The Two Towers

Good afternoon! This morning was somewhat out of the ordinary in that Amena had Student Council and the boys all wanted lunch from home. I didn’t eat until after I’d taken Amena to school and saw the boys off. Then it was time to get to work in the garden before it got too warm and then it was time to read while waiting for Laura to get done with the bike and then it was time to ride and do Pilates and ride. That is all done now and I have a few minutes before I shower.

Yesterday was an okay day. I went to kindergarten which is always nice. I got to help about half of the class paint a background for an ocean scene that they’ll be working on the next few days. It should be interesting to see what Joseph ends up with.

I did work in the garden before I went to kindergarten but only for half an hour. After kindergarten I spent a good portion of the afternoon getting ready for supper as we had missionaries coming. We had chicken gyro sandwiches so I had chicken to cut up, onions to slice, pita bread to make. We also had a Greek salad so I had broccoli and cauliflower to chop, olives to slice, and feta cheese to crumble. I had to run to Gardner to get the cauliflower, cheese and cherry tomatoes. It will be nice to have most of these things out of the garden in a few weeks.

When Laura got home, she got some lemon gelato for dessert. I thought it would go nicely with our Greek-themed supper and it did. We also made some strawberry/rhubarb lemonade that turned out pretty good.

The garden is nearing completion for this year. For next year, I either want to start tilling it in the fall once or twice and again in the spring once or twice, or I want raised beds. Currently, I’m thinking I’d prefer raised beds.

While riding, I’ve been rewatching The Lord of the Rings. There is just so much good stuff in there that I wanted to be sure to catch it. Currently, I’m in The Two Towers. Once Théoden has been rid of Saruman’s influence, and realizes his son is dead, he visits the grave where he and Gandalf speak. Théoden says, “No parent should have to bury their child.” Having been in that place, I have to agree. No parent should have to bury their child. It happens, I know, but it is a hard thing to do and seems to go against nature. We expect our parents to die before us, hard as that may be, but it is natural that they do. We do not expect our children to die before us.

Later, Théoden is with Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and others while two children who were in a settlement that was attacked by Wild Men are eating. Gandalf and Aragorn are attempting to convince Théoden that he and his people must fight but Théoden does not wish for battle. Aragorn says, “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” Are we not in that place? Open war is upon us. We see it every day. Our morals and values are being attacked from every side. There are no safe places. We attempt to make our homes safe but if we are not careful, the enemy can infiltrate. Schools, being so controlled by government, are not safe. Satan and his followers know us very well and know exactly what to do to tempt and attack us. The war is upon us, whether we admit it or not.

Again later, Théoden’s people have made it to Helm’s Deep and are joined by Théoden himself as well as those who stayed with him to fight off an unexpected attack from warg-riding orc spies of Saruman and survived. Aragorn is at first thought to be lost but isn’t. On his way to Helm’s Deep, he sees the host from Isengard, 10,000 strong. When he arrives, he tells Théoden, who begins preparing for war. During the preparation, the women and children are sent to the caves where it is hoped they will be safe from the oncoming attack. Men, even those, as Gimli says, “have seen too many winters” or in Legolas’s opinion, “too few,” are armed. A young boy is taken from his mother who obviously does not want her son to go to fight. Boys are armed. I imagine that the old men do not want to fight, but they have lived their lives and perhaps are willing to do what needs to be done in order to make life possible for the others. The boys might want to fight, but have no idea what they are getting into. I can imagine Daniel being willing to go and fight, indeed, in a manner of speaking, that is what he has done. Daniel would be willing to do what was necessary even if it meant not living to see his family safe. I can imagine Cedric going. I think he would go willingly but I do not think that he would really want to. I think he would do it because he would know that Daniel would but I also think he would be scared, but would pretend not to be.

The war is upon us. We are all called to fight. Some of us will be called upon to see our children buried; some of us will not.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!