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| An Unexpected Adventure by KathyG | 36 Review(s) |
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| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 4/11/2025 |
| I remember my dad playing similar simple games with one of our little ones, and both were absolutely delighted. Hullo, Merrylegs! Halbarad! (This part of the chapter gives my heart a pang.) The little scenes with him bring him to life and make him more than a name on a page. And ah! I was wondering if the stone might come into the story later. Jennifer's dream and the visions she saw in Galadriel's mirror were interesting. From reading this story earlier, I knew their parents will come, just not when and how. I'm also trying to remember if time runs differently between the two places. Author Reply: I'll bet they were! That kind of game is just the kind that a five-year-old would love to play. Yep, Merrylegs is in the story! As you read, you'll see how the stone comes into use. As for the parents, yes, they do. As you read, you'll see how time passes in both places--modern-day America and Middle-earth. Author Reply: In fact, you'll find out in the very next chapter! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 21 on 4/10/2025 |
| How I used to love hot baths! I'd take a paperback with me and read until the water cooled. It was heavenly. "Mom time"; my spouse would take complete charge of the wee hobbits until I emerged, refreshed, an hour or so later. I can only imagine bathing in a thermal bath where the water never grows cool! (And is probably constantly renewed, so you're not bathing in someone else's leftover soapsuds...) Nowadays, almost all my books are on my phone, and I don't bring my phone near a bathtub, so baths have gone by the wayside and showers have taken their place. A bath without a book... not the same at all. “What did you blush for, Sam?” said Pippin. “You soon broke down. Anyone would have thought you had a guilty conscience. I hope it was nothing worse than a wicked plot to steal one of my blankets.” This was in the book? I had forgotten! What a lovely snippet of dialogue! It has been too long since I've read LOTR all the way through. I used to read it every January, stuck in bed with pneumonia or bronchitis, but thankfully, since the C-virus came on the scene and I started masking everywhere, that doesn't happen anymore. (crossing fingers) The weapons lessons and music are interesting. I was also reminded once more of Dreamflower's story about Pippin and Menelcar; I think I need to go and revisit that story. The thought of Pippin being protective towards Jennifer like a brother is sweet. I hope Merry doesn't tease him. In the film, I loved Sam's tribute to Gandalf (what a good job Sean Astin did!), and Legolas's grief was well portrayed, I thought. I'm glad you included what Legolas said. Author Reply: Hey, I still take hot baths! I only use the shower for washing my hair. However, I don't take a book with me to my bathtub, myself. Yep, that was in the book! =) Glad to hear you're no longer getting sick with lung infection! But hey, that doesn't mean you can't read LOTR anymore, right? I loved Sam's tribute to Gandalf, too! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 4/4/2025 |
| Snarky Legolas! Oh my! I don't remember seeing him this snappish before. But it's in italics, so it's from the book! I guess it stands to reason that a Wood Elf would see perching in a tree to sleep perfectly natural (while a Hobbit would not). Must be one of the reasons why the Wood Elves have such a bad reputation among other peoples for being snobbish. Along with their treatment of Bilbo's travelling companions on an earlier journey, to be sure. (And after reading this chapter, I had to go looking for what the New Company might be expected to find while retracing the Fellowship's journey. By the time Faramir Took was travelling with Pippin-lad Gamgee, it seems that Celeborn was already living in Rivendell (I knew that already) and the Golden Wood was abandoned or all but! I wonder if the flets would still be there 26 years after the Quest, or would they be quietly falling to ruin without the Lady's preserving magic...? My "Lothlorien" chapter is not terribly detailed in its present form, and I don't know yet if I'm going to take the easy way out (passing through quickly due to complications that pop up) or not.) Are any of the children afraid of heights? (We were watching a new British detective series tonight, and a suspect said to the detective something like "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights!" And the detective had a clever answer to the effect that nobody had yet proven to him that he shouldn't be afraid of heights!) You've done a skillful job of weaving together the book and film versions of the meeting with Galadriel. It feels seamless. I'm looking forward to reading more! Author Reply: Thanks! You know, I never thought of that! I'm not sure if Dreamflower has, either. I haven't decided if any of the children are afraid of heights. Who knows what kind of shape Lothlorien was in by the time Sam and Rosie's children were being born? No telling! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 4/1/2025 |
| "Well, I daresay you might be too little in your mother's kitchen, but you wouldn't be too little in mine! Oh gosh, every child's dream: a living space built to their scale. Kaylee's mother is going to be quite surprised at her little daughter's acquired skills with Bilbo as her cooking teacher! Cream of mushroom soup? (As an interpreter at a historic site, I learned to cook in an 1840s kitchen. Bilbo's kitchen sounds very familiar!) Leave it to Boromir to be exasperated at a cave troll. “Here’s a pretty hobbit-skin to wrap an elven-princeling in!” has always been one of my favourite speeches of Aragorn's. (And now I'm wondering just how AU this story might be. Will Gandalf still fall in Moria? Drat. I got my answer already.) That scene after they escape from the mines, with hollow-eyed Frodo walking aimlessly, grieving Sam, and a devastated Merry cradling a guilt-ridden and heart-broken Pippin, has haunted me from the first time I saw the film. It was incredibly well-staged and acted, so much so that it still feels real to me all these years later. Author Reply: I'll say that Gail will be! =) And I agree about Bilbo's living space! Some kind of mushroom soup, at any rate! Dreamflower knows better than I do what kind. It was such a sad scene, indeed--in the book and the movie! Not so AU that Gandalf was spared, as you discovered. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 3/31/2025 |
| Oh! Bilbo telling Kaylee the story of The Hobbit! What could be more perfect? (Oh, but further along in the chapter, it doesn't sound so great in Kaylee's case...) This part of the story is difficult to revisit, especially so soon after I'd been working on this part of Bill's account. "Joseph McCloud!" Kevin said sharply. "Behave yourself!" That sounds so familiar! And if he had to ratchet it up a notch, I imagine he'll include his brother's middle name. Right? (What are parents thinking when they don't give a child a middle name? LOL) But good of Joey to defend poor Bill. And how lovely of Frodo to understand how important the children's request was to them. Uh-oh. And now I'm getting worried about Joey's ability to jump those wide cracks! I love the protectiveness the kids display towards each other when the "snakes" emerge. Hmmm. And now I'm wondering if an "emergency" will come up where they need to use their flashlights? Kevin has a lot of good food for thought by the end of the chapter! (Here's hoping I can carve out some reading time tomorrow for the next chapter!) Author Reply: Hmm. Dreamflower and I didn't think about having Kevin include Joseph's middle name! I'll have to see if that's something I can fix. There will be need for at least one flashlight, anyway, as the story progresses. Speaking of Bill's account, I'm looking forward to reading Part 2 when you start posting it! Yes. Kevin does, doesn't he? Have lots of good for thought, I mean. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 3/14/2025 |
| I love Tip and Tulip being remembered both by the Walkers and Bilbo at about the same time! It seems to bring them closer somehow, in spirit if not in body. (And nice to hear that Merrylegs is doing Bilbo proud in providing a gentle beginner's mount for Kaylee's riding lessons! Kevin looked at his sister. "All that way for nothing," he said crossly. Yup, pretty much. I must admit, I get that same feeling every time I re-read this part of the book. It's wonderful to have the chance to revisit DF's works by way of their inclusion in this story! Author Reply: It sure is, isn't it? I'm glad you're enjoying Merryleg's role in our story. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/11/2025 |
| Another thought: I'm really glad that I finished writing the chapter in All Work and No Play earlier this week, where Ferdi explains Hobbit developmental stages to Haldoron, their Ranger-guide for Farry and Ferdi's quest to retrace the Fellowship's journey to Gondor, or I'd worry about accidental plagiarism! (I always try to give credit where credit is due when I incorporate ideas I've read in other authors' fanfic works.) Of course, DF and I have a lot of similar ideas, and some of that comes from the discussions we've had about hobbit ages and comparisons with men. (I miss those discussions with DF, with Dana, and others... I still get to immerse myself in Middle-earth ponderings with Larner on the phone [or in person! What fun!] on occasion, which is a blessing.) DF was/is brilliant in deciphering JRRT's hints and assumptions! Her nonfiction works, analyzing Tolkien's works, are invaluable references for fanfic writers. Please give her my regards (again) and let her know I think of her often. Author Reply: Dreamflower, Lindelea wants me to give you her regards, and to let you to know she often thinks about you! She misses you. Hope you can return to the fandom soon. Hey, Lindelea, it sounds as if you get a lot of ideas not just from the novel, but from others' fanfiction! I know what you mean about giving credit where it's due. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/11/2025 |
| I've often wished I had a solar. We actually had something like one in the desolation that was a Wisconsin winter. My parents enclosed a large porch and added a gas fireplace. On summer evenings, they'd open the glass louvers and enjoy the breeze coming through the screens that kept the mosquitoes at bay. In cold and even freezing weather, with the louvers firmly shut, the glass was thick enough to contain the heat, allowing us to eat on the porch with glass on three sides, letting the bright winter sunshine in. (And man, that winter sun was incredibly bright, seemingly growing ever brighter, the lower the temperatures plunged below freezing!) (I'm really glad that Kaylee's evening "ritual" uses the gentler version and not the old "if I should die before I wake" that traumatized so many children of an older generation, from the stories I heard.) As to youth and slang, I am hopelessly behind. "cool" is about my speed. He wondered what it would be like to see such marvels as "teevee" and "moo-vees" and "net-flix" and "yew toob". I am suddenly reminded of Shirebound's amusing anecdotes on LJ of visiting hobbits wreaking havoc in her office, if I'm remembering right... The "agreed-upon" hand signal(s) makes sense. I have to say, it's a good thing I've almost come to the Doors of Moria in Bill's story, or I'd have to leave off reading this story until after I'd got past that point in finishing the final draft of that story. Speaking of summer evenings... "Star light, star bright" brought back memories of crickets chirping and fireflies flitting about... Formatting question: I understand that italics indicates text from the original, but what's the underlining supposed to convey when the Ranger shouts his warning about Crebain? Ah yes. "Nothing further happened that night." That always jumps out at me nowadays ever since the first time it tugged at my sleeve and whispered there was a story to tell... Author Reply: A solar would be nice, wouldn't it? I used the older version of "Now I lay me...", myself. Now I'm curious to know what Shirebound included in LiveJournal! The Fellowship has only come to Caradhras Mountain. Moria still looms ahead! I know what you mean about crickets and fireflies! (Which were also called lightning bugs when I was a child.) Underling indicates dialogue from the Peter Jackson movie trilogy. In this case, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 3/8/2025 |
| Bagginses as Tooth Fairies! How delightful! O my. The boys' plan sounds like something out of Tom Sawyer. And Bungo is so wise. (And I wonder if Bilbo has a farthing to give Kaylee one of these days...) I love that Shire-folk have a version of "99 bottles of beer on the wall"! (And I laughed when they started singing it, remembering my Anachronos story, where Frodo and Merry serenaded the rest of the Company with that song after accidentally ingesting muddlewort.) "Nob o' the Lea" sounds like something Tolkien might have written. Menelcar! (Am I right?) The Yule celebration is lovely! What a thoughtful gesture on the part of the Company. I still don't know what Joey's monster mask looks like, but evidently it resembles something frightening in Middle-earth. (An Orc? A Troll?) And here, Aragorn reminds me of the teacher in A Christmas Story. Author Reply: Yep, Menelcar is right! Something like out of Tom Sawyer, all right! =) Bagginses as tooth fairies, indeed! =) Hm, Dreamflower and I will have to decide if Kaylee received a farthing, won't we? Dreamflower is very good at either composing hobbit songs or adapting old existing songs to make them hobbity. You'll eventually learn what the monster mask looks like as you continue reading the chapters that have been posted, so far. And yep, the Yule celebration was indeed nice! And thoughtful. Since I've never watched A Christmas Story, i'll have to take your word for it. KG | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 3/6/2025 |
| Hah. Pippin and Merry sound like typical (annoying) younger cousins here. Also, "up to our ankles in briars" sounds so very hobbity! Bless Bilbo! He's no fool. But my heart lurches every time I read, '...when you get back...' in this part of the book. Oh poor Bill, having to leave Lucy behind! Alas, I think Legolas is right about coming face to face with reality, and probably sooner than later. "rod" – now that's a familiar term I haven't heard in a while! When we traveled by canoe in the Boundary Waters, the portages we hiked overland from one body of water to another, carrying our canoes and everything else, were measured in rods. Gandalf seems to have a talent for keeping entertaining squabbles going... somehow, I am reminded of how he distracted the trolls until the sun came up in Bilbo's time. Author Reply: So very hobbit, indeed! =) Either Bilbo has a lot of faith that Frodo will return, or he's hoping that Frodo will and hiding his doubts. As for Legolas, I fear you're right! You're right about Gandalf! =) | |