Revving up for the new year

Frustratingly unable to get back to my regular routine of cycling Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as DH was ill yesterday and today it's raining. Hopefully I can start again tomorrow. It does make me feel better as well as keeping my knees in working order.

Made my first combination of signwriting and Roses & Castles decoration to go in my Etsy shop:



I find it very hard to do something just for the sake of it. I only manage to cycle three times a week because I linked it with the task of getting groceries, so I know I need to cycle into town or we won't have bread. So I'm hoping that as far as signwriting goes, I'll get some commissions of the Rose & Castles stuff and that will also force/help me to practice signwriting from the drawing out stage to the painting stage.

I'm going to make a few ready made things too that can go in the shop, and that too will force/help me to keep up my practice and continue to improve. People have bought the plain Roses & Castles stuff, so it seems to me that having the option to have words on it as well can only be a bonus :)

Waiting for Snowflake Challenge #2 to come up...

Snowflake Challenge day 2

Challenge #2

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for your fave character, ship or fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Because he's been disappeared from Amazon's Rings of Power, I'll do my favourite elf, Celeborn.



Not in any order

1. Look at him
2. The hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver, long and bright.
3. Prince of Doriath, one of the very few named characters to have known Middle-earth before the sun and moon, and yet to potentially still be here on earth with us. He would have known Elu Thingol as a beloved relative, to have seen the invention of writing by Daeron, would have belonged to an ancient oral culture that evolved in complete separation from the cultures in Valinor

4. Or was he actually a Nandor elf who had lived in Lothlorien since the world was made? Wouldn't that make for fascinating reading, considering how much racism the Valinorian elves have for even the Sindar. That would make him a really controversial choice of husband for one of the proud Noldor's princesses!

5. Or was he a Teleri prince who returned to Middle-earth with Galadriel with the Valar's blessing? That's a whole new raft of stories.

6. Hot tempered (look at the way he blows up at Gimli) and yet known as 'The Wise.' How does that work? What does wisdom look like when it's coupled with a temperament that's prone to offend people? Given that he's wise, does anyone actually listen to him? Can we find examples of places in canon where Celeborn's wisdom makes a difference? (In fact we can, for example when he stays behind in order to be the one who takes charge of the evacuation of Eregion, meaning that though the kingdom is destroyed by Sauron, a lot of the people get away.

I love the fact that he is ancient and wise, and yet still fiercely engaged with the world. I love the fact that he comes from a culture that is routinely treated as second rate by the Noldor, and yet one which has its own values and heroes. I love the fact that his marriage to Galadriel is in essence a mixed marriage with all the tensions that causes, and that he has to navigate first, second and third age in that awkward middle place. That's worth writing about!

And to be a little more coherent, here are two pieces of meta I prepared earlier:
Prince Valium? (A book-based character study of Celeborn).

That tall fellow next to Galadriel: A short essay about Celeborn