Ahaha. This all really cracked me up.

Not that Boro isn't extremely fantastic and desirable. I just love the way Nog's pushing it. :D

Also -


A subtle nudge the other way or something, eh? Covering all your bases, hmmm?

++NOGROD

(The Matchmaker sounds like a developable WW role, doesn't it?)

:eek: It absolutely does! Every Night they choose two people to be pm buddies for the next 48 hours or something? ... I want someone to make this role now. :p

Really! How come neither of us discovered this earlier? We'll have to rectify this having not met yet if you're up for it.

Oh just rant away, I know you want to, because I'm pretty sure we decided you were my big-little sister correct? Scolding me when I misbehave and act childish, but always have an open ear to my few moments of brilliant Dr. Phil-ing or encouragment. :p

You two are going to make me tear up...stop it! But seriously, I truly am honored you lot think so well of me to say I would be a worthy catch. Although, you should know Nog that the blame doesn't just go to the opposite sex, I do a fine job with the whole confidence and fear of messing up good thing all by meself.

Sure, I'm near the Trumbull Co. & Ashtabula Co. border. I wish the The Hobbit movie was out, it would be great to see it with another Downer!

This is what I get for not checking here more often, such wondrous tales! I would have loved getting to meet all of you.


Paper Telephone--it was wonderful! I'm so glad you decided to make that. It was delightful watching The Ka labour over her artistic masterpiece, I had always wanted to see how she worked her magic. Great job everyone! Now if only we could do it again. . . you Finns need to come back to the US; I still need to meet Lommy, Greenie, and Nog!

Hehehe, what prompts this bold statement? You haven't even met Lottie yet! :D

Indeed, they need to get that thing moving! And that is quite close to me. Nienna and Form are stopping in Cleveland on the 19th and 20th. I'm taking them to one of my favorite places, perhaps you've heard of it...Melt? If you are available and able to on the 19th, you should come too. If you haven't eaten at this place, it's a must! PM me if you're interested and we can work out details. :)

From deep within the depths of time, two barrow-downers appeared out of the mist...

Actually, we both went to an archaeological dig and in a random conversation about Lord of the Rings (and the discovery that we were both avid fans) Meela and I became wise to one another's "real life" guises... by way if, you know, asking "wait... what forum did you say you were a part of?" And much merriment was had.

We share a love for bunnies.

Oh, how cool! An unexpected meeting. :cool: :D

Yes! I was quite excited. I felt rather irritating always bringing it up to her after having talked to her for days before the 'discovery' last night... (we parted ways this afternoon), but I guess that says something about birds, feathers and their tendency to group in specific ways... we both set up our temporary barrows right on top of that hill surrounded by mist, you see, that really should have given it away in hindsight...

More seriously, though, I wish I had known because just some weeks ago I was in Oxford eating at the Eagle and Child (their open chicken pie is irresponsibly delicious.) in addition to some other related venues! What better place could we talk about the hunk'a, hunk'a burning love that is Denethor? ; )

I have now to my great delight met Amanaduial the archer many times, generally fleeting but fruitful encounters

But I feel I ought to relay that she has an amazing car

Accessorized

(I hope I spelt her right in her barrowed incarnation)

:) What do Oxford undergrads do when they are no longer Oxford undergrads? Return to memory lane (or jousting competitions) it seems....

So, I paid a visit to the Finns earlier this week and the end of the previous one. It was a nice little trip with many highlight, including:

*Getting freaky face-paintings and then frightening or amusing unsuspecting Finns with them

*Getting plastered with dirty oil money and extra dirty martinis

*Seeing the inside of the Penguin’s lair (though not nearly enough of Lommy herself). There were penguins in there. Literally hundreds of penguins.

*Catching Nogrod and his choir's song and dance performance which was very impressive.

*Hearing Greenie play the kantele and seeing her super-cute smile on a regular basis. On a somewhat related subject: any good drummers around on the 'downs?

*Greenie and Agan reciting poetry in an effort trying to replace my notion of Finnish as a crude language best fitted for profanities. They succeeded. Kind of.

*Discussions about politics with Nogrod, Volo and a bottle of Skåne Aquavit.

*Having the notion of Scottish Dwarwes erased by Volo’s very Russian treatment of Gimli.

*And of course: seeing Leonard Cohen and his classy band playing live in the Hartwall Arena.

You should add:

*Getting a healthy dose of Agan's mood swings. :p

I was horrible half the time, and I'm kind of sorry about it. In any case, it was great to have skip here, and my thanks for the face paintings, drinks etc.

I have a few photos here in case somebody is interested.

Oh come on, you were never horrible though perhaps not always at your charming best, granted. ;)

And I did have a good time in Finland and really enjoyed getting to know all of you a bit better. So you certainly don't need not apologize for anything (and I know you don't like apologizing anyway, my proud little lioness or lion-king if you wish :p)

Skippy, there's really not that many penguins in there. Just one wall full of penguins. ;) Glad to hear you had fun though. :)

Valesse, Ang and Aman - why do you only show up when I'm not around? :(

Well many is a subjective concept I guess but the in all fairness, there was the one wall full of penguins, the two walls that were partially decorated with penguins, and the windowed wall which was lacking penguins but that hardly counts as it was just windows really. But yeah, my idea of many penguins may differ to yours. :)

Thinlómien: Oh, I'll be coming back! I'm going to be taking my masters in England (if not Oxford, itself) if I'll have anything to say about it! You English types won't be safe when this Texan comes rolling back into town!

Invitation: Finlandmoot 2011
 

Hi there all non-Facebooking Downers!

Us Finns (Nog, Lommy, Greenie & yours truly) are hosting a Barrow-Downs moot in Finland this summer, early August to be precise. Activities include visiting Nog's awesome log cabin in the middle of nowhere, playing real life werewolf, exploring Helsinki (& Tallinn which is a short ferry trip away), just having fun with awesome people, etc.

If you need a reason to travel to Finland/Europe, now's your chance! Kath & Hookbill have already booked their flights (July 31 - August 13), and in addition to many of us Europeans, some people from across the pond are considering coming. We should be able to provide accommodation for everybody so you need not worry about that.

Contact me (or any other Finn) for further details!

**

Also, this is a bit late but I met Rune & Hookbill in England in December. They are awesome people, even though my love for snow flakes embarrasses Rune, and Hookbill is a weird mushroom. Here's photo evidence that proves we all are sane and mentally stable.

The weird thing about not using your real names is that some fellow Downer could be my best friend, and I won't know about it! I think it would be great to meet another Downer, but that could happen accidentally, and I won't even realize!
So, for those of you who might be thinking the same thing about me, I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Do I have any Downer neighbours? :p :D

Actually, one Ms. Bethberry and her family live in the same city as you, and myself and Wilwa are a four and a half hour drive north in Sudbury. :)

Funny thing? Wilwa and I are actually best friends in real life and have been for almost ten years now. Ask anyone who attended the Bostonmoot last year and they can attest to it :D

This is freaky! Every time I'm gonna see someone, I'm gonna wonder if it's Beth. :eek:

That should keep you occupied. . .

Actually Kath and I, went and visited her in Toronto in the summer. It is a quite nice city.

I just realised that I never wrote about my meetings this summer, I will try to correct it within a few weeks.

Are you a member of the Tolkien Society smial in Toronto, Wellinghall, Galadriel55?

Yes, it was lovely hosting Rune and Kath last June; (Rune I had met at Oxonmoot the year previous, and Kath at the Niagara moot. But alas they were here the weekend of the G20 summit, which severely limited our access to various venues downtown, and they were subjected to our endless talk of the unnerving experience.

Alas, I am not. :( I never even heard of such a thing! What is it?

Are you kidding? It was exciting! Fire engines all over the place, hearing stories of masked sewer dwellers, watching the protest march going through. All of which paled in comparison to actually meeting you of course! Seriously I had a lovely time. It would have been nice to see more of the city but then we had a limited time anyway. :)

Finns in the US Road Trip 2010 Video is up!
 

Haha. I finally got time (on a sick-leave) to do it.

Go here to see the "official video" of our Road Trip!

So that is the "coast-to-coast-and-back" mission - with the appropriate country music that played every day in the radio back there. Three minutes around the US - and having a few 'Downers involved as well.

We'll be making a real 'Downers video as well in a near future.

Stay tuned... :)


PS. In a slowly built-up nostalgia (while making the video): you were just awesome, everyone we met and who made our trip possible! Hope we can repay you when you come to Finland in turn!

Question for you Galadriel55. Are you a memeber of this wonderful social networking site known as Facebook?? If so, I believe you should join the Barrow-Downs group. :) There is an ulterior motive behind it by the by.

One of the weirdest things about e is that out of my entire school I'm probably the only one who doesn't have facebook (one of my stupid principles). :( :p And I don't want to get it - nothing against people, just against facebook. ;)

Firefoot and I got together today. My horses tried killing her twice on two separate occasions. The first incident happened during our trail ride when the horses took a detour to a nearby pond. They wouldn't leave, and in an attempt to get them to go the way we wanted to, her mount dragged her under some low oak-tree branches. :eek: I was annoyed.

And then later, while I stood holding a horse getting her shoes put on, the mare spooked and bolted forward, right into poor Firefoot. :mad:

We played Dominion in between the trail ride and the Ferrier’s visit. She latched onto the game really well and made some very intelligent decisions during the game.

I think despite the horses' apparent ill-will, Firefoot enjoyed herself. I had fun, while I wasn't worrying about the safety of my guest. We found we had more in common than we knew about. For instance, we both have the same favorite actor, which is crazy, and no I'm not telling you who it is, because I don't divulge that information very often (don't ask me why not).

All in all, it was a really fun afternoon.

-- Foley

I see Folwren has beat me to it, but I got to meet her, some of her family, and her beautiful horses today. Her horses did not come so close to killing me as she makes it sound, though I have a lovely red scratch across my belly from the oaks. But it was a lot of fun riding them around her property, and I daresay I have some new material to work into my writing over in the Scarburg Meadhall thread, for those of you involved with that.

Having never met anyone from the Downs in person, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it was a really great time. Foley was an excellent hostess and we had lots of things to talk about - the time flew by and I was sorry to leave, but it being the end of spring break I had to get back to school.

At last, I too have something to post on this thread! The Might and I got together this Friday at a Tolkien reading in Karlsruhe (photographic evidence to be presented shortly).

We met in front of the bookshop where the reading was to be held and, thanks to the photo page thread, recognized each other instantly. The reading, organized by the local section of the German Tolkien Society, was a rather informal affair - about a dozen people tucked into a passage between a bookshelf and a book display - , but nonetheless quite enjoyable. Various passages from LotR as well as from Letters and Roverandom were read, giving a nice impression of the broad spectrum of styles and registers our Professor wielded. I especially loved the rendition of A Long-Expected Party, delivered with gusto by an excellent reader who brought all those gossiping hobbits to life perfectly.

Afterwards, we retreated to an Irish pub and talked Tolkien (and one or two other things, but mostly Tolkien) to our hearts' content over a few Guinnesses (at least for TM, while I, having to drive home, confined myself to what we call a radler in German). Time flew by, and I'm sure we could have gone on for a while still, if not for me having to leave in time to avoid falling asleep at the wheel. TM is an amiable chap, and his German is incredible considering he's only been living in this country for five years. It was fun to talk to somebody about the Downs in RL who gets all the references - a new experience for both of us, and I'm sure we'll repeat it sometime or the other (preferably when I haven't got such a bad cough - I'll take your advice, Miggy, and try to find some athelas!).

I can only second all that has been posted above!

It was great to finally meet another Downer and be able to talk about Tolkien lore without feeling out of place.

I am now looking forward to attending the monthly meeting of the Tolkien section in Karlsruhe and hopefully I can bring a couple of them to the Downs into the realm of the undead!

As promised here is the photographic proof of our meeting:
http://img268.imageshack.us/f/foto0094ku.jpg/https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

Looking forward to our next encounter Pitch and to enjoying some good wine from the Rhineland/Dorwinion!

Your visit sounds really fun! I think it'd be a lot of fun to go to a Tolkien reading...

Ha! I know what you mean. When Firefoot and I met, towards the end of our visit, we started talking a lot about the BD. At the time, I stood at my horse's head while my farrier shod her. Pretty soon, the farrier popped his head up and said, "I'm completely lost. What are you talking about?"

Miggy, that pic wouldn't look out of place in Peter Jackson's Prancing Pony! Two shadowy figures lurking in a dark corner...:D I suppose the ones with the flash turned out too ghostly then?

I took the liberty to tweak the gamma correction a little with Irfan View and make not quite as Rembrandtesque:

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...uhemeeting.jpg

Yes, the flash ones were worse and the other one without was way too dark.
Nice work with the tweak, looks a lot better!

London Anyone?
 

So....it has been quite awhile since I've stopped in and I apologize ahead of time if this isn't the proper place for this question, BUT...

I'm an actor now and I'm a finalist for consideration of a role in a film that would take place overseas - namely in London. The film has a smallish budget, though, so anyone who has a place to stay so they don't have to put all their actors up for the duration of the shoot has an advantage (however small, an advantage is an advantage!).

SO, I'm inquiring of my fellow Downers...anyone located in London that would like to "meet a fellow Downer" ( hence the topic I picked to post in ;) ) and allow him to crash for a bit!? :D

I'm sure any details should be kept to PMs so the thread doesn't get going down that path but, yeah - you all were always such kind, curtious, and generous people when I was frequenting the site that I can't imagine people I'd rather stay with!

-Estel-

The German Tolkien Seminar was occasion for two Downers to meet once again - for Guinevere and myself, both the event and the meeting are annual highlights! We took an extra day before and after so we could do some sightseeing in Potsdam, which is a beautiful city, the historical summer residence of kings and emperors in days gone by. And the seminar lectures were interesting as well!

I had indeed a great time together with Esty in Potsdam, both at the Seminar and sightseeing in beautiful Potsdam! Time was only running too swiftly...
It was nice to meet shadowfax again, too.