[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-middle-earth-christmas":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"This Christmas, Stuart and I made the voyage to Middle Earth, which is quite a long way away. Here's my drawing of Stuart asleep on the train. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dartmoor12_art_stuartsleep-8634761a3b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAh, and another lady asleep on the train. I couldn't tell if she was trying to stay warm or avoid me drawing her. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dartmoor12_art_trainsleep-95c8024d8c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe were met at the station by some fine young hobbits (one of them suspiciously tall), who whisked us off first to Ashburton's finest comics shop, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.gnashcomics.co.uk/\">Gnash Comics\u003C/a>, where we bought that week's issue of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">The Phoenix Comic\u003C/a>, a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.cinebook.co.uk/index.php?cPath=189\">Yoko Tsuno\u003C/a> comic, and one of James Turner's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.cinebook.co.uk/index.php?cPath=189\">Mameshiba\u003C/a> books.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gnash_comics_ashburton-d6a013c57f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd then we were out on the moor! Dartmoor, to be precise. Here's the obligatory Christmas photo to send to my parents:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_stuart_dartmoor1-da7ef1e9b4.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by Philip Reeve\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nBut we didn't spend the whole four days running across the plains and hopping across tors, we had a very cosy Christmas at Reeve End, the finest hobbit hole anyone could imagine, even if the doors aren't all round-shaped. Here's a drawing of our fab hosts Sarah, Sam and \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and Philip's visiting parents. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dartmoor12_art_family-e0a4be1ef4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more Dartmoor photos under the cut!-->\\r\nDespite the crisp weather, Sarah R and Stuart nipped out onto the lake to do some boating while the rest of us prowled around the banks, remarking on the high waterline from the recent heavy rains.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahr_canoe-5def62a2cf.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stuart_lake-ca5711fdd8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThen I amused myself by playing with my newfound mosstache. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_mosstache-cc97f91e4a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nLovely stuff grows everywhere, I wish I had time to sit and draw every bit of it.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dartmoor_lichen-687b7f0a61.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOh, and I found a toad! I love toads. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_toad-a4ac9f92ed.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHee hee, this one's showing off its bottom.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_toad-5ab00ce07b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAs always, it was great seeing our fab friend Philip who, if you've been reading my blog, you'll know is working on four books with me for Oxford University Press, the first (\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/goblins.html\">Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/a>\u003C/i>) due out next autumn. He's also written some very Middle-Earthish books, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/goblins.html\">\u003Ci>Goblins\u003C/i>\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/goblins.html\">\u003Ci>Goblins vs Dwarves\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, which are brilliant reading, find out more about them here. I'll claim they're much better than the recent Hobbit film, if Tolkien fans don't bludgeon me for saying that. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_philip_dartmoor1-4a185e3843.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by Sarah Reeve\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nIt was funny, Stuart and I went to see \u003Ci>The Hobbit\u003C/i> right after we'd come back from this huge, dramatic landscape, and while the New Zealand landscapes were amazing, it was a slight let-down from actually being IN the landscape, instead of sitting next to someone in the cinema who was eating a smelly hotdog. Here are Sarah, Sam and Philip on \u003Ca href=\"http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/merri_centre.htm\">Merrivale\u003C/a>, which I can see from this website to which I've just linked that it's an important place of legend and ritual. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_family_merrivale-8e2265a412.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThat would explain this stick with the colourful little bags on it which we stumbled across near the standing stone avenue. Philip called it 'that hippie nonsense', then took an Instagram photo of it. Oh, and the poodle's named Frodo.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/frodo_hippie_stick-fb6da9ab3f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Sam clambering on one of the tors. I was kind of pleased with how this photo came out.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sam_merrivale_tor-5b4c8effdd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the best things about Dartmoor are the shifting clouds and sudden sunbeams.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sam_philip_merrivale-1555b96806.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nStuart and I ran around looking at everything in a very giddy fashion.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stuart_merrivale-fd157abb4b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_bonehill2-5f73fb97ce.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThank you, Reeves, for a fabulous Christmas! Don't miss the Comics Jam we all made, which I posted a couple days ago \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/530974.html\">here\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahr_philip_merrivale-180ee5fb9e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahr_merrivale-f58c1bca16.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_splitrock-405ba1a24c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by Sarah Reeve\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_bonehill3-634deae4e9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_bonehill-a893a0f4bd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_merrivale1-3a8ed05d91.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/poodle_tor-90216a0bb1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bonehill_walkers-19a58dfdbd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_wall-a6b665f40c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_wall2-c4e3127a77.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_sunbeams-41b7d5d17d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_tussocks-3f2ce5d3c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_clouds_tor-5f769980a8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merrivale_tree-79b5b6f22a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_rainbow-7fa7716655.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by Philip Reeve\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_stuart_dartmoor2-4c466bd093.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by Philip Reeve\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/frodo_giftwrap-46b6d6d281.jpg\">","2012-12-30T17:44:00.000Z","middle-earth-christmas",[],"middle earth christmas",1776628724579]