In a hole in the ground. . .

I'm sure that this is old news to all of you but thought I'd give you a few updates. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is going to be made into a movie. Like The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, which I'm sure you've all watched repeatedly, The Hobbit will be directed by Peter Jackson. There will be two Hobbit movies. The first will cover the story as told in The Hobbit. The second will cover the 60 years between the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of LOTR. I had previously heard that there would be two movies & thought (along w/other people) that they were splitting The Hobbit into two parts which seemed pointless. I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of the second movie. Offhand, it seems kind of pointless as LOTR has already been released.

Anyway I found the second movie info on, you guessed it, The Hobbit Blog! The first movie is scheduled for release in 2010 so you'll have to be a little patient. In the meantime you can check out onering.net. It is full of Hobbit & LOTR information. You can also re-read all the books (notice that I'm assuming you've all read them).

Robin

From my garden...

A Native bouquet from Jill's garden!

Charlie the Coyote

I found this great blog that I thought you'd all like. It is called The Daily Coyote and has pictures of a coyote named Charlie. A woman in Wyoming had him left on her doorstep when his parents were killed so she has been taking care of him. She lives in a log cabin in a small town of 300 people, with her cat Eli, and Charlie. Take a look - the pictures are adorable!

Robin

New Driver

Just a notice for any of you coming out to Stockton, we now have a new driver.
Elizabeth took her driving test today and did very well. She is now a licensed driver.
Not much else going on, we live a wonderfully boring life.

Library of Congress Blog

The Library of Congress, in conjunction with Flickr, has launched a photo pilot project. Approximately 3000+ photographs from two of the Library's most popular collections have been posted on Flickr. The Library is asking that people comment, tag and make notes on the photos. This will enable the photos to be found easier and hopefully provide more identifying information about each photo. The featured collections are 1930-40s in Color and News in the 1910s. Take a look at the photos by clicking here --> LOC/Flickr.

I think this is a pretty cool way to share the pictures with a wider audience. The Library's blog explains that many of the photos do not have information about where the photo was taken and/or who is in the photo. This is an amazingly clever way to try and fill those gaps.

Take a look at the photos, who knows you might see someplace or someone familiar!

Robin

Cambridge

Here it is! The last of my vacation posts. I know you've all been waiting anxiously for this. At least try & pretend that you have. We spent 4 nights in Cambridge at a bed & breakfast that was really great. My room was not en-suite which means the bathroom was down the hall. Actually it was right next to my room but I like the sound of down the hall. For some reason, probably because I was in England, I found this quite charming. Prior to leaving I had read on the b&b website that they offered a full English breakfast. Here is the description: Our full English breakfast includes free range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, and beans, all organic. Our local butchers hand made sausages and bacon are free range and our local baker makes organic bread which he delivers hot to our door. I'm not much for eating breakfast so this didn't sound all that appealing to me. Actually it sounded pretty gross - beans for breakfast! However, since I'm such a brave person I decided to try it & was pleasantly surprised. It was really very good (except the mushrooms) & I've decided that beans for breakfast aren't a bad thing.

Cambridge is a really beautiful town. The University is the 2nd-oldest in the english-speaking world (Oxford is the oldest). We saw Kings College & St. John's College both of which are incredibly beautiful. The day we walked around the University it was foggy - as you can see in the pictures - which really added to the ambience. One of the things that really impressed me were the signs on the grass at the University. I can't remember the exact wording (Stephen, Kiko ??) but it came down to you can't walk on the grass unless you're a Fellow of the College. I really liked that.

We went to the Cambridge University Press (CUP) bookstore. CUP is a publisher that was granted a royal charter in 1534 by none other than Henry VIII. It is the oldest publishing & printing house in the world. I bought a totebag there. Quite the intellectual aren't I!

A word to the wise: If you decide to visit Cambridge don't bother trying to order chinese food. It's a long story so just take my word for it.

Robin

Update

I was going to post my final entry about our trip but I'm feeling miserable today. I've been sick for the last few days and feel exhausted today. So you still have that to look forward to but in the meantime I'm sure someone else has something interesting to share!! The honor of our family is at stake. People from all over the world are reading this blog (technically it is possible) & judging our family. Post something!
Robin