OK, Cal. Now we shall see what is up with this favorite book of yours. Oh yes, we shall see.
Mellon!
This is where I was when I sat down to read more Lord of the Rings yesterday. Those who have read the book will recognize the artwork there as the inscription upon the Doors of Durin, which lead into the Mines of Moria if one knows the password.
Today, I got up to the Mirror of Galadriel.
God, I love this book.
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I believe I am quite ready for another adventure!
If I recall correctly, the last time I re-read The Lord of the Rings was in 2004; I was reading it when Little Quinn was born and during his initial hospital stay. I’ve generally re-read it every four or five years, so I’m actually overdue. It’s time to return to Middle Earth!
Although, actually, I’ve already been there for a week; it’s always been my practice to re-read The Hobbit first before any re-read of LOTR. A couple of years ago, when we were in Ithaca for the Apple Harvest Festival, one of my purchases at the amazing Autumn Leaves Bookstore was a pristine copy of The Annotated Hobbit, which turned out to be a fascinating read for the annotations as well as the wonderful story. It was like having a running commentary for the book, with notes on Tolkien’s thought processes, various background materials from which Tolkien drew his material, and illustrations from many foreign editions of the book.
And now, it’s on to LOTR, which makes me very happy indeed. I even bought a new copy of the book for this re-read. This is now my third copy of LOTR. Will I buy another for my tentatively-scheduled re-read in 2015? We’ll see!
The world is changing….
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The lady or the tiger?
Remember the short story where the Prince aspires to the Princess’s hand, so the King has the Prince stand before two doors, one of which leads to the Princess and marriage whilst the other leads to a really hungry tiger? And how the story ends as the Prince chooses his door and opens it? And how the story leaves unanswered the question as to which door he opened?
No?
OK, forget it.
(On a more boring note, I’d love to be able to wear these overalls in public, but there’s a hole in the butt. No, I didn’t split them, they came that way when I bought them on eBay.)
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Here's why I'm not rich
Because I don’t think up unimaginably nifty ideas like this: a coffee mug with a little spot underneath for holding cookies! One of my Flickr friends, a lovely woman named Denise, made this. How great is that! One idea like this and I am so retiring.
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Paleface
It interests me how the LED flash on my cell-phone camera can make me look like I have some kind of anemia. I’m really not this pale!
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Double Denim
In accordance with my complete lack of interest in what constitutes “fashion”, I have apparently been committing a possible fashion no-no for years, in the form of the “Double Denim”. This is a denim top coupled with denim pants. I, of course, take it one step farther by wearing the denim shirt under denim overalls (albeit hickory striped, in this case). But in general, I fail to see what this woman is doing wrong by pairing denim with denim…or this one (dance step aside)…and then there’s…well, you get the idea.
Generally, I like the way denim feels, so why not pair it? Double denim rules!
UPDATE: I would later don double denim — this same denim shirt with another pair of overalls — for my 40th-birthday pies in the face. Double denim still rules!
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How to drain your flagon
I know, I know. Worst pun ever!
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The Princess
I found this photo whilst randomly surfing around on Flickr, and I found it both lovely and somehow compelling. There’s something a little sad about that lady’s expression, almost like she’s looking for a lost lover who won’t come back.
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Ornaments 2010
Every year, we acquire new Christmas ornaments. Not a whole lot of them, but we pick up four or five each year. We do an “eclectic” Christmas tree, with ornaments of all types and sizes and shapes. We have traditional ball ornaments, painted-glass Santas, ornaments made by The Daughter in various school grades, novelty ornaments bought over the years at different stores that no longer exist, ornaments that have been gifted to us through the years. I’ve never understood the folks who do an entire tree in one color or motif or theme or whatever.
Christmas ornaments, to me, are only partly about putting pretty things on a tree. They’re also about memory. Each ornament puts me in mind of something or someone special to me and my family, and as we unpack them each year, I get to revisit those people and places in my memories. That’s what Christmas ornaments are about.
Anyway, as I said, we get new ones each year. It’s getting harder and harder each year to find room enough on the tree, and it may become necessary one of these years to get a bigger tree to hold them all. As it is, we find ourselves sadly relegating some ornaments to “back of the tree” status, where we can’t see them. But do we stop acquiring them? No way. Here are the notable additions to our tree this year.
The first three are from my parents, who took a trip to England earlier this year and brought these back for us. This is Queen Elizabeth I, who on our tree looks nothing like Flora Robson, Cate Blanchett, or Dame Judy Dench.
Here is Ann Boleyn. Look how bright her eyes are, as she looks forward to long and successful marriage to King Henry VIII! It’s almost like she has no idea that her head will, not too many years hence, be separated from her shoulders. Oh, those whacky English Royals through the centuries!
And here is the King of the Britons himself, the Majesty of England, the Once and Future King, Arthur Pendragon:
Ahhh, Arthur, I’ve missed you so. I should reacquaint myself with King Arthur one of these years. Heck, I had a book in progress about him, once upon a time….
Maybe the Christmas tree wouldn’t be the first place you’d expect to see a bizarre matchup of fantasy hero versus sci-fi villain, but that’s what’s unfolding on our three this year:
Arthur doesn’t seem aware of the danger that lurks behind him! Turn around, Arthur!
A few weeks ago, The Daughter and I took a trip out to look for new ornaments. Every year I let her pick a few, in honor of the brother and sister that she lost. For the latter, she chose this pair of birds.
And for Little Quinn — whose “official” color we always took to be red — she chose this.
So there they are, the new additions to the tree for this year.
(You can see more of our ornaments here, here, and here.)