Ah, right you are. The Salishness and the Lewis & Clark mania has gripped me. There are many a tricksters about!

I just read Mark12-30 post about rockers way back up the page... I thought we who were weaned on the good ol 60's & 70's rock when it was new, rocking chairs. With my daughter listening to the Stones and Pink Floyd in her mix, some things never change I guess. :D

Err New Romantics are more my time - all those men in frilly shirts and skirts! But the young today seem to have more open tastes.. at least my god-daughter and her crowd do..

Hello Friends, It's been a while. I've been dealing with some heavy family stuff and haven't been by the Downs in months. Just wanted to check in and see what you are all up to.

Big Hug!

Ah Raefindel! So very good to see you!! :)

*With a clattering of pots and pans, the Saucepan Man stirs from his bath-chair in the corner and raises a dusty monacle to his (currently yellow) eye*

Rae! How ya doin'? :)

Hello, Raefindel! I don't believe we have met, but welcome back all the same. :)

**Hauls self out of rocking chair, cackles with glee, siezes Rae's hands and dances a dusty jig around the porch**

The MOCHA-COFFEE ELF-LADY! The MOCHA-COFFEE ELF-LADY IS BACK!!!

**Brandishes cane** The coffee's MINE! Made for ME by Mrs. Raefindel, a queen among elves. Get your greedy hands away from the coffee pot and I'll pour one mug at a time.

(Wise Elven-ladies know that Hobbits have a fondness for Mocha Coffee, surpassing even the greediest likings of the Big People...)

Thanks for all the warm welcomes everyone. Saucepan, nice monacle.

LOL Helen! If you like it that much I'll send you some coffee and brownies for your birthday. I feel SOOOoooOOOO bad for missing your birthday.

Hello Ealasaide, it's nice to meet you.

While everyone is welcoming me back you can all congratulate me. Oct 13th is my 20th Wedding Anniversary!

Oh Helen, In answer to your e-mail, no you didn't give me music by the Hobbitons, but it sounds cool. I picked up a few cd's at the Lavendar Festival by a couple from Oregon. It's harp and pennywhistle. Very cool! Have to send it with the Coffee and brownies.

Hmm... haven't I posted the coffee recipe on the recipe thread? I'll have to check, It's not very Middle-earth, but kinda a must for cool fall weather like this. It's actually a secret of the Elves...

*Rae dusts off rocking chair and settles in, handing out recipe cards in large print*

Coffee??? Recipe??
 

Coffee recipe??? I do have a BBQ sauce/maranide that used some coffee in it.

Snowdog-- barbecue sauce? it sounds almost like adding caffeine to coffee! Wow.

Rae, I think you posted a link to the coffee recipe. (But it isn't the same unless it's made by the elves, you know.) At any rate: not to worry; but if you do happen to send brownies and coffee I promise I won't hit you with return postage! And as for CDs, well, you know me!

Maybe you'll have Harp and Pennywhistle music coming from your local hobbits before too much longer... ;) :D

Are You planning a visit? I'd be thrilled to trade my rocking chair for a walking sitck!
Or carry a sword instead of a walking stick!

The mushrooms are all over the rainforests. The mornings foggy, the afternoons bright. It's a perfect time for Hobbits and Elves to go walking together. :)

What's your favorite color, Helen Hobbit?

Congratulations for yesterday ... and for enlivening the old folk..... must be some coffee... :)

Thank You Mithalwen . We had a nice time.

I posted the coffee recipe on the Arda Recipe Book thread.

A most excellent recipe it is too! I posted a tater recipe I have grown fond of.

How is everyone here in the Club??

Snowdog,

I'm quite well today, thanks. The lungs are working! Always a plus. I had a busy weekend, but got a lot done. Broght in lots of firewood, but it's too warm to start a fire! I'll take it.

Thinking hard about "The Hedged Inn", and hoping it can be made into a fun, useful, enjoyable, and Tolkien-focused ... mission... quest... thing.

It depends... :rolleyes: For what? :p


For a long time now I've been racking my brains on how to make a functional, useful Lorien cloak-- no, not like in the movies, although those were nice enough; I mean one that can actually blend in in the woods or in the fields or in the water or in the fog.

The scots did it with multicolored tartans. By Victorian times there were "hunting " tartans that were woven with greens and blues, or with faded, earthy colors-- essentially "camo" colors appropo for their environs.

Clan Matheson Hunting
Hunting Stewart
Hunting Erskine
Hunting MacKinnon

Would I use tartan? Maybe. Not sure. I've toyed with the idea of using actual camo! But it's not all that attractive for town wear. I want some sort of nice woodsy, leafy pattern. (Like what?? Dunno-- I haven't seen it yet.) I'm thinking more of a reversable cloak, with greys and blues on one side-- or should it be greys and browns?-- and then greens and browns on the other side. Or *something * like that! Both my cloaks are solid color and unlined, and they are rather drafty; Rae's cloaks are always lined and they're cozier.

Hmmmmm, hmmmm.

You haven't been sick, I hope!

And as for cold? "I reckon it's cold enough today to start a right good fire!" Hilde says eying the rows of specifications books beside her with a rather peculiar gleam in her eye. "Bonfire even, maybe!"

I think I've passed seven weeks straight. Antibiotics, steroids, sprays, inhalants, whatnot... I'm tired of financing pharmaceutical heirs and heiress' college educations... but there it is. Breathing cannot be lightly discounted these days. And at the moment, the lungs are working quite well.

With a nod, mark12_30 glances at the shelves to her left. "Aye. One could get a good bit of heat from them, indeed."

Thank You for the compliment, Snowdog . The Tater Recipe sounds delicious, too. When I lived in the south (California, it's near Gondor) I did indeed grow coffee, though, when I moved with my people back North it died in the cold.

I had thought of trying to grow a cocoa plant as well, but someone comvinced me it would never bear fruit as it required a specific insect to polinate it, and it was sadly not indiginous to Gondor.

And as to how I am, I am well, thank You. I have many sewing projects sitting on the sidelines waiting till my house is finished before I begin them. How are you?

Helen, girlfriend, I've gotcha pegged! I kinda had ya figured for a green girl, but I wanted to check. Next time you come out here you can take the green cloak home with you if you want it. Not sure if it's what you're looking for or not, but it doesn't fit me and I don't wear green. Not sure why I made it...

**gasp**

Of COURSE I do. And... well, there it is. Golly!

**Fidgets with delight**

...and just so I can find the coffee next time:

Arda Recipe Book

I'm trying to get Cory to burn those CD's I mentioned, the harp & pennywhistle, but he has so little time and so many things waiting for his attention. I'm just not computer savvy enough to do it myself. Perhaps the little gymnast can do it now. He's in advanced computer class.

I see things all the time and think "Helen would like that!" and "when Helen get's here we can do this together!"

Ah! I'm so glad to hear that you seem to be improving; we have someone here on week 4! Can't think of what might be causing it, but I'm afraid it might be dragons! :eek: Sorry, feeling a bit giddy, I've finally been unchained from my desk!

Chained to your desk? What a terrible fate!

Alas, I'm in the mood for a walk but have no walking partner, O Relic of Wandering Days! Helenhobbit comes but once or twice a year and we are always hard-pressed to do all we have planned.

Wouldn't it be nice if we all could walk together? I long for a walking partner. I must confess, my good Hobbits, that in the autumn and winter I have little to do and long for company, even the company of Hobbits,for there are none in these parts. Perhaps the mossy,wet forests and the cold of the mountains keeps them away.

You are the best elf ever... If the gymnast is able, that's fine-- but no guilt-trips from the east, all right? How are the princess and the harper doing?

I would love to come, and see you, and wander under the firs, and see the mountains-- mountains!-- and see my dear auntie again. She's like my Bilbo-- I never thought of it that way before! She's definitely settled in her Rivendell!!

I've been listening to monkish music a lot. There's a lovely song by JMT that I sing every morning... I've even been doing vocal work again. Next time, we must have a list of songs to sing. You harmonize too well not to.

I'm already working on the list! No Elf would pass up the opportunity to sing with a well-tuned Hobbit!

Yes, it would be enjoyable to have a nice walk with friends, even if they’re elves. ;) Though I will say that I no sooner wrote that I’d continue on from Rivendell to Mordor (The Walk to Rivendell thread) then I stopped my daily outings! Nothing like the thought of actually reaching the place to give one pause, and a long pause at that! But then again Esty must be near by now. Maybe she can report her findings. (I have visions of very an active Mordor historical society there and possibly one or two dozen lively reenactment groups! Quite chilling!)

As far as there not being many hobbits round you Miss Raefindel, a never heard tell of many of us that made it out to the Blessed Realm out west. Leastways, not yet.

And I do owe an explanation…. These chains are entirely self-made and imposed. I learned the craft as a youngster from a couple of rather indulgent Noldorian elves passing through. They are quite invisible unless you know what to look for, having been specially anodized in a lovely shade of green particularly attractive to employers, and are engraved with all sorts of ruins touting work ethic, loyalty and single-minded determination to carry though on rash and foolish oaths taken by the design department! They are very useful when faced with impossible workloads and when your Tookish side urgently presses for a bit of wandering at inopportune moments.

EDIT: so sorry, it appears that I deleted a necessary word, it has returned now. :p

Hi, I'm Estelyn and I'm your hostess here at the Barrows' retirement home! I'm happy to see that so many of you have settled in, made friends, and are chatting away! Those of you who are still physically active are invited to grab your walkers, canes - or Nordic walking sticks, whatever suits you - and join me. I've passed the Crossroads and am not far from Shelob's Lair. I do have the advantage of knowing about it in advance, though, so I have prepared by bringing along insect repellant. Do you think it will help??

(Alas, a slight illness has slowed me down the past few days, but I never stop completely - thanks to my dog, who is not related to Farmer Maggot's...)

I wouldn't be too confident. Spiders aren't insects. :p ;)

I hope that all of you who have been under the weather are now well back on the road to recovery. Personally, I blame the air-conditioning in this darn retirement home ...

Maybe its all that English rain?

Esty, glad to hear that you are almost there! I think your dog and a good hefty mallet might serve you well with Shelob. And do be careful on those steps!

I know I should not intrude upon my seniors when they smoke their pipes and have their tea in their cosy armchairs, but I'm tiptoeing into this Hall of Deserved Repose because of my maniacal pedantism. In post #205 Mark asked for certain thread, and in post #239 Child provided the link to one which were similar and approved of by Mark. Well, just in case we once again change software and links of the kind 'here' or 'there' are no longer usable, let me update the information with the title and author of the the thread mentioned:

The Loss of Knowledge by Alkanoonion

Now, as pedantism prevailed, and my deed is done, I slink away quitely. Enjoy your tea.... :)

Thought some of you might get a kick out of this. Here's a picture from 1976 (remember Frye boots?) My penpal from Michigan visited for two glorious days (alas that she was not my next-door neighbor!!)

My friend is wearing my (brown) cloak, and I am wearing her (purple) cloak-- because of the shirts/ blouses we chose that day, we thought the colors went better.

HnH76.JPG

I have since removed the fake-fur lining from the brown cloak (it weighed a TON) and shortened it a bit.

Oh, and Esty-- I have been walking a fair amount. The trick is to start keeping track of it again! I was distracted for a time by swimming in a lovely little pond, but the season for that seems to have passed, alas.

I think HI,you will find many of us require something stronger to keep us well preserved (formaldehyde anyone? :P)... SO the young bloods are spying on the fogies? I guess we have to forgive this breach of etiquette ... such a helpful boy :D

I do think it's charming and delightful to have a visit from a young 'un... so long as they are respectful and well-behaved. **hefts cane**

Come again and visit us, H_I, now there's a dear. Such a nice boy.

*Parks 70's vintage chopper bike and shuffles in*

Mark - what a splendid photo! You know, that very 'look' is fashionable again right now - and those boots are marvellous, I've a pair rather like that, but in black and the lacing is fake. I shall have to find a photo of myself from 1976, and then you will see a real-life hobbit child. :D

Oooh I wasn't allowed a chopper ... only a hand-me-down "sit up and beg".... Hmm the summer of '76 is about as far back as I can remember clearly, "the great drought" and saving water. I remember having a huge sunhat so I guess I looked like a mushroom, a mushroom who was waiting for front teeth:)

The advantage of having big brothers was that you got all their cool things once they had finished with them. :) But then my mum used to ban me from going out of the garden with it. :(

Yes, *reminisces* the summer of '76. We went to Scarborough and the car overheated in Malton; I remember my dad stomping around with an angry red face, looking for water while we all screamed because our legs were sticking to the vinyl seats in his Vauxhall Viva. Then we got to Scarborough where I was sick on another girl in Peasholme Park. I had a strange hat too - with a knitted flower on the front, with a huge eye-like button in the middle. Around this time we learned about greek myths at primary school and I soon acquired the nickname 'cyclops', which I happily added to the others, including 'duracell'. Happy days. ;)

Elder sister (torturer), Yellow Renault, vinyl upholstery (of course) but very practical for all those hours spent outside pubs with only a glass of lemonade and a shared packet of crisps for amusement......

I think my parents thanked the lord for the invention of the table-top space invader machine. It stopped them from having to troop into the 'family room' every five minutes because a fight had broken out between us and some kids from Stoke-on-Trent over a heated game of pop-o-matic frustration. Then we all got old and they lost two of us to Tolkien for several years. ;)

Oh we had one of those binatone tennis games!!!! even my reactions were quick enough for that....... and my sister scorned Tolkien til she discovered Orlando Bloom :rolleyes: