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Another Moment of your Time  by Larner 8 Review(s)
EstelnalissiReviewed Chapter: 48 on 1/3/2016
It is dangerous to my psychie to read your stories because I've never been able to bear Frodo sailing to the west in lieu of dying. Like a moth to a flame I return to them because you write so well and have realized the Shire more completely than any of the other beloved and talented fan authors whose writing I treasure.
You have woven the interactions of various relations to our main players and to their other relations and sundry neighbors to the point that their paths have crossed weaving a whole that forms a living community of Hobbits with adult and childlike experiences which reflect a specifically hobbit culture.
I paused to write at last about this story because it is set before the quest at a time the foursome were dealing with shirish concerns and weren't yet burdened with saving the Shire and Middle Earth.
Frodo, his cousins and Sam were in the process of building mutual trust and adding to their shared, not-quite-Hobbity experiences. There were touches of play, adventure, expanding their world view, budding leadership, respect for the creator and ancient tradition, kindness to lesser creatures and peace.
And when I thought my cup was full, as was those of the four hobbits, the Gods took notice and the innocent, well intentioned actions of my four favorite hobbits made a difference. You caused blessings to pass from the Shire to the Gods and to me.

Author Reply: I am so honored by this tribute, and humbly thank you for it. We have all been blest by Tolkien's gift to this world, and I thank him--and all who read his and our works here--for sharing those blessings with us,

Thank you so very much, my friend.

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/29/2012
What an interesting story! Love it. Even those who do not know Him still worship. Love the ending.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: Oh, yes, I think those who love others as themselves always worship whether they realize it or not.

Thanks so!

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/29/2012
How wonderful! I enjoyed this story a great deal!

What others shrug off as eccentricity shows in fact the love for the world, all its creatures and their Creator.

And the Creator chose our four hobbits because of this love, as well as the rest of the Fellowship.

Author Reply: I'm so glad you did enjoy it so much. Yes, eccentricity is often the name given to such love as our Hobbits were capable of. Thanks so very much!

SunnyReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/28/2012
Not so surprising, I think, that Frodo would wish to adopt a Dúnadan custom duch as First Fruits. And it also wouldn't surprise me if this custom takes hold with Sam, Pippin and Merry and their families.

And the basket is a "first fruit" of sorts itself, isn't it?

Author Reply: Nor would it surprise me if the Tooks, Brandybucks, and Gamgee-Gardners all take it up. And, yes, I thought that of Lavender's basket as well! Heh!

TeresaReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/27/2012
Dear Larner, many thanks for posting this glimspe of the four before the Quest! It was an excellent look at the bond that grew between them all, and which would extend to Gandalf and the others in time. I also liked seeing how the Powers were aware of them and gave them pleasant dreams to offset the difficulties each would eventually face. Will Manwe, Varda and the others keep a closer eye on them now as time moves onward to the War of the Ring? As always, you enrich Middle Earth with your work! Sincerely, Teresa :)

Author Reply: I would hope that, having had their attention drawn so to these four and the others, the Valar would find themselves doing much to prepare them. As Gandalf said, Frodo was chosen to carry the Ring, and not by Its maker, and that meant that other Powers had chosen him and had done all they could to see him strengthened to what he must one day do and see.

And if pleasant dreams were one of the benefits these could enjoy now, certainly I think the Valar would seek to offer them whenever they felt it would be beneficient.

TariReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/27/2012
What a beautiful birthday gift. Tolkien says that men faced the West at specific times. It would be nice to think that others thanked the Creator also.

Author Reply: Yes, the Men of Gondor faced the West in the Standing Silence, and the rite of First Fruits at the top of Meneltarma on Numenor is described in the Akallabeth in the Sil. And we are told that there were certain hallows within the lands of the Dunedain within Middle Earth, the King's hallow on Mindolluin and the hallow where Elendil's body was first interred in the Ered Nimrais.

I would think that Frodo would find his imagination stimulated by such stories, just as I've had him taking on a Haradri custom of mud figures and translating them to snow for the winter time in "The First Snowfall of the Season," which was itself an expansion for a drabble-and-a-half I wrote one year for the additive words Advent Challenge on There and Back Again. Having to work "monkey," "bottle," and "bread" into so many FLFs led to some interesting ideas, I found.

Theresa GreenfalconReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/26/2012
This is Tracey - thanks for remembering my birthday! :) I appreciate it - and you - from the bottom of my heart- I hadn't gotten a card from family at all this year, so your mathom means more than I can tell you in mere words. Bless you, from the bottom of my heart!

Tracey/Theresa Greenfalcon

Author Reply: Oh, I'm so glad that this was so appreciated, Theresa! I so hope that it is joyful for you in spite of the family's lack of observance. Have been there and done that, believe me. This one has been niggling at me since I went out blackberry picking (and cutting--the blasted things are now intent on taking my yard, it would seem, and are reaching out for the car again, overhanging part of the driveway again) the other day. I was glad to get it written out of my system, and for two deserving people!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 48 on 8/26/2012
What a sweet story! I love the idea of Frodo trying to keep up the old tradition, and Pippin being curious enough to be the one to get the story out of him!

Author Reply: Whose imagination might be more open to such ideas than Frodo, and whose curiosity great enough to probe to learn the reasons than Pippin's? Actually, this was based on some of the question sessions I went through with the Kid when he was small and trying to learn just why his stepmom had a votive candle in the window each night from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, and the symbolism of the Advent wreath, and why the eggs at Easter, and so on. Intelligent children delight to know "why?"

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