The Old Sleeping Kings Had the Right Idea

 

C. S. Lewis Sez:

From the Dream Journal, March 7, 2002

 

ME AND MY AVATARS

This dream seemed set in a science-fictional future. When I start remembering it, I am running against the current of people as school is letting out, going back in to get things left behind. There is a notebook, a backpack, and a visit to a locker. But as I leave, I realize I am also recognizing and gathering "avatar" friends who should accompany me. There are at least three inside who follow me and more are waiting outside.

Outside I get the feeling we shouldn't get on the bus (I'm not sure which to take, anyway) and decide we'll have to walk home. But in the parking lot we find an old-fashioned looking open-topped red car with a girl waving at us; there are several others with her, all avatars as it turns out. This car I recognize is mine and we all try to fit in, with me driving. Among the avatars: at least three guys, a girl, a robot, an animal, and a tall blue fellow. At the last minute Mike and John join us.

I start the car up and it begins to rise, hovering. We slowly and unsteadily gain altitude, to the amazement of those around us. When we hit a cruising height I look behind us and see a squad of flying police cars approaching and I know instinctively that they're after us. We all feel they are an annoyance rather than a danger. So we peel out to avoid them.  We head off to the city.

I consider first going home, but Mike says Mom and Pop are out on the moon, visiting. So we decide to look for somewhere we can rest and plan what to do. Mike asks testily if we are flying high enough to be out of danger, and I take a particular look at where we are. The city is very "futuristic," with tall buildings, lots of wires, and beam bridges to slow air traffic. I decide to take the car higher.

The next instant we are at what the car's computer voice announces is "Fearfully High. Oxygen masks are engaged." We are hanging upside down in an open-topped car at a height where you can see the curve of the earth. After a moment of disorientation we get settled again, and start heading down.

A small figure approaches us, and it turns out to be young Goku (also an avatar) on the Flying Nimbus. "Oh, there you are," he says. "Is he in on all this?" Mike asks.

We get to an apartment in the city where we can talk and rest in peace. The avatars are all walking around the room and for the first time I can really look at them and think about them. I realize they are all expressions or parts of my personality, and to have them externalized is very revealing and a little embarrassing, yet I feel close to them as family, and know I can rely on them.

Snow Days 2025

 

We don't get so much snow in Texas (especially at our latitude; it's much more common up in the Panhandle), so whenever it comes down, no matter how scanty, it's an event. We woke up yesterday morning to a light powdering, and today there was still some in the shady protected areas. It's going fast, though. The sort of bluish picture was taken in the early hours Tuesday, and those are tracks (cat? raccoon? both hang around in the area, but probably cat) going right by my door. Those with the bird baths were taken today, when most of the snow was already melted.

Wideo Wednesday: Tim Powers and James P. Blaylock

 

My reading for the last few days has been the first two volumes of Tim Powers' Vickery and Castine books. In light of this, I thought I would link several YouTube locations where Powers gives interviews, including some with his friend James P. Blaylock, whose work I also like. The first link is the shortest, and is fairly restricted to Powers himself. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsnwvy-I0cM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKpKeN4wBlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fe9MWlS7EI

The Lord of the Rings: The Muster of Rohan (Part Three)

The Tale

‘The road now led eastward straight across the valley, which was at that point little more than half a mile in width. Flats and meads of rough grass, grey now in the falling night, lay all about, but in front on the far side of the dale Merry saw a frowning wall, a last outlier of the great roots of the Starkhorn, cloven by the river in ages past.’

There is a great host of men gathered on every level space, tents, booths, picketed horses, and piles of weapons. Although it is growing cold and dark there is not even a spark of fire; they do not want anyone, either lookouts or in the air (Winged Riders!) to know their numbers.

Merry can’t tell in the gloom how many men there are; many thousands, he thinks. The King’s troop (which he is with) starts to climb a road up the cliff side. Looking up, he sees a steep road, coiling back and forth up the steep hillside. Horses and slow carts can be driven up, but no enemy can approach it by land if it is defended from above. It seems to be a great work from ancient times. At each corner as the road turns are ‘great standing stones that had been carved in the likeness of men, huge and clumsy-limbed, squatting cross-legged with their stumpy arms folded on fat bellies.’ The Rider’s call them Pukel-men; they are hollow-eyed and crumbling, and no power is left in them. Merry gazes at them almost in pity, so old and sad they look.

Only Theoden and company are going up the road to the Hold; below them the riders who followed them are crossing the ford and joining the camp. The company comes to a brink and go up a cutting in the rock into a wide upland, called the Firienfield, a green plateau of grass and heath. Behind it looms the Dwimorberg, the Haunted Mountain like a black wall, the road to it guarded on both side by rough standing stones like rows of teeth, ending in the forbidden door into the mountain.

This was Dunharrow, built by men in ancient times before the Men of the West ever came to Middle-earth; whether as a town or a fortress or a tomb or a temple no one can say. The field is clustered with tents and booths, but they are set far from the road and the door and the dark trees that shroud them.

They turn to the larger camp on the right side of the road, and are met by a rider, a woman clad to the waist as a warrior, with helm on her head and a sword at her side. She welcomes the King with joy, and Theoden hails her as Eowyn (the first time Merry ever sees her) and asks if all is well with her. She says yes, but to the hobbit it seems that despite her stern face that she’s been weeping.

Eowyn says the road was weary and there were hard words from the people torn from their homes and forced to take refuge, but no evil deeds. And now Theoden’s lodging has been prepared; she’s had news of when he’d be arriving.

‘So Aragorn has come then,’ said Eomer. ‘Is he still here?’

She tells him that Aragorn has come and gone, leaving yesterday morning. She cannot tell where he is exactly, only that he’s gone. Theoden points to the mountain and asks if he spoke of the Paths of the Dead. Eowyn must confess that she was unable to persuade him against taking that way, and that he passed away into the shadows ‘from which none have returned.’

‘Then our paths are sundered,’ said Eomer. ‘He is lost. We must ride without him, and our hope dwindles.’

Notes

Pukel is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning a goblin or demon; the name of Puck (a traditional figure) in the Shakespeare play comes from the same word. There is even an old term, Puck’s Penfold, as another name for Hell. It says there was ‘no power or terror left in them’, they were so old. It is told in Unfinished Tales that the ancient Druedain (Wild Men) would carve such ‘watch-stones’ and imbue them with their own energies to watch and guard, almost as a minor example of the same craft Sauron used to imbue the One Ring with his power.

Firienfield simply means ‘mountain-field’. Dwimorberg is indeed ‘haunted mountain’; dwimor meaning work of sorcery or phantom, and as we’ve seen the ghosts of the Dead literally haunt it.

We can start to see the emotions working away in Eowyn; she may already be becoming fey, or doom-laden, which leads to her reckless behavior. There may be a bit of wordplay, probably unintentional on Eomer’s part, when he says that their hope dwindles with Aragorn lost. Estel (‘hope’) was Aragorn’s name when he was growing up in Rivendell. When you are watching the Jackson films, notice Aragorn whenever someone mentions hope.

 

Gray January Days: 2020 Diary

 

1/15/2020: Much the same. Made Kam biscuits today, to go with his eggs and bacon. Bus at about 10:45 AM.

Has my Microsoft expired? Is my new program working? Let’s find out. Seems to be doing alright. Rest of the day, sort of a gray blur, as I hopelessly watched myself NOT do any writing, instead a lot of naps and just huddling in bed.

 

1/16/2020: Up at about 5 AM. Prayers, catechism, Bible, and rosary. After reading the Catechism on prayer, took extra care with my rosary and I think I got more out of it. Swept the house.

By 11 Am I had made Kam’s breakfast (eggs, bacon, and biscuits, with orange juice), made my ramen (with an egg), written up to 10 pages on Philo (which leaves me 10 pages to do by tomorrow, if I want to get paid), did a few little side-quests, and penned the Rottweilers up so that the exterminator could lay some mouse boxes. Now that I’ve finished eating (ramen in two goes, parted by getting Kam ready), I think I’ll lay down till 1 PM.

I got up a little before 1 PM, and lo and behold S&A turned up, having gone to see Kam working at HEB this afternoon! I had leftover cabbage and taters for lunch. About 2:30 PM (I estimate) John unexpectedly shows up, and he has brought me, not only $20 ahead of time, but an abundance of goodies! He said he figured out my radio silence probably meant some distress and had come to relieve me. I brightened up at once, just seeing him. To add to my happiness, Amy turns up, having gotten off work and seeing that John was nearby. We had a good visit, then John headed for work and Amy headed home. It was early 4 PM then, so I went in to grass dogs and start supper (corn on the cob and chili; later I made the noodles I had forgotten at the time, fuddled no doubt by my visitors and the rain starting up). I took my bowl of chili in and ate it with bread and ate some of the bacon and cheddar crackers John had brought. A bit before 7 PM Andy told me about the noodles, which I then cooked. Then I had canned ham sandwiches. At 8 PM I went in, made Kam his supper, then came out. I wrote a couple more pages; I just have 8 more to go. It’s now 10 PM.

 

1/17/2020: Got up about 4:30 AM. Showered, dressed, prayed, catechism, Bible, and rosary. Started writing, with writing a page and then taking a break until the top of the hour and writing another page. Did this until 11 AM. Had a can of stew for breakfast. Went in, made Kam’s eggs and bacon and toast. Bus came at about 10:30 AM just as it was starting to rain. Nap at 11 AM. About 12:30 PM Andy calls to tell me to make shrimp stir-fry, but later in the afternoon changes it to chicken thighs on rice and broccoli. Start thawing the thighs. Ramen for lunch.  About 3:30 PM make rice, grass dogs, start cooking thighs. Wait for Kam to get home until 4:30 AM. Make a can of beef and gravy with chicken ramen for my supper. Susan calls and asks for my SS# so they can write me up as a dependent (which God knows I am) on their taxes. Finish the 20 pages. Check through it at 8 PM, then again at 9 PM, then clean up. Rainy on and off all day. 10 PM, and ready for bed.

 

1/18/2020: Up betimes at 5:10 AM. Mind much occupied with finishing Philo. Dressed, prayers, catechism, Bible, rosary (with a decade for Christopher Tolkien, [who died on the 16th]). Now 6:18 AM.

I spent much of the day avoiding writing, thinking about what I was going to write, and eking out an actual page or so. The rest of the time: Movies (Godzilla), TV shows (House), and YouTube (American Dad). Also eating a lot of the supplies and going to DG in the afternoon for some staples (soap, tea, sweetener) and snacks. Resisted the Lottery so far.

 

1/19/2020: Up about 4:30 AM. Prayers, catechism, Bible. Got dressed and wrote a page or two. Watched some kung fu; not the greatest ‘contemplation’ before church. Left for church a little before 7 AM. Rosary. It was calm weather in the morning, but windy and clear when I got out. Home, ate, and then in bits and pieces I picked up writing, and in between eating and movies I finished off 10 more pages by 9 PM (these should go towards my next quota, in a pinch) including the dramatic ending. In the meanwhile, Andy brought me two bananas, a junior Whataburger, and a chicken garippe. Sent the chapter off to John, and now nothing stands between me and bed.

 

1/20/20: Up about 5:30 AM, wrote down a dream, then spent some time (because I was at the computer) just pootling around. Then I got a hold of myself, said my prayers, read catechism and Bible, then prayed my rosary. MLK Day today, so no school. Ran the garippe out to the garbage and so saw a glorious morning, with the sun gilding the tops of the oak trees under silvery-blue clouds, and the smell of a cold green mowing fresh in the air. Ready to review my Bob’s Books materials, and at least set up the stuff for Chapter Four.

A pretty usual day all round. John got back to me a little before 4 PM; he hasn’t had a chance to read it yet. Started reading “Smoke” by Turgenev.

 

1/21/20: Up about 4;30 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Prayers, catechism, then 3rd chapter of Acts, then the rosary. More looking around the internet. In at 9 AM, made Kam bacon. How ironic that my house smells like bacon but I never get to eat it – but I do use the grease in my ramen. Got Kameron off to school; bus at 10:45 AM. Some Deep Space 9 today.

About 2 PM sent John the Notes file on Philo. About 3:30 PM grassed the dogs, fed the pets, and started supper (Sausage, cabbage, and taters), finished about 5 PM. Watched more House and Flintstones, and Kam came in to hang out a while. I brought him an ice cream, and later when he went in I made him some grilled cheese. While I was doing so Kelsey asked me via Facebook how to make meatloaf and chicken and dumplings soup. I gave her the quick overview, then went in to clean up. When I came back out, I spent about an hour writing the long instruction about the soup and sent it to her. Then I read John’s observations on Chapter 3:

John: I see what you mean about the philosophical aspect - it is present, but perhaps more can be punched up in there, as long as it stays entertaining and doesn't become too much of a "think piece." I quite enjoyed this chapter - Philo was a fascinating creation, and the way the individual kids approached him well illustrated their various approaches and outlooks.  I was glad that there was no "suddenly a transfigured Philo rose majestically from his box and spread his glossy new wings out above the baying dogs" type twist, which I was half expecting.  The more realistic misfortune was a surprise twist in this case! Still a bit of a capper might help the end seem less of a downer- something, perhaps along the lines of - Rank- "I'm sorry I've failed my first responsibility, sir." Rosemary - "WE failed our first responsibility," she corrects. Bob  - "We failed poor Philo!"  Mr. Williams- "Yes and no - some things we encounter can never be explained or understood - only dealt with. This isn't hanging drapes. That is a lesson in itself. Now, learn from your choices - what might be handled differently, etc..." 

I spent a good space reading over the chapter in the light of this, and found it read smoother than I imagined. I remember thinking earlier that I might have made a minor sort of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ situation for Philo, a tragic if somewhat grotesque cutie, or a Fry’s Dog.

Notes

What is ‘pootling’? Well, it is minor tasks not important enough to note, watching little things on YouTube, picking up and then setting down things to read, maybe washing one dish or making minor adjustments around the house or writing a single paragraph or reading an old file.

It is hard to realize that it has been five years since I finished Philo the Frog Boy, the last whole chapter of ‘Bob’s Book Two’. I became bogged down on the next chapter and never took it up again.