Hobbit haikus go to eleven eighteen!
The Grand Order celebrated its 18th anniversary yesterday! Here are some impressions from the party! Thanks to everyone who attended, helped, recited rhymes, suggested activities and more!
Hobbit haikus
For a while, we thought that this year's anniversary would be our 17th! Seems like we forgot about last year... We figured it out eventually, but not before planning to ask the party guests to recite "haikus", short rhymes in a 5+7+5=17 syllable format. What to do, what to do? Simple! We just added an extra syllable to the middle line. One more syllable for the awesomeness of hobbits!
Here are all the rhymes from the party:
Hermanniadoc Happy as can be Hobbit living so happily Friendly coexisting
Hollyberye Succulent berries Seasons rotate when badgers rest Fruits mature to wine
Julienella Grand Order tonight Lampls gleam. Laughter warms the dark night. Stars blink with delight.
Lina: Welcome Welcome to our Hall We will party all the night here With poems by yer!
Louella Great pleasure to meet Grand Order of The Last Mathom Congratulations
Nomo: Evening Waterwheel, laughter a flower urges me to stay ... we watch some fireworks.
Quackers: The Lost Key Cast in Bywater reeled old Lobelia’s spoon in best haul all season.
Rhubarbra Though shrews steal our lunch We should still share what we have left With neighbours and friends
Rosenbleume Newts, songs and gossip Fridays hosted by the Order I feel warm inside
For guests and members Eighteen years of friends new and old Happy heart and soul
Tibba Let's have a party! Bring all yer food, it will taste good! Hearty and tarty!
Celebrate today! For we are here, and we got beer. A grand place ter stay.
Look up at the sky. There is no rain, we feel no pain. So raise yer mug high!
Oh glorious food! Yer raise me mood! And when yer gone? I'll cook me up some!
Eighteen Mathom Years. A table full of food and drink? All gone in a blink.
The anniversary menu
Pycella cooked up a lovely menu for the party. Here it is, with a bit of explanation too:
It’s our 18th anniversary, and that calls for a special feast! So I wanted to conjure up a menu worthy of the occasion. Something rare, something you would not get every day, month or even in 18 years! So I tasked all the local bakers to make a menu… …consisting entirely of biscuits! Savoury, sweet, filling, comforting… simply perfect!
But…when I visited the bakers yesterday… They had no biscuits, but some horrible news! ALL the biscuits had mysteriously vanished!
I know… who could it have been… I suspect the dreadful Biscuit Crumbler!
I guess I was too optimistic with my menu plans…
Anyway, there I was, in a pickle, although I didn’t even have pickle that I could serve at the feast… So I had to use all my wits, relations, tricks, maybe some stealthy skills too… For a good cause though!
And this is the menu that I came up with! Made by the local cooks and bakers, who might not be aware they have contributed to this feast…
Starters: Fishy Cakes – crispy catfish cakes served with creamy sauce and fresh herbs Tasty Pastries – sortiment of different pastries, bite in and discover their contents!
Mains: Pork in a Bath – roasted pig served in a gravy bath, along with mashed taters and tart berries Hugo’s Favourite Pie – a creamy pie filled with roasted vegs, totally not taken without a permit from Hugo Broadbelt. Survival Sausages – extra large sausages that could be used for self-defense too… served with roasted veggies and various sauces.
Dessert: Jewel Tart – sweet creamy pie with berries as “jewels” – Lobelia’s own favourite, totally not borrowed from her… Sweet Flourdumplings – small sweet buns filled with fruit and covered in icing sugar, served with whipped cream.
Drinks: Mathom Tale Ale – a refreshing ale that is like a lost mathom I discovered… for this menu! Grumpy Scrumpy – a cider that might have been borrowed from a grumpy person… it should not make you grumpy though! Songburrow Strong – our 18-year old brandy for the occasion! Beetle-less Juice for those who don’t drink alcohol! Also some red and white wines to sip!
Cheese Rolling Race - Pycella's song about George
Pycella wrote this song about our favourite house mouse George, who spends most of his time inside Songburrow Hall, eating cheese. One time, though, it seems he was out on adventure! Best sung to the folk tune "Dashing away with the smoothing iron".
'Twas a fine June morning When George the mouse was strolling And heard some oinkers gossiping ‘Bout a pie rolling race A pie would roll down The Hill And there are grand prizes to win
And that made George pondering Could animals have a sim’lar thing A cheese rolling race? Cheese rolling race
They took the biggest cheese wheel And rolled it up the tallest hill Dogs, cats, badgers, hedgehogs too All gathered up there to join the race The cheese would soon go rolling down The starting horn would be blown
It was getting close to racing time It was getting close to rolling time To chase the dashing cheese To chase the dashing cheese
The cheese shot high, straight in the air The horn was blown by a lazy hare The fursome folk all dashed ahead Like storm down the hill And George was there in their lead Like a grey bolt of the highest speed
Trying not to be trampled on Trying not to be trampled on At the cheese rolling race The cheese rolling race
Soon they catched up with the cheese That ended down in the fields But something was not quite right They realised with a fright: George the Mouse was nowhere to be seen What ever happened to him?
Then he peeped out from the cheese He had rolled in it all down the hill The winner of the race! The winner of the race!
The fastest dormouse of them all Rolled his prize straight to his hole That lies inside the peaceful place Of Songburrow Hall The cheese was oh so plentiful He still gets his little tummy full
Nibbling on his most precious prize Nibbling on his most precious prize From the cheese rolling race From the cheese rolling race
Eighteen Years - The anniversary Song
I wrote a song for the anniversary, cunningly called "Eighteen Years". As a kin member commented (hi Freddi!), the kinship is now legally old enough to drink in the UK. But as another kin member commented (hi Dia!), hobbits don’t come of age until they’re 33, so… We’re in uncharted territory now.
Anyway, we had us a grand party, and grand parties need a party song. Yer can check it out over on my burrow!
One kin member (hi Nimelia!) complained about the forge line, she’s been waiting for 14 years or so now. Oh well. Perhaps when we turn 33?
Images
Various images from the evening, by Louisalotta, Saelo, Demelsa, Rosenbleume, and Hollyberye.
