"A Long-Expected Party" (VIII)

"The tents began to go up. There was a specially large pavilion, so big that the tree that grew in the field was right inside it, and stood proudly near one end, at the head of the chief table. Lanterns were hung on all its branches. More promising still (to the hobbits’ mind): an enormous open-air kitchen was erected in the north corner of the field. A draught of cooks, from every inn and eating-house for miles around, arrived to supplement the dwarves and other odd folk that were quartered at Bag End. Excitement rose to its height".

I love this picture, taken from Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf and Bilbo enjoying the preparations, knowing what this birthday party will mean for the hobbit. I love the lights: that of the sun which has set and the lanterns which will make up for its absence. It smells of autumn, which is almost there, as it is almost here. I am extremely tired, having arrived from Alicante in time to have something to eat and rest a bit before my first class of this semester. I, too, am excited.    It's always thrilling to begin a new academic year, meet new students, see again old ones who have decided to take the optional course English Language Literature and Other Artistic Discourses. Granada is more alive in September, with the arrival of students. How can anyone say that autumn is a sad season?

I was thinking that, if it was not today 13 years ago, it was very much around this time that I met for the first time Berlioz and Princesse. Before then, they were just Matthias's dogs, names to which I add added faces, bodies and personalities in my imagination. From that moment, they became part of my family. I miss them so much, but I love them even more.

"A Long-Expected Party" (VI)

It's Sunday today.  I am travelling to Alicante, where I will be a member of the examination board of an excellent Ph.D. thesis on Ted Hughes's children's literature. Things are still hectic in Hobbiton and I don't think Bilbo will have much time to relax the Sunday before his 111 birthday, so I'll leave him writing invitations, preparing gifts and just getting excited - and a bit annoyed at some of his fellow hobbits - while undoubtedly finding the time to smoke a pipe with Gandalf.

Later, much later. In Alicante.
I was already in bed but I've just got up to write this. I need it. I've phoned Matthias when back in the hotel after dinner. When we're not spending the night together, I always ask for every single member of our furry family. Michi, he tells me, is crazy, playing with a ball he thought was lost. "¿Portos y Mani", I ask. "Están fuera". And then, a pang: "Oooh, ¿y mi Pinche?" "Princesse está dentro". She was spoilt and, being an old lady, we allowed her to spend most of the nights inside, particularly in winter. This is going to be the first winter without her company in the sofa. I was thinking a couple of days ago about the next season of The Walking Dead and, bang! Another punch in the stomach thinking that she won't be there, watching it with us.
The pain has caught me again, and I've cried. I've spoken to her, telling her how much I miss her, what I would give to feel her body, her big body, sleeping next to mine, with her sometimes taking most of my side of the bed. I was happy then. And then, I've started remembering, and the memories bring me comfort, although one of them was of the last time she hurt herself trying to jump into bed. I remember being asleep and listening her step going up the stairs (sometimes she would stop if Michi was in the vicinity, but at night he was locked in his room), coming to our bedroom, open the dor (yes! she opened doors!), come in, tip, tip, tip, tip, and jump into bed. Turn, turn, turn, found her place and, sleep time, very often with a sight.
And then, just in a flash, came her face in the morning, when Matthias got up and, if I was still in bed, she would remain there, but looking attentively at Matthias (wow, I see her profile so clearly). Matthias would tell her to stay put until it was time to go for a walk, but the moment he started going down the stairs, she left the bed and followed him. Her happy tail, leaving the bedroom, going down the stairs. God, I miss you, Princesse!

BOOK I. Chapter I. "A Long-Expected Party" (I)

The opening paragraph is now so familiar that it now seems unreal that the first time I read this book it was not in English, but in Spanish.

The feeling, however, is the same: the anticipation, the cozy setting and, above all, the mystery surrounding Gandalf. From the very beginning it became a magnet and has remained my favourite character. I pictured him so easily in my mind that, even though now I have so many images of him, I can still recollect my original Gandalf. But I'm not there yet. I have just been listening to all the gossip surrounding Bilbo's and Frodo's background and I'm looking forward to the party. But I have to stop at "That very month was September, and as fine as you could ask."

Princesse, Blusqui. This entry is dedicated to you both.

New academic year, new project...

... as if I my plate was not full enough!
Still, this is something that I started doing and failed to complete five years ago (then, however there was no blog involved, just the reading). On this occasion, I want to succeed. Starting next 22nd September I will re-read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for the nth time and write a blog about the experience, only that I will be reading just the part of the story coinciding with the date on which I am reading it. (September 22nd this year falls on a Thursday, just as September 22nd in the book! Isn't that sweet?) One obvious exception has to be made, otherwise I would have to spend years waiting to go on reading: the time that separates Bilbo's Birthday party and departure from Frodo's leaving Bag End will have to be read in one single day, despite the 17 years covered in these chapters. Therefore, on 22nd September I will be reading... hold, on... As I'm writing this I am reconsidering... I can start right now! After all, September 22nd only dawns six pages into the first chapter. Before that, we have the gossip in Hobbiton, the preparations, Gandalf's arrival with fireworks, and no particular details concerning time are given, only that the month is September. We have temporal references such as "That very month was September," "A day or two later," "Days passed and the Day drew nearer," (but we don't know how many days), "The next day," "Before long," "One morning," and so on. The first precise temporal reference is found almost at the end of the 6th page (page 38 in my edition): "Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday the eve of the Party. Anxiety was intense." So I gather I will be reading only those three sentences on Wednesday, September 21st, 2016. I know from previous experience that this will not be the only case.

On the other hand, I will have to concentrate in one single day the rest of "A Long Expected Party", "The Shadow of the Past" and a few pages from "Three is company", until Frodo and the rest are ready to go on the 23rd. And sure enough, my September 22nd 2016 is packed! So I'll get up early to do my reading.

My reading spot, five years ago

 I don't know whether this is the case with everybody, but it certainly is true with me: re-watching a film, re-reading a book, listening again to a song which I haven't listened to for a long time, always brings me back to thinking about the person I was then and the person I am now, the people who were with me then and who are no longer here: little Wicca, Paps, Stöffel, Minus, Fanny, Johnny and Princesse. As I start my journey today, I remember how five years ago The Lord of the Rings accompanied me to Switzerland. I was attending the wedding of Fabienne, one of Matthias's nieces, Stöffel and Adi's eldest daughter. I was left alone with Luna, their cat, for a few hours and I read surrounded by the windows in the dining room, with their magnificent views on the countryside and feeling very much as if I were looking from Bilbo's windows. It was a happy evening.

The view

Luna

 I suppose I could have decided just to do the reading and not keep a blog, but this is also a way of making this experience public, sharing it with anyone who drops by. It makes me happy to start a new project and I definitely will start reading now. 


Today is a month since our lovely Princesse passed and a moon since Blusqui followed her. In the weeks before, as I took care of Princesse - Blusqui's passing was unexpected - parts of Annie Lennox's song "Into the West" kept on coming to my mind, to be more precise "What can you see on the horizon?". I took those seven words as an attack and shook my head off whenever they intruded, wanting to get rid of them, because I was not ready to say goodbye. I am never ready to say goodbye, so I will never say it, just "Till we meet again". After all, the song also says "You and I will meet again". So with this hope, I start my journey, already savouring the opening: "When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End ..."