"Shined" vs "Shone," the Devil Bird Revisited and Goodbye Australia

Some of you commented the other day that my kangaroo-loving daughter is a "chippette" off the old block when it comes to writing. I must say that her verbal acumen and execution are fierce, waaaay more better than I's. (Don't you just hate when people say that?)





Laser-like verbal skills are wonderful when you're a 22 year-old who loves your parents again, not so wonderful when you're a 14 year-old who's not so crazy about them. It was rough sailing for a while, but now the seas are calm. See? There are good points to your kids growing up!

She has a BA in English and wants to be an editor. So for graduation, one of the gifts I gave her is a white t-shirt that says:


"No passion in the world equals the passion to amend someone else's draft" HG Wells

It's written in red "ink," of course.

She liked it. Because I think it's literally true for her.

Here is one last short excerpt from her final message before leaving Australia. If you liked the "devil bird" comment in yesterday's email message, you will enjoy this.

Today we had a free day, so we all went to Manly Beach. And no, it's not a bodybuilder beach, which is what I thought it would be at first. The name still cracks me up--It is actually a really beautiful beach and the sun eventually shone today, so it was perfect.

Too cold to swim, though, and the beach had signs out warning people not to swim anyway. But the salt air smelled soooo good. I seriously would live at the beach every day if I could. The only thing I didn't like about the beach was the stupid seagulls. Those things are vicious and are pretty much disgusting.



Oh!!! Also, I ate crocodile pizza and emu pizza tonight. Be impressed. No kangaroo for me, though--I couldn't do it after feeding them and petting them. The crocodile kind of tasted like fishy chicken--very weird. The emu was pretty good, though, and I would eat it again. Plus the fact that I was eating the same type of devil bird that bit me didn't hurt.

Well, I can't believe that the baby whose sippy cup I filled 300 times per day is eating crocodile and emu, but I still can't wrap my mind around Martha Stewart going to prison and making prison ponchos, either, so I guess I just don't adapt easily.

By the way, are you wondering why she wrote "shone" instead of "shined?" If it emits light it's "shone," and if it's made shiny it's "shined." That's my girl!