You may have noticed that this blog kind of dropped off the face of the earth for several months. I can offer no sufficient explanation for this silence, so I won't.
Today we celebrate the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo, International Hobbit Day, and the two-year anniversary of this blog. Hooray!
Let's celebrate in true hobbit fashion - with humor, song, and, of course, food.
Firstly, humor.
Impress your friends with these hobbit-related jokes:
"Why didn't Bilbo want to go to Laketown?"
"He preferred cities with less Smaug."
"How many hobbits does it take to screw in a light-bulb?"
"Some hobbits changed one before, but I'm not Shire how many it Took."
"An elf walks into a bar. A hobbit laughs and walks under it."
"I would make another Lord of the Rings joke, but all the good ones Aragorn."
(I cannot take credit for any of these jokes: I found them online. I am sincerely sorry not to be as clever as you thought I was.)
Secondly, a song.
Warm your hearths and ale with this traditional hobbit walking song:
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
The world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,A classic.
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!
Thirdly, (and most importantly) food.
If you're wondering what to make for your Shire party, this website has a variety of recipes for dishes featured in Chapter 1 of The Hobbit. If seed cake, mince-pies, apple-tart, cheese, biscuits, eggs(ses), and chicken sound good to you, then you're set. (And don't forget po-ta-toes - boiled/mashed/stuck in a stew).
And, finally, as an added bonus, a piece of shire wisdom:
“There is nothing like looking if you want to find something. You certainly usally find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
Happy Hobbit Day. May the hair on your toes never fall out.
