On My Mind: New Blog Header!

Hello, Friends!

I just got a new header, new font, and new picture. This amazing formatting was done by my dad's cousin's husband. I am so grateful for it! The picture was modified from a picture I drew with a silver pen. The pen is all one line.

Which do you like better: the old header or the new one?

Enjoy the new blog, Adventurers.

Spruce Nogard

Writing: Genre of the Month: Portal Fantasy

Hello, Friends! 

Portal fantasy is this month's genre. Portal fantasy, if you don't know, is fantasy that uses a portal to take you into a parallel world. To learn more, visit Lands Uncharted and read Erin's post “What is Fantasy?” here. Portal Fantasy would include: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (the portal would be the wardrobe), the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (Platform 9 3/4), The Magic Tree House series (the tree house) by Mary Pope Osborne, and

many more. I love the first three Chronicles of Narnia (in the order they were written), I love the first three to four-ish Harry Potter books, and I absolutely loved The Magic Tree House series when I was little, although I haven't read all of them.

Portal Fantasy is so fun, because it makes you think of things, whole worlds, even, that are lying in wait just around the corner. . . Of things yet to be discovered. . .Of what ifs. . .

What are you reading that's portal fantasy? Do you like portal fantasy? Do you have any good recommendations? Leave comments below!

Spruce Nogard

Attributions:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QMLHUG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

https://pixabay.com/en/train-station-universal-studios-724090/

Creative Complex: Character Constructing: Evil Villain

It's Character Time! Every fourth Wednesday of the month, there will be a Character Time, where you are given limited information about a character, and must create the rest of the character. 

Here's what I mean: Today, the character is a villain who is malicious and power-hungry. However, he/she is a risk taker and impulsive. Create the rest of him/her. You can just create her/his: physical appearance, setting, (fantastical, realistic, etc.), back story, or as much or as little as you want. 

Some questions to get you started are: What might be impacted by his/her impulsive nature? Are there any advantages to being a risk taker? Disadvantages? 

Have fun!

Spruce Nogard 

Attributions: https://pixabay.com/en/eyes-devil-evil-demonic-looking-151201/

On My Mind: Cosmetic Plastic Surgery

Greetings, Travelers!

Today, cosmetic plastic surgery for teens is on my mind. I had to research it for science. Cosmetic plastic surgery alters one's physical features to look more desirable. This does not include plastic surgery used to fix a medical issue (like a cleft palate). Sometimes, this improves self-esteem and reduces stress. However, cosmetic plastic surgery can have serious consequences. People sometimes don't realize the risks, and if they do, they sometimes disregard them.

Also, many scientists and psychologists believe there is a void of long-term studies on cosmetic plastic surgery. Because of this, people are not fully aware of the risks and benefits of cosmetic plastic surgery.

Furthermore, what I find most interesting is people believe teenagers who undergo cosmetic plastic surgery have an increase in self-esteem, but studies show teenagers' self-esteem increases over time even without cosmetic plastic surgery. So, with a little patience, teens can be confident their self-esteem will improve without medical procedures.

Here's another thing: our society loves perfection. Society tells us: “If you're not perfect, you aren't worth anything. If you're not perfect, you don't matter.” This bothers me because it is a complete lie. Have any of you read the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer? Especially Winter, the last in the series? If you have, you'll understand why being perfect is not essential to society, given Lunar society. (If you haven't read the books, go read them. They're amazing.) Why is being “perfect” so essential in our society?

Being perfect only makes us untouchable to those who really matter.

Spruce Nogard

Attributions:

Some of this research came from a paper I did for Honors Anatomy and Physiology in 2016. 

https://pixabay.com/en/flower-red-weed-lonely-imperfect-765921/

Resources:

http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep05/surgery.aspx

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/teen-plastic-surgery-peaks-heading-back-school-rticle-1.2335968

http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/teens-cosmetic-surgery/

Recipes: Orange Drop Cookies

Hello, Friends!

Today is Recipe day, so here is the first recipe I will share with you. I got this recipe online at http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-drop-cookies-191691, if you want to view the original recipe.

These are Orange Drop Cookies. I made these at the end of March, when people needed something to cheer them up. We all really liked them. They are more cake-like and soft than the traditional “chocolate chip” kind of cookie. Here are pictures of mine:

Have you made these before? Do you like orange? Did you like them?

Ingredients

Yield 48 cookies Units US

• 2 cups flour
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking powder
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
• ²⁄₃ cup butter, softened
• ³⁄₄ cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• ¹⁄₂ cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons orange zest grated
• ¹⁄₂ cup nuts, chopped or ¹⁄₂ cup raisins or ¹⁄₂ cup chocolate chips, optional
  

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400F/200°C.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In another large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar and egg thoroughly. Stir in orange juice and rind.
4. Sift dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend together.
5. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes or until delicately browned on edges.
7. Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
   

By the way, in step 3, once you mix the butter, sugar, and egg, and add the orange juice, the orange juice doesn't really blend well with the butter-sugar-egg mixture. However, everything turns out once you add the dry ingredients. :)

Spruce Nogard

Sources: http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-drop-cookies-191691

Genre of the Month: Science Fiction

Hello, Future! Here we come!

Hi, everyone. This month, our genre is Science Fiction, or sci-fi. Sci-fi, if you haven't heard of it, is set in the future and has technology we don't have today. For example, in Back to the Future 2 (it's a fun movie), there are flying cars. Even though at the time the movie was made there weren't flying cars, they used science to make flying cars theoretically possible. Also, sci-fi may have new problems, related to the technological advances or not. An example of this is Ray Bradbury's story "The Murderer." (If you want to read the story, click here.)

I haven't read much sci-fi, but I have read The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, which are amazing. You should go read them right now. I shall have to post about them sometime.

On a different note, it is debatable whether Star Wars and Star Trek count as sci-fi, for various reasons. Some people believe they are science fiction because they include technological advances proved by science we do not have today (like such amazing spaceships). However, they aren't true sci-fi because they include other races that don't actually exist (jawas, vulcans, etc.) and aren't theoretically possible. Sometimes, they also include more fantasy-like elements like the Force. This is called science-fantasy.

However, if you want, you can call them sci-fi anyways (just don't confuse people about what sci-fi is).

What have you been reading/watching in science fiction lately? Do you like science fiction?

Live long and prosper.

Spruce Nogard

Sources:

http://www.gdhsenglish.com/thompson/assets/pdfs/ENG3U1%20pdf's/Short%20Stories/The-Murderer.pdf

Attributions:

http://www.amazon.com/Cinder-Lunar-Chronicles-Book-1-ebook/dp/B005KJJ4F8/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1461190656&sr=1-6&keywords=scarlet+marissa+meyer 
https://pixabay.com/en/alien-greeting-hello-long-life-1292972/ 
https://pixabay.com/en/graffiti-spock-leonard-nimoy-1015952/

Adventure in the Rain

Welcome to Creative Complexes! This is where you get to practice your writing and imagination skills. I will give you a writing prompt, and whether you choose to write a story about it, think about it, talk about it, or find images online about it, is up to you. Have fun!

A girl in a black cloak walks up to you on a rainy, dreary, day. What happens next? Challenge: write as if you were writing a professional story.

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: https://pixabay.com/en/stockholm-rainy-day-town-747528/

Dragons: Dragon Basics

For the first Dragons post, I am assuming you all have a basic idea of what dragons are, and what they do, unlike Eustace at the beginning of Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. However, many of you probably don't know that depending on who you talk to, what books you read, and even folklore you hear of, dragons will be different.

Let's start way before any modern authors' perceptions of dragons: with legends. The legend of St. George the Dragon-slayer has been around for centuries, and is probably where we get the idea of a knight rescuing a princess from a dragon. The story varies from telling to telling, but basically a dragon who was terrorizing a city was offered someone to eat daily so he wouldn't destroy the whole city. Then, the king's daughter got chosen to be offered to the dragon, and the king was devastated. Somehow (depending on version), Saint George came, killed the dragon and rescued the princess. In this case, dragons are evil creatures that like to terrorize people and eat princesses. This is one view of dragons, but dragons can be much more versatile. We will see this when we look at other authors'/people's views of dragons, and even some of my views of dragons. 

Also, in medieval times, dragons were viewed as signs of the devil, which is why there are so many stories of evil dragons.

 

Also, to end this post, please, I beg of you, Google search “dragons,” click on images, and just scroll through all the pictures. I cannot reproduce any of those ones here because they are copyrighted, and I could get fined a ton of money if I did put them on here, so I'm sorry, but please scroll through at least some dragon pictures. 

*By the way, some of them are a little disturbing, and some are slightly inappropriate, so again, sorry, but you can just skip those ones.

Have fun, dear Friends, finding the dragons of the world on the breath of a Dragon's wing.

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: https://pixabay.com/en/fantasy-dragon-sky-reptile-1183666/

On My Mind: About

Hello, Wanderers.

Here, we shall wander, talking about whatever we're thinking about. For example, I may talk about movies, or something that I see as unfair, or anything that crosses my mind.

Dare to wander here, Friends.

Spruce Nogard

Recipes: About

Cooks and Chefs, and anyone who loves to cook, join me!

Share recipes here, and I will share some with you. The recipes may have to do with a holiday, a season, or just be random. Also, I shall indeed include foods from books!

Friends, believe in the wonders of good food!

Spruce Nogard

Gardening: About

Hello, Gnomes, Hobbits, and other Creatures who love to garden, my Friends.

Gardening is a relaxing, tiring pasttime, and I love it. Here, however, I may share occasional gardening tips with you, but there is an unlimited supply of that same information on the web in many places, so this is mostly a place to share about our gardens and plants. There are many different types of gardens, as you Friends know, but I prefer vegetable and herb gardens. I love flower gardens, and fairy gardens, and other types of gardens, but I will be posting about vegetable gardens.

May we have delicious delicacies to munch on over the year!

Spruce Nogard

Dragons: About

My Friends, and Friends of Dragons, and all other Fantastical Creatures,

Dragons!!!!!!!!!! Dragons are amazing, and I will be talking about dragons a lot here, so prepare yourselves. Also, they are, in a sense, what this blog is named after, so you can guess how important they are to me.

The "Dragons" section is going to cover many views of dragons, from medieval times, and different cultures' views to various authors' views of dragons. 

I hope you learn to love dragons like I do.

Spruce Nogard

Books: About

Greetings, Travelers.

Books are amazing. My lovely Travelers, there is much more to books than just paper between two covers. Here, you shall find

Fairy-Tales, a place where you are welcome to join a group discussion about odd or unusual fairy-tales,

My Favorites, where I share with you some of the wondrous books I have read,

and

Genre of the Month, my brief explanation of a genre, and then we all share book recommendations in that genre.

Explore dangerous waters here, my Friends.

Spruce Nogard

Writing: About

Hello, Friends, and soon-to-be Friends.

In the "Writing" section, you will see a variety of posts. This is where you can find:

Creative Complexes, a chance for you to share your imagination through writing with the rest of us,

My Writing, where I share my stories, poems, and other writing with you,

and

Mental Library, a place where we find information about writing, play with it, and file it away in our mental library.

As always, enjoy your time here!

Spruce Nogard

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing Poem

This is a poem I wrote a while ago, and I still absolutely love it. This poem is the blog's namesake.

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing,

A story was once told.

A story of longing,

A story of old.

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing,

A dragon was born.

It's mother was neglected,

The baby was forlorn.

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing,

A story was once told.

Here is that story,

Let it be your mold.

Everything has a purpose,

So heed the words you read.

Let them help your troubles,

Let them help your needs.

The dragon's wing is soft,

And its rider sings.

So be comforted young ones,

On the Breath of a Dragon's Wing.

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: https://pixabay.com/en/silhouette-landscape-castle-dragon-240965/