Hobbit Day -- 22/9 -- Hobbitdag

 Mimi tells us that today is Hobbit Day -- Bilbo's and Frodo's Birth anniversary

   As one of the things I enjoy most in the books are the merry Hobbits and the exuberant poetry of Hobbits, Dwarves and Elves. I'd like to cite the Song of Plates - The Washing Song - Chip the Glasses (whatever its real title is) from The Hobbit. 
  If you want to hear Tolkien himself sing this song, he's right here. Thank you River for the inspiration. If it does not work, just follow the link.

Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
Blunt the knives and bend the forks!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates -
Smash the bottles and burn the corks!

Cut the cloth and tread on the fat!
Pour the milk on the pantry floor!
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!
Splash the wine on every door!

Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl,
Pound them up with a thumping pole;
And when you’ve finished if any are whole,
Send them down the hall to roll!

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
So, carefully! carefully with the plates!

Poetry Monday :: Ancestor ... Not Mine

Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and Diane of On the Border  are taking turns supplying us with a topic for this weekly endeavour. They also always write wonderful, either funny, thought-provoking, ingenious or simply good verse. Go and read.
   Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is taking a break due to her husband's ill health. Let's send warm thoughts, good energy and lots of prayers their way. 

  Today I am feeling run down, hung up, and sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread, for this reason I won't be participating in Poetry Monday with a verse of my own. But participate I will. I always felt related to the Hobbits. Frodo and Bilbo, Merry, Pippin, Sam and all the other Hobbits are among my ancestry - at least in the spirit. 
  I'm off to have my second breakfast, and so I'll let J.R.R. Tolkien speak for me:  

Lament For Gandalf - by Frodo 
When evening in the Shire was grey
his footsteps on the Hill were heard;
before the dawn he went away
on journey long without a word.

From Wilderland to Western shore,
from northern waste to southern hill,
through dragon-lair and hidden door
and darkling woods he walked at will.

With Dwarf and Hobbit, Elves and Men,
with mortal and immortal folk,
with bird on bough and beast in den,
in their own secret tongues he spoke.

A deadly sword, a healing hand,
a back that bent beneath its load;
a trumpet-voice, a burning brand,
a weary pilgrim on the road.

A lord of wisdom throned he sat,
swift in anger, quick to laugh;
an old man in a battered hat
who leaned upon a thorny staff.

He stood upon the bridge alone
and Fire and Shadow both defied;
his staff was broken on the stone,
in Khazad-dûm his wisdom died.
     (Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2)

Experimenting with Blogger - Updated

As per October 7 this does not work for me any more.

If you're in for an experiment to try to access Legacy Blogger even if the option is not given to us any longer here's how I do it.

You'll need your BloggerID: It is in the place marked with an orange oval in the screenshot below. I greyed out mine as I do not want you to edit my blog 😉 But I think you get the idea.

- copy the words below the screenshot into a document.
- copy / paste your own BloggerID instead of the X'es
- copy / paste the whole of it into the adress line of your browser.
- press Enter and you should be back to Legacy Blogger's bloglist.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX&useLegacyBlogger=true#allposts

Bye Legacy Blogger - You'll be Missed

As of today I am no longer given the option to change back

See, something's missing here!

Sniff-sniffle-sob!

This is still written in Legacy Blogger, because I had it open in another tab. But it can't be long till it's totally gone.

And I found a new, stupid thing in New Blogger:
  Pressing Enter inserts < p > meaning a new paragraph adding an extra new line.
  If you want good ole < br > giving only a single line you now have to remember to hold down Shift while pressing Enter!   Extra work for all of us courtecy of DNB. Sorry for the extra spaces, if I did not add them, they just did their job, but was not written out.

Words for Wednesday - 16 September

  For this Wednesday, River at Drifting through Life has dug up this sentence for us. From where she does not remember, but would have given due credit if she could. In her own words:  This is a sentence I read somewhere but don't remember where so I hope the author forgives me for borrowing it without crediting, which I would do if I could.

With that single statement, he steamrollered my happiness right into the ground

  Well I just go on with my story of the Christmas party:

Jon and Martine engaged the Saami witches and wizards in a discussion on the use of music in magic. Susan was reminded of the wand-singing she and the other apprentices were learning, but she did not know if she was allowed to talk about it or not. Neither Tähti nor Thora had ever told them to keep it secret, but neither had they ever spoken of it outside the lessons. She looked at Rósa and Anna, who were both in the green group as well and they looked back at her. Anna leant over to her and Rósa and asked in a whisper: "Are we allowed to speak of wand-singing at all, or is it a secret."
"I do not know," Rósa answered, and Susan shook her head slowly and whispered back: "I'll go and ask Thora."
She worked her way to Thora's seat at the other end of the first table towards the back of the room. It was crowded and noisy. As she reached Thora, the witch held her hand in the air to stop Susan and continued her discussion with the German wizard in Lederhosen and alpine hat with a purple brush. Susan sat down next to Veronika and prepared to wait. She looked around, revelling in the many different dresses, colours and costumes in the Barn. Then she noticed that the lean, dark-haired with the clogs, whom she had notice earlier on, sat talking quietly and intently to Torben. Susan did her best to look interested in the conversation Veronika was having with a Dutch lace-decked witch all the while listening  in at Torben and his companion's talk.
They were rehashing old resentments, repeating all the slights, burnings, witch-processes and so on that the magical people had suffered from the hands of stupid, ignorant, and often frightened people.
After having waited for ten minutes or more, Susan felt the urge to pee. "Well I can do that while waiting," she thought. and walked the rest of the way to the small corridor and the necessary rooms behind the brown door.
She was just about to leave the cubicle again, when she heard someone enter. She recognized the sound of clogs on the floor. It mus be one of the Dutch. Then she heard Torben say: "We have in short been suffering without doing anything for far too long." 
And the she overheard  Tristan whispering to Torben: "But when we have been elected, a new golden age will be dawning." and with that single statement, he steamrollered her happiness right into the ground.


... to be continued