I hate being in debt

[Packard, Steven R.]

Frankly, I've never heard of this before, although from what Julie and
others have said, I suspect strongly that it was a place for people to hang
out and partake of their own Longbottom Leaf, as well as a nice dark, quiet
place to take a date and watch for Hobbits to appear. And if they didn't
see anything for 3 or 4 hours perhaps they'd get bored and find something
else to do to occupy time.

But since I was never part of the Cool Crowd, none of you ever told me about
this.

While we're on the subject though, I should give credit where it's due and
thank Jerry for pushing me into reading Lord of the Rings. He kept
insisting that I'd like it, and I wasn't nearly as convinced as he was on
that point. But I was blown away when I read it, and hundreds of books
later I'm still positive that it's the best book (I see it as one singular
book)I've ever read. I'm indebted to Jerry for that.

Shoot, I've done it again. I've written several paragraphs past the point
where anyone cares. Sorry about that.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Hall [mailto:gerald.h...@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 1:29 PM
To: Oak-Hill-High-Sch...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Burning Question



No, just pink elephants (OK it was inanimate and intended to draw tourists
to a gas station on the interstate). I do recall the name being applied to
an area in that direction near the river. I was given to understand that
the name arose because the place was frequented by wary creatures who shared
the affection of hobbits for pipes. Indeed, I think they might have been
Rastafarian hobbits. But Steve will probably correct me on that...

Lacking insight,

Jerry


On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 13:09:20 -0800, Julie (Cramer) Pulley
<Julie...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> I have had a question that's been on my mind for...well..a couple
> decades at least. Only you guys can answer it because it's not
> something that you can just mention to a passerby or stranger on the
> street.
>
> After having seen the trilogy of Lord of the Rings and viewing for the
> first time what a REAL hobbit looks like, I was wondering if any of
> you had ever seen a hobbit up by Cook Estates. At least I think
> that's where they had been spotted in the past. I certainly recall
> driving around some pond up there and having people tell me to look
> for a hobbit. There was even a special name we called it
> like...Hobbitville or Hobbittown or something like that. I sadly
> admit to never having seen a hobbit until Frodo and his like appeared
> on the big screen. I had no idea their feet were so big. I do
> however, like the idea of 2nd breakfast. I only got as far as reading
> The Hobbit when I was younger so I was never aware of the totality of
> the Hobbit culture and now I feel as if I've missed out on a vast
> underground of beings.
>
> Any sightings?
>
>

[Gerald Hall]

The only way to get out of that kind of debt is to pass a book or
piece of music on to someone else.

It's funny how your understanding of a book can change as you age and
learn more about not only life but the circumstances in which
something was written. Over the years I learned that Tolkien began
the trilogy as a long letter to his son who was fighting in the second
world war. Tolkien hoped to help his son to avoid despair during
extraordinarily dark times. That knowledge transformed my
understanding of the thing completely. That the love of a father for a
grown child inspired the work makes it much more beautiful to me.

While it is still high on my list of favorites, currently the most
beautifully written novel I have ever read is Norman Maclean's A RIVER
RUNS THROUGH IT. It is one of a very few books that I have read
several times. Indeed the first time I read it, on a plane, I read it
twice without stopping (it's short). Intellectually, I can think of a
lot of other books I ought to like better but I can't get past the
simple poetry of the thing. If you read French, or even in
translation, Marcel Pagnol's Le château de ma mère (My Mother's
Castle) is also a truly beautiful book that I find inspiring and
comforting at the same time (yes you could cheat and watch the movie,
but the book is better). I warn you, nothing much exciting happens in
either book other than the revelation of love and friendship between
family and friends. A little serenity in a chaotic world.

OK, that is my quota of seriousness for the month if not the quarter.

Let the jubilee be declared and all debts of all kinds be forgiven.

Jerry