Balrogs & Bilgesnipes

fanfiction. funny stuff. crazy ideas. the bits and bobs of a storyteller's life.

[amystoryteller]

"10 Must-See Christmas Movies" [S1:E2]

“10 Must-See Christmas Movies” [S1:E2]

“10 Must-See Christmas Movies” (S1:E2) – What’s your favorite Christmas movie? Did it make my list? Whether you go for the old classics or a modern-day tale, you might find your new favorite movie in my must-see list. Plus, there’s a bit of chatter about movies releasing this December.

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/536386638"…

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[amystoryteller]

Taking a break is good for you

Taking a break is good for you

Taking a break is something few people I know ever want to do, but honestly it’s something everyone should try before they burn out. One of the awesome things I got to do while I was in Ireland was take archery lessons in a replica of a Norman castle. Seriously, it was surreal, standing in the courtyard of this giant stone structure with a recurve bow and a quiver full of arrows, firing at…

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[amystoryteller]

Preparing for storm season

Preparing for storm season: Are you ready for the life storms the world is going to throw at you?

Preparing for storm season is part of life in Kansas. Powerful storms and tornadoes are usually the first thing that comes to mind whenever people think about my beloved home state. Even when I was in Ireland, once people realized where I was from, the first thing they asked about was if I had experienced storms. It was either the tornadoes or The Wizard of Oz. No, I don’t have a dog named Toto.…

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[amystoryteller]

I got to go on a Great Ireland Adventure in May/June of this year, and I’m finally where I can share my really nice photographs. If you want to see more photos, you can check out my Instagram feed #HermesTheFrog. But here are the best of the photos I took while I was in Ireland.

I have organized them by location, mainly because there were so many! I took about 2,000 photographs all told, although a high percentage of those were of flowers. I like taking pictures of flowers because they hold still!

The Great Ireland Adventure 2017

Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland

  The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Can you see Andy and Riley at the top of the cliff looking down?

Andrea looks like a movie star

My sister-in-law likes to scare us by sitting on ledges

Riley has been declared the best photo-bomber of our group

Andrea decided to help Riley mimic the warning sign

Blarney Castle, County Cork, Ireland

Blarney Castle from the Poison Gardens

Looking straight up at the castle, at the very center of the top, that’s where the Blarney Stone is.

The stairs going down. Believe it or not, these were wider than the ones going up.

The Dungeon of Blarney Castle!

There were bumblebees everwhere

This is a more accurate representation of my sister-in-law

My brother and sister-in-law. Aren’t they cute?

Beautiful Blarney Castle

This path was the best for skipping as Riley discovered

Andy walking down a path looking like Indiana Jones

Riley and Andrea having fun

Cork City Gaol, County Cork, Ireland

Oddly beautiful, even though it’s a prison where people were starved and beaten

Super creepy mannequins were set up all over the jail, representing historical figures, and the exhibits told their stories.

Tiny, dark, dank prison cells.

English Market, Cork City, Ireland

It was like shopping for food in a portrait. Everything was so beautiful, I was afraid to touch it!

Bru na Boinne, County Meath, Ireland

The 5,000-year-old burial mound in Knowth, County Meath, Ireland (Bru Na Boinne)

Where the standing stones would have been to mark the solstices

Riley and Amy climbing the steps to the top of the burial mound

From the top of the burial mound

The top of the burial mound is covered in wildflowers

Each of the 127 3-ton kerbstones around Knowth is carved with a unique design

Selfie Time!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

Beautiful stained glass inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral

This cathedral is enormous. See the woman in the foreground? The place is huge.

Gigantic and beautiful

Candles lit to remember those serving in the military and those who died for their country

I’m always a fan of a bit of ironic juxtaposition

The organ that George Frideric Handel played the Messiah on for the first time #musicnerd

The burial place of writer Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels)

C.S. Lewis Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)

Can you tell we’re back in the United Kingdom? Mind the gap, ya’ll.

St. George’s Market in Belfast

C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

Mr. Tumnus in C.S. Lewis Square

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver at C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

The White Queen at C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

Maugrim the Wolf at C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

The Robin at C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

The Stone Table at C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

Aslan. Nothing more to say.

Random Irish Fun

My sister-in-law did most of the driving on this trip

Walking the streets of Cork with my peeps

Dublin on the River Liffey

Captain America has a grillhouse in Dublin? What?

Andy and Amy stopped to play in this Viking-themed playground outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Andrea and Riley stopped to play in this Viking-themed playground outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Yes, we’re from Kansas, and we click our heels with style!

The little cafe on the lakehouse of Phoenix Park had the most amazing scones

These greenhouses at Dublin’s National Botanic Garden were gorgeous

Andrea and Riley loved the tree so much, they wanted to give it a hug.

Beautiful flowers at the National Botanic Garden

Beautiful flowers at the National Botanic Garden

Beautiful flowers at the National Botanic Garden

There you have it

Our great Ireland Adventure from 2017. These are just the pictures I pulled out. I have several hundred more. I really hope you enjoyed looking through them. Keep up with the #Wanderlost hashtag, also, because you never know where I might show up!

Wanderlost: Ireland Photo Gallery I got to go on a Great Ireland Adventure in May/June of this year, and I'm finally where I can share my really nice photographs.

[amystoryteller]

Q3 Outlook

Q3 Outlook: What's coming next in my year

Question: Is there any chance the third quarter of the year could be crazier than the last two? Answer: If you’re me, yes. What was I thinking, guys? This year is absolutely insane! Insanely awesome. But good grief. Sometime I’m going to find out what sleep is again! In case anyone is curious or needs to know where to find me, here’s a breakdown of my upcoming meltdown … er … monthly schedule.…

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[amystoryteller]

Anger is like holding fire in your hand

Managing anger

I have been frustrated. I’ve been disappointed. I’ve been tense. But I can count on my hand the number of times I’ve been angry. It just doesn’t happen often. It’s not my personality. But when I do reach the point where anger hits me, I have a hard time getting rid of it. Maybe it’s a lack of experience. Maybe it’s a character flaw. Either way, I don’t like it. And while I hate to admit it, I’m…

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[amystoryteller]

Q2 Review

Is it just me, or is this year insane? It was only yesterday I was writing the Q1 Review, wasn’t I? How can three months be gone already? This is nuts! And as unlikely as it sounds, things are only going to get nuttier. But to keep myself honest, I thought it was a good idea to celebrate the things I accomplished this quarter and remind myself of what still needs to get done. April 2017 WIPJoy |…

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[amystoryteller]

A Newbie's Guide to AWSA 2017

Today’s the day! I’m headed out on another trip, but this time it’s a little closer to home. I’m headed to Cincinnati, Ohio to attend the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) conference for the first time. A dear friend and mentor recommended that I go, and I’m always excited about a conference. There are many really awesome things about AWSA, but one that I’m really looking forward…

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[amystoryteller]

The book update you've been waiting on

Ever have so many books to write that you can’t keep up with any of them? This is my life currently. Life just started going more nuts than usual in April, and I haven’t recovered yet. But that’s all changing! Because I’m getting organized! Well, maybe “organized” is too strong a word. It might be more accurate to say “less chaotic” instead. I’ve got my bullet journal up and running, and so far…

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[amystoryteller]

It’s so good to be home. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be composing this blog post from my own little writing nook at Safe Haven Farm. I loved Ireland so much. We had such a wonderful adventure, enjoyed so much tasty food, saw so many beautiful sights, but boy do I love coming home!

Coming home may be my favorite part of traveling.

I’m still struggling through my jetlag for some odd reason and didn’t sleep at all last night, so this post will be brief, although I plan to have a fairly extensive photo gallery available in subsequent posts.

Andrea and our leaning tower of luggage in the booth at Costa

Andrea and I enjoyed our week in Ireland to the fullest. June 1, after we said farewell to our fellow travelers, we left our Airbnb in Temple Bar to hang out at the local coffee shop until time to check in to our next place. I stayed in place and worked on some story outlines, and Andrea went shopping in some of the nearby vintage shops.

Vintage shops in Ireland mean something very different than vintage shops here at home. In Ireland, vintage is actually antique! Andrea found a lot of great stuff.

We found our way to our Airbnb on Bunratty road, a nice brick home where we would be camping out in our little room with its even littler bathroom for the next week. On arriving, we explored the area a bit, wandered the next door shopping center, had dinner at a pub down the street, and returned for a good night’s rest.

A reproduction of a viking home Inside Dublinia

The following day, we roamed Dublinia, the viking museum. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but let me tell you, it was one of my favorite museums. Very cool, very informative, and a lot of fun!

The day afterward, we took a day trip up to Belfast and walked around St. George’s Market and C.S. Lewis Square. We’d had grander ambitions for the day, but we ran out of time. Still, we found some wonderful curry, some incredible Narnia statues, and had a generally fabulous time.

Chicken Korma from St. George’s Market in Belfast

Aslan Statue in C.S. Lewis Square in Belfast

Sunday, June 4, we went to Phoenix Park, and I vastly underestimated the size of this place. Again, I’ll be posting better pictures later on, but my goodness—if you’re ever in Dublin, Phoenix Park is a must-see attraction. But give yourself a whole day and bring your walking shoes.

Road leading out of the Farmleigh Estate, home to the Guinness family

We ended up on the far side and toured Farmleigh Estate, which was founded and owned until 1999 by the Guinness family. It’s a beautiful house with magnificent grounds. But there was a lot of walking—a LOT of walking. By the time we finished there, we were so tired, we could hardly move. And sitting for several hours sounded like a fabulous idea. So we went to the nearest movie theater and saw Wonder Woman.

Review coming later, but holy cow, that was a great movie.

Lamb Stew

After Wonder Woman, we returned to O’Shea’s, a pub we’d been in before, and I had a delightful bowl of lamb stew with mash. Unbelieveably tasty.

Our last full day in Dublin was dedicated to shopping, but unfortunately it ended up being a bank holiday. So most of the shops I wanted to hit were closed. But we still found plenty of awesome things to do and see. We found several very quirky things too. And for dinner that night, we went to a pub inside a converted church. They feature live traditional music and dancing every night. It was pretty awesome! And the beef and Guinness stew wasn’t bad either.

Live performers at The Church, a converted cathedral in Dublin

That evening, we came home and packed up, and we departed for the airport in our taxi the next morning. I watched several movies on the flight back to Chicago, and when we arrived, we had a nearly 8-hour layover. So we ventured out into the city, ate at McDonalds, and went to visit the Cloud Gate (also called The Bean). Talk about a cool piece of art! If you’re even in Chicago, go see it. It’s absolutely worth it.

#HermesTheFrog enjoyed McDonalds almost as much as we did

The Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) is a really amazing piece of art in Chicago

I’m not sure why human beings are so fascinated by shiny objects.

We made our flight with time to spare and arrived back at the good old Wichita airport just short of Midnight.

Again, I’ll be posting more information and better photos later on, but I did want to check in and just report that we had a highly enjoyable and very successful trip to Ireland. I would absolutely do it again, and I’d travel with all the same folks again too. It was a great time.

Now, the next trip on my radar is the AWSA Conference in Cincinnati in a few weeks. I’m excited about it, as well as the possibility of visiting the Creation Museum!

Stay tuned for Ireland photos from a “real” camera!

Going home via Dublin, Belfast, and Chicago's Cloud Gate It’s so good to be home. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be composing this blog post from my own little writing nook at Safe Haven Farm.

[amystoryteller]

The world isn't small after all

Kansas isn’t a small state, but if you compare our population numbers to the rest of the U.S., we number among the lowest people per square mile (ranked 41 out of 50). While Wichita is the biggest city, it’s not uncommon to run into people you know on the streets regularly. Whenever that happens, how do we normally react? We exclaim: It’s a small world! In some cases, it’s true. The world gets…

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[amystoryteller]

An Irish prison, an English Market, a medieval overnight, and a secret speakeasy

An Irish prison, an English Market, a medieval overnight, and a secret speakeasy

Hello, fellow wanderers! My goodness, what a crazy week it’s been. It’s hard to believe it was only a few days ago when I last wrote a blog post update from Ireland. So much has happened, it feels like at least two weeks have passed! I’m going to do my best to nutshell the last couple of days and preview the upcoming week! Since you last heard from me, I’ve visited a jail, a market, an art…

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[amystoryteller]

An update from Ireland

An update from Ireland

Hello, everyone, from Inverin, Ireland! This rural part of Ireland is full of history, quaint villages, cows, kind people, and, of course, super tasty fish and chips. Even though you’re reading this today, I actually composed this blog post on Wednesday night, our first night here. But since we had decent wireless, I wanted to post an update while I could. By Friday, we should be back with a…

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[amystoryteller]

Dia duit! As you’re reading this post, I’ve been on the ground in Ireland for nearly 12 hours! Our flight arrived in Dublin around 5:00 a.m. local time, which is around 11:00 a.m. Central. Dublin is six hours ahead, so whenever you’re reading this, add six hours to the current time, and that’s the time over here on the other side of the pond.

I’ve been to the United Kingdom twice (once in 2013 and again in 2015), but I’ve never been to the Republic of Ireland before. I’m really excited! And, what’s even better, I’m not traveling alone.

My travel buddies

Sure, I’ve got Hermes with me, but I’m also traveling with my brother Andy, my sister-in-law Amy (Amy Williams the Second), and two really awesome friends, Riley and Andrea. We’re going to be driving across the country in a great big circle, hitting famous landmarks like the Cliffs of Moher, the Blarney Castle, and the Irish National Heritage Park.

Travel Buddy Riley

Travel Buddy Andrea

Travel Buddies Andy & Amy

Hermes the Frog

By now, the five of us have crammed into our rented Volkswagon Golf with all of our luggage, and we’ve probably arrived in Galway, directly east of Dublin. We’ll be staying in AirBnBs, apartments, and a random medieval hut (I’m not joking). There will likely be adventures in Irish pubs as well, although most of us just want some decent Indian food.

Regardless, follow our adventures and enjoy the ride. I probably won’t post the majority of stories until we get home, depending on the quality of wifi signal.

Hashtags to Watch For

#wanderlost #HermesTheFrog #irishglow (just don’t ask)

I hope you enjoy our adventures as much as we do! Slán!

Confession

I actually wrote this post before I left, so I don’t have any actual photographs of my trip yet. But I’ll be posting again soon, assuming I can find a wireless network. That’s when I’ll be putting up photos. Also, if you’re following me on Instagram, Hermes the Frog is tagging along, so he has lots of awesome stuff to share.

Wanderlost: Ireland adventures begin! Dia duit! As you’re reading this post, I’ve been on the ground in Ireland for nearly 12 hours!

[amystoryteller]

Upset your fruit basket

I don't need more patience or self-control. I need more Jesus.

Did you ever play that old crazy game Fruit Basket Upset? We played it in youth group when I was young. I remember it vividly because it was back when skirts were the order of the day at church, and you haven’t lived until you had to run around the room in an ankle-length denim skirt. It was a pretty awesome game, sort of a cross between musical chairs and Duck Duck Goose. The rules were easy.…

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[amystoryteller]

PENCON highlights

If you want to be a successful freelance editor or writer, you should go to a conference. It’s the best way to meet others in the industry and make connections with potential clients or future partners. But how do you know which conferences are worth going to? There are a lot of different ways to figure out which conferences are best to attend, and one of those ways is by word of mouth. What…

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[amystoryteller]

Even if life turns upside-down

Even if life turns upside-down

Ever been in one of those seasons in life where nothing feels stable? It’s like you’re trying to walk along the beach as the tide is rolling out, taking all the sand with it from under your feet. You aren’t sure where to stand because no ground is solid enough to support your weight. It’s an awkward dance, roaming the beach while the sand slides out from under you. Welcome to my life That’s sort…

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