22nd September: Bilbo's Birthday!

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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

Excellent Hobbit birthday site
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Dorwinion

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"It must be potent wine to make a wood-elf drowsy; but this wine, it would seem, was the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion, not meant for his soldiers or his servants, but for the king's feasts only, and for smaller bowls not for the butler's great flagons."

Douglas A. Anderson, in the excellent Annotated Hobbit, explains:

"The name Dorwinion is clearly of Elvish origin, and it appears in Tolkien's earlier writings. In "The Lay of the Children of Húrin", a long unfinished alliterative poem written in the early to mid-1920s, the especially potent wine of Dor-Winion [sic] is described as coming from the burning South, which implies that Dor-Winion is located in Beleriand. [...]

Dorwinion also appears in a text probably dating from the mid-1930s, just before Tolkien began writing The Lord of the Rings in December 1937. This text is the conclusion to the Quenya Silmarillion (published in volume five of the History, The Lost Road), and "the undying flowers in the meads of Dorwinion" are mentioned in the final paragraph, implying that Dorwinion is overseas in Tol Eressëa.

Finally, on Pauline bayne's Map of Middle Earth (1970), which was compiled with Tolkien's assistance, Dorwinion is placed on the northwest shores of the inland Sea of Rhûn, far down the banks of the River Running in the East. The placement here certainly accords with the mentions of Dorwinion in The Hobbit but does not account for the appearance of the name in earlier texts."

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Well, that's good to know. But what about the wine?

I would like to nominate one of my favorite wines to the rank of "Wines from Dorwinion":

HoneyRun Winery's Blackberry Honeywine
This is a double whammy - without a doubt the best blackberry wine I have ever tasted, as well as the best mead (there was some homebrew mead that Mrs. Meadows and I were given many, many years ago, but that's a different story, kids!)

Because of various laws, this product is sadly not available everywhere, but if you are in one of the "allowed" states, you can order it here: HoneyRun Winery.

If you can get your hands on a bottle (keep it over 21, folks!), I highly recommend and encourage you to do so.

Enjoy!

Elf Socks!

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While these marvelous socks are touted as a "Rivendell" sock pattern, I think they would be well-received and quite at home among the elves in Mirkwood.

You can buy the pattern as a pdf file by clicking here.

Related Post:
Hobbit Socks
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Roaming About Mirkwood

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"Companies of the Wood-elves, sometimes with the king at their head, would from time to time ride out to hunt, or to other business in the woods and in the lands to the East."

"He could not keep up with the hunting elves all the time they were out, so he never discovered the ways out of the wood, and was lef tto wander miserably in the forest, terrified of losing himself, until a chance came of returning."
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The Elvenking

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In the Dungeons of the Elvenking!

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"Inside the passages were lit with red torch-light, and the elf-guards sang as they marched along the twisting, crossing, and echoing paths."

"These were not like those of the goblin-cities; they were smaller, less deep underground, and filled with cleaner air."

"In a great hall with pillars hewn out of the living stone sat the Elvenking on a chair of carven wood."

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Welcome Mat for Autumn

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Well! What's happened to me?! I feel as if I cracked my head on a low-hanging rock, whilst being carried at full run through an underground passage on the back of a dear dwarvish friend!

Yes, nearly a month of Autumn (which started for us on 10th August), and no word from your friend Hob Meadows since June! The best I can offer is a sincere apology and a promise to get back to work!


The new welcome mat, for early Autumn 2008, is "Autumn colors", uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons by Fir0002 on 30th June, 2005.
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20th June: Midsummer's Eve

Image source

The moon was shining in a broad silver crescent. He held up the map and the white light shone through it. "What is this?" she said. "There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say 'five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.' "

"Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them," said Elrond, "not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the most cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you. These must have been written on a midsummer's eve in a cresent moon, a long while ago."

Related posts:
Rune Generator

Now it is a strange thing...

"Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to" - how true! I hope you've been having a merry June; Mrs. Meadows and I have been! And as Mr. Tolkien says, our happy adventures would not be much to listen to.

Music in Rivendell

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Music is such an essential part of The Hobbit -- and such a highly personal part of reading and enjoying The Hobbit. I feel I would be remiss if I didn't share some of my favorite music.


Judith Pintar is an amazing harpist - her album Changes Like the Moon is one of my all-time favorites. Very appropriate for Rivendell (in Hob's esteemed opinion).

Enjoy!
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4th June: O! Where Are You Going?

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O! What are you doing,
And where are you going?
Your ponies need shoeing!
The river is flowing!
O! tra-la-la-lally
here down in the valley!

O! Where are you going
With beards all a-wagging?
No knowing, no knowing
What brings Mister Baggins,
And Balin and Dwalin
down into the valley
in June
ha! ha!

O! Will you be staying,
Or will you be flying?
Your ponies are straying!
The daylight is dying!

To fly would be folly,
To stay would be jolly
And listen and hark
Till the end of the dark
to our tune
ha! ha!

On 4th June, the Company finally reaches Rivendell! A time for rest, healing, music, song, stories, good company, friendship, and all things pleasant!

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English Folk Song "The Fox Went Out"

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So I obviously couldn't let it rest.

Here's a great resource page for "The Fox Went Out", which includes complete lyrics and a 33 second clip of the song in performance.

Nice! (But not at all how I've been singing it!)
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30th May: The Stone Trolls

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Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.

Up came Tom with his big boots on.
Said he to Troll: 'Pray, what is yon?
For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Tim.
As should be a-lyin' in the graveyard.
Caveyard! Paveyard!
This many a year has Tim been gone,
And I thought he were lyin' in the graveyard.

'For a couple o' pins,' says Troll, and grins,
'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.
A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!
I'll try my teeth on thee now.
Hee now! See now!
I'm tired o' gnawing old bones and skins;
I've a mind to dine on thee now.'

But just as he thought his dinner was caught,
He found his hands had hold of naught.
Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind
And gave him the boot to larn him.
Warn him! Darn him!
A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,
Would be the way to larn him.

But harder than stone is the flesh and bone
Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.
As well set your boot to the mountain's root,
For the seat of a troll don't feel it.
Peel it! Heal it!
Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,
And he knew his toes could feel it.

One of my favorite Tolkien poems when I was a kid (you can read the whole thing here). I don't think I've ever heard the song to which this is supposed to be sung: the traditional English folk song "The Fox Went Out", according to The Annotated Hobbit. In my mind, it is a fast-paced, thumping tune (somewhat similar to - although faster than - the pub song Merry and Pippin sing in Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring - you know, "There's a mug of beer inside this Took!")

Anyway, how nice that the trolls turn to stone on the first day of summer!

(My apologies to other Hobbit purists for quoting from LOTR. It was appropriate, I think.)
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30th May Dawn Take You All!

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And Be Stone To You!
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30th May Welcome Summer!

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Hob's Summer "To Do" List:
1. Sit in the garden.
2. Enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables.
3. Read The Hobbit.
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Last Day of Spring

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Today is the last day of spring (according to Hob's Calendar), and it is a wonderful way to end spring - cool weather, slightly overcast, with mild rain. It's actually been raining for days, and the garden couldn't be happier. The foxgloves are tall and lush, and the irises are just opening: great, dark purple and blue irises.

I do hope you've had a chance to enjoy a strawberry or two (or twenty, or fifty, or...), and enjoy and armload of flowers. May is one of my favorites months to pick up and re-read The Hobbit; if you haven't started reading The Hobbit yet, it's not too late to start! Glorious, apple-green and sky-blue May - I'm always sad to see May come to an end - it really is the sum and total essence of spring in my mind.

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More Trolls!

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A troll is a fearsome member of a mythical anthropomorph race from Scandinavia. Their role ranges from fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of England (also called Trolls at times, see Troller's Gill) – to a devious, more human-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills, caves or mounds. Source.

Stupid, primitive, distrustful, and unbelievably ugly creatures. They have noses like cucumbers, and a tail. They are horribly strong and fast, and they stink. They often keep boxes full of stolen money and jewels, with which they play for hours, running their fingers through them. Source: Gnomes 30th Anniversary Edition

These trolls have a human-like appearance. Sometimes they had a tail hidden in their clothing, but even that is not a definite. Many of these trolls had a single lock of hair that no human could comb, whereas the rest was generally messy. A frequent way of telling a human-looking troll in folklore is to look at what it is wearing: Troll women in particular were often too elegantly dressed to be human women moving around in the forest. They could attract human males to do their bidding, or simply as mates or pets. Later these would be found wandering, decades later, with no memory of what had happened to them in a troll woman's care. Source.

See also:
Illustration: John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll
Illustration: Einar Norelius and John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1944/49)
Thanks, Michael May!
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29 May Trolls!

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"They came to the hill and were soon in the wood. Up the hill they went; but there was no proper path to be seen, such as might lead to a house or a farm; and do what they could they made a great deal of rustling and crackling and creaking (and a good deal of grumbling and dratting), as they went through the trees in the pitch dark.

Suddenly the red light shone out very bright through the tree-trunks not far ahead.

'Now it is the burglar's turn,' they said, meaning Bilbo. 'You must go on and find out all about that light, and what it is for, and if all is perfectly safe and canny,' said Thorin to the hobbit."

Three very large persons were sitting round a very large fire of beech-logs. They were toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gracy off their fingers. There was a fine toothsome smell. Also there was a barrel of good drink at hand, and they were drinking out of jugs. But they were trolls. Obviously trolls.

Thus Bilbo discovers Bert, Tom, and William "Bill" Huggins; horrible, man-eating (when they can get it) monsters whose language is "not drawing-room fashion, at all."

" 'Blimey, Bert, look what I've copped!' said William.

'What is it?' said the others coming up.

'Lumme, if I knows! What are yer?'

'Bilbo Baggins, a bur - a hobbit,' said poor Bilbo, shaking all over and wondering how to make owl-noises before they throttled him.

'A burrahobbit?' said they a bit startled. Troll are slow in the uptake, and mighty suspicious about anything new to them.

[...]

' P'raps there are more like him round about, and we might make a pie,' said Bert. 'Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin' in these here woods, yer nassty little rabbit," said he looking at the hobbit's furry feet; and he picked him up by the toes and shook him.

'Yes, lots,' said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away. 'No none at all, not one,' he said immediately afterwards.'

Right in the middle of the fight up came Balin. The dwarves had heard noises from a distance, and after waiting for some time for Bilbo to come back, or to hoot like an owl, they started off one by one to creep towards the light as quietly as they could. No sooner did Tom see Balin come into the light than he gave an awful howl. Trolls simply detest the very sight of dwarves (uncooked). Bert and Bill stopped fighting immediately, and 'a sack, Tom, quick!' they said. Before Balin, who was wondering where in all this commotion Bilbo was, knew what was happening, a sack was over his head, and he was down.

'There's lots more to come yet,' said Tom, 'or I'm mighty mistook. Lots and none at all, it is,' said he. 'No burrahobbits, but lots of these here dwarves. That's about the shape of it!'

'I reckon you're right,' said Bert, 'and we'd best get out of the light.'

And so they did.

Soon Dwalin lay by Balin, and Fili and Kili together, and Dori and Nori and Ori all in a heap, and Oin and Gloin and Bifur and Bofur and Bombur piled uncomfortably near the fire."

And so it is, that in the evening of 29 May, Bilbo and the dwarves, lost and wretched in the wilderness, followed a pleasant red light to the trolls. Lesson to be learned? Leave well enough alone! Or (since that really isn't in the spirit of the hobbit's adventure), wade right in - but be sure to have a wizard at your back!

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Roast Mutton

"At first they passed through hobbit-lands, a wide respectable country inhabited by decent folk, with good roads, an inn or two, and now and then a dwarf or a farmer ambling by on business. Then they came to lands where people spoke strangely, and sang songs Bilbo had never heard before. Now they had gone far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people."

From Chapter 2, "Roast Mutton"

New Welcome Mat

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Just spiffing up the site a bit, and decided on a new welcome mat to finish out Spring 2008.


The image is "Alpine flora logan pass", uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons by Traveler100 on 29th July, 2007.
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April 27 At Your Service!

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Just before tea-time there came a tremendous ring on the front-door bell, and then he remembered! He rushed and put on the kettle, and put out another cup and saucer, and an extra cake or two, and ran to the door.

"I am so sorry to keep you waiting!" he was going to say, when he saw that it was not Gandalf at all. It was a dwarf with a blue beard tucked into a golden belt, and very bright eyes under his dark-green hood. As soon as the door was opened, he pushed inside, just as if he had been expected.

He hung his hooded cloak on the nearest peg, and "Dwalin at your service!" he said with a low bow.


Gandalf sat the head of the party with the thirteen dwarves all round: Bilbo sat on a stool at the fireside, nibbling at a biscuit (his appetite was quite taken away), and trying to look as if this was all perfectly ordinary and not in the least an adventure. The dwarves ate and ate, and talked and talked, and time got on.


"Now for some music!" said Thorin. "Bring out the instruments!"

The dark came into the room from the little window that opened in the side of The Hill; the firelight flickered - it was April - and still they played on, while the shadow of Gandalf's beard wagged against the wall.



April 27, the day of the unexpected party!

Hope your tea-time is filled with so many strange and wonderful stories, that you don't finish until well past dark. We like it dark for dark business, as they say - with dragons and whatnot.

Enjoy!

Related posts:
Dwarven Music
Hobbit Movie (1977)
Play It Now: Brave Dwarves Back For Treasure
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April 26 Good Morning!

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By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed) - Gandalf came by.


"Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"All of them at once," said Bilbo.

It's Gandalf-Visits-the-Shire Day!

Be on the lookout for unexpected visitors who might send you on an adventure - and be careful to whom you say, "I beg your pardon"! And be double-careful of whom you invite for tea!

Enjoy your adventures!
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Oops!
In my previous post, I mistakenly attributed the painting of Gandalf in the woods to Ted Nasmith (it's been corrected).

So, here is a detail of a rather stern Gandalf, painted by Ted Nasmith. No doubt this is what Gandalf looks like when he corrects your mistakes!

One Week Before An Unexpected Party...

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Probably one of my all-time favorite paintings of Gandalf, by the amazing Roger Garland. Just a short rest in the woods before bringing about the greatest adventure a hobbit and thirteen dwarves ever had. And it's a great companion to Der Berggeist...

The Origin of Gandalf?

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Humphrey Carpenter in his 1977 biography relates that Tolkien owned a postcard entitled Der Berggeist (German: "the mountain spirit"), and on the paper cover in which he kept it, he wrote "the origin of Gandalf". The postcard reproduces a painting of a bearded figure, sitting on a rock under a pine tree in a mountainous setting. He wears a wide-brimmed round hat and a long red cloak, and a white fawn is nuzzling his upturned hands.

Carpenter said that Tolkien recalled buying the postcard during his holiday in Switzerland in 1911. Manfred Zimmerman, however, discovered that the painting was by German artist Josef Madlener and dates to the mid–1920s. Carpenter acknowledged that Tolkien was probably mistaken about the origin of the postcard.

Link.

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