The Wayward Harper

Nadia Turner is an artist from Australia, whose blog Wayward Harper is definitely worth checking out. It is all sorts of elvish, magical, and wonderful. If you don't already know, I love foxes, and Nadia's painting of a fox and princess (or she could be a fortune teller or magical woman) is wonderful.

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So what could be more amazing than her amazing art? How about her amazing art decorating a harp!

Crane Harp. 

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The Journeywoman Harp.

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I think either of these magnificent harps would be welcome in the Halls of the Elvenking, or in Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. Somehow, the Crane Harp seems more in keeping with the dwarves, and the Journeywoman Harp (with its sunshine and trees) seems far more likely to be an elvish instrument. But they are definitely magical, and remind me of one of my favorite poems:

"Goblets they carved there for themselves

And harps of gold; where no man delves

They lay there long, and many a song

Was sung unheard by men or elves."

Durin's Day: 14th December

Hello and well-met, fellow traveler, and happy Durin's Day!

I predict that Friday, the fourteenth of December, is the first day of the dwarves' new year ~ being the first day of the last moon in Autumn, just before winter. Dwarves call their new year's day, "Durin's Day" if the sun and moon are in the sky together. By happy circumstance, the moon will rise on Friday around 8:30 in the morning, and not set until after dark - nearly 7:00 in the evening!

Huzzah, hooray! Ring in the (dwarves') new year!