![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jan. 10th, 2004
Been nostalgic for Bag End recently. (pictures fixed!) You can find the story of my relationship to Tolkien here.
( My room in the smial )
( The front door )
( My room in the smial )
( The front door )
Bag End, Tolkien and me
Jan. 10th, 2004 04:05 pmWhen I went to grad school in Ann Arbor, I lived in the North Campus Co-ops, O'Keeffe House. The Husband lived in the other half, Renaissance House. You can see O'Keeffe House here. (I believe that is Bag End just visible at the end of the hedge, behind the hill.)
The Houses were divided into 9 suites.
I lived in Bag End.
At the time, it really, really irritated me.
When I was a kid, I read *lots* of fantasy, indiscriminately. My favorite book was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
I loved that book. It has a color centerplate that my parents photographed for me and enlarged to poster size for my 11th (?) birthday. It hung over my bed for years.
Then, in 7th or 8th grade, I picked up Fellowship. I wasn't dumb. I knew what Fellowship was. The "first" fantasy book. The one that started it all. So I also *knew,* right then, what Terry Brooks had done. Complete and utter plagarization. I think I gave up on Fellowship at the Watcher in the Water. I just couldn't read it anymore. It ruined my favorite book for me. I did eventually watch the animated "Return of the King" once while babysitting, so I learned the basic story, but I never read all three books.
(I had no interest in seeing the movies until the teasers started showing on TV. Thought Aragorn and Frodo looked cute and the movie looked pretty and like it would have good special effects. Still, The Husband and I were going to the theater on New Year's Eve 2001 and I really, really wanted to see Harry Potter, but he had already seen both and insisted that he wanted to see FOTR again, and I finally gave in because he was so desperate. Went home after, picked up the books and read them three times by the end of April 2002.)
Anyway, back to my life in Bag End - so I wrinkled my nose when I moved into Bag End. They had the first paragraph from The Hobbit posted by the mailboxes - "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..." I rolled my eyes.
Later, as I was getting started at UM, I had to pick a computer "UniqName." I thought it was some kind of password and supposed to be secret and hard to guess, so I picked a word I wouldn't forget, the name of the place I lived, "Bagend." You can imagine my complete disgust when my e-mail address became bagend@umich.edu! (I would kill for that e-mail address now. You can currently reach me at bagend1993@yahoo.com!) When I mentored undergraduates in my second year of grad school, people were always e-mailing me, "Are you a hobbit?" and calling me Bilbo, and I wanted to reach out electronically and strangle a bunch of geeks... *snortle*
So, that's me and Bag End. I managed to move out without a good picture of the front door, which was paited all hobbity. I just didn't care.
I loved the co-op. It was about 50% international students and 70% grad students, with a handful of non-students thrown in. There were 90 residents in O'Keeffe my first year and 80 in Renaissance. It was built with a $1 mil HUD grant in 1970. The 9 suites were each two stories with 8 rooms and 2 bathrooms on each level, a kitchen on the first floor and a common room with TV on the second floor. There was a large shared daylight basement with two large kitchens and dining rooms run by a professional chef (that was me, theh summer between my years in grad school) where we all ate, a couple of music practice rooms, a laundry room, a room with a pool table, and a couple of other common areas. I loved the people in my suite and house while I was there and I became Work Manager my second semester so was very active in House government. I stayed over the summer to run the kitchen after the first chef died and before the new chef was hired.
While I never miss Ann Arbor, I often miss the coop. Made great friends there, met The Husband there, and loved that lifestyle.
I'm trying to get an old friend in AA to send me a picture of the door.
The Houses were divided into 9 suites.
I lived in Bag End.
At the time, it really, really irritated me.
When I was a kid, I read *lots* of fantasy, indiscriminately. My favorite book was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
I loved that book. It has a color centerplate that my parents photographed for me and enlarged to poster size for my 11th (?) birthday. It hung over my bed for years.
Then, in 7th or 8th grade, I picked up Fellowship. I wasn't dumb. I knew what Fellowship was. The "first" fantasy book. The one that started it all. So I also *knew,* right then, what Terry Brooks had done. Complete and utter plagarization. I think I gave up on Fellowship at the Watcher in the Water. I just couldn't read it anymore. It ruined my favorite book for me. I did eventually watch the animated "Return of the King" once while babysitting, so I learned the basic story, but I never read all three books.
(I had no interest in seeing the movies until the teasers started showing on TV. Thought Aragorn and Frodo looked cute and the movie looked pretty and like it would have good special effects. Still, The Husband and I were going to the theater on New Year's Eve 2001 and I really, really wanted to see Harry Potter, but he had already seen both and insisted that he wanted to see FOTR again, and I finally gave in because he was so desperate. Went home after, picked up the books and read them three times by the end of April 2002.)
Anyway, back to my life in Bag End - so I wrinkled my nose when I moved into Bag End. They had the first paragraph from The Hobbit posted by the mailboxes - "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..." I rolled my eyes.
Later, as I was getting started at UM, I had to pick a computer "UniqName." I thought it was some kind of password and supposed to be secret and hard to guess, so I picked a word I wouldn't forget, the name of the place I lived, "Bagend." You can imagine my complete disgust when my e-mail address became bagend@umich.edu! (I would kill for that e-mail address now. You can currently reach me at bagend1993@yahoo.com!) When I mentored undergraduates in my second year of grad school, people were always e-mailing me, "Are you a hobbit?" and calling me Bilbo, and I wanted to reach out electronically and strangle a bunch of geeks... *snortle*
So, that's me and Bag End. I managed to move out without a good picture of the front door, which was paited all hobbity. I just didn't care.
I loved the co-op. It was about 50% international students and 70% grad students, with a handful of non-students thrown in. There were 90 residents in O'Keeffe my first year and 80 in Renaissance. It was built with a $1 mil HUD grant in 1970. The 9 suites were each two stories with 8 rooms and 2 bathrooms on each level, a kitchen on the first floor and a common room with TV on the second floor. There was a large shared daylight basement with two large kitchens and dining rooms run by a professional chef (that was me, theh summer between my years in grad school) where we all ate, a couple of music practice rooms, a laundry room, a room with a pool table, and a couple of other common areas. I loved the people in my suite and house while I was there and I became Work Manager my second semester so was very active in House government. I stayed over the summer to run the kitchen after the first chef died and before the new chef was hired.
While I never miss Ann Arbor, I often miss the coop. Made great friends there, met The Husband there, and loved that lifestyle.
I'm trying to get an old friend in AA to send me a picture of the door.
Mint Punch
Jan. 10th, 2004 09:24 pmPossible alternative for homemade coffee drinks...
Mint Punch
1 jar mint jelly
3 c boiling water
1 c pineapple juice
1 c orange juice
1/2 c lemon juice
1 pint ginger ale
Melt jelly in water. Cool and add remaining fruit juices. Just before serving, add gingerale.
To drink this by the glass, you can keep the fruit mixture in the refrigerator for several days, mix with gingerale on a per glass basis, to taste.
Mint Punch
1 jar mint jelly
3 c boiling water
1 c pineapple juice
1 c orange juice
1/2 c lemon juice
1 pint ginger ale
Melt jelly in water. Cool and add remaining fruit juices. Just before serving, add gingerale.
To drink this by the glass, you can keep the fruit mixture in the refrigerator for several days, mix with gingerale on a per glass basis, to taste.