September 29th

Today I am leaving Avallone for Alqualonde where I shall be staying for a year to advance in my studies and learn more of the history of Middle Earth. I shall miss my family, but they have promised to visit often. And I am sure my dear friends will not allow me to be lonely too often!

This last week has been quite a lovely one, and I shall remember it for a while. Before I leave for Alqualonde, I shall finish it off with a picnic. Today is the day that Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Elrond and Galdriel left Middle Earth for Valinor. We shall be meeting with Elrond and Galadriel (how exciting!) for a little feast in celebration.

It is a bit of a bittersweet day, happy for me, because that is when I met them all, a bit sad for them, because they left many good friends behind. I have planned a song for our event, which I think fits well for all of us as we continue on.

Namarie!

September 28th

My friends and I all came up with captions for the paintings I mentioned a few entries ago. I picked my favorites from among my friend's suggestions, and then wrote down some of my own. Enjoy!



Mine: Sam: You can keep standing there forever, the door is NEVER going to move.

Anonymous: Frodo: They closed the shoe store. Sam: So much for new shoes.



Mine: These gates are off limit's to enemies of Sauron? I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one I shall inform you immediately.

Remmirath: *shakes head* I can't believe Sauron sent his Orcs in first, Trolls are SUCH a better idea!!


Mine: Pippin: Oh say can you seee.....
Merry: Er, well, I think I can.

Anonymous: Pippin: "How many time do I have to say it. If you can't even see the back of my head then you really do need glasses."


Mine: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf watch with thinly veiled frustration as Merry attempts to do the YMCA, again.

Anonymous: Aragorn with a fake smile clenched on his face: 'I wish Legolas would take off his elf pajamas!'


Mine: Gandalf experiences mixed emotions as he realizes that it's not a Balrog following them, it's the cab driver he "neglected" to tip in Hollin.

Remmirath: Gandalf: Would you look at that!! Fireworks are just as pretty in Moria as they are in the Shire
Pippin: I think Gandalf's finally lost it!! That is definitely a Balrog!!


Mine: A wedding, I love weddings! Drinks all around!

Yaviel: I just found the perfect match for Frodo!

September 26th

Today Frodo, Sam, Legolas, Gimli and I went out on a lovely sail on my little ship. We crossed the Bay of Eldamar to Alqualonde on Valinor. I know my mother worries sometimes that I don't have many friends of my own age amoung the elves, but I just love hearing about the War of the Ring! The adventures they all had! They are all so brave. And thankfully they all have good memories and can tell me all about it. Sometimes it is as if I am really there.

Anyhow, we had a lovely time walking around Alqualonde and then climbing the hills outside the city. As usual, my friends made me sing a song for them. I don't mind, I enjoy singing. Today I sang a song called "Going Home", it makes me think of the War of the Ring.

September 25th

Today I was searching through the documents in the library when I came across two beautiful prayers. The manuscript was old and faded, but and though I could not see who they were written by, I could see that a person named Tolkien translated them into elvish. It's is very odd... here they are below.

Átaremma

Átaremma i ëa han ëa · Our father who art in heaven, na airë esselyana aire esselya · hallowed be thy name, aranielya na tuluva · thy kingdom come, na carë indómelya cemendë tambë Erumandë : thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven ámen anta síra ilaurëa massamma · Give us this day our daily bread, ar ámen apsenë úcaremmar sív' emmë apsenet tien i úcarer emmen. and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Álamë tulya úsahtienna mal ámë etelehta ulcullo : And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

násië - Amen.

Aia María

Aia María quanta Eruanno
Hail Mary full of grace,
i Héru as elyë
the Lord is with thee.
aistana elyë imíca nísi
Blessed art thou among women
ar aistana i yávë mónalyo Yésus
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Airë María Eruo ontaril
Holy Mary mother of God,
á hyamë rámen úcarindor
pray for us sinners
sí ar lúmessë ya firuvammë
now and in the hour of our death.
násië
Amen.

September 24th

As part of my studies, I am reading about the history of the elves in the Encyclopedia of Arda. Today my studies are on the Teleri, to whom I belong. I have copied down part of the selection in my journal, as a handwriting exercise. I will have perfect handwriting that Gandalf can't critique!

A name for the Teleri, the third of the three clans of the Elves that made the Great Journey from Cuiviénen. This clan of the Elves was 'third' in that it was the last of the three to set out on the Journey. This tardiness was no doubt in part due to the size of the clan: it had a far greater populace than either the Vanyar or the Noldor, and it took two lords, the brothers Elwë and Olwë, to organise its people.

As well as being slower on the road than the other clans, groups of the Teleri fell away from the main Journey more than once. This happened most famously in the area later known as the Vales of Anduin, where an Elf named Lenwë led away a great part of the clan to found the people known as the Nandor.

The people of the Third Clan travelled so slowly that by the time they had crossed Beleriand and reached its western coasts, the Vanyar and the Noldor had already gone ahead across the Great Sea. While his people waited in Middle-earth, Elwë became lost, and many of his people set about searching for him. Others became pupils of the Maia Ossë, and decided to settle on the coasts of Beleriand. So, when Ulmo returned across the Great Sea years later to transport the Teleri to Aman, many of them remained behind. Most important of these were the followers of Elwë, the people who would become known as the Sindar.

Meanwhile the remainder of the Third Clan - a far smaller group than had originally set out from Cuiviénen - remained for a long time on the Isle of Eressëa in the Bay of Eldamar. They were taught ship-building by Ossë, and led by Olwë they sailed across the Bay to reach the shores of Aman at last.

September 23rd

Today I was looking through the paintings that Frodo and Legolas have done of their adventure during the War of the Ring. Who knew that two so skilled with a blade could also be so skilled with a brush! We were laughing over some of them and decided to come up with captions. I am copying the paintings here, so that anyone who reads my journal sometime in the future can come up captions of their own!

(In other words, leave your captions in the comment box! I'll post the best/favorite at the end of the week.)

All photos from http://www.moraya.net/lotr/main.php

Aur Onned Meren Bilbo and Frodo!

The celebration was wonderful! We had a wonderfully huge birthday cake and many delicious dishes to go with it. Quite naturally, Bilbo recited his speech, which I have copied down here in my book.



My dear people,
My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burowses, and Hornblowers, and Blogers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses and Proudfoots! Also my good Sackville-Bagginses that I welcome back at last to Bag End. Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today! I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am.
I shall not keep you for long. I have called you all together for a Purpose. Indeed, for Three Purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve!
Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo! He comes of age and into his inheritence today. Together we score one hundred and fourty-four. Your numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: One Gross, if I may use the expression.
It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. I was only fifty-one then, and birthdays did not seem so important. The banquet was very splendid, however, though I had a bad cold at the time, I remember, and could only say "thag you very buch". I now repeat it more correctly" Thank you very much for coming to my little party".
Thirdly and finally, I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. I regret to announce that - though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you - this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!

And would you know it, Bilbo actually disappeared! He showed up later on, but he wouldn't breathe a word as to how he did it. Gandalf doesn't look a bit concerned by the whole matter, so I suspect he was in on it. Ah well, I shall get it out of one or the both of them someday.

September 22nd

My father recently gave me this journal to write down my thoughts and record what my friends tell me of the War of the Ring. I believe I shall start by introducing myself.

Silmarien eneth nin. My name is Silmarien. I am an elven princess. My mother's kin are the Teleri, of those who never left the Undying Lands. My father however, is one of the Sindar, returned to Tol Eressea from living in The Greenwood. I have never seen Middle Earth, but I have heard much about it and the War of the Ring from both my father, as well as my friends who were there and took part in it. I am quite lucky to have such honored friends!

There is Gandalf, the Wizard


Frodo, the Ringbearer


Samwise Gamgee, also a Ringbearer

Legolas Greenleaf
Gimli the Dwarf


and dear old "Uncle" Bilbo, as he is referred to by all of us.


In fact, it is Bilbo's birthday today, and Frodo's as well. I must leave now for the little celebration that we are holding for them. Now doubt Bilbo will recite his speech for us. He'd disappear too, if he could.

Frodo also has another reason to celebrate today, today is the day that Sam sailed from Middle-Earth several years ago to come to Valinor. I think Sam misses his wife Rosie sometimes, but he is happy here, as are we all.

I am glad those portraits I painted of my friends turned out - those Manwe knows how hard it was to get certain people to sit still long enough!

But here I go rambling, and this only my first entry! I really must stop now, if I'm to make it to the celebration in time. Be assured, I shall fill you in on all the details later!

Namarie!