Words for Wednesday -- 24 March -- Winter morning.

  This Wednesdays words by Mark Koopmans, was posted at Elephant's Child's blog as every Wednesday in March. 
   Again we meet Susan and the people from the Unicorn Farm, We're back to the first winter after Susan discovered The Farm. 
  I did not use all the words. This is not normal for me, but some of them just did not speak to me. 

Ghostlike            and/or           Magnanimous
 Holly                                       Needles
Incidents                                  Outboard
Joking                                      Particle
Kilogram                                  Quiz
Lactate                                      Rancor

  Lis and Tage ran off before Heidi and Susan were done dressing, as both Susan and Heidi were looking for, but not finding, their hairbands.
  "Bugger it!" Susan said with rancor. "We're not supposed to have our hair tied up at The Farm anyway, let's get going already." She un-braided her hair, brushed it cursorily, and wound the shawl around her head. Heidi followed her example and they hurried out into the semidark winter morning. They followed the dark asphalt road down to its end, and turned onto the path, now covered in snow, where only the ghostlike footprints of Tage and Lis showed the two girls where to go. It took forever they soon found out, making a path in the fluffy, still falling snow. And they had to hurry, they were late. And today was the first day in the Christmas holiday. The first day of formal education at The Farm. But they could see the line of trees separating The arm's grounds from the rest of the isle, They hurried under the snow laden branches, they started several branch-loads of snow tumbling down, but passed the fence without incidents.
   When Susan and Heidi finally arrived and hurriedly shed several layers of clothes to dress in their apprentice uniforms, they noticed that the barn was decorated with holly and spruce.
When everybody was seated behind small tables, Torben arose and began talking. "Welcome to this Christmas' educational period. We have decided to begin this term, if this is the right word, with a quiz to see how much you remember from the Autumn holidays. "What did I say!" Heidi whispered to Susan, who smiled. They had been practicing, and reading and writing letters to one another since Susan's visit at The Magician's House in November and felt quite well prepared for a testing of their skills.
But with a sinking feeling in her stomach Susan read through the quiz. She had no idea how many phials of love serum you could produce from one kilogram of sequins, she sorely doubted sequins were an ingredient she had ever read about anywhere. And the colour of a lactating unicorn's eyes? Or how many fir needles should optimally be used for the binding of evasive kelpies? Whoever made a quiz like this? Susan looked at Heidi who also shook her head in resignation.
  "Sorry, we were only joking. At least now we have your undivided attention!" That was golden haired Martine. "Just a second," she continued. "Let me see. This should do it." She drew her wand from somewhere inside her kimono and waved it in the air. "Now the questions should be more to your liking."
  Susan looked at the paper once again. Yes this looked like what she and Heidi had been preparing for. Questions like: "Do you need a glass or a metal stirring rod for a growth potion, and what would happen if you used the wrong kind?" Susan smiled at Heidi, who smiled back, and they both began writing the answers to the diverse questions.