Slowly but surely....

Today's inside-my-head soundtrack: two songs from the AMAZING going-away mix CD that LW, a Tally friend, made us (thank you soooooooo much, LW!!!): "The Queen of Iowa" by Andrew Peterson, and "It's Amazing" by Mindy Smith.

One more friendly, familiar wall hanging is out of a box now and on the wall. Thanks to E (husband), the pantry shelves are now more order than chaos. Our storage unit now has an organizational scheme as well...like things are grouped together, and we can actually find things that we are likely to want to find (this was also E's initiative). And we're working on solutions to two problems: our linens are still living in cardboard boxes, and we don't have enough room to store all our clothes here at the apartment. For the linens (we have no linen closet of any kind), we've decided on under-the-bed storage containers that we can pull out easily when needed, kind of like secret drawers (not that they'll have anything THAT fascinating in them...ooooo, sheets and towels!). For the clothes, plastic containers are also our answer, this time larger, deeper, more laundry-basket-sized ones in which we can pack away out-of-season clothes and take them to the storage unit. So another trip to Box Land, as we've taken to calling the area north of town where there is Target and Meijer and Walmart and all the other big chain stores, is in order. We need to go to Box Land to buy boxes! ;-) Anyway, things are gradually moving forward in our little corner of Brandy Hall. The slow pace is awfully frustrating sometimes, as I had hoped to be living in a cute little smial (J. R. R. Tolkien's word for a hobbit hole, non-Tolkien-ites) by now, all decorated for Halloween and cozy and nice to come home to. I never have been terribly realistic, have I? It's only been 2.5 months, and we've been moving at a frantic pace pretty much since we got here. It's a wonder we have books on the shelves and CDs upacked (guess you can see our priorities pretty easily). But still, I wish sometimes that I could just take a week off and work on the apartment. Funny, when I wasn't working I wanted a job so badly. Now that I have three jobs, I just want a day off! Of course, if I got a day off, I probably wouldn't want to spend it working hard in the apartment anyway. There's that "not being realistic" thing again. ;-)

My solution to my own impatience and worry over all that needs to be done is to make lists. If I just sit and think about all the things I want to do, my brain quickly starts running in circles, I get discouraged, and I do something completely non-productive--surf the internet or take a nap--to make myself feel better. Ah, that cycle explains MANY a lost afternoon. Anyway, if I make a list, I feel so good if I can just cross one thing off! One little thing DONE can beat all the grandiose plans your mind can construct. So I make lists. Some days I do get to scratch something off, some days I don't. But at least the act of writing down all these projects, big and small, lets my brain find something new to worry about. Ha ha. I guess there's always something.

LOTR Report
Like the work on our home in Brandy Hall, IL, my reading goes slowly. But boy am I enjoying it. What a treat! Pippin, Sam, and Frodo have managed to stay ahead of the Black Riders, and enjoyed the hospitality of Farmer and Mrs. Maggot. Frodo's fear of these solid, immediately likeable hobbits is so wonderfully explained, but it is equally wonderful to see him let go of his old worries and embrace the Maggots as friends: "I've been in terror of you and your dogs for over thirty years, Farmer Maggot, though you may laugh to hear it. It's a pity: for I've missed a good friend. and now I'm sorry to leave so soon." Sam, always loyal, is not quite so easily put at ease: "he was not disposed to be quick friends with anyone who had beaten his master, however long ago." Even this early in the story, even knowing all that he will eventually do for Frodo, these little examples of Sam's remarkable devotion to Frodo really move me. Sam's soul is such a beautiful one.

Reading about the meal that the hobbits enjoyed at the Maggots, which of course contained LOTS of mushrooms, made me so hungry. The weather here at Brandy Hall, IL, has been chilly for days, so warm, hearty farm food sounds about perfect right now! Speaking of mushrooms, Mrs. Maggot's parting gift of the basket of those yummy fungi was hilarious. I had forgotten all about it since my last reading. Take that, Frodo!

As I read about Frodo's arrival in Crickhollow, I could not help feeling sad. Here is the warm, cozy home, lovingly prepared for him by Merry and Fatty to be as much like Bag End as possible, and he will spend only one night there before his life is set on its irreversible course. Frodo "found himself wishing that he was really coming here to settle down in quiet retirement. It seemed unfair to have put his friends to all this trouble; he wondered again how he was going to break the news to them that he must leave them so soon, indeed at once." Luckily, his friends are WAY ahead of him. Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Fatty are already very much in the know about Frodo's plans to leave the Shire, thanks largely to Merry's intuition, his chance glimpse of Bilbo using the ring to disappear years ago (to avoid the S-B's! hahaha!), and Sam's position as the mole of Bag End. Frodo's relief that he will not be going on this frightening journey alone is palpable, and so is the reader's! Boy are those Black Riders scary in the books...creeping and crawling and snuffling around. Strider needs to show up quickly!

Frodo's prophetic dream in his first and last night at Crickhollow is amazing. Already, at this early stage in the quest, the sea is calling him. The Ring is exerting its influence, and yet already there is a counter influence, a longing that is much older and more deeply-rooted than this hobbit or the Shire. He will not understand this need for the sea for years yet, but it is already letting Frodo know that it is there for him when the time comes. Amazing, and melancholic. A bit like the sea itself on a gray winter's day.

Speaking of water, and to lighten the mood, here is Bilbo's old bath song, which Frodo, Sam, and Pippin sing enthusiastically in their baths just after arriving in Crickhollow. No way the floor will stay dry after this one!

Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
that washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smoke and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer, if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!

-J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring


And I'll leave you all with that. I love hobbits. :-) Go enjoy your evening (perhaps a hot bath?), and read a little Tolkien if you can. Please share your thoughts. Big hobbit hugs to you all.