The Bedtime Book Tag

I'd like to thank my dear sister Clare for tagging me for the 'Bedtime Book Tag'. I haven't done one of these tag things since September, so I guess it was time for another to come around again. At least this one's about books. So, as far as I know all I have to do is answer questions! Sounds easy, I'll give it my best shot.

Yup, thanks for the cool picture, Clare. :D

1. A book that kept you up all night.
I've never done all night. The latest I've got was 2 in the morning I think. That was when I was reading 'The Emperor of Nihon-Ja' (Book ten in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan). I believe I've stayed up fairly late for some other books...

2. A book that made you scared to sleep.
Umm, I really don't know that I've ever really been scared to sleep. Except maybe if it's ten pm and I don't want to go to bed because the world's about to explode...but then I just finish the book or something.

3. A book that made you go to sleep.
Once I listened to an audio book of 'Dragon Keeper' by Carole Wilkinson. It didn't literally make me go to sleep but it got rather annoying because the main character was sooooo, er, let's say...silly. It was a rather predictable story.

4. A book that left you tossing and turning all night in anticipation of its release.
Well, I was pretty excited about 'A Wish Made of Glass by Ashlee Willis being released. Same with The Ranger's Apprentice Prequel - The Tournament at Gorlan. Oh, let's not forget the Brotherband books...

5. A book that has your favourite boy/girl relationship.
The Billabong series is definitely high on that list. I really love Norah and Wally and how Wally never actually (well, he kinda forgot about it for a while) asked her to marry him, it just got supposed it was happening. :D Also, both 'Heartless' and 'Starflower' by Anne Elisabeth Stengl had that kind of thing in them, and they were pretty cool.

6. A book that would be your worst nightmare to live in.
A book where dreams come true. Okay, maybe that was too random an answer. I don't think I'd like to live in Divergent (I'd most likely die), or A Time To Die (I'd most likely die), or...I can't think of any others really...

7. A book that reminds you of night-time.
'Draven's Light' by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. It's an amazing book. I cried at the end. But it really good. You should seriously read it.

8. A book that had a nightmareish cliffhanger.
Er...I don't know, I try not to read books that Clare has read and says have horrible cliffhanger endings. But, mostly all the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' and 'The Heroes of Olympus' have ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, and they're really annoying, because I've been borrowing the books from a friend I see every Monday night at band. So I have a whole week to wait after finishing the book on Tuesday or Wednesday. And she doesn't necessarily remember to bring the next one...horrible sometimes.

9. A book you actually dreamed about.
Actually, I dream about a lot of books. Strange, I know. If I fall asleep thinking about the book I generally have something in my dreams about it, and sometimes that can be pretty cool. I've had dreams about Lord Of The Rings/ The Hobbit, Ranger's Apprentice/Brotherband, and other thing like that. I also dream about movies...Once I was was a Time Lord. That was cool.

10. A book monster you wouldn't want to find under your bed. 
Right, can someone tell me someone who actually wants a monster under their bed? Well, I don't really know. Personally I'd rather not wake up and find Smaug hiding under my bed...or any monster actually. I don't know of any monster I would want to find under my bed. (I have a bunk-bed so I could fit some pretty scary things under there quite easily.)

So there we are. That wasn't really, really easy, but I survived! Now...who shall I tag? Aha! I can think of two people, and one of them quite possibly won't do anything about it but I'll tag Zach from Zach's Abode, and while I'm at it I'll tag my cousin Jessica from Inspiration too.
All you have to do is answer the above questions and post 'em on your blog. It ain't hard to do. And I'll be waiting... ;D

Fare Thee Well!

Solve the Riddle Tag ----- Again

I begin this post with a hasty assurance. No, you are not going mad, and yes I am doing another Riddle tag thingy. And it is thanks to my cousin Jessica that you get to see my riddle answering skills (or lack of them, depending on the riddle).

Again I couldn't be bothered to make my own so I just used a handy picture. :D

Okay, here is the list of rule yet again (why do these things always have rules?)...you may notice that I tampered with a few (not to mention getting rid of the few that I have already completed):


Answer the 5 riddles that are provided by the lovely person who tagged you. (Hey, this rule doesn't say that you have to not-answer the questions! I'm sure it did last time!)

Tag 5 or more bloggers. (tagging yourself is not allowed. It would be considered cheating as you probably already knew the answers to the riddles you chose.) 

Provide 5 different riddles in your post for the people you tagged.

Comment the link to your post on each blogger's blog.

After a week from when posting this tag, comment the answers to your riddles on your own post.


I'm not entirely sure whether I'm allowed to answer these straight or not...there's no rules against it... so maybe....Maybe I'll just mostly answer them. After all there's a big difference between mostly answered and all answered.

So here are Jessica's riddles for me and the mostly-answers I have given them:


Riddle no. 5
What herb cures all ailments?

By the Black Raven's crime, and by this Rhyme,
The answer would be..... Yeah, I do know the answer to this one.

If the riddle didn't specify that it was a herb and was just 'what cures (almost) all ailments/poisons?' then I might have answered a bezoar... (For those that don't know, a bezoar - the kind I'm talking about - comes from Harry Potter and "Is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons"--Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.)

Riddle no. 4
Eskimos of the Artic are excellent hunters. They can catch almost anything, but they have never caught a penguin. Why?

Yup, got that one fairly easily. :D All of these ones are really simple compared to this one...(Most things are more simple than that.) I just read this and just when, "Ummm what? Oh, yeah, I know...Now I feel kinda silly because I had to think about it..."
Just sayin', did anyone else realise that Arctic is spelt wrong? Or was it just me? I glanced at it and just thought, "Ooo look, the Artic, I wonder if Art people like living in the Artic."

Riddle no.3
A man that is not a man,
Throws a stone that is not a stone,
At an owl that is not an owl.
What is the scenario? 

I also guessed this one reasonably easily because when I was looking up riddles for my other riddle-tag-post I came across one quite similar.


Riddle no. 2
What does man love more than life,
Fear more than death,
Or mortal strife?
What do the poor have the rich require,
And all contented men desire?
What do misers spend and spend thrifts save,
And all men take with them to the grave?

This one really annoyed me for ages but I finally got it. For ages I was just like, "I've heard this before...I know the answer...but what is it!?" Technically the answer doesn't work completely anyway.


Riddle no. 1
My eyes do not see,
While I dig deep.
And in the eve when I rise,
I've no heart to beat.

Now...there is a reason I did these riddles backwards. I saved the best one for last. I do not know what answer Jessica had in mind when she asked me to answer this but I'm fairly certain it wasn't the one I'm going to give her. Clare said 'the moon' as her answer to this and also suggested potatoes but I went even further....
I will tell you the True Answer  to this riddle. It is not a simple answer either, it's quite long. 864 words in fact.

 (I suppose I should say I'm about to spoil the end of the story, but it's better if I do.)Now, before you read the answer, I'd just like to say that it's much more depressing if you imagine Posy as Tauriel and Tayto as Kili at that certain part of The Battle of Five Armies... You know.... This part. If you do that, the ending is much more....sad....
Proceed now to the answer:


There once was a potato miner. Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a person who mined potatoes, it was a potato that mined gold. This certain potato loved shiny things. He could be carrying on a conversation with another potato but he’d always get distracted. This, naturally, led to him being without friends, as all the other potatoes were tired of his replies being:  “Oh yes, I’m feeling fi—Ooooo look! Something shiny!” or something along those lines.

So the potato – from now on we shall call him Tayto – went about his mining alone. Now because of this, the other potatoes, particularly the younger ones, began to tease him and call him names and then run away when he came close. So Tayto began to work only during the day (which is the opposite of all other potatoes) and be back home by evening. This way he could avoid the cruel stares and jeers of the other potatoes. 

Tayto worked hard at his diggings, always searching for some glint of gold. It became very dusty down below and he had to cover his many eyes so they wouldn’t get dirt in them. He found gold by touch and smell alone.

Working alone can be nice and peaceful, but even Tayto started to feel a little lonely. Every evening he’d go home later and later just to get a glimpse of the beautiful potato-girl, Posy, who lived across the tunnel from him. He’d meander slowly up the tunnel, hoping that she’d emerge before he reached his house. Sometimes she did, but other times, no matter how long he waited and how slow he walked, she didn’t come out of her house. When this happened Tayto would slump into his hole dejectedly.

Then one morning, just as Tayto left his home for the diggings, tremors shook the city. Potatoes peered out their windows and into the tunnels, wondering what was going on. Then they remembered.

Harvest day.

Word spread like wildfire. The Shovels were coming! The Shovels were coming! Despair filled every heart; all knew that no one would be spared.

The Southern part of Tater city fell first. Citizens were fleeing in terror but they were all scooped up by the dreaded blade in the end. Tayto, who’s house was in the East Corner, worked in his mine, unaware of the trouble above. 

The tremors continued throughout the day, the Southern edge was irreparably destroyed and all the inhabitants abducted. In the late afternoon Tayto, heading back home, was shocked to see citizens fleeing the East Corner. “What happened?” he shouted over the din. “What’s going on?” (Naturally he shouted this in Potatou – the language of potatoes – but I have translated it for the English speaking readers.)

No one answered him directly but from the terror-stricken screams of “The Shovels!”, “Run for your life!” and “HELP!!!!!” he managed to gather what was going on.

“Posy!” he roared, shoving through the crowd. He reached her door and yanked it open, dashing inside.

Posy was kneeling by her father weeping in terror.

“You’ve got to get out of here!” Tayto yelled.

Posy looked up, surprised, then her face hardened. “What are you doing in my house?” she asked furiously.

“You need to run,” Tayto insisted. 

“My father refuses to go, he says that he will accept his fate. I’ll not leave him,” Posy replied haughtily. 

“But the Shovels!”

“It’s my business whether I go or stay, so get out,” Posy said, shoving Tayto towards the door.

“Watch out!” Tayto yelled at her. She glanced up, a shovel was descending from the ceiling, knocking down clods of earth as it came. It prodded around in the dirt and then rose up once more.

“See,” Posy stated. “We’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Please,” Tayto pleaded her. “Run down to my diggings and maybe you’ll be safe.”

Posy turned up her nose. Secretly she had long admired Tayto’s enthusiasm and vim for mining and often lingered around in the evening, waiting until he came home so she could pass him on her way to the markets. He was an intriguing young potato if there ever was one and she had sported ideas and wishings for the future. But now? When they were all about to die anyway? “I will stay with my father,” she decided. “You go on to your diggings and try your luck.”

She didn’t notice the quick movement above her but Tayto did. “No!” he shouted and threw himself at Posy, knocking her out of the way.

Posy fell in the dust but managed to jump agilely to her feet once more. She gasped in horror, “No...No, please, no.”

Tayto lay on his back, his eyes meeting hers. The Shovel was buried in his chest, slicing his heart in two. Tayto struggled to say something but gave up and just smiled weakly.

Posy fell to her knees and sobbed. “No...please... Why does it have to be like this?”

The Shovel rose up through the roof and out into the evening air Above. “Hey dad!” a young boy exclaimed. “Look at this 'tato! I skewered it!”

Below, in the crumbling tunnels of Tater city, a young potato-girl wept.

See what I mean? Depressing isn't it? That is the True Answer. I must say, the irreverence of that boy is horrifying! He just doesn't realise that he broke two hearts in one blow.... I hope I don't have to explain how the answer fits the riddle, because talking about it too long might just be too sad. *Sniff sniff* 

So apparently I have to tag five other bloggers and give them five riddles to answer but I can't think of anyone to tag. I'll settle with reminding Sarah that I nominated/tagged her last time so she'd better get around to doing the post.....

I hope I answered these to your satisfaction Jessica. Thanks for nominating me!

Fare Thee Well!

The 'Solve This Riddle' Tag

Here we are, another blog post about a tag/award thingy. Admittedly it has been a while since I did one so I don't mind so much. Also, this is a riddle tag so that makes it even better because I like riddles. ("Praps we sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my preciouss. It like riddles, praps it does, does it?")

1.Copy and paste the image onto your post (as I couldn't be bothered to attempt to change it at all I just have the picture from Clare's post.)

2. Copy and paste these rules onto your post

3. Thank the person who tagged you.

4. Answer the 5 riddles that are provided by the lovely person who tagged you.

5. Tag 5 or more bloggers (apparently tag backs are allowed).

6. Provide 5 different riddles in your post for the people you tagged.

7. Comment the link to your post on each blogger's blog or let them know in some way or another.

8. After a week from when posting this tag, comment the answers to your riddles on your own post. (That was only slightly confusing...)

So, here goes. Thank you Clare for tagging me, I hope I'll answer your riddles to your satisfaction. :D
Now for the Five Riddles that Clare gave me:

Riddle one: I am with you at the beginning of all weekends
But am always gone on Monday
In all words, I always am
But never in only one of them.
And definitely not found in our world

I'm fairly sure I know this one. It took a bit of thought (which is, I guess, the point).

Riddle two: Two spies want to get in an enemy's military base.In order to get in they have to give the correct countersign to the guard at the gate after he gives them the sign. So they wait hidden nearby the gate so that they will overhear the countersign from another soldier. 

One soldier comes and the guard gives the sign: "6".The soldier answers "3".The guard lets him pass. Another soldier comes.The guard says "12" and the soldier gives the answer "6".The guard lets him pass. So, the first spy goes at the gate and the guard asks says "10".The spy, sure that he knew the answer as he was, says "5". Immediately, the guard shoots him dead. 


Then the other spy, who saw that the other spy was killed when he gave the countersign, had now understood what the right answer would be, whatever the guard's sign was.So, he walks to the gate and the guard says "8".The spy gives the correct answer and the guard lets him in. What was the answer that the spy gave?

(This one is logic, not mathematical, so don't waste your time forming horrid math equations)

I must admit that I did waste time forming horrid mathematical theories and the like. It kind of worked but I think it was just a really confusing way of saying 'half of this is this' so yeah...But I did work out the answer almost as soon as I started thinking logically. 

Riddle three: From house to house it goes,
A messenger small and slight
And whether it rains or snows
He sleeps outside at night

I think I know the answer to this one. I'm not entirely sure though...

Riddle four: Never was it one, but always three
Never was it three, but always one
Claiming boldly it would always be
Yet crying out it had never begun

I answered this quite without trying. I was just looking at it then I was like. "Oh hey, that sounds like such and such!" And so That 'such and such is my answer. 

Riddle five: While exploring the wild highlands of Ireland, Robert was captured by goblins. Grumpy, the chief of the goblins told him he was allowed one final statement on which would hinge how he would die. If the statement he made was false, he would be boiled in water. If the statement were true, he would be fried in oil. Robert did not like either option, so he made a statement that forced the goblins to release him. What is the one statement he could make to save himself?

I admit. It took me ages to get this one, but I think I know the answer. But all in all I don't think I'd survive long if I was trapped underground with Gollum. I think I'd end up being eaten whole. 

Okay, I think that's all apart for rule 5, 6, 7 and 8. So rule 5:
I can only think of one person to tag so I'm going to ask Sarah to do this for me. (You haven't done a post yet this month, so this is a good idea.)

Now I've got to think of five riddles...I won't do too tricky ones as I'm sure Sarah wants to be able to answer them.

1: This old one runs forever, but never moves at all. He has not lungs nor throat, but still a mighty roaring call. What is it?

2: What meets you at the end of everything?

3: What do the letter 'T' and an island have in common? 

4: What has a head, a tail, is silver and has no legs? 

5: What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don't want to use it?

These riddles don't look quite as hard as the ones Clare gave me, but I enjoyed answering them. I hope Sarah has just as much fun as I did. So as always I didn't manage to actually do all the rules as I only tagged Sarah but who cares!

I also have to do rule number 8, but I have to wait until next week before I do that. So, unless I am wrong, I have finished this post! Thanks once again to Clare for tagging me, and I'll see you all on Friday.

Fare Thee Well!

Dusty Red ~ Part 19

Can anyone believe it? We are twenty weeks since I started this and I've done a post every week! Amazing! Next week is the week when I'll reveal the new picture and you all get to tell me how you like it! But that's next week.
Yesterday there was the annual book fair in our town, so we spent half the day there. I only got eight books, 3 Harry Potter, 'Avalanche Pass' by John Flanagan, 1 dictionary of mythical creatures, 1 Irish folk tales book,  'Airborn' by  Kenneth Oppel and 'The Silmarillion' by Tolkien. 
The book fair is my excuse for the fact that this post is slightly later in the day than I usually do them. (At least I think it is.) I didn't actually write the story until this morning. But I did find that I wrote it surprisingly quickly considering I started off with no idea what was going to happen. :D

For those who don't know, since I ended up with equal votes for both option 2 and option 3 I decided to combine them and this is the resulting option, perhaps I should call it option 5 because it's 2+3: 

5. Nainsi sat in clear view, her arms chained to her chair. Flicks’ eyes widened incredulously as she saw that Nainsi, as if oblivious to the chains, was calmly sipping a cup of steaming tea. But something else made Flicks stare in surprise: a pair of boots, covered in fine, red dust. The wearer of these remained hidden by her restricted view. She groaned inwardly, she knew exactly who it was.

How's that? I hope it's not objectionable to anyone that I'm combining them because if it is too bad, as by the time you read this it'd (just to state the obvious) already be published so...yeah.
I confess that option number three was my favourite so I was perfectly happy to write something about it. 

To the story now, so you can see the result of my morning!

Nainsi sat in clear view, her arms chained to her chair. Flicks’ eyes widened incredulously as she saw that Nainsi, as if oblivious to the chains, was calmly sipping a cup of steaming tea. But something else made Flicks stare in surprise: a pair of boots, covered in fine, red dust. The wearer of these remained hidden by her restricted view. She groaned inwardly, she knew exactly who it was.

Flicks scrambled to her feet. “This is completely crazy!” she hissed at Skilf. “For one, Nainsi is supposed to be in Esueño—” 

“Apparently she isn’t,” Skilf interrupted.

“And what’s Kendal doing here?” Flicks continued, ignoring Skilf interruption.

“Don’t ask me! I’ve got less clue than you,” Skilf replied. “This doesn’t look good,” she groaned softly.

“I believe I did mention the fact that we might be near Nainsi,” Fred pointed out from her usual position on Flicks’ shoulder.

“Yes, but you didn’t say she’d be chained up in a room with Kendal,” Flicks replied with some heat.

Skilf winced at the amount of noise she made and opened her mouth to say something but she stopped at the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. She dived under a small table and Flicks after but a moment’s hesitation took the only cover left, under a chair.

Flicks only just had time to squeeze herself under and pull her legs in before the door opened. Lord Cameron stood in the doorway. He looked up and down the hallway then back over his shoulder. “No one here. It was probably just some servants,” he said.

“Perhaps you should tell your servants not to come this way when you are...meeting with visitors,” came an all too familiar voice from inside the room.

Flicks glanced towards Skilf. She was half covering her face with her hands as if it would make it harder for her Uncle to see her. Fred squiggled around trying to unjam herself from between Flicks and the chair. Flicks bit her lip, forcing herself to stay still until the door closed. But Lord Cameron seemed uncertain that his theory about servants was correct and remained in the doorway, looking along the corridor.

Flicks heard the clink of a chain then Nainsi’s voice reached her ears. “How long are you planning on standing there for? I’m getting slightly tired of staring at your back. Besides, I’m almost out of tea.”

Lord Cameron spun to face into the room. “You should be glad I even gave you the first cup,” he snarled and slammed the door behind him.

Flicks released a breath and emerged from beneath the chair. Fred stretched her wings, “That was interesting,” she said.

Skilf joined them and looked at the closed door. “It’s a good thing Men are half blind and half deaf really, otherwise we’d be in a bit of trouble. For a second or so there I was sure we’d end up as pickled monkey or something of the like.”

“Pickled monkey?” Flicks asked in a whisper.

“Long story, I’ll tell you later,” Skilf said. “Right now, we need a plan.”

“For a start we could move away from that door,” Fred suggested.

Flicks nodded, “Good idea.” She walked along the hall to the far end, Skilf several steps behind.

Skilf leant her back against the wall, staring unseeingly at the floor. “What are you—” Flicks began but Skilf held up a hand to stop her. Flicks fell silent and made her way to a window, looking out over the forest.

Skilf suddenly straightened and turned a flashing grin on Flicks. “I’ve got it!”

“Got what?” Flicks asked.

“We’ll climb out the window, and climb across the wall to just below Lord Cameron’s meeting room and climb in the hidden room there!” Skilf said triumphantly.

“There is a hidden room?” Flicks questioned.

“Aye,” Skilf replied, rolling her eyes. “If there wasn’t I wouldn’t have said there was.”

“Whatever,” Flicks said, and turned back to the window. Finding the latch she pushed it open. “Who first?” she raised an eyebrow at Skilf.

“You go first,” Skilf returned. “There’s a ledge you can put your feet on once you’re down low enough.”

“Okay,” Flicks said. “You coming with me Fred?”

Fred lashed her tail and jumped onto the floor. “I’ll fly,” she said, then whispered something that Flicks only just caught. “Flicks Fails to Fly but Fred Flew.”

“What was that?” Flicks asked.

“Flicks Fails to Fly but Fred Flew,” Fred repeated, “Try say it. It’s a tongue twister.”

“Flicks fails to fly but Fred flew,” Flicks said. “What’s so hard about that?”

Fred’s face looked disappointed. “Never mind,” she muttered.

Flicks shrugged and swung one leg out the window. I’m not going to think about the massive drop below me and what would happen if I fell. I’m not going to think about falling at all... Oh, wait a moment...I am.

Flicks swung her other leg over the window sill and twisted around, her feet feeling for footholds. I really should have taken my shoes off, she thought, too late now. Flicks sighed with relief as she felt the ledge under her feet. She looked up at Skilf’s anxious face peering over the windowsill.

“All good?” Skilf asked in a half whisper.

“As good as climbing along a castle wall can be I guess,” Flicks replied. She shuffled her feet along the ledge, her heart in her mouth. She felt a ridiculous urge to laugh as she thought about that figure of speech. If my heart was actually in my mouth I don’t think I’d be casually climbing along the wall of a castle, she thought, but then, you never know.

Flicks moved along the wall, her eyes on the window of Lord Cameron’s meeting room. All she had to do was get there without falling and then...get into Skilf’s secret room somehow. She realised she’d forgotten to ask how to get into it.

“Hey Skilf?” she called softly.

“Aye,” Skilf replied.

“How do I get into your secret room thingy?”

The reply came quietly, “Just kick the bricks above the ledge when you’re under the window of Lord Cameron’s meeting room. It’ll open then so you can drop into it.”

Flicks swallowed nervously at the word ‘drop’ wondering if Skilf meant that literally or not. She continued along the ledge and reached her goal without falling, dying, accidentally breathing her heart, laughing about nothing or even being seen.

Flicks decided to take a slight risk and she reached up and hooked her fingers onto the sill of the window, desperately hoping no one inside had suddenly felt the need for a breath of fresh air. She stood on one foot and kicked the wall with the other.

Instantly a gap, half a meter square appeared as the stones of the wall moved back silently. Flicks realised that the dropping was literally. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her thumping heart.

Then the window opened.

The bottom of the window grazed Flicks’ fingers as it came up and Flicks bit her lip waiting for the shout of surprise that signalled her discovery.

Lord Cameron leant out the window, taking a deep breath of the cold air. Flicks held her breath, any moment now he’ll look down and see me.

“So Manirus is planning to invade over Rocos?” Kendal’s voice came through the window.

Lord Cameron turned, “Yes, I have had meetings with them thrice now and we have come to an agreement.” The tall lord disappeared from Flicks’ view as he spoke, moving further into the room.

Flicks could hardly believe he hadn’t noticed her. “Must you leave that window open?” Nainsi asked now, her voice careless.

Flicks heard a snort from in the room then footsteps coming towards the window. She realised that her fingers would probably jam the closing window and should that happen discovery was inevitable.

There was no time to think, so Flicks dropped, swinging her legs so she would land in the secret room. She somehow managed to drop into the hole successfully. She fell through the gap and right onto a rather strange shaped object.

A moving object.

Flicks barely suppressed a yell of surprise as the thing scrambled from underneath her, standing up and looming over her in the semidarkness.

~

1. “What in all of everywhere made you do that?” it said a familiar shrill voice.

2. “Ouch,” Fred said, shaking her wings. “You had to choose that particular place to land didn’t you.”

3. “And who do you think you might be?” a dark voice whispered.

~

Thanks to you all for reading my ramblings! Just remember that a simple comment can change the course of the future.

Fare Thee Well!

The Silhouetted Horsey Award!

Right, another post finally. I figure that about seven of my 24 (now 25) posts are "award thingys". So they can be useful sometimes when you can't think of anything to post about. Apparently this award has no rules other than answering random questions. From looking at the picture (below) I was wondering if the name of the award was 'Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award' or 'Sisterhood of the World Award Bloggers'. If you read from left to right (ignoring the tree) then it could look like that. But as Clare has written it the first way in her post, I'll go with that.

See look, it's a silhouetted horsey!

Now for the interesting questions to be interestingly (or not so muchly) answered.

1.What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

It could be a wilted rose that had been in my hair for half the day...But I couldn't be sure.

2.Would you rather visit any fantasy realm you wish and die on a desert island, in a battle, or stuck up a tree; or would you prefer to live a long long life here on earth?

Well, I'd like to live in Middle earth, and I wouldn't mind dying in the Battle of the Ring, but to be realistic that could never happen so maybe I should just live my life in my own world. Besides, I have been to middle earth, when you read Tolkien's books it is impossible to stay in yourself, you are simply pulled out of your cosy house and plunged into an adventure. Much like Bilbo, now I come to think of it. (I'll have to stop there, otherwise I'll go on for hours, quoting thousands of things, and if I really get going I might never stop.)

3.If you had to be locked in a small room for one day with one other blogger who would that be? (the room is completely bare except for one light in the roof )

Hmm, I'd choose Sarah. Imagine what sneaky schemes we could come up with then! It's just a pity we wouldn't have anything to eat. Maybe we could escape through a window, if there is one, and if there isn't then maybe we could say the light was a skylight and climb out it, or just bash the door down.....Or we could dig for treasure...

4.What is the biggest number of words you have written in one day? 

2,000 and something or other (I think). The longest chapter I've written has 5416 words (in the first draft), but I didn't write that all in one day.

5.Do you write stories? If so what is the hardest thing about writing them?

Yes, I do write, I'm currently up to the middle of chapter 8, but I've written quite a bit in 9,10 and 12. The hardest thing about writing is writing. I mean, to actually write something you like is so hard, I rarely do it. I don't like most of my writing, but "I'm my worst criticizer" and I know you have to write bad before you can be good, so I'm practicing.

6.What is your opinion on popping candy?

I thing it makes most people go crazy, especially someone I know....but with other people it has no effect. Personally I've never touched a piece in my life, as I have heard and seen dour tales of its side affects.

7.How many blogger awards are there in the world?

At least 50. Probably thousands....

8.How many awards (to do with bogs) have you been awarded, and how many have you not done of those awarded?

Well.....I've been awarded 8.....but.....I've only done.....7......sorry Clare....I am admonished....

9.What is the coolest bruise you have ever got? and which colour bruise do you prefer?

The best bruise I've ever got was from archery. It was so cool! It was a new bruise on an old bruise, it was an oval shape with disgusting (according to those who aren't experts on bruises) brownish colour around the outside, and a more green bit in the middle.
Really dark blue and purple bruises are really good too.

10.What languages do you know, pretend to know, have attempted to know, wish you knew?

I know English, well actually I don't, I know Australian (big difference). I can write (transliterating) in both Elvish (Tolkien's elvish of course) and Gnomish (comes from the Artemis Fowl series). I am learning Spanish for school which is cool and since I'm doing the age of exploration for history, the Spanish do lots of cool things around then (apart from the Spanish armada, which is not so cool). I attempted to learn French, but....yea. I reckon it would be really fun to be able to speak and write (Tolkien) Elvish properly.

Now, since there are no rules saying I have to nominate people, I wont be breaking any when I don't. So that's all good!
Thanks for taking the time to read my random ramblings.

~ Jane, Misty Maiden

I See Fire

I know, this post has been long in coming but I'll waste no time in thinking up excuses that don't exist. This post is about a song called, I See Fire. Now this is a really cool song. It may amuse you to listen to it and I've conveniently put the lyrics here for anyone who like singing, or laughing.

Oh misty eye of the mountain below
Keep careful watch of my heating food
And should the sky be filled with, fire and smoke
Something is wrong with my lunch.

If this is to end in fire
Then we should all burn together
Watching the flames climb high
Charring the lunch
Calling out father oh stand by and we will
Watch the flames burn auburn in the microwave

If my lunch should die
Then we should all die together
The microwave will burn
-It’s the last time-
Calling out father oh prepare and we will
Watch the flames burn auburn in the microwave
Desolation comes upon my soul

I see fire,
Inside the microwave
I see fire,
Burning the food
I see fire,
Hollowing bowls
I see fire,
Horribly viewed
And I hope that you remember it.

Oh if my lunch will burn
Surely I’ll do the same
Confined in microwaves
It got too close to the flame
Calling out father oh hold fast and we will
Watch the flames burn auburn in the microwave
Desolation comes upon my soul

I see fire,
Inside the microwave
I see fire,
Burning the food
I see fire,
Hollowing bowls
I see fire,
Horribly viewed 
And I hope that you remember it.

And if the lunch is burning 
I will cover my eyes
 For if the food is burnt then my oven will die
And as the ash is falling down
It covered all this hungry town
And with that shadow on my heart
I hear my lunch still screaming out

I see fire,
Inside the microwave
I see fire,
Burning the food
I see fire,
Hollowing bowls
I see fire,
Horribly viewed 

And I hope that you remember it.


So how did you like it? I hope it was worth waiting for. (Words written by Alice and Jane Farrelly. Lyrics inspiration: My lunch)

~ Jane, Misty Maiden

Welcome to The Misty Mountains

Far over the misty mountains cold

to dungeons deep and caverns old,

we must away ere break of day

to seek our pale, enchanted gold

   Welcome to my blog, I am the Misty Maiden of the Misty Mountains, otherwise known as Jane. When my sisters, Clare and Alice found out I was starting a blog for school they started an argument about whether I would use Blogger  or WordPress, as Alice has a WordPress blog and Clare has a Blogger blog. I decided to have a blogger blog, not because I didn't want a blog like Alice's, but because that is what I decided. I managed to get them united to help me make a good first blog post, they both hate their first ones, go look at them and you probably wont disagree. 

   I called my blog The Misty Mountains for two reasons, 1. Because it hadn't already been used, 2. Because I am learning the poem Over The Misty Mountains Cold By J R R Tolkien, and also the song was stuck in my head. You can listen to it and then it can be in your head too!

   I haven't actually watched The Hobbit but Clare has. I have read the book multiple times though, and the books are always better than the movies.

   I started this blog because mummy and I where talking about school, and she suggested that  I start a blog where I could post my nature stuff on, that way it would fall into the category of technology and nature. I must say, if I was to post only things about nature I don't think I would have very many exited viewers, so I am posting other things as well...I suppose you can see that, as this post has nothing to do with nature.

   So, that is about all I can think of saying. Fare ye well, and don't get lost in the Misty Mountains!

~ Jane, Misty Maiden