September 2026: Tomorrow is the Birthday! (Bilbo's and Frodo's, that is...) I got to talking about the "old days" with someone, about how Marigold would blithely issue challenges (I'm not sure "blithely" is the best word in this context, for I have no doubt that those challenges took a lot of thought and effort on her part to put together for all the people who asked for prompts), and how numerous people would rise to the challenge, providing a plethora of stories and lots of wonderful glimpses into various aspects of Tolkien's world and characters.

This person had introduced me to Tumblr some years ago, but while I occasionally read posts there (quite bemused, much of the time), I never posted anything until yesterday, when I experimentally re-posted someone's artwork depicting the Three Hunters. After that daring move, I grew bolder and started recklessly exploring. I found a community there (I think it's called a community, anyhow) called "Tolkien Fandom Events". True to its name, in its (feed?) appeared a rich and varied list of events for 2026. (Since it's September, as you can imagine, many of those events have already gone by.) Fortuitously, however, in that list of events, I found "LOTRWEEK 2026", starting on the 21st! (That's today, for any time travelers from a future time who visit this work eventually.)

I resolved to try, at least. Marigold's Challenges could often get me writing, if only a drabble sometimes. As I pondered the prompts for the seven-day challenge, I thought of Shire: Beginnings and its planned sequel about Marcho and Blanco founding the Shire, which exists as only the barest outline, gently laid away on the shelf a few years ago when I went back to work, and work took all my time and most of my energy.

Since I've already written Bandobras's story in a series of dribbles, I thought, "Why not try the same with Marcho and Blanco?" Drabbles in themselves present quite the challenge, IMO. Distill a story down to its essentials, and present it in no more than 100 words... (however, with Bandobras's story, I cheated a bit by using double- and triple-drabbles. Maybe even a quadruple-drabble, though I don't remember, exactly)

(of course, SoA's clock is a bit ahead of mine, so this will actually be dated as posted on 9/22. So happy birthday, Bilbo and Frodo! ♪ ♫ ♩ And many more...)

Anyhow, that's the background story behind this drabble set. Thanks for listening.

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The start of something new

'New year, new start,' Marcho said, lifting his mug high. 

'What're you on about now?' his twin asked him, setting his own mug down. 'Bree-land's harvest has only just finished!'

'Blooting's the proper start of the New Year; or so said Great-Grandad, remember? 'Twasn't until Hobbit-folk came to Bree that we changed our reckoning to match the local calendar...'

Although Blanco might always watch for opportunities to correct his older brother (older by half an hour, as it was), he was never inclined to waste a toast. Picking up his mug again, he hefted it high and proclaimed, 'To Great-Grandad!'

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According to various sources drawing from Tolkien's writings, during their wandering years, Hobbits reckoned in terms of months (governed by the phases of the moon) rather than days or weeks. Furthermore, before they came to Bree and adapted their calendar to fit with the local customs, their New Year began with the month that followed harvest (Blooting in Bree, Blotmath in the Shire, which changed from the first month of their year to the eleventh month some time after T.A. 1300 when Hobbits first arrived in Bree, according to Tolkien Gateway's article, "Bree Calendar" [https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Bree_Calendar]).

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