My Preshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhious...



These are the sort of dangerous photographs a child risks when their father is a big ole geek. I plan on putting these into the "Oh, you are dating my daughter? Wait a moment, I have something to show you" slide show, along with diaper changes, bath time photos, and potty training.

For those of you who are not intimately familiar with Tolkien, the text on the front of the onesy is a play on the poem from the Lord of the Rings... which I believe may have been made into a movie. I will have to check into that. Anyway, the original text is:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Begin at "One Ring to rule them all" and swap the word Twin for Ring, and you have what is written on Rylie. It is, in fact, a lot of words so the text has to scroll all the way around to the "back section".



The fellow she is having a staring contest with is of course, Gollum, the poor tortured soul who was once a simple fellow named Smeagle, until possession of the One Ring for centuries twisted him into the misbegotten creature you now see before you. And then, of course, he was made into a collectible porcelain figurine. There is no end to his indignities.

Why are they both sitting on a sleeping pad with cute, western-themed decoration, like cowboys and wild desert flowers? Because that is what Sauron was into. Seriously, Barad-dur was covered in horseshoes, ten gallon hats, and saddle-shaped reading lamps. The original War of the Ring was fought over whether or not Isildur would take back what he said about John Wayne actually having a girl's name. Could not find a bigger Country Western fan. Or malevolent force for evil. It is sad Tolkien concentrated so much on the latter and not so much on the former. I mean, each Nazgul had a personalized bullwhip signed by Gene Autry. No one ever writes about that...



Well that is it. Five blogs in five days. I have blown completely through all my pictures and have nothing of any interest (or even mild disinterest) left to talk about. The next two weeks are going to be proposal madness, so I may slack off a bit. Keep on checking, but if you need time to catch up on your reading of Daily Kos or Penny Arcade, this could be the time.

S.