Dreamflower's Mathom-house

Last month our planned Tolkien night for International Tolkien Reading Day at the library had to be postponed, due to the head librarian having pneumonia. Tonight was the rescheduled event, and it was lots of fun.

I wanted to dress up in my hobbit lass garb, but was unable to find it, though I scoured the house. I have a feeling it may have been put away in the garage with my SCA garb. So instead I wore my "Bilbo's Adventure" T-shirt. I had promised the head librarian to bring some scones for part of the refreshments, and made a couple of dozen.

Everyone had the chance to draw a Middle-earth name for the evening, so tonight I was Camellia Underhill. I met a very nice woman who was dressed as an Elf. She was "Niniel" for the evening. An interesting fact about her was that she'd had her last name legally changed to "Arwen" several years ago. We talked about our Tolkien experiences, and since she is a big Aragorn/Arwen fan, I pulled out my iPad and showed her some of rs9's artwork. She loved it!

There were several cute kids there with their mom/aunt (some were her kids and some were cousins). We had some fun games: riddles, guess the Dwarves' names, find the invisible Ring on Bilbo (kind of the opposite of pin the tail on the donkey)--a black silhouette of Bilbo was taped to the wall, the player was blindfolded, and a small "Ring" was taped to the silhouette. The player had two minutes to find the Ring. I found it in 18 seconds! There were some life sized cut-outs of some of the movie characters for photo ops. I only took a couple of pics, but there will be lots of pictures on the library website next week.

There were refreshments: bread and cheese, "lembas", my scones, cheese, and beverages.

The highlight of the evening was the Periscope reading of a section of "An Unexpected Party (you have to have Safari, Firefox or Chrome to view it):
https://www.periscope.tv/Cushing_Library/1lDxLwoNwQmJm

I gave a little introductory synopsis of Bilbo and Gandalf, and then turns were taken, reading the arrival of the Dwarves. We did not quite have enough volunteers to read the entire section, but I think it came out pretty well.

There had also been a silent auction. All three of my donations were purchased, and the event raised almost $300 for the library!

He is Risen!

To my fellow Christians, I hope you have a joyful and blessed Easter Day!
((((hugs)))) to all my friends! And I thank you for following my journey through Lent, whether you are a fellow believer or not!

Here is one last thing I found to share with you all:

About a week ago, I asked for nominations for a Presidential race between FICTIONAL presidents.

There are LOTS of fictional Presidents! So far I have six nominations:

1. Andrew Shepherd (The American President, movie) played by Michael Douglas
2. Josiah "Jed" Bartlett (The West Wing, TV) played by Martin Sheen
3. Frank Underwood (House of Cards, TV) played by Kevin Spacey
4. President Beck (Deep Impact, movie) played by Morgan Freeman
5. Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons, TV)
6. Matthew Santos (The West Wing, TV) played by Jimmy Smitts

The nominations are still open at the original post; just read the rules for nominating! You can make more than one, but each should be as a separate comment.

And in THIS post, those of you who already made nominations can campaign for your candidate if you want to!

For Maundy Thursday:

This poem is a prayer I should make on a regular basis.

Restore my soul Lord,
each and every day
establish my paths
along the way.

Rebuild my life Lord,
every morning anew
determine my course
so as I may follow you.

Repair my heart Lord,
at dawns early light
prove its intent is true
pleasing in Your sight.

Renew my mind Lord,
upon the rise of the sun
strengthen my awareness
so Your will may be done.

Refresh my spirit Lord,
as the stars slowly fade
as this is a new day
for me ~ You have made!

~~~~~~~~~

Psalm 143:8
King James Version

“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning;
for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way
wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

Copyright 2013
Deborah Ann Belka


More of this poet's work may be found here: https://poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com/

A message for the ages:

Part of the liturgy from this morning's service:

Holy and Gracious God, we praise you,
for you gave us Jesus Christ,
who emptied himself and took the form of a slave,
who humbled himself and became obedient to you,
even to the point of death.
In this week as we walk with him,
may we abide not only in the triumphant entry,
but in the way of the cross,
and not only in the cross, and the grave,
but to the day of his glorious rising.
For you have exalted him who is Christ the Lord,
your son and our savior. Amen

When I left for church this morning, I was not in the best frame of mind (behind the cut, because I get a bit political) ( Read more... )

A beautiful instrumental arrangement of one of my most favorite hymns:

Cross-posted from monthlydiaryday

7:15AM--Got up and saw the DH off to work; I'd packed his lunch the night before, so he'd let me sleep in a little. After he left I got something to eat; promptly spilled my milk all over the counter. I hope that's not a sign for the rest of the day.( Read more... )