10 Things to do in Mirkwood

So...imagine you are in Middle-Earth, or more specifically, Mirkwood. Here are ten things that I would do while I'm there.

I love this picture.... :D

1. Try elven archery.
2. Check if Legolas' hair is a wig. If not, check again. If yes...pretend you're him (hair and all included)!
3. Walk on the Forest Path, following in the footsteps of Thorin and Co.
4. Discover chocolate, and bake chocolate-flavoured lembas bread!
5. Have a portrait made of me beside the Orc chief, just to prove I survived.
6. Hide Legolas' bow and observe the consequences.
7. Pretend you're a cat, glue fake claws to your nails and imagine that Thranduil's belt buckle is a sparkly bug. Run.
8. All aboard the party elk!
9. Have a conversation with a Giant Spider.
10. Introduce the elves to modern-day music. Cover your ears.


Wow, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with number 8, but  I had to put it down. It was absolutely necessary! If anyone has any more they would like to include, feel free to write it down in the comments section! :)

Responding to Letters #1 2/2

Hello there!
I'm back with the second part of Responding to Letters #1. As usual, I will omit some parts of the original letter so the sender's privacy will not be disclosed. The quotes that I do take, however, are not altered in any way, apart from some spelling corrections. Please enjoy this part, and let me know what you think of it!
My inserts are in bold font.

Sender: Anie
Date received: Monday, 12th of August, 2013.
Last Revision Date: Wednesday, 14th of August, 2013.

"We went on a scavenger hunt one day, where we rented bikes, cycled to town and looked for something with every letter of the alphabet and took a picture of it - A for apple, B for bag."  Oh, I love scavenger hunts! In my school, we had a Friendship Day scavenger hunts where the teachers got us to search for letters hidden around the school and school yard, and then unscramble the letters to make a word. Even though we knew that the letters always spelled "friendship", it was good fun to look for them with a partner.
"When we went horse riding I had a sandy coloured horse with a strange Hungarian name. I think it was Chua...?" I'd love to go on a horse named Chua. That name reminds me of Chewits, and they used to be my favourite sweet until I came across this lovely Russian chocolate sweet, or which I forget the name. It was covered in chocoalte and had a delicious nut on the inside. "I was in a room with six other girls, because there were only seven of us that actually went. I got along well with all of them, but I just stuck around with the lads. But going back home, you were right about Jess." Really? Hm, that's news! For those of you that don't know Jess was a girl I just didn't like much. I won't go into details because that would take far too log, and probably not very interesting anyway. "But one good thing did come out of it, she's the reason I became friends with Olga. She was adopted from Russia, and she's really sweet." Aw, I'm from Russia! I moved to Ireland with my parents when I was about seven and lived here ever since. Sometimes I miss Russia, but mostly I have far too much fun here to want to move back! "She has a grey and white cat named Wispa. He's a vicious little thing. but he's alright when you get to know him."Having five cats myself, I know what it feels like having one little arrogant cat. Gammi has the most annoying meow which sounds something like this: "MMMMMneeeeaaaaowwwrrr!" Hopefully I didn't just burst your eardrums while you imagined what must have sounded like. Let me tell you, horrible.

Responding to Letters: #1 1/2

This post is quite different to all my usual ones. In these sort of posts, I will take quotes from letters (not emails, just letters on paper) and respond to them, and let you know much more about myself. The aim is to let you, my readers, to find out  So.. here we go! My insert is in bold font. Also, I left some things out from the letter, so I won't give away any private information about my friend. Hopefully you won't be too confused! :)

Sender: Anie
Date received: Monday, 12th of August, 2013.

"Dear Vee,
Hi! How have you been?" Awesome, thanks! "Please excuse my writing, I never did have the steadiest hand. Haha, I just realised how posh that sounded!" Oh, that's fine. I always write letters like that, to make it sound as if I was actually somewhere near normal or something. "Anyway, how has your summer been? Go anywhere nice?" Em, I went to an awesome robot-building summer camp, a tour around Dublin with my mum, to archery classes...not anywhere abroad though. "I went to Budapest with the Scouts and met one of my best friends." That's so cool! I want to go to Budapest sometime, and I've always wanted to join Scouts. I'm not quite sure why I didn't so far though. "We went ziplining," I love that! I did that for my birthday party too, and I still have to publish the post with the video and all. "canoeing, horse riding, cycling, went to the water park and went to the pool on lazy days. I have a major fear of heights, if you remember, and I was terrified!" Wow, we're so alike. I used to be paralysed with fear if I came across anything taller than me. After the first time I went ziplining though (which was an exhilarating event, by the way!) I lost my fear. "The first thing I said getting off the first zipline was 'I didn't die!' It was amazing!" You are so, so right. Have any of you ever gone ziplining? If you haven't then you should go as soon as you have a chance because it is a truly amazing experience! "On the third day, we canoed 2.5km down the River Danube to a camp site, and the next morning 2.5km back!" Wow, that seems like a long journey. I'm fine with walking that distance, but canoeing...I might try that sometime. "The water park we went to was out doors, and had really cool water slides and loads of them! We went to the diving boards then my friends and I went to get some pizza in the café. Then we went on a slide which everyone called the washing machine because you go down the slide into a whirlpool and another slide." I want to go to this place now...I love visiting other countries in general, and I get loads of souvenirs from them. I got loads of free stuff in Egypt a few years back, like two of my wooden cat collection, a turtle necklace, and two papyrus bookmarks. Such an awesome place, but it was SO roasting, that I was sweating in shorts in the shade there....

Well, I think I will leave it at that for now, I think it's getting a bit long. I will respond to the rest of this letter in the next post, Responding to Letters: #1 2/2.
I hope you enjoyed this, and I will see you all soon! :)

What Can You See on the Horizon?

Ow! My feet are very sore, due to a day (last Wednesday, to be precise) spent by walking along a cliff, on a very scenic route. The Greystones cliff walk is a gorgeous trek across the edge of the Irish sea, and takes only about four hours, from Greystones to Bray, about 6-8 kilometers away.
The wildlife is plenty there, and some very remarkable spots are hidden in the lush green hills, behind the edge of the cliff, and even on the path. Because it was a warm day, there were many people there, including - I was very surprised at this - my school secretary. It was quite weird, to stop and talk to a person I knew only barely, and that I rarely saw in school anyway, and know that they remembered you still as the person who came third in the Eason Spelling Bee in Dublin, and the girl that painted 'The Sunflowers' in fourth class. Wow.
Anyway, after what felt like a long time, we stopped and sat down for a small snack. My mum and granny brought sandwiches, tomatoes, cucumbers and variations of ham, and even some juice to go with it. We carried it all the way to the spot!
One of the places I remember most clearly is the old railway crash place. I'm really sorry that I can't remember the proper name of the place, but there's really only one place there like that, I think. Anyway, a lot of years ago, the railway tracks crossed a bridge there, but the bridge collapsed when the train was passing by on it. The tracks were averted from the place from then on, but you can still see the remnants of the old bridge, crumbling away into the sea, and I got some lovely photos of it. I also got some great photographs of the sea, the cliffs, the sea, more of the sea, and some butterflies and flowers...but mostly the sea.
I saw a boat on the horizon.
And a lot of birds. What was the most interesting thing any of you saw in the sea? :)
Very sorry, but I will upload the pictures sometime later! I just wanted to get this post out. The photos will be up in the next few days. :)