Tar Valon

Welcome one and all! It's that time of year. Orange and yellow leaves, cool weather (maybe, not yet where I live), Pumpkins, pumpkin spice, apples, and all thinks fall. The Reds and the Kin have opened the fairgrounds and cannot wait to start celebrating this time of year with you. We have recipes, crafts, games and fun! We even have some serious discussion about the myths and beliefs which focus on this time of the year. So, lets open the gates and let the festival begin! Bobbing for Apples: http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/98809-autumn-fair-bobbing-for-apples/ Kissing Booth: http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/98808-au…

You may have heard and even recently taking a variation of an ecological footprint calculator. These calculators often judge your ecological impact (i.e. impact on the natural world) by guaging how much waste you generate or how much resources you consume (generally in the form of carbon emissions) by asking you a variety of questions. Most will interpret these results into how many theoretical "earths" the entire human population would need to live sustainably if every individual lived with your lifestyle. Below is a link one such calculator, hosted by Bioregional, available in both a short and a long version. Take either one and post your results here if you wish t…

Objective: Everyone is trapped underground and has to answer questions to get to the surface - the top 3 players, points wise, at the end escapes at the end. Points: Sooh 30 Lily 20 Alanna 40 BlomBesie 10

For my contribution to Nature Week, we're going to have an image guessing contest. Please refrain from using Google/Wikipedia for the first 24 hours after each image is posted. If no one has guessed correctly by then, have at it! Some of these may be unique formations with a proper name, while for others I'll accept a more general answer. Here is the first image:

I can’t grow a thing in the Arizona soil. I’m here to learn from you. Please post pictures of your accomplishments and tips for gardening. Do you garden or have you gardened in the past? How successful were you? Do/did you grow food or ornamental plants (ie flowers, shrubs, etc.)? What was your favorite?

Welcome to Nature Week. This thread hosts a poetry/art contest with the theme of the earth as far as soil and things that live on or in the soil. You can submit original work or poetry/art/photography by others as long as it is credited. Submissions will be accepted through next Saturday, the 3rd. Submissions will be evaluated and winners announced. These grapes were grown in the desert at a winery in Israel. My husband is the photographer.

Dirty Facts: Soil and Society This is an open discussion concerning what role soil plays in human society and culture. Open means that anyone can essentially post anything that comes to mind regarding this issue - from stories of mudslides that you found interesting or anything you recently read regarding soil or the creatures living in it, or just something in pop culture that had to do with soil/subterranean environments (any subterranean monster films in the recent past?). The main thing is to just exercise your intellectual curiosity and share with others whatever you wish to share. However, I will be periodically posting facts and theory about soil and its r…

Welcome, Warders and fellow Aes Sedai, to the first Green Ajah Nature Week! This is a week dedicated to talking about aspects of the natural world and how it effects human life and welfare. Each year there will be a different theme, centred around a different feature of the nature. This year's theme is centred around: Earth. By earth, we do not mean the entire planet of the same name - that would pretty much cover everything in nature! Instead, we will be taking a look specifically at the ground - the soil. Over the course of the week, we will be posting soil-themed discussions and games/contests here in Tar Valon, links of which will be found below as they ar…

Welcome to Guess That Flag! As you may have guessed, this activity requires you to identify which nation a specific flag belongs to! Once someone has correctly guessed which nation the flag belongs to, I will post the next flag. Please do not post more than one guess at a time, and let someone else guess before you take another one . Please no cheating (do not look at the image url or use google), I will give hints if necessary! I will keep the Leaderboard for correct guesses updated as well! Let the games begin! Leaderboard: Sooh - 4 Shad - 3 Elgee - 1 Basel Gill - 1

Welcome to Ren'Shai Summer Olympics Week! Join us here in the Olympic Village! The 2016 Rio Summer Olympics are in full swing, running from August 5th to the 21st! With one week left to go, join us in celebrating these games uniting over 11,000 athletes from over 200 nations. We have Olympic-themed discussions and activities lined up for you! Find a full list of our threads here: Guess That Flag! 2016 Olympics - Football / Soccer 2016 Olympics - Men's Golf So while you are here with us in the Olympic Village, tell us what country you are representing! Pull up a deck chair, grab a drink or some food, & join in on the fun!

Football became an Olympic sport at the Paris 1900 Games, with women joining in at Atlanta 1996. In Rio, 16 countries will battle for the men’s title and 12 for the women’s gold medals. Matches are played in seven stadiums across the country. Men's competition The competition consists of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage. Group stage Teams are divided into four groups of four countries, playing every team in their group once. Three points are awarded for a victory, one for a draw. The top two teams per group qualify for the quarterfinals. Group A Brazil (H) Denmark Iraq South Africa Group B Nigeria Colombia Sweden…

I absolutely love the Olympic Games, and I will watch whichever sport they show on TV, no matter how obscure. I'll even watch the soccer, though it's not something I'd normally watch! lol Anyhoo, during the following 2 weeks (and probably during the Paralympics too), we will be making threads about the various events, updating the scores or standings, and generally talking about things. Please feel free to start threads about events which are on! This thread will be the index thread where we'll give the links to the various threads.

For the first time since 1904, golf is an Olympic sport. I don't know how many non-golf fans are actually planning to watch any of it, but here's a little breakdown for the curious uninformed. Qualification: Players qualified based on the official world golf rankings. The top two players from each country were chosen down the rankings until the field was full, with the exception that up to four players from one country could qualify provided they were all within the top 15. This resulted in four athletes representing the USA and all other nations capped at two. The Controversy: The decision to bring golf back to the Olympics might have excited fans, but it was pretty un…

Welcome to the Blue Ajah's Harry Potter Week 2016 Owl Post! This is a super fun and easy activity :). Each post counts as one Owl Post. The first person writes a letter or message and the following post is a message from someone else to the previous letter sender. For example: (Owl Post #1) Harry, Remember, it's LeviOsa, not LevioSA. Hermione --------------------------------- (Owl Post #2) Hermione, He defeated Voldemort, I don't think he needs instruction on how to say Leviosa. Ron ---------------------------------- (Owl Post #3) Ron, Hermione is doing it again. Harry ------------------ Rules: As always, please keep it PG-13! Also, no double …

The name is Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, if you will. You've heard of me, of course. I presume you've read Magical Me? No? Well of course you must have a copy of my Guide to Household Pests... Well. Regardless. Dumbledore himself came to me and begged me to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts position this term. It is, of course, my specialty. I am uniquely qualified to teach these impressionable young wizards and witches to ward off the minions of evil. I see that look of skepticism on your face. Watch closely, good sirs. I will make a believer of you yet. ========== ~ Despite the title, this will be a BASIC GAME and th…

Happy Birthday, Harry! We'll celebrate by beginning a game of Caption This! I'll post a picture from any of the movies and everyone can post a caption they think will help with the celebrating. Let's go!

The Sorting Hat The famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat gives an account of its own genesis in a series of songs sung at the beginning of each school year. Legend has it that the hat once belonged to one of the four founders, Godric Gryffindor, and that it was jointly enchanted by all four founders to ensure that students would be sorted into their eponymous houses, which would be selected according to each founder's particular preferences in students. The Sorting Hat is one of the cleverest enchanted objects most witches and wizards will ever meet. It literally contains the intelligence of the four founders, can speak (through a rip near its brim) and is skilled at Legilimen…

Professor Trelawney's Tea Leaf Readings Hello darlings! Yes, yes, please come in. Sit, my children, sit! You there, with the green shawl, you may want to wait until next month before you ask the question that has been brewing in your mind. Please, do sit down. Have a cup of tea, all of you. After all, that's what you are here for, isn't it? Oh dear. The stout woman with the banded dress, you dear are planning something. It won't end well for you. Everyone, yes, everyone, come in and sit. Be careful little one in all white. You are about to break your cup. *CRASH* Okay, now, please grab a yellow one. I am partial to the blue. Now then, I would like y…

Here you will guess characters, objects, and places. They will start easy and get harder. SPOILERS INCLUDED Points: Rhea 20 Basel 40 Niniel 45 Chae 5 Daruya 120 Kat 55 BFG 105 First one: I am the Half-Blood Prince...who am I

Welcome, one and all to the Blue Ajah's annual Harry Potter Week celebration! As today, July 31st, is Harry's birthday (and the Keeper's as well - happy birthday Dar!) we invite you to join us in celebrating the Boy Who Lived and the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. Here in Tar Valon you will find a variety of threads for your enjoyment and participation: - The annual Harry Potter Mafia Game has begun (players only in this thread, please, but you may post here if you wish to join the spectators behind the scenes) - Who Am I game - Caption This! game - The Sorting Hat - Tea Leaf Reading with Professor Trelawney - Owl Post and pos…

The Blue Ajah's annual Harry Potter Week festivities are scheduled to begin VERY SOON, y'all, and it's time to start the signups for our yearly mafia game. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the only mafia game allowed to be held in the White Tower Social Group, because our staff does. not. like. drama... and drama seems to follow a game where people lie to one another and try to commit murder. Imagine that. In order to keep this annual tradition, I must ask you all one thing. DO NOT SIGN UP if you do not think you can play this game without contributing to drama. If you sign up to play, you are agreeing to do your absolute best to avoid insults, rude comments,…

GOOOOODDDD DAY to all the ladies and gentlemen, warders and aes sedai, and visitors! Welcome to the White and Red junk food week! Here, we have... candy. Red and white ones. Or were they other colours? And can they be classified as candy...? Up for taking a chance? Risk it. Are you up for it? Pick a number between 1 and 100... and you will be granted a surprise candy!

On behalf of Torrie, who cannot be here at the moment, herewith the history of Junk Food: Quote

Are you hungry? Are you feeling that craving for junk food? Sometimes, eating junk food has to be ruled out. You, then, have to find alternatives... It is not always easy but a couple of combinations can come in handy ooooooooooooo 1. Do you have an alternative for candy? Here are the ones I found: Dried fruits Nuts 2. Do you like the alternative ? 3. Now what do you think of this : Here is a choice of healthier candy : http://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/7-healthy-halloween-candy-choices/ Can it be considered healthier indeed?

Welcome to Last Letter/First Letter! In this game you post a word that starts with the last letter from the word above you. The Theme is JUNK FOOD so you need to use words that fit this theme. (Soda's and other sugary drinks are allowed!) Here is an Example: Me: Cheetos You: Skittles Mother: Spam You get the idea? Ok, I'll start. DONUT

What is the junk food that you crave and are crazy about? What junk food you wished was healthy? What would you do if someone placed a high tax on your favourite junk food? What if it got banned? Is there any junk food you keep for special occasions? Pani puri . It is a local street food and I love it. Sweets and candies are things that I wish were healthy. I think I would continue buying even after tax. But if it got banned, my heart will break. There are things that are usually made only on certain festivals, so you can call them junk food limited to occasions (calling them junk because they are not healthy)

Welcome to Candyland! Post below if you want to sign up for the Candyland game! We need 4-6 players. How it works: On your turn you will pick a number 1-18 (and it's different each time) in order to "draw" a card from the deck. The random card corresponding with that number will tell you how many colored squares to move. Mixed in with the colored cards are character cards--giving you a huge jump forward or a giant leap back! It's all in the luck of the guess. First person to get to King Kandy's Candy Castle is the winner! I'll post an updated picture of the game board after each player's turn. So, who wants to play? PLAYERS: Sooh Rhea N…

WELCOME! This game is simple and I know how much you all love candy. So all you have to do is go find it and let me know where it is (with the link) and what it is and you earn a point! I will give you clues to where it might be located. WT&W main boards only. Jump in anytime! Here are the first TWO clues... 1. This one matches Mother's dress. 2. Bessi likes to eat this one by the fire. 3. Links to start us out will show you these.

On behalf of Torrie, who cannot be here at the moment, herewith the history of Junk Food: Thanks to Andrew F. Smith, author of Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. This history pertains to mainly US junk food, but feel free to add any info for other countries. I would love to know more about international junk food - what's YOUR junk? Now, I think I'm going to go exercise.

On behalf of Torrie, who cannot be here at the moment, please allow me to welcome you to the White and Red International Junk Food Week!