Starting To Read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Have just started reading The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and can't put the book down (I literally find myself taking every small opportunity to delve into the book).

Already, only 130 pages in, what I like about the book is the clear distinction between good and evil with Tolkien's Catholic faith shining through.

Find the hobbits fascinating, they're like small human figures with a few cat-like features (e.g. a powerful sense of hearing and deftness of movement).
 

My favourite part so far is when Frodo, Sam and Pippin hear singing "in the fair Elven-tongue", which, in effect, saves them from being directly confronted by a Black Rider who is pursuing them:

                     "... O Lady clear!
                     O Queen beyond the Western Seas!
                     O Light to us that wander here ..."

Couldn't help but view this as something of an echo from a famous Catholic Marian hymn (Hail, Queen of Heaven):

                    "HAIL, Queen of heav'n, the ocean Star
                    "Guide of the wand'rer here below ..."

Used to love listening to this hymn at St. Joseph's Junior School in Bury, Lancashire as a child during the mid-1970s, and occasionally get to hear it when I attend the old Latin Mass in England.

Yes, I think that I'm going to really enjoy the rest of The Lord of the Rings, as I need some straightforward literary enchantment after years of reading the (admittedly beautiful) disenchantment of Thomas Hardy (still my favourite writer).

From what I've seen already, I also sense that The Lord of the Rings offers an appropriate antidote to the Sodom and Gomorrah agenda of the monstrous politically-'correct' macro-ideology that discolours and destroys a once Christian Western world.

Eastern Poland: Statues of Jesus in the Cemetery

Statues of Jesus, praying in Gethsemane and carrying His cross, in a cemetery in eastern Poland.

The Revival (Cory Henry, Taron Lockett, and Isaiah Sharkey) at Warsaw Klub Niebo 24th January 2019

Hadn't been to a concert since early December so the Revival gig at the Klub Niebo on Thursday evening was a godsend.

Saw Cory Henry with the Funk Apostles while my brother was over from Australia last year, and it was possibly my gig of the year, so it was nice to see Henry again under The Revival format.

With Cory Henry, Isaiah Sharkey, and Taron Lockett being such masters of their instruments, at times, it felt like being at an Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert (I mean this as a massive compliment, as I once had the honour of seeing ELP at Manchester Apollo in the early 1990s).

Liked all the dreamscape kind of tunes that Henry, Sharkey and Lockett did, especially the opening one, 'Superstition'.
 

Being middle-aged, I've grown to value music across most genres, and really like it when some kind of prolonged soundscape makes me dream at a concert, and Thursday evening's gig had this desired effect.
 

Immediately after an almost two-hour set, Cory Henry lead his two colleagues and the crowd to the cloakroom section near the door:

Where people were free to converse with the band members as they made their way out of the Niebo.

Warsaw: A Lit-Up Nowy Świat

After the thoroughly enjoyable Cory Henry Revival concert at the Klub Niebo last night, I was greeted with a wonderful, lit-up Nowy Świat.

More Vegetarian Food

Now down to eating meat only once a week (usually a good quality beef or mutton kebab).

The two pictures here show the kind of vegan food that I'm regularly making. The meal above is delicious vegan sausage with potatoes, vegetables and salad, while the meal below is soy burger (which really does taste like a beef burger), pasta, vegetables, and olives.

Eastern Poland: Passing a War Memorial

Passing a war memorial in eastern Poland over Christmas.

Near the town hall in a small Polish town:

More Good Russian beer

More good Russian beer here, this one being lighter in colour and strength than the last one I had which was from the same brewery.

Again, the beer is very nicely bottled.

Eastern Poland: Old Crosses in a Cemetery

Some old crosses/crucifixes in a cemetery in eastern Poland.

Will go looking for older ones the next time I visit the cemetery.

Delicious Polish Fudge

Some delicious Polish fudge that I had over Christmas/New Year. Like the chocolates from Berlin, they disappeared in one go.

Eastern Poland: Working in the Barn

Spent a lot of time in the barn over Christmas, chopping up old Christmas trees for firewood.

When the snow had cleared up, I was able to admire the area behind the barn which had been tidied up over summer:

Kotek's Chewed Box

Kotek has several boxes that he enjoys chewing around the flat, but this is definitely his favourite one.

Warsaw: The Stodoła Smurfs

Was down  near the Stodoła during the day on New Year's Eve, when suddenly on the pavement, I noticed there were smurf-type creatures all over the place.

Would love to know how the smurfs got on the pavement:

Chocolates from Berlin

Absolutely delicious, chocolates from Berlin that a friend got me, knowing that I have a sweet tooth.

Ate them all in one go, they were that good.

Finishing off Joyce's Dubliners

Currently in the process of finishing off James Joyce's 'Dubliners', being halfway through the final (and longest) short story in the collection, 'The Dead'.

One thing I really like about the collection is how Catholicism often atmospherically lurks in the background of the stories, as a kind of unifying contextual principle.

Before starting 'Dubliners', I'd read that Joyce had a kind of antipathy/distaste for Catholicism, but this never seems to have been overt throughout my reading of the anthology. Through internet surfing, I've just read that Joyce had a complex relationship with Catholicism, on one hand, having a certain distaste for it, while on the other hand, having continued to attend the Latin Tridentine Mass (plus the Byzantine liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church) as he valued its deep beauty.

Really like the way Joyce juxtaposes a tension between (Catholic) moral duty and the need to escape from imprisonment-type social situations in 'Dubliners'. For this reason, 'The Boarding House'; 'A Little Cloud'; 'Counterparts'; 'Clay'; 'A Painful Case', and above anything else, 'Eveline' are my favourite short stories in the collection.

'Eveline' is a deeply moving, four-page story with the central female character not being able to sail off with her lover for a better life in Argentina, because a strong sense of duty and promise to her dead mother, forces her to stay at home to look after her two much younger siblings.

Have a friend in county Cork who writes a lot of short stories, and I've kind of pointed him towards reading the 'Dubliners' collection, because I think a short story writer can learn a lot about his/her craft through comparing and contrasting the various themes, styles, and lengths of story at play in the collection.

My Mental Jukebox Part 18

'Red Barchetta', another tune from my favourite band Rush.

Finally, got round to reading 'A Nice Morning Drive' by Richard Foster which is the short story that appeared in a car magazine in the early 1970s that inspired Rush drummer Neil Peart to write 'Red Barchetta'.

Also read about Neil Peart and Richard Foster finally meeting up in 2007, a long time after 'Red Barchetta' appeared on the 1981 Rush album 'Moving Pictures'.

Warsaw: Jesus Christ Super Star Advertisement

Above, there is the Jesus Christ Super Star advertisement which seems to be dominating the metro line in Warsaw at the moment.

Below, there is an early evening scene from New Year's Eve with people making their way on the metro from Plac Wilsona to Bankowy for the big concert that was held there:

Warsaw: A Wonderful Snail

Passed this wonderful snail in Pole Mokotowskie Park during the day on New Year's Eve.

John and Simon's Photos

My friend John sent me a picture he'd recently taken of Skipton Castle.

This brought back memories as in the mid-1980s, while in my late teens, me and a few friends used to go camping in Skipton. Back then, a kind-hearted farmer had allowed us to set up camp in his field, and had even given us some old wood for a small campfire.

The picture below is from my friend Simon's canal boat, somewhere in scenic Wiltshire:

Have briefly encountered Wiltshire while making my way down to Thomas Hardy's Wessex (Dorset), would love to see a bit more of the place.

Warsaw: Murals on a School Wall

A few months ago, I saw these murals (of probably the Warsaw Uprising) on the wall of a school not far from the Gdański train station in Warsaw

Had been meaning to get a few shots of them for some time and finally got round to doing it.

Took these shots while sauntering round a few different parts of Warsaw during the daytime on New Year's Eve.

Warsaw: The Disappearing and Reappearing Snow

Really strange weather in Warsaw at the moment with the snow coming and going for a couple of days at a time.

Nice to see that there's a bird table in the tree below for the birds to have a feed in the cold:

Was nice in eastern Poland where the snow appeared for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then disappeared again.

Eastern Poland: Molehills in the Garden

When we arrived in eastern Poland for Christmas, it soon became apparent that the moles had been busy at work in the garden. Yeah, they really have become a massive nuisance.

Good Russian Beer

Really liked this Russian beer which I got to taste over Christmas. 

It was very dark (black)-coloured, bitter in taste, then had a wonderfully subtle aftertaste. 

Will definitely be on the lookout for more beer from this Russian brewery.

Warsaw: A Festive Underground Train

Was nice to see that this Warsaw underground train had a bit of a Christmas/New Year feel about it.