I See Things Art and Photos

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Drifa: Thanks for dusting off the thread and invite us to this lovely fire. I can hear the flames eating on the wood and smell the burning of it. You have some imagination by them. Cool, you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing. They are great shots, in the dark. It's done with good resolution I think?

[Drífa]

Thanks, Pele and Aiks! Fire is very relaxing when one stares at it on a summer's night.

Here is a banner I did a while back. I thought maybe it could be used as a Post Office banner. Say, in Imladris? Siniath means news tidings in Noldorin. And Alda is a tree in Quendian. And if not, please enjoy!

Rivendell Post Office

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Drifa: There flashed something up redly with New Posts, so gotta check. Could be nice for the Mail, but I seldom look into it. More fitting it is indeed. You have to ask one of the Admins to edit Eriol's post and put it there. You did a nice jon on it.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Hi everyone. Drifa's banner is really wonderful and the existing Rivendell post office banner is not. But it seems it might diplomatically not be a good idea to replace the existing banner. What about opening a second Rivendell post office and using Drifa's banner (and so allowing the old one to fall away)? Maybe that invites new problems, I don't know. Just putting the idea out.

The existing thread is Eriador Mail Service RP. So another thread could use the title 'Post Office'.

Also, it might be good to see some competition between post offices.

@Drifa, @Pele Alarion, @Arnyn, @Rivvy Elf

[Arnyn]

@Drifa , if you would like to open a new post office in Imladris with your banner, that's good with us admins. :) Then go right ahead and afterwards we will lock the existing Eriador Mail Service RP thread. If however, you would prefer for the existing thread to remain and for the image to simply be replaced, then that's good with us as well.
Just let us know your preference!

@Chrysophylax Dives We're not a big fan of duplicate threads. x

[Drífa]

Thanks, @Arnyn! I will get back to you shortly on that. :)

My long-ago attempt at drawing. I wish I had more time to practice. But for now...

Girl Without Hair

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Before I scrolled I thought I was looking at the top of a Hobbit-hole Hill.

@Rivvy Elf, if we all bat our eyelids at you and smile sweetly and praise your greatness, would you be willing to open the new Imladris post office? You would not have to do much more than write 'post office' and put up Drifa's picture.

It is just that this is the Rivendell post office, and so should be opened by an Elf who appears to be from Rivendell. Not that in this day and age the Elves of Rivendell would not welcome a Dwarf or a Ranger or a Dragon or what have you. But deep down in our hearts, my guess is that all know that the post master of Rivendell has your name on it. (And you are doing a very good job with the Shire post office that you took over.)

@Drifa, @Arnyn, @Pele Alarion

[Rivvy Elf]

As I am Melkor, I am pleased that I’m accepted as an elf.

@Drifa Hmm… I’ll echo Arnyn’s sentiments

[Drífa]

I discovered this delicate one hanging off a leaf under my cheery tomato plant, which a kind gardener from the Southfarthing gave me to grow. Based on the information in the old scrolls, I believe it is a Green Darner Dragonfly. What an alien creature it is.

[Pele Alarion]

That portrait is excellent, Drifa, I say you should do some more drawing.

A dragonfly! The one I found was not so lucky - it had collided with my car and was dead... would have surely taken a pic if it was not a sad thing to behold.

[Drífa]

Thanks, Pele!
And I'm hovering like a fly
Waiting for the windshield on the freeway

It would appear that I haven't played in my paint program in many moons. Here is a funky abstracted bighead donning his old cap. I remember making big-headed and small-bodied characters on the old Plaza. I did so because I could never correctly position the head and body parts. Looks like I still can't. Hence, funky abstract.

[Drífa]

Waiting for Spring to arrive. I spent five years waiting for the ice to melt off the lake so I could take a boat across to my ride. When that day came, it was like a holiday.

[Drífa]

I spent five consecutive years waiting for the snow to melt—not five years. That would have been almost a short ice age.

[Pele Alarion]

So you did enjoy the boat, Drifa?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Drifa: Ah you had snow and ice in Germany? Wow. I have been without the whole winter. Tiny bits of frost, if it was -2C/-3C in the night. And well don't worry on the right angles about head and body, because I don't come further than even simpler drawings myself. Looks really nice that dude.

And a found fly, good shot! Ver detailed. Good to see you around.

[Drífa]

Thanks! Here is one I did last year. I heard a new term for such a piece lately: a combination of drawing and photo bashing. to the author of the term.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

That last is familiar from just over a year ago!

I love the frozen lake image. (Here has been a week of sun; feels like summer already - ugh!)

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Thanks! Here is one I did last year. I heard a new term for such a piece lately: a combination of drawing and photo bashing. to the author of the term.

With permission, I will try again with this image. (That would be another post on Undertowers, but posted internally on the plaza, not on the SWG). The image is beautiful and the post to accompany it is potentially worthy of the image; only the potential was not realized on the first attempt. (This is mainly because I had not then worked out the deal with the Prologue and appendices of LotR, which is where Undertowers is projected.)

[Drífa]

No problem, dragon! Go for it! I look forward to seeing your post.

[Drífa]

I call this:

Strange Cloudy Night Sky From A Universe In Drifa's Brain

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Drifa: Wow, it looks very nicely created, no doubt about it. What I would have to see in it? I cannot decipher it, as the title says. The second of the garden and the house tells a better tale for me. I don't know what photo bashing is. Never heard of it. If you're artistic enough and have a love for black, white, red and yellow colours, it would do nice on a retangular wall in a likewise interior in a living room. I can picture that in mind. It got a tiny bit of 1960's vibe.

[Drífa]

Thanks, Aiks! I like the tiny bit about the '60s vibe.

I have had another week playing in my paint room (paint program) in the tent. I have been using a design (dingbat font called Gnomes by Listemageren, which I downloaded on Dafont) that I acquired years ago. I love the little fellows it creates.

Gnomeland

[Pele Alarion]

These are rather interesting pieces of art, Drifa!

[Drífa]

Thanks, Pele! You inspired me again with your flower photos. It has already been a year since I posted the last dandelion photo. Here is one for this year. It appears not to be fully bloomed.

Spring dandylion 2025

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Drifa: Ah two new additions. Cute dandilion flower, in my garden they have all flowered and are gone now. Wild flowers they are. And very nice creation with the gnomes on the bottom. The colour display is really impressing. Thanks for sharing!

[Pele Alarion]

Floweeeeer! Flower power!

[Drífa]

Thanks, Aik and Pele~

Today is Nostalgic Thursday. I created this "photo bashing" for the Wilderland Caption Contest when the Regions were up and running. They had names, these two creatures, but I can't remember what they were. May look in the Wayback Machine at some point.

[Pele Alarion]

Quite... scary looking, these!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hey Drifa: Thanks for sharing. I don't think I saw these before, but it looks cool to me. Bit a mix of a dog and rabbit for the Gollem one and a turtle with a beaver half for the other. Or those are the animals I can recognise in them.

[Drífa]

Hahaha, thanks, Pele and Aiks!

Two of my pastimes are, of course, The Lord of the Rings (Plaza ) and knitting. I went through my odds and ends of yarn bits and found a few balls to knit a funky little All Hallows' Eve hat. Stay tuned.

[Eldrith]

Those colors look lovely!! I am curious to see the hat!

[Drífa]

Thanks, Eldrith. I have been working on it. Here is the first chart in the pattern.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Drifa: Ah knitting work, you are doing that well. Creating a bonnet for the winter? The brown, yellow and orange reminds me of the fashions from the seventies. Is that coming back? I can't do knitting, I learned once, but my work gets too stiff. I can't regulate the tension in the works.

[Drífa]

Hi Aiks! Thanks! Yes, I would say the hat does have some popular '70s colours. Not sure if it is coming back. I am still learning how to knit. Here is the second chart of the pattern. Almost done.

[Eldrith]

oh wow.. color work (intarsia?) that is amazing!! I can knit, but only long rectangles. With in the last few years a triangle thrown in now and again... And that only because one of my friend who is a master knitter is very, very patient.
But I CAN knit my long rectangles blindly!!

[Pele Alarion]

Ooooh, such a cool hat! And vibrant colours.
Also, I'm not very good at knitting hats, though I've done a couple.

[Drífa]

Thanks, Eldrith and Pele!
I have never heard of the term intarsia, which refers to a specific type of colourwork. Thanks for pointing it out. I have been knitting for years, 35+. But I am only now truly learning how to do so correctly, thanks to online resources. I am glad I had some whacky experience beforehand. It makes learning easier.

The finished hat. It is a bit funky because I used scrap yarn of different weights. But it turned out pretty good despite that.

[Eldrith]

It turned out amazing! Bats! Skulls! Orange! Perfect Autumn hat!!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Ah Drifa, the bonnet is finally finished. Surprising as it turns out. You can't see that it is made from leftover yarns. As it is funky you can wear it on many combinations of clothes. Are you gonna wear it for the winter?

[Pele Alarion]

Now I want to knit, though I should finish the crochet project first...

[Drífa]

Thanks!
It's Nostalgic Thursday (also because I have been super busy in the mines and have had no time to create anything new)! Shebe is one of the first heads I did when I got my paint program. I am still learning. I cannot remember the date, but I'm pretty sure I posted on the Old Plaza.

[Eldrith]

I am desperately bad at any kind of paint programs. I can manipulate elements, blend, layer, etc etc. But the moment my own hand need to form a line, we are done! Isn't it fun though to find the 'old treasures'?

[Drífa]

Yes, old treasures are fun!

The Winter Solstice begins today- Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 10:03 a.m.Northern Hemisphere · Eastern Time - in my area. The shortest day of the year. So, to celebrate the 'Yule', according to some traditions, throw a log on the fire and look forward to longer days!

...This tells that at length the day of Turuhalmë was come, and
the company from Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva went into the snowy woods to
bring back firewood on sleighs. Never was the Tale-fire allowed to go out
or to die into grey ash, but on the eve of Turuhalmë it sank always to a
smaller blaze until Turuhalmë itself, when great logs were brought into
the Room of the Tale-fire and being blessed by Lindo with ancient magic
roared and flared anew upon the hearth.
The Book Of Lost Tales, vol 1

[Aerlinn]

Hiiiiiiiiii Drifa! I'll come warm my feet by your lovely fire if you don't mind. Glad to see the Cottage puttering along. I do love this place.

But that hat! I love the hat. I want it as a sweater, and a hat, and matching scarf. The colors are perfect, the bats are perfect, I'm in love with the bats, I need more clothes with bats. I enjoy the nature and the funky art as well, of course! Your paintings? Photo bashings? always make me look twice or thrice. There's always something unexpected and something new to notice. I am trying to gather the time and courage to excavate my own thread. Surely I've got enough critter pics to fill it up a bit.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Drifa, yeah the shortest day of the year. In my area it is watersnow coming now, but disappeared by tomorrow. I had a walk home in it, from a friend I visited today. We had about two weeks good snow in early January, but that is long gone. The snow now is an excess. Most of my spring flowers are already sprouting and tomorrow it is 8C in the daytime. We go into the night with a while landscape and in the morning it's grey again. Yes, that face appeared on the old Plaza before. I remember it I have seen it before.

[Drífa]

Hi @Aerlinn! Good to see you here!
Thanks, Aiks!
The only photo that I have taken since Halloween is this rabbit sitting in my backyard. No art either. Life is busy, and jigsaw puzzle mania has taken over my household, leaving me with no time for other activities for now.

Supposedly, this is an Eastern Cottontail.

[Pele Alarion]

Well, there are quite a few I had not seen yet, Drifa, must have been a while since I peeked in here! Rabbiiiiit!

[Eldrith]

Awww!! BunBun!! And so sharp!! Look at the way that you can see the directions of that fur!!

[Drífa]

Thanks, ladies! It is the first day of Spring, and it snowed 4 inches today. What can a dwarf do when it snows deeply? Take selfies and make them look strange-like? Okay!

[Eldrith]

Oh that sounds like fun and ugh on the snow. THe beginning of this week we reached freezing temperatures again at night. When our heating upstairs was out. Not fun. It is now fixed perfectly in time for milder weather!!