Marigold

Hi, this is Summer again. :-)

My twin is named Marigold.

I was eager to read her letter, but the first thing I did was look at the signature. I wanted to know her name. I felt like once I knew it, I would feel more of a connection to her. Her name is Marigold, and her handwriting is a lot like mine.

Evidence also suggests that our biological parents were hippies. I mean, Summer and Marigold? They must have liked nature names. So comparing what they named the two of us, I feel like I know them a little better, too.

The letter was pretty basic. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed like maybe she was cautious because she wasn't sure how I'd react.

She wrote:


Dear Summer,


This is your twin sister, Marigold. I bet it's pretty surprising to you to hear that you had a twin all of a sudden. I hope you aren't too upset about it, because I'd like to get to know you.


I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself. We're fraternal twins, so I don't look exactly like you. I still live in Toronto. I like school, and my favourite subjects are English and Science, especially Botany. I also like gardening as a hobby, and I love to raise flowers. I also like to write and read, and I take dance classes.


I hope that someday we can meet. I'd like to get to know my twin sister. Hope to talk to you soon!


Love,
Marigold




She also gave me her address and her e-mail. I'm so excited to talk to her! She said twice that she has "hope" that we can get to know each other, and I definitely hope for that too. I sent her an e-mail right away, telling her about myself.

There's one thing I'm not sure of, though. How do I tell her I'm a shapeshifter? She probably is too, right? I mean, she's my twin, even if we're fraternal. But... what if she isn't? What if she thinks I'm either crazy or lying? I don't want to wreck this reunion before it even starts...

Love,
Summer

Recognition

Hi, this is Clare. It's been a busy few days for us. We've had school (well, homeschool lessons, in my case) and Blakeney, Bree, and Summer got home from their trip and are settling back in. It's good to have the whole family together again! We all missed each other while we were apart.

The other busy part is, of course, the other vampire. It sounds weird to call her that, but she wouldn't tell us her name. (We actually found it out, but I'll get to that.) Once she woke up from the tranquilizers, she started talking, but it wasn't much of a conversation. Just that she wanted us to let her go, and she was thirsty.

I took care of the thirsty part - I brought her blood to drink - but it never seemed like enough for her. I remember those days, when I always felt I needed more. She'll get over that. I don't think she's been a vampire for very long, so her body is still adjusting.

Letting her go, though, is not an option. For one thing, she would kill people. She says she wouldn't, and she wouldn't even want to, but she has no control of herself at all at this point. She tried to eat Evelyn on the second day, and didn't seem aware enough to even try to stop herself. (Fortunately she's still restrained, and couldn't reach poor Ev.) For another thing... as far as we know, she has nowhere else to go. There are vampire hunters after her, and possibly other vampires. She can't just go back to her normal life. I think on some level, she realizes this, but it's hard for her to admit it to herself.

We've been taking turns spending time with her... talking to her and reading to her, and just being there so she isn't alone. It's hard to tell if she's doing any better. Felicity does the best at calming her down - using her power - but it's a lot of work and it doesn't last very long. I think she just needs time to adjust, like I did last year when I was turned. At least, unlike me when I was newly turned, she has nice people taking care of her, rather than cruel other vampires who will teach her bad things. I think that will make it easier.

We have made progress in one area, though; we know her name! Felicity had been sitting with her, and when I came to take my turn, she said, "By the way, her name is Tabitha [Last Name]. Maybe calling her that will help."

"Oh, she finally said?" She had to have said, I assumed, because we don't have anyone in our family who can read minds. Kaya can feel what other people are feeling, but a name is a piece of information, not an emotion - so we have no way of finding that out using our powers.

Felicity shook her head. "I remember her. From before. It took a few days for me to recognize her, because she looks so different now. We - me, Kirsten, Molly, Charissa, and Bree - used to play with her when we were little kids. She lived next door to our grandparents, with her elderly relatives who were related to us, too. Last time I saw her was December of last year, and she seemed fine then. You know, normal. I don't mean 'normal,' I mean..."

I chuckled. "You mean, not a vampire?"

Felicity nodded, blushing bright red and embarrassed for kind of calling me abnormal. Which is perfectly fair - I am definitely not normal. Felicity continued, though. "Yeah, and... not feral and injured. When we saw her ten months ago, she was just a regular girl. But her relatives started having health problems, and couldn't take care of her. I'm not sure where she went to live after that."

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but this is similar to my own story. My grandmother who was raising me died, and I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle, who kicked me out when their sons abused me. I was homeless and living on the streets when I became a vampire. It could just be by chance that Tabitha had a background so much like mine... kids with attentive parents can't just disappear to become vampires, so for young ones like us, odds are that the ball got dropped by someone in terms of our care... but I wondered if there was a deeper connection because of the details that were the same. I mentioned it to my sisters later, but at the time I just said, "Thanks. It's good to know."

It really was good. It didn't make a huge amount of difference, of course. Tabitha isn't just magically fine now. I think it helped, though. I don't think it's just my imagination that she seemed to pay a little more attention to what I was saying when I used her name, or that she seemed just a little bit reassured that there were people involved in this who were nice to her in the past. It's not huge, but it's something. And we'll take anything we can get.

Love,
Clare

(Our) Interview with the Vampire

So, one of our favourite things to do when we get a new family member is to interview them. (We've done so twice so far - Bree was the first, then Fiona.) Clare isn't technically a member of our family in any legal sense, and she hasn't even promised to stay for the long term, but for now she feels like a surrogate sister. We wanted to interview her, and after days of pleading and bugging her, she finally agreed.

Clare said each of us could ask her a question, and she'd answer it for the blog. After a little more begging, she said she'd answer questions from readers, too! So if there's anything you're dying to know about Clare, leave a comment, and she says she'll answer... as long as she's not revealing anything "too dangerous." Whatever that means.

So here's the interview...

And the New Neighbours Visit

Hey there! This is Bree.

As we mentioned yesterday, tonight our new neighbours came over to visit. We originally were going to have them over for supper, but they were busy then, so they stopped by later. It was actually warm enough that we could sit out on our (rather tiny) deck for a little while and enjoy the dusk, before moving inside. 

We got to know them a little better sitting together and chatting than we did yesterday hefting furniture. We really like them!

Inna is Russian, like we thought. Well, originally, at least. She hasn't lived there since she was a kid. She has a little bit of an accent but her English is pretty much perfect. (Probably better than mine, and I don't speak anything else!) Inna is an art historian, and she came here to work at the provincial museum. She has really interesting stories about traveling for her job! Overall she's the most talkative of the sisters. Inna said maybe she can teach us to speak Russian. That would be really neat.

Maia is the shyest, even though she's an adult like Inna. She was born in Canada but her parents were from Rwanda. She seems really nice, even though she didn't talk much. Maia is a math teacher, and she applied for a job at Fiona and Evelyn's school, so they may be seeing each other there too. (It's hard for me to imagine anyone liking math! But Maia says she likes it a lot.)

Summer loves to write and read, so she has things in common with me and Josefina and Felicity... but she also loves horses like Evelyn! Summer actually knows how to ride horses. She takes lessons. I think Evelyn is going to start hinting to take lessons, too, once she gets her cast off her arm. Ev had fun talking to Summer about horse stuff.

Kiwi is really funny. She loves to tell jokes. She does gymnastics, and was showing us her tumbling routines in the yard. (Good thing we clean up after our dog or she could have gotten a nasty surprise!) She and Fiona seemed to really hit it off. They're the same age and they're both natural born performers. In their eyes they're both stars!

So, those are our new neighbours. Tomorrow night they're coming over again. Inna and Maia are going to watch Grey's Anatomy at our house with us teens and our guardian, and the younger girls are coming to play. Should be fun! It's cool that we're making new friends!

Love,

Bree

Interview With Fiona

Our last interview - with Bree - seemed pretty popular with our readers, so we're doing it again! This time, we're interviewing our newnew sister Fiona. (Bree is our oldnew sister now, I guess?) Like before, we tried to each stick to one question. I guess we're rebels, though. ;-)

On to the interview...

Kirsten: How did you feel when you found out you were coming to live with us?

Fiona: Excited, I guess. And nervous. I wanted to be with Bree, but it was far away, and I wasn't sure if the rest of you would be nice.

Kirsten: Are we?

Fiona: Yeah, I like you girls.


Felicity: What was your favourite part of the trip here?


Fiona: Taking the ferry. I've never been on such a big boat before. I think it would have been more fun in the summer so I could go outside, but I liked looking out the window.

Bree: Are you still a picky eater like you used to be?

Fiona: I'm not picky! I just... don't like very many things. It's not my fault not many foods taste good.

[Bree sticks out her tongue; Fiona makes a face]


Josefina: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Fiona: Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Ireland is where my ancestors mostly came from, and Scotland and Wales would be interesting and fun. I'd like to see standing stones and maybe some fairies.

Felicity: Did you know that in the British Isles people sometimes eat--

Bree: She reeeeally doesn't need to know that! Ever.

Felicity: You don't even know what I was going to say!

Bree: If it wasn't potatoes or noodles, she'll just say "Ew!" Don't put her off world travel prematurely.


Molly: Fiona, would you rather freeze to death or be burned alive?

Bree: She asked me that too. She's harmless, don't worry.

Molly: Mostly harmless, you mean. So, to answer the question...?

Fiona: Fire.

Molly: Really? No one ever chooses fire!

Kirsten: Then why to do you keep asking, Molly, if people always answer the same way...?

Fiona: That was just my first impulse of which to say, I guess. People have always said I'm like a fire. I think the worst way would be drowning.


Kaya: If the laws of trespassing were suspended for one day, where would you go?

Fiona: A Broadway theatre on a day it's closed. I'd go on stage, even though it was empty. And I'd sing, just for me.


Charissa: Do you have a secret hidden talent no one knows about?

Fiona: Yeah, I can balance spoons on my hand.

Molly: Um, balancing one flat thing on another flat thing really isn't that difficult...

Fiona: No, with the spoon standing up. Like this.

[Fiona demonstrates; the girls are suitably impressed]


Molly: Wow, that's really cool, actually!


Evelyn: What do you wish you knew how to do, but you don't?

Fiona: Play a musical instrument. Especially the trombone.

Evelyn: Why the trombone?

Fiona: I don't know. I just like it. I guess the way they do the slide and stuff, it seems like a full performance, rather than just sitting there playing.


Kirsten: Now traditionally, at the end of the interview...

Bree: You mean having done this once before...?

Kirsten: Whatever. It's a new tradition. At the end of the interview, the interviewee gets to ask us one question back.

Fiona: I've been wondering, ever since I came to Canada and moved in with you...

Felicity: Yes?

Fiona: What is "hydro"?

All: Electricity.

Fiona: Weird.




And that concludes our interview! As always, stay tuned for more of all of us - including Fiona - here in the future! ;-)

Love,
The Now Nine Green Girls

Don't you have parents?

We get asked this sometimes - not on the blog yet, but by people we know. Do we have parents? Why do we call the person we live with our guardian instead? Is our living situation permanent?

The answer to the first part is that yes, we all have biological parents, obviously, just like everyone else. Some of us have or had good relationships with them - like Josefina, whose mother died - and some of us don't. We don't live with them, though. For different reasons, none of our original families remained intact. Now we live with our guardian.

Why don't we call our guardian our mother? There are several reasons. For one thing, we were all old enough when we came here that we had strong memories of our biological parents - and for some of us, bad associations with all things parental - and we didn't necessarily want new ones. She gave us a choice, and this is what we chose, knowing she would love us either way. For another, our guardian isn't that much older than us. She's an adult and we're minors, but the age difference isn't huge - she was not even a teenager yet when the oldest of us were born. Lastly, the four of us who came here first (Kirsten, Felicity, Molly, and Charissa) already knew her as a relative rather than a mother long before we moved in, and the girls who came later just kind of followed suit.

Is our living situation permanent? Yes. All of us are here as legal adoptions or permanent legal guardianships. Our home is as permanent as someone who lives with a parent. We just choose to call our guardian by her first name instead. This isn't what would work for everyone, but it does for us.

Sometimes it sets us apart or makes people think we're weird. But if it wasn't this, it would be something else that made us odd. No one - and no family - is exactly like another. Our family isn't conventional, but that's OK. We are a family, no matter what.

Love,
The Green Girls

About Fiona

Hi, this is Bree again. You guys are going to be sick of hearing from me. I'm doing another entry for a couple of reasons. For one thing, this is an intro for my sister Fiona, and I'm the only one who has actually met her. For another... I like blogging. It's relaxing. ;-)

For those who don't know my whole story, Fiona is my biological sister, but we didn't live in the same home very much because our parents split up. Eventually Fiona ended up in foster care because my mother wasn't doing a good job looking after her and didn't keep her safe. Since then I've gotten to visit her once and talked to her on the phone a few times.

When plans were first made for me to move here, Blakeney didn't even know that Fiona existed, because she was born after our families lost contact. Once I told her about Fiona, she said she would try to get custody of her too. Social services agreed. A couple of days ago, we were notified that Fiona will be placed here within the next couple of weeks. (Government bureaucracy stuff is always slow, though, especially between countries.) I'm really excited... but I'm nervous, too. What if she doesn't like me anymore? Am I a bad sister for not knowing her better than I do?

Here's what I do know: She's a great kid. She likes playing with dolls and stuffed animals, and jumping rope. Her favorite thing on the school playground is the jungle gym. Fiona likes to sing, and she's always the star of her school plays, unlike her stage-shy older sister. She's really smart and a lot of fun to be around.

Fiona has some problems, too. It's harder to talk about the bad stuff than the good stuff, but I'm sure it'll come up at some point and we don't want anyone to be surprised. She has biopolar disorder, like our mom. She takes medication but sometimes she still has trouble. Fiona has also been through some pretty tough situations - especially for her age - so she acts out sometimes.

I hope she'll do OK here. I hope the other girls will like her. I hope all my sisters - adopted and biological - can be one big family. I don't have that long to wait, now...

Love,
Bree

Interview With Bree

Hello, readers! Today we're going to interview our new sister, Bree. Each of us are going to ask her one question. (Well, that was the plan, it didn't turn out quite like that.) Once we're done, hopefully you'll know her a little better.

So, on to the interview!

Kirsten: Hello to our new sister. What's your name?

Bree: You're seriously going to waste your question on that? Bree.

Kirsten: That one doesn't count. Okay, here's a better one: Why are you named Bree?

Bree: Yeah, that one is better. I'm named Bree because my parents were in a phase of being obsessed with Lord of the Rings when my mom was pregnant. I was actually moments from being named Pippin on my birth certificate when wiser heads prevailed. Bree, as well as being a village in the fictional world of Middle Earth, is an anglicized version of the Irish name Brigh. I think my parents didn't know that at the time, but I'm actually glad. Anyone who can read can pronounce Bree. I would rather not go through life being called "brig" all the time.

Felicity: My turn now. Have you chosen your future career yet?

Bree: Um... no... actually. I'd like to make a really amazing film, or write a really amazing book. I've thought about studying psychology or becoming a librarian. Maybe I'll just do a little bit of everything.

Kaya: What are your favourite book, movie, and television show?

Bree: Wicked for book, Labyrinth for movie. The Princess Bride for both book and movie, also. Buffy, Torchwood, and Doctor Who for TV.

Kaya: Then I've finally found a TV buddy...

Molly: The Princess Bride isn't a book!

Several of the Girls: Yes it is!

Kirsten: It wouldn't kill you to crack a book from time to time, Molly. Then you might know these things.

Felicity: So, moving on...

Josefina: Which countries have you visited, and which to you want to visit?

Bree: I've only been in the United States and Canada. I'd love to travel, though. I'd like to see India. I've heard it's beautiful there, and the culture is fascinating. I'd also like to see Paris and Madrid.

Charissa: Blakeney says we need to go to Italy within the next ten years.

Bree: Why Italy, and why the ten-year timeframe?

Charissa: Because she read an article about how a lot of Italian art and architecture treasures could be lost within ten years. Like Pompeii could be totally gone!

Bree: How are we going to break it to her that we're almost two thousand years too late to save Pompeii?

Josefina: *laughs* Not the actual village itself! The archaeological site is deteriorating because it isn't being preserved.


Bree: Oh. Okay, sure, Italy. As long as Blakeney is paying, I'll go.

Molly: Next question. Would you rather freeze to death or be burned alive?

Bree: What? Do you ask everyone that, or should I be watching my back?

Felicity: She pretty much asks everyone that.

Bree: Okay, um... freeze to death, I guess. It's less dramatic, but it sounds more peaceful.

Kirsten: When we were kids, we read an article in a magazine about kids who froze to death in a blizzard in the 1800's. It was like they were going to sleep.

Bree: Huh? What kind of children's magazine would publish a story like that?

Felicity: That would be the American Girl Magazine, actually.

Bree: Wow, you people had a strange childhood...

Charissa: My turn now! What do you think will be the best part and the hardest part of being in our family?

Bree: I think the best part will be us all sticking up for each other. Well, I'll stick up for you, and then you'll feel morally obligated to stick up for me back, in theory. The hardest part... only having one bathroom, I guess?

Evelyn: Who do you like better, Superman or Batman?

Bree: Neither. I like the X-Men. They seem to have more fun. Okay, now I get to ask a question. What do you think is the most crucial thing I need to do to fit into your family?

Kirsten: You have to be able to use Simon & Garfunkel lyrics in casual conversation. How about it?

Bree: Well, I'd rather be a spider than a snail...

Kirsten: Alright, you're in! No, seriously, the most important thing is that we're all totally loyal to each other, even when we argue. Is that cool?

Bree: Absolutely!

And that concludes our interview. :-)

Look for more postings with our new sister Pippin (My name isn't Pippin! ~B) on our blog in the future!

Love,
The Eight Green Girls

Our Favourites

Just for fun... a list of our favourite things! :-) Bree and Fiona sent their answers too.






Book


Kirsten: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray

Bree: Wicked, Gregory Maguire

Felicity: The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Josefina: Poetry 180, selected by Billy Collins

Molly: Macbeth, Shakespeare (technically a play but whatever! ~M)

Kaya: Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech

Charissa: Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

Fiona: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket

Evelyn: Harry Potter Series, J. K. Rowling




Movie

Kirsten: The Manchurian Candidate

Bree: Labyrinth

Felicity: Lord of the Rings

Josefina: In America

Molly: What Dreams May Come

Kaya: The Star Trek movies

Charissa: Tangled


Fiona: Lilo & Stitch

Evelyn: The Princess and the Frog

TV Show

Kirsten: BBC News

Bree: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Felicity: Iron Chef America

Josefina: Underworld Histories

Molly: Project Runway

Kaya: Dr. Who

Charissa: That's So Raven


Fiona: Wizards of Waverly Place

Evelyn: Dora the Explorer

Holiday

Kirsten: St. Patrick's Day

Bree: Halloween

Felicity: Christmas Eve

Josefina: Cinco de Mayo

Molly: Halloween

Kaya: Summer Solstice

Charissa: Halloween

Fiona: April Fools Day

Evelyn: Christmas

Things about us that are different

Do you have things about you that are different? Disabilities, diseases, disorders? Some of the girls in our family do. It's not the main focus of our lives, and that's why most of the time we blog about other things - usually there's just not much to say about it. We wanted to share this, though, in case some of you can relate.

Molly has what is currently known as Asperger Syndrome. (The reason for this phrasing is that the next edition of the DSM, in 2013, may eliminate Asperger's as a diagnosis and include it in the broader diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders.) Basically, her brain works a little differently from other people's, and some social stuff is harder for her. It also makes her very focused on her interests, particularly art in her case. Molly is what's called "high functioning." She goes to a regular school - actually she's in the gifted program - and participates in activities with her classmates. Sometimes people ask if Molly has friends; yes, she does. She has some extra challenges but for the most part she's just like any other girl her age.

Molly also has an eye disease called Keratoconus. The causes aren't known for sure but it's believed to be genetic. Basically, it's a degenerative disease of the cornea. She's going to need to get special contact lens, and someday she may need corneal transplants if it gets more serious.

Charissa has a hearing impairment. She is not profoundly deaf; she has some hearing. She does have to read lips in conversations, though. Charissa also has some minor learning disabilities, so she has to work harder in school to keep up.

Kaya is lactose intolerant so she has to avoid eating too much dairy. Not a big deal.

The other thing you've probably figured out is that a lot of us have some traumatic things in our past. That's kind of part and parcel of being foster kids. Most of us go to therapy to deal with that stuff. Like we said, it doesn't control our lives. It's part of who we are... but definitely not the total!

We don't want to keep this stuff secret because we don't think people should be ashamed. There's nothing wrong with being different. :-)

Love,
The Green Girls

So what's the deal with you people, anyway?

Now that you know how we got our name, we'd like to tell you a little about our family.

There used to be just four of us. Kirsten came first, then Felicity, Molly, and Charissa. Along the way, we moved to a new home, found out some family secrets, and even found a half-sister we didn't know we had lost! (The details of this are probably another post for another day.) It turned out this lost sister, Josefina, needed a place to live, so she came to live with us!

We were afraid it was going to be weird going from four to five, because we'd all been together our whole lives and Josefina was new. (And by no means a new baby!) It wasn't weird, though. It was actually so much fun that we decided we wanted our family to get even bigger.

Pretty soon, we decided to become a foster family, so we could have more kids living with us. Evelyn was the first who came, and now she's adopted into our family. Then came Kaya. Kaya is American Indian so the rules for custody were different, but now our family are her guardians. It's a different word, but it means the same thing... we're all sisters now!

Do we have a big enough family? We don't think so. But families can't grow all at once. As time goes by, we'll have more people living here that we can love. (Actually, we may have a "surprise" soon; we'll keep you posted!) For now, we're having fun day-to-day. Sometimes things get pretty chaotic here, and sometimes we fight, but at the end of the day, we're sisters... and we couldn't be closer.

Love,
Felicity (see, Kirsten isn't the only one who can use the blog!) and Sisters

Why do we call ourselves the Green Girls?

It's not because we're so very environmental... although it's cool to care about the environment too!

We call ourselves the Green family because we're kids and we don't want to post our real last name online. Green is our group pseudonym. It's way easier than being called "Anonymous" all the time!

We chose "Green" because the person we live with who made this blog for us uses the internet name Blakeney Green. It's a reference to the musical version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and is a joke about the secret identity of the elusive Pimpernel. Blakeney Green sounds like a name, though, so we decided to use it for our whole family.

P.S. You should still be green and recycle!

Love,
Kirsten (and Sisters)

New Digs!

Hello and welcome to our brand new blog!

We've never done this before, so it's a bit of an experience, and certainly a work in progress.

We can't promise constant updates, because we're busy with school, friends, and activities. If you check back now and then, though, you'll have a windows into our lives and stories.

Glad to see you, and hope to see you again!

Love,
The Green Girls