Summer Fun ;-)

Hey, this is Summer. You know, the were-cat next door. ;-) I couldn't resist the stupid pun title.

This is my first time writing for the blog, but the Greens are trying to get me and Kiwi to start contributing. I really like to write, so I'm going to give it a try. (I normally write poetry and short stories, but blogging can't be that different, right?) Maybe I'll start writing regularly, too.

So let's see, what should I say about myself? I'm twelve years old, and I go to the same school as Molly, although she's one grade higher than me so we don't have classes together. Like I said before, I love to write and read. My favourite class is Language Arts. I really like math and science too, though.

I also really love riding horses! I don't have a horse of my own, but I've taken riding lessons for two years. I like to do horse shows, and I've won a bunch of ribbons. Since I don't have my own horse, I show the school horse I ride in my lessons.

Some of you may know this already, but most horses have a "stable name" and a "show name." The stable name is what the horse is called normally, and it's usually something pretty simple. It doesn't have to be unique, although usually there wouldn't be two horses with the same stable name at the same barn because it would be confusing. The show name is usually longer and more complicated and fancy, and it's more unique to that horse; usually it's made of the show names of that horse's dam and sire (that means its mom and dad.)

The horse I show is called Blossom. That's her stable name, so it's what I normally call her. She's a mare (an adult female) and she is twelve years old. She likes to jump and go fast, and she doesn't always listen very well, but we're used to each other now. Her show name is Tea Rose Garden.

Besides writing and riding horses, I also really love yoga! It's very relaxing. I practice almost every day, and if I'm feeling stressed there's nothing I like more than pulling out my yoga mat and doing a few poses. It keeps me sane sometimes.

The Greens have talked about my background a little in other posts, but here's a recap with a few more details:

I was born in Toronto. I'm biracial; my father was black and my mother was white. I say "was" because they had a lot of problems and couldn't take care of me, so I ended up in foster care when I was a baby, and I'm not really sure who my biological parents are or if they're still alive. I hope they're doing well and got their lives together. I think about them sometimes. Because of my dual heritage I have curls and amber eyes, which is kind of different and cool.

I was adopted when I was about a year old. It wasn't long before they realized I have a little "problem" though... I periodically turn into a cat. Not joking. I'm a were-cat. Or something. I knew I was different, and I sometimes didn't behave very well because I had trouble dealing with that. Anyway, it was too much for my adoptive family, and they decided to dissolve the adoption and stop being my parents when I was seven years old. So I went back to foster care. Again.

That turned out to be pretty good for me, though, because I ended up in a foster home with Kiwi and Maia, back before Maia was an adult. Maia aged out of foster care and got custody of me and Kiwi, because by then we were all really close.

It's nice to have a family that really loves me and understands me. And I include the Greens in that. We're all one big family now. That has been really cool, suddenly having so many surrogate sisters!

So, that's me. Summer. Wow, that was a long post! You probably know more about me than you want to, now. You'll probably see me blogging more in the future, too. ;-)

Love,
Summer

Six Months

This is the six month anniversary of our blog! Wow, can you believe that? A lot has changed in that time:

1.) There are two new sisters in the family, Bree and Fiona.

2.) Our neighbours became friends, then more like family. We found out they have some secrets, but we love them in spite of it.

3.) We met Clare, learned that vampires are real, and gained her as another honourary family member.

4.) We learned that we have powers we didn't even know existed.

5.) We got a dog!

There's one more thing, too, and it's related to Point #2 above. Lately we've been thinking how hard it'll be if we ever move, or our neighbours do. We'd really miss them. So we've decided (including our guardian and the adult sisters next door) that we're going to to keep being a big family. We're not just going to go our separate ways. We've all sort of adopted each other anyway - and now we've put it in words and made a decision. We're really happy!

Here's to six months making great blog friends! And here's to many more!

Love,
The Green Girls

On the porch with Summer

Hi, this is Felicity. I decided that today was the day I was going to talk to our neighbour Summer about what I saw. I was pretty nervous. I didn't want to upset her or make her think I was spying on her or anything. But I also feel like not talking to her was making a rift form between us. She seemed more distant from me than she used to be, and it happened really abruptly that day, so I'm sure it was the cause. I wanted to sort things out before the problem got worse.

I saw her out on the deck, and I went across to talk to her. I sat on the chair next to her without being invited, and she looked nervous, but she couldn't exactly tell me to go away without being really rude. So she just tolerated me, and waited to see what would happen.

I took a deep breath and said, "Summer, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of days ago."

She shrugged and looked out into the yard, watching the birds.

I went on, "I want you to know that it doesn't matter to me if there's stuff that's... different... about you. We can still be friends. You can trust me. Whatever it is, I don't mind. Neither do my sisters."

"Sometimes I'm a cat," Summer said, sounding semi-sarcastic, but glancing up at me through her lashes, waiting for me to react. If I'd scoffed or acted freaked out, I'm pretty sure she would have passed it off as a weird joke.

"I figured. Cat-you reminds me of regular-you. It's okay. Really." I smiled reassuringly. "Have you always been able to turn into a cat? Can you control it?"

She nodded. "Yes. To both. I have to change at least every once in awhile, but I can decide when. Kiwi and Maia can change too."

"Can Inna?"

"No, she's... different. When Kiwi is a cat, she looks like a little tiger. Maia has spots; she's like a cheetah."

"That's really neat!" I said enthusiastically.

Summer shrugged. "You don't think it's weird?"

"No, it's great. I wish I could do that!"

She shook her head. "You shouldn't. It's caused a lot of trouble for us. Did you know me and Kiwi have been adopted twice?"

I was surprised. "No, how did that happen?"

Summer looked out into the yard again, and it was hard to hear her. "We weren't always in the same family. Kiwi was adopted from China when she was a toddler. I'm not from overseas; I was born in Toronto. I was in foster care when I was a baby, and a family adopted me pretty quickly. Neither family kept us, though. It was too much trouble to deal with... what we are."

"That's so horrible!" I said, instantly sympathetic.

She shrugged. "Kiwi barely remembers the people who adopted her. They only kept her a couple of months. I stayed with mine till I was seven, though. Eventually they both decided to get rid of us. Kiwi was a Canadian citizen by then, and I always was, so we ended up in foster care in this country. Another family was going to adopt Kiwi when she was in kindergarten, but they decided not to after they'd had her for awhile and made a lot of promises to her. It hurts her more than it hurts me. I've had more time to get over it."

"So Maia got custody of you both?"

"Yeah. She was our foster sister, and she recognized that we were like her. She and Inna are wonderful sisters to us. I'm glad things worked out the way they did. But..."

"But you've lost a lot because of this secret?" I suggested.

"Yeah. I just want to have a regular life, with... friends."

I smiled. "Well, you have friends! You have all of us, for one thing! This doesn't change anything."

Summer didn't say anything. She gave me a relieved smile, though... and she isn't being weird with us anymore. I think talking about it really did help after all.

Love,
Felicity

Amber is the Colour

"Brainstorm, take me away from the norm 

I've got to tell you something 

This phenomenon, I had to put it in a song 

And it goes like

Whoa, amber is the color of your energy 

Whoa, shades of gold displayed naturally..." - 311, "Amber" 

Hi, this is Felicity. For some reason I woke up really early this morning, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to make a cup of tea and sit out on the porch. The sun was already up, but it was low in the sky, and the birds were starting to sing.

I saw a cat in the neighbours' yard. It was chasing the birds, but more playfully... not like to really catch and eat them. More like teasing them. I found it odd because our neighbours don't have any pets as far as we know. We've been in their house on a pretty much daily basis and there was never a cat.

The cat also looked kind of strange. It was really big for a domestic cat! It wasn't fat, though, it was sleek and muscular. It also had lovely amber fur, almost like a tiny lion. What a beautiful cat!

I watched for awhile, then the wind shifted and the cat caught a whiff of me. It got scared, and ran under their deck. As it was going, though, it glanced up at me. The cat had amber eyes. 

Eyes I recognized.

The same eyes as our neighbour, Summer.

I thought it was kind of weird, and not really thinking about it, I muttered "Summer" under my breath. The cat tilted its head and looked at me, like I'd called its name. Then it crossed under the deck, climbed the fence, and circled toward the street.

I know it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but it kind of unsettled me. I figured I was just making up a resemblance. All day, though, Summer wouldn't meet my eyes. She was acting really embarrassed, like I'd stumbled onto something she considered private. As much as possible, she avoided me. That's not like her. 

Then after awhile, Maia made a comment about how she'd gotten up too early for a vacation day... and without thinking, Summer commented, "Felicity was up even earlier than you." How did she know that? I didn't see anyone awake except the amber-eyed cat.

Our life was so ordinary till recently. Now there are vampires and secret powers and... could Summer be some kind of were-cat? 

Love,

Felicity

Happy Canada Day! And a conversation with Maia

Hi, this is Felicity. :-)

Happy Canada Day, to all our fellow Canadian friends! (And to those who aren't, hope you had a good day anyway.) Today we celebrate when Canada became a country in 1867, although not all of the provinces joined till later. Ours didn't join till 1949, as the 10th province.

As we've mentioned before, because of this there's some tension about whether today is Memorial Day - as was traditionally celebrated July 1st before joining Canada - or Canada Day. Older people are still alive who remember not being part of Canada, and younger people don't. There's sometimes some awkwardness about whether this is a holiday of solemn remembrance or happy patriotic celebration. Many people do both.

That's what we did. We went to a Memorial Day service at the war memorial this morning, and just now we had a barbecue for supper. Once the sun sets - very late, this time of year this far north - we'll go to one of the city parks to watch fireworks over the lake. It's a fun holiday!

Today was sunny and warm, so Clare had to stay inside. She's still here, by the way, and we're glad. She seems to be getting more comfortable. I think she thought we were just going to ditch anyway if things got bad, but when we fought/helped her run from those other vampires, I think she figured out we aren't fickle like that. We felt bad that she couldn't join us for the barbecue, but our family and our neighbours were in and out of both houses all evening, so she had plenty of company. Since the fireworks are after dark, I think she's going to go.

Yesterday was not sunny. The sky was dark grey all day, and for most of it the fog was so thick that you couldn't even see the headlights of the cars. Until recently, we would have just thought mean thoughts about how we should get a real summer, but now we can't help but think... good day for vampires. And it was. Inna said she saw the ones from the park sniffing around their shed and ours. Like literally, sniffing. Weird. They didn't try to attack, though.

Since we've been having these discussions with Inna, we've started wondering more about their family, but it's hard to know how to ask them. So, do you have connections to creatures of the night and the walking dead? Not so much a good way to start a friendly chat.

We did find some things out from Maia - one of the two adult sisters next door, along with Inna - at the barbecue tonight, though. I noticed she was kind of by herself, so I sat down and asked her about their lives. She's pretty quiet, so I didn't know much about her before, just that her parents were from Rwanda but she was born in Canada (thus the North American name) and she's a math teacher at Fiona and Evelyn's school. Maia is still pretty shy, but she wasn't reluctant to talk; I think she just feels weird starting conversations about herself, but she'll respond if you ask.

It turns out their family started from foster care, too. Maia's parents were killed in a car crash when she was young, and they hadn't been in Canada very long so they didn't have any relatives or friends to take her in, so Maia grew up as a foster kid. (Some of my sisters can relate to that!) In the last foster home where she stayed before she aged out of the system, she met Summer and Kiwi, and the three of them got to be really close. So once Maia was an adult, she applied for and was granted custody of them. Because they had been sisters in the foster home, it made sense to keep that relationship - it would be weird if they suddenly had to start thinking of her as Mom. Inna came along later... I'm not sure how long, though, or how they decided to make her part of their family, because the food was ready and the conversation got interrupted. I have to admit I was kind of surprised; I had assumed Maia and Inna were there first because they're oldest, but I was wrong.

When we went to grab our plates, Maia said, "We'll talk more later, okay?" So hopefully before long, we'll know more of the story.

Love,
Felicity

What Inna did (or rather, what Inna didn't)

Hey, Kirsten here.

This morning, the doorbell rang. I answered the door, and Inna was standing there. After what happened yesterday I wasn't too surprised.

"Are you here to talk to Blakeney?" I asked with a lump in my throat, as I helped her hang up her raincoat in the hall closet. "Because she's not home, she's at work." That was true - but she would be home eventually, and then we were presumably sunk.

"Not at the moment," Inna replied. "I'm wondering what you girls think you're doing."

"What do you mean?" Lame. Laaaame. I knew exactly what she meant, but I was trying to buy time and I couldn't think of anything better.

"There's a girl in your shed."

"There is?" I was playing dumb.

Inna sighed. "Yes, and you girls know that. I think you've also already realized there's something... unusual... about your shed-dweller, too."

"Who have you told?"

In a way I didn't really want to know the answer to that, but I kind of had to. I had to figure out how much damage had been done.

"No one, yet. I figured you probably had a good reason to keep it a secret. I'm going to have to tell your guardian eventually, though. So I guess this is an ultimatum. Tell Blakeney today, or I'll tell her tomorrow."

I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't going to be an easy conversation... but at least it could happen on our terms. Obviously I was glad. I was also confused, though. Why hadn't Inna spilled the beans on us? Why was she willing to even temporarily keep our secret, when it could backfire on her too if someone found out she knew and didn't say anything?

I told my sisters about this after she left - including my puzzlement - and Bree gave me a weird look. "Really?" Bree asked. "You can't think of any reason why Inna might want to be absolutely sure she wasn't telling a secret that was going to harm someone?"

Oh yeah. Their family moved here to escape from someone and the fact they were found might turn out to be a huge problem for them. No wonder she wasn't in a hurry to blab about Clare - she came to the same conclusion we did, that Clare is hiding out because she's in danger too. Thank goodness for understanding friends!

Now we just have to figure out how we're going to tell Blakeney. This should be... interesting.

Love,
Kir

The Proverbial Cat is out of the Proverbial Bag

Hi there, this is Kaya again.

Ever since we first met Clare, we've gone to see her every evening. She hasn't really wanted to talk much about... you know... blood-sucking stuff. She's really interested in what we do during the day, though, and asks all about it. We figure it's a good thing because she's starting to trust us more. It's progress.

This evening, things didn't go according to plan. When we got there, Clare was clearly worried. Like, more than usual. She that said when she was leaving to... get food... the night before, there was a girl on the deck next door. It was Kiwi - our ten year old neighbour. Clare tried to talk to her, but Kiwi ran into her house; Clare could see through the glass door into their kitchen. Kiwi was talking to "a blonde woman" - who we know is her adult sister Inna. She pointed outside, at our shed, so it was clear what they were discussing.

We hadn't told our neighbours about Clare, obviously. They're like extended family to us, now, but we haven't even told our guardian. 

Now... we're waiting to see what's going to happen. What is Inna going to do? Who is she going to tell? By tomorrow, is our guardian going to know? Or the whole neighbourhood? Or, worst case scenario, whoever Clare is hiding from?

Not good. Not good at all.

~Kaya

A decision is made, dancing on stage, and a scary thing we learned

Hi, this is Bree. Like Kaya said in her last post, we've been really busy with school, so sorry we haven't been posting or commenting a lot lately! Also since she posted, Kirsten, Josefina, Charissa, and Evelyn got sick - just a cold - but they're feeling somewhat better now. So it's been a stressful time in the Green household.

Kaya and Fiona had their dress rehearsal tonight for their dance recital! Kaya wanted to tell you about it, but she was so exhausted when she got back that she just ate supper, did her homework, and went to bed. After the real recital, she'll tell you all about it. This was the second day they danced on stage, and the first day they danced in costume. Kaya said it looked really good! I'm excited to see the first real performance tomorrow night.

Also, Fiona's teacher finally made a decision about whether she was allowed to dance in the recital.

Well, actually, she didn't decide right away. On Wednesday, Fiona proudly showed how well Kaya had taught her the dance her class was doing. The teacher acted impressed... but she said, "That's very good. Too bad you don't have a costume! You still can't dance."

Fiona cried again, and Kaya got mad because the teacher has known for weeks that she didn't add Fiona to the list of costumes ordered and just never mentioned it, and then they came home and Kaya and Felicity sewed all night. Literally. All night. Kaya fell asleep in math class the next day, but Fiona had her costume!

So then the teacher made her decision! Fiona gets to dance with the other ten-year-olds! We're all really happy. (If the teacher had still said no, she would have had to explain it to all of us, because sisters stick together.)

We decided to invite our neighbours to the dance recital. We've been spending a lot of time with them, and they've become like extended family. When Inna answered the door, we could tell she was upset. I offered to help her in the kitchen for a minute, and while we were in there I asked what was going on. It turns out the police figured out who tried to break into their house.

I can't really say much about it right now... but what I can say is that it wasn't a stranger. It's someone they know. While it's true that one of the reasons they moved here was Inna got a job at the museum, they also came here to get away from a situation of domestic violence, but apparently they got tracked down. I was worried it was because we mentioned their names (although first names only) on the blog, but Inna says the police think someone found out by calling the museum and confirming she worked there by asking for her. I felt a little better that we didn't cause it, but it's really scary that the person knows where they live!

The one good thing is that now that they know, the police can protect them. For now, they aren't going to move again, which is good news for us. We've gotten attached to them already. We're worried, though. Hopefully they can stay safe! (And yes, they're coming to the dance recital!)

Love,
Bree

The Police Visit...

And not the English rock band, either.

Hi, this is Kirsten. Last night there was some chaos in our neighbourhood. At almost 3 a.m., we woke up to the sound of something loud next door, like a banging and a crash. We went out on the porch, and a couple of guys were trying to break into our neighbours' house! Before they could react to us, we ran back into our house and called the police. We only live about two blocks from the police station, so the cops were there in just a couple of minutes. I think the burglars heard the sirens, because they ran away.

We had to give police statements! That was pretty different. None of us have ever done that before. We were all pretty nervous, but the police were nice to us. They knew we didn't do anything wrong; they were just trying to find out if we remembered anything that would help them catch the guys who tried to break in next door. Unfortunately it was dark and they were wearing hoods, so we didn't see much, but maybe what we said helped.

Luckily Inna, Maia, Summer, and Kiwi aren't hurt, but they're pretty shaken. Last we heard the police hadn't caught the burglars, but hopefully they will soon. So that was our drama! We're all pretty tired after all the excitement last night. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a better post done - and things will be calmer!

Love,
Kirsten

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

New Neighbours

A couple of hours ago, some new neighbours moved in next door. Kaya and Fiona noticed them when they were taking April (our new dog) out for a walk, and we decided we'd go help them bring in their stuff and see if they needed anything.

They turned out to be really nice. I think they appreciated the help because it was already getting dark when they got here. They said they had driven from the ferry (an hour and a half from the city,) so they didn't really have much choice about the time, because the boat schedule just is what it is.

Their family is actually a lot like ours! We were kind of surprised. They're sisters too. It's pretty obvious they aren't all biological, though, because they don't look alike at all. They aren't even all the same race... just like us! It felt like we had a lot in common.

The oldest two sisters are adults. Their names are Inna and Maia. (Inna has an accent; maybe Russian?) The middle sister is twelve, named Summer. The youngest is ten, and she's called Kiwi - but it turns out her real name is Caroline and Kiwi is just a nickname, because that's how she said "Carrie" when she was little and it stuck.

They didn't say exactly why they moved here, but it sounds like it was something to do with Inna's job.

So, those are our new neighbours! We decided to mention them in our blog because we hope to be friends with them, so we'll probably talk about them more in the future.

Love,
The Green Girls