The Blog of Cala Gibson

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Cala Gibson who grew up in Vancouver Canada. She never liked to sleep, and always stayed up late, often pretending that she was asleep when her parents where sleeping. In Vancouver, there is a lot of ocean and a lot of mountains. Its very beautiful there, with bears, wolves, deer, rivers, lakes, and many friends. One night Cala could not sleep so she decided to go into her backyard, and to her surprise there was a large hole under the cherry tree. She walked over to inspect the tree, and it looked like a big dog the size of a car had been digging in her backyard. She bent down and looked into the hole but it was very dark. With a little bit of confidence and fear, she bent over and yelled into the hole “HELLO, IS ANYONE IN THERE” and of course there was an echo that went deep, deep, deep into the ground. She decided that she wanted to investigate further as she is curious and not afraid of very much, like her mommy. She put her hands on the ground, propped her feet down into the hole and then just hopped over the edge. Sliding down the edge of the dirt cliff she giggled and with a thump the ride finished. It must have been 10 or 12 feet or 4 meters by the time she got to the bottom. it looked as if the hole went sideways, like if an animal burrowed in the ground, like a big rabbit or mole. With further curiousity she went deeper and deeper into the hole to see what was in her yard, under the ground, deeper than anything she had seen before. There was a light at the end of the burrow, it almost looked like there was a door there. Very odd for an animal to have a door, this was getting too curious for her now. With a small “hmmm” she started walking down the tunnel to where the door was. When she came to the door, it was slightly open, so rather than knocking she just pushed the door open, a wooden round oak like aparatus for a door, much like one would expect from a hobbit or a gnome.

“HELLO” she yelled

The room was much larger and wide, it looked like a study for a giant ogre like Shrek, not a gnome. 10 foot ceilings, a long long coach, green in color, with yellow trim, it kind of looked like a bench from Gaudi’s Park in Barcelona, with little bits and pieces that made a design along the coach.

“Hello” came the voice from the room, which appeared to come from behind the gaudi coach.

“Come out from behind the coach so I can see you, hello there, are you there.”

“What coach” said the voice, as the Gaudi like bench, that had little pieces all put together to make a design started to move… they wheren’t pieces of a design, but rather the scales of a large lizard, no not a lizard but a dragon…

“My goodness that’s not a coach, you are a dragon… a long, big dragon, I apologize for the mistake. But what are you doing here?”

“Well, I am Puff the magic dragon, I know your father Ryan Gibson quite well. He use to come visit me on the seashore in Victoria BC when he was around your age. We use to write poetry and sing songs together, and we travelled all over the world, usually he was on my back. But now days he’s busy traveling the world in planes, it seems he forgets how fast it is to go around on dragons… but between you and me, I am glad not everyone knows… I wouldn’t want to end up a 200 seat dragon heading to Hawaii.”

“You’re funny” said Cala, “My name is Cala, and my daddy told me about you in his bed time stories about the adventures of Ryan and Puff the magic dragon to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus, the time you went to Narnia and visited Aslan, the time you went back in time because you are magical and visited the dinosaur times, or went back in time and talked to the Mummies of Egypt, who were not moaning, but simply trying to find someone to untie their arms and mouth to speak. I know all about your magic, about riding on your back, about the wonderful things you use to do, but it still doesn’t answer why you are in MY BACKYARD!”

“Well, my little cave by the sea recently flooded, something to do with ice melting in the Artic Circle, but I think it was those mermaids… they always wanted my sea side view and secluded hovel… they have been throwing waves up my cave for years. Regardless, your Dad said I could stay here for the night, and I just arrived and well, made myself at home. But don’t worry I am a magic dragon, the hole will be gone tomorrow and so will I.

“Well then, I guess we don’t have much time to waste, as my adventure is waiting for us. Can you take me out like you use to do with my dad.”

“Certainly where do you want to go little one”, said the magic dragon with a smile that looked mischievious and ready for just about anything… but was he really ready for what she wanted to do, or where she wanted to go.

“If you are real Puff, then that means that there are many worlds that are real that people write about or make movies about. That it’s not just words and stories with messages but actually something else out there that is magical but foreign to me. But in our family we have a secret treasure barried in the Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the Bay of Fundi. My father told me the story that his father told to him, and down from the begining of when we first came to Canada. You see, there was a boat that travelled from Ireland heading to New York, but it never made it past Nova Scotia. Our great relatives the Smiley’s and Gibson’s, with the Hunters and a few others were traveling in this boat… with over 100,000 oz of gold. If I were to go anywhere, I would like to go back to that night in time, off the coast and to watch where the ship sinks and maybe we can get the gold off the ship before it goes to the bottom of the ocean.”

“That is definately an adventure that I would love to go on Cala, I am excited as I love the ocean, the hospitality of the Canadian Maritimes, and of course, a bit of Gold when I have the chance. Lets go back to the 1800s and find the ship on that stormy night. Crawl up on my back like a horse, just think about the story, close your eyes and lay down.”

And Cala did just that, with a swoosh and breeze of fresh air, she opened her eyes only to see clouds in the dark night and stars that moved past her so quickly like she was zooming in warp speed on the star ship enterprise. With a twist and drop, and a quick loopty loop like a roller coast they glided through the clouds, down past strong cold winds from the ocean to the very deck of an old scooner looking ship with people running around on the deck trying to secure lines and move the large sail.

“Is that the boat, is that where our gold is?” said Cala.

“Yes it is my dear, lets drop in and calm the waters with a little magic and co-operation with those mermaids down there.” said Puff

And all of a sudden, the wind stopped, the waves disappeared and the boat came to a calm stop… as they got closer, they could see that the lines where broken, and the sail was caught, and the mass was cracked and about to fall down. This would have surely sunk the boat in moments had Puff not stopped the storm around them. Being that they where Irish, and a bit supersticious, they didn’t really hesitate to come out and say hello and thank you to the little girl riding a dragon over their boat.

“It was my please, my name is Cala Gibson and I am the great great great great Grand Daughter of the Smiley/Gibson’s on this vessel, and a century my family has talked about the lost treasure and gold that you have on the boat sinking to the bottom. I have come here to save you and the gold.”

Everone laughed on the boat, and the old man who was the Captain stepped forward and said “well I am a Smiley, and I know you are for sure, because my dear, only a Smiley would make a story up about gold on our boat that barely has a potato on it and is destined to go to shore as we have been stuck out to see for too long and with not food.”

Cala giggled because she knows that her family does tell a good story, and loves to be Irish as they say, with a kiss of the old balarney stone. She yelled back, “well if I can’t get the gold, I might as well save you all… so tie a rope to puff and we will pull you all to shore. But you have to tell everyone when you get to shore, that a fisherman with a dog came to rescue you, and managed to send his dog with a rope through the storm, to your vessel and then towed you in to the Bay. I don’t think people will believe you where pulled in by a dragon… especially with a little girl from the future on it.”

They all agreed, and Puff pulled the boat ashore and they all hugged and cala said good bye as she was very tired and wanted to sleep. She lay down on the magic dragons back, and fell asleep. And when she awoke, she found herself in her bed at home in the morning with her teddy bears Lucy and Lily, and rabbit Peter. She thought it was all a dream, but when she stepped out of bed, her feet where covered in dirt from the backyard and her clothes smelled like the sweet salty scent of the Nova Scotian coast line. A smell that she remembers as a baby, and makes her feel like she is at home with her ancestors who landed there so long ago.

Cala, Grandpa, Grandma, baby elephants

Today I went kayaking with my Daddy in Llafranc Costa Brava Spain. We got up early and ate Butifara and scrambled eggs, then we went to the store and bought flippers, diving masks, and snorkels. We took the kayak with the wind behind us quickly to the next town along the cliffs and islands. When we reached the next town we snorkled and swam with the fish, there were some really bigs ones. But, I did not snorkel, because I didn’t want to get bit by the crabs or get scratched on the rocks, so I sat in the kayak while daddy swam underneath pulling me around while I put my head inside the water and watched all the fish. It was really cool, maybe we will try again tomorrow and possibly see a starfish.

We where out all day, and when it came time to go back, the wind was really strong and the waves where big, but not to big for my daddy. He kept paddling, and I think he paddles 1000 times to get us back to the next Bay. It was funny because he paddled so hard we almost past the town we wanted to go back to, and I had to say Daddy thats our town! He then turned back, with the wind behind us again and we quickly went in. After we snorkled more in the bay of Llafranc, around the cliffs and the caves that we climbed yesterday.

It was a lot of fun, after he cooked me Calamari’s which I love, and cucumber with vinager, like yesterday. I wanted so badly for my cousin Kristian to be there with me. He is a really good boy, like all the boys in my family, not like the boys in my school…that are sometimes mean, well everytime very mean with girls. My cousin Kristan would really like it here with us, I wish he could come here or to Africa where Daddy and I will be going on Friday.

Mommy comes to pick us up tomorrow night, so hopefully we will have another day as fun as this one before we go back to Barcelona. I miss you my cousin and I love you sooooo much, you are my best friend… www.kristiangibson.com! My cousin is such a good cousin, and we have fun together. He would beat the boys in school for me because he is in martial arts and knows how to fight with a stick. Sometimes the boys are too mean at school, and I am sure he would not like girls to get hurt by boys who are mean. One of the boys knows martial arts, but I think even his Karate could not work against my cousin Kristian, because at the end he would finish them on the floor! That is my best cousin Kristian.

The world of the mermaid is one full of voices that are quiet and sing in enchanting tones and variations. The pearly voice of these beautiful creatures is rarely heard by anyone accept the intelligent dolphins. They have been known to save sailors and shipwrecked passengers.

Every princess has a pearl, a blue pearl for the blue mermaid, a violet pearl for the violet mermaid, a yellow one, a green one, deep blue, pink, and there is an orange pearl that is known as the princess sarah the first princess born. And the violet pearl which is the sister of the pink pearl. But every one of them, even the sisters, are seperated… independent regions regardless of their relation. One from the North, one from the south in the sea under africa. I am going to go and see the sea of Africa soon!

They can talk to dolphins but they can also be humans by choice only by touching the water are they mermaids. And only by getting out they are not. The princesses names are Luxia, Hannon, Reina, Noel, Coco, Saera and Karine. I like Karine, I am Karine.

This is the Karate Hamster, he is awesome and dangerous. He is known to chase other hamsters around a wheel, as part of his secret training for overtaking the grand master evil furry long toothed big nailed fluffy tailed CAT!

This is the blog of Cala Gibson, or as I would like to say, me! I am going to learn to write english here as I speak and write in french, spanish, and catalan. I am only 8 years old, so I do not want to interact or talk with anyone else, this is really just for me to practice my english with my Daddy Ryan Anthony Gibson and my Mommy, Laia Juncosa Vilella.

Now I will write in french! Sorry if I am missing my accents and puncuation, this is my Daddy’s english computer:

Bonjour tout le monde,  je suis Cala Gibson. Hola! S’oc la Cala Gibson. Hola! soy Cala Gibson.