Paper Telephone.

[Pitchwife]

First sentence has just been ejected, I mean sent. Here we go.

Please check your PMs regularly, and/or your e-mails if you get notifications for PMs and actually read your emails more often than you check the Downs (apparently this happens). Taking a page out of Lommy's book, I'd like you to get back to me with a sentence within 3 days, a picture within 5; doing faster will be rewarded with special appreciation. Keep it short, crisp and cryptic - and most of all, as always, have fun!

Also sign ups are closed.

[Pitchwife]

Halfway through the dark, and we're half through the game! Prepare for surrealist stirrings in spring.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

How far is this phone call?

[Pitchwife]

Two to go. Shouldn't take too long now.

[Pitchwife]

Once upon a time Pitchwife was sitting at his desk and compiling viewing statistics for Minhiriath Transmitting Variety (MTV) to improve his pension plan. "Goldberry felt left out when Gandalf and Bombadil celebrated their reunion by drinking all night while watching the Arda Cup," he wrote; but on second thought he decided to protect Goldberry's privacy, scrunched the page up and tossed it out of the window.

It hit street artist Eönwë on the head and inspired him to draw this on the pavement:



Firefoot, who just happened to pass by, was so impressed by this masterpiece that she had to tell Nogrod about it. "Galadriel," she exclaimed, "was indignant to find that Gandalf and Pippin were using the palantir as a big screen projector to watch a soccer game."

Nogrod found the story appealing and hacked the aurora borealis to paint it on the northern sky:



The phenomenon was seen even in far-off Canada by none other than Galadriel herself, the 55th of her name, who wasn't amused to find that Gandalf and Frodo were misusing Galadriel's mirror to watch reality shows.

Formendacil observed it too and sent this snapshot to his local newspaper:



(to be continued)

[Pitchwife]

Chief Editor Legateimmediately stopped the press and changed the headline to read Galadriel's Middle-Earth Seeks SuperStar performance did not impress the legless members of the jury. But Oddwen was on the scene already and shot this picture for the evening news:



Rune, reporting live from the competition, breathlessly told his phone: "An extremely diverse jury is unable to agree on whether Galadriel possesses the qualities necessary to emulate Eärendil",

while A Little Green caught the spirit of the scene in a porcelain sculpture of unembroidered elegance:



Tea-GEW saw this in a porcelain shop while looking for a new teapot and was struck by its relevance to American history. "The founding fantasy fathers look on in court while Gil-Galad makes his speech," she told Rikae, who proceeded to carve this scene into the north face of Caradhras:



(to be continued)

[Pitchwife]

"Even having friends in the jury won't save Elrond this time," court reporer Thinlomien concluded from this monument of juridical procedure, and Hookbill could not but concur in his editorial on the front page of the Downer:



"Elrond's parenting hits the headlines yet again," sighed Eönwë, reading the Downer at breakfast, as always (first breakfast, that is, but rumour has it he also reads it at second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper).



Firefoot, agreeing with his sentiment, drew this into her diary:





She died of boredom shortly thereafter. Her diary resurfaced in a Finnish second hand bookshop where it was bought by Nogrod. "Some thought that after 7500 seasons the plot-twists and turns of the family-saga of two great brothers' families were starting to repeat themselves," he observed.


Gal55 was not among those. In tireless ploy she turned the whole saga into an illustrated tear-off calendar of 7500 pages:





(to be continued after dinner)