People started arriving around 11:00am. Appropriately, Adam was the first man to arrive, but all in all it was quite a merry gathering, with fifteen of us physically present, plus another three virtually (via Skype); Jack & Alex (the hosts), Kris, Wayne & Hilary, with Terry, Ash & Cinnamon, Kumi, Adam, Emily & Richard, Kim & Warren, Annabel, and Jennifer & Ryan with young Hawk via Skype from the USA. We hadn't met Emily's friend Richard yet, and Wayne & Hilary brought the Tolkien loving Terry with them.
Overall, it was a great way to catch up with everyone, and say goodbye to 2013, which had brought us the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. Everybody had seen it, and it was discussed in great detail. I won't pretend we came to any sort of conclusion, but that's always been part of the enjoyment of Tolkien - it means different things to different people, including to Peter Jackson, apparently.
The lunch was brought out - a lot of effort had gone into the dishes from everyone - thanks to all who slavered over the hot stoves! We all appreciated it!
As always, click on the pics for higher resolution. If you don't see any pics, it's probably because you're reading this on facebook. You need to come to the blog welly-moot.com instead.
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| That's Kim's hands cutting into the gorgeous Smörgåstårta (Scandinavian Sandwich-Cake), a recipe from Weta's Magnus Hjerte. It tasted terrific, and didn't last long enough, I thought. |
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| Nibbles galore, freshly baked breads, pasta salads, and in the bottom right in the picture, Kumi's Sushi. |
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| Special mention : Warren & Kim brought these great tasting biscuits, shaped like a certain other Dragon, currently residing in the Wellington Zoo. |
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| Ash starting the dessert, while Adam contemplates another Mead. |
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| Terry and Wayne engrossed in Kim's views on Hobbit 2:DoS. She seems to be speaking in sign-language though. (Emily on the right). |
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| Hilary and Kumi deep in conversation. Warren deep in chocolate brownie-heaven. |
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| Me (Jack) enjoying Kris' Mead. Very nice it was, too! Adam looks like he already enjoyed a few there (actually, he just blinked at an inopportune time). Cinnamon destroys a cupcake. |
At some point in the afternoon, the party split into two groups - almost all the boys went downstairs, to the mancave, while almost all the girls stayed upstairs. We hadn't intended to break away for more than a few minutes, but the girls kept bringing us food down there. Almost... like they were encouraging us to stay... longer...? Surely not!
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| "To the batcave, men!". Warren in the red shirt, then Richard, Adam, and Terry. I think that's me with the iPad on the left. |
What a great way to end the year! And looking forward to the rest of 2014, which will bring the last movie set in Middle-earth.
The next Welly-moot will be on February the 23rd, where we will discuss all the things we were supposed to discuss this time around but were too busy stuffing our faces. Normal time and place (2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema, upstairs in the cafe).
- Jack
