

To see the entire album, click HERE.

Ton amie,

Sophie