A Sanctuary for Tolkien Fanatics Who Aren't Ready to be Cured
Just returned from trip....
Posted on 2009.05.13 at 07:28
Hi, folks!
This is to say that I just got back last night from a two-week trip to see family.
It was a good visit, but it's good to be back, not only because of my husband and kitties but because of the computer. Normally when I'm there, since my mother has no computer, I have gone every few days to the public library to use a computer for half an hour, but this time we were all came down with colds and I never had the energy to go there.
This morning, though, I opened my email. I see several notifications of comments from readers, plus notices of new entries. It's going to take a while, but I am looking forward to catching up.
Because I can't bear to make a post with no image, here's a painting I think makes a good illustration of an Elven residence overlooking the Sea on Tol Eressëa. As soon as I saw it I imagined Frodo walking there, strolling or reading or just looking out to Sea, in case a ship might be arriving from Middle-earth.
No, I've still got the cold. If I'm still hoarse and coughing in a couple of days I'm going to stop by the clinic and see if I have a low-grade infection that can be treated.
I read the reviews when I was at my mother's and would love to have gone while I was there; they had it on IMAX. But it was not to be. Jan-u-wine texted me that it was great, too (I couldn't talk on the telephone - no voice). Maybe I'll get myself over to the movies this week, now that I'm at home, when I'm feeling better.
It's a great Tol painting, isn't it? Aagaard did some others of the same place which you might find equally evocative:
Welcome back, Mechtild. I'm pleased you enjoyed your visit with family, but what a shame you came down with a cold. It's always good to come home isn't it?
'It was a good visit, but it's good to be back, not only because of my husbands and kitties...'
You have more than one husband?! (he he!)
That's a gorgeous painting. How lovely to think of Frodo healing in such a beautiful place. Thanks.
Welcome back home, Mechtild! I hope you feel better now and don't have still to deal with this cold.
This beautiful picture (or pictures of this kind) was exactly what I had in mind when I read about the Blessed Island. Amalfi or even the romantic paintings of Olevano or something in Greece, they could all fit so well. Anyone should manip the perian into this picture! :D
I still have the wretched cold, but I hope it will be all gone soon. Thanks for stopping by, Aredhelebenesse.
I will have to look up Olevano! Yes, scenes like these say "Tol Eressëa" and "Elves" to me. It's what I had in my mind when reading about the Elves returned from exile: blue skies, blue seas, balmy, warm weather and fragrant air, rocky coasts with white-shingled coves, the buildings made of warm stone with plenty of verdure growing over everything. Lorien, I thought, seemed more like the Undying Lands themselves, which Galadriel had lived in before she left, more perfect and less soft. But since the Numenoreans got their ideas (and a lot of their plants) from the Elves on nearby Tol Eressëa, and the descriptions of Numenor before the Downfall sounded so much like a beautiful island in the Mediterranean or the Aegean, this is what I pictured for the Tol. :)
Anywhere I'd read that the Gaelic aes sídhe were by some mythologists or researchers assumed to come from anywhere around the Greek islands to Ireland. And because they remind a lot of the Elves (Fair Folk and such terms) I always pictured them rather ancient Greek looking and coming from a beautiful light blue, white and golden world to the cold north. So this version of the Undying Lands seems to be the proper and matching place for a folk like elves. Or further behind them the ainur.
It's a long way, climate-wise, from the Greek Islands to Ireland. Ah, "white and blue and golden" - yes, but don't forget the green (all those trees). :)
I am a traveller, but must admit most of my traveling has occurred in North America & Hawaii. It's been FAR too long since I've been to England, and I went to Israel decades ago. So, long answer is, no, I haven't been to the Mediterranean/Aegean/Adriatic. It is DEFINITELY on my list!
I'll bet Frodo adored showing him around when he finally got there. I'm sure Sam would be agog checking out all the gorgeous plantings and varieties of flowers and trees he hadn't seen before, even if he didn't care for the heights. He might make an exception since these heights are so beautiful, unlike the heights over Minas Morgul, for instance.
