Mae Govannen!
It has been quiet here in Nandalad, and in the surrounding region as well. I patrol, as is my duty, yet for the most part the patrols are time in solitude and contemplation, although I remain alert...to do otherwise could be dangerous to my health.
The following are a series of thoughts I have had of late..they may make sense, they may not, yet my mind has been wandering these avenues.
Of late I have had a lot to think about. I am still capable, if not so fast or strong as once I was, yet my condition improves steadily. Still, age is a factor...and I find the sword is not so appealing to me as it once was. Not because I do not like them....more I have no further need of the status, real or imagined, these weapons bring with them. The mystique. I stopped wearing armor long ago as well.
I am far more interested in tools that are also weapons, like the axe, the knife, and the bow. Yes, the bow. It is a tool...I hunt with it, after all. I also like the staff, which can be weapon or support...or capped with a head, a spear at need.
My hands turn more to the harp and staff these days, than they do to the sword or spear. I am no Istari, no Maia of the Blessed Realm...just a human like other humans. Yet I have gathered some wisdom over the years, some knowing of various things, secret and non-secret alike.
I will not put down the bow, the axe, or the knife until it is time for me to leave this world and I lay me down to it. However, the staff is more often my friend, and the animals and plants.
Perhaps I am some kind of Ranger Bard morphing into something Druid/Witch/Seidr after all. Whichever it is, I am aware I have drifted somewhat out of line with the mainstream of the MERF. I have a sort of Rohan type of persona...really Norse, yet the two are fairly close.
Eledhwen en' Randiromar, Nandalad.
The Ranger-Harper of Minhiriath
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Of Learning and Time
Mae Govannen, Wes thu hal!
The light grows longer, and stronger, with each passing day. Soon the Spring will take hold in earnest, as ever it does.
I wait now only for my Bow Horse to be sorted. I shall be in full operation before the month is out, most assuredly. I may have sorted a method for making a variety of interesting arrowheads using a very small forge. I will have to experiment when time allows. I shall soon be entirely self-sufficient in the matter of archery and related items. It does not mean I will not purchase things from time to time, only that I won't have to just to get things done. That is a relief.
In the City of Smiths I learned ways to shape the metal into arrowheads without having to weld much of anything. In the Bards' Keep I learned the working of wood for instruments. On the Island of Apples I learned to read the strands of existence. In the unnamed port I have been learning the making of ships. I cannot explain it to folk, although Wizardly types seem to find nothing strange in it. I dream, I know how to do something. Recalled from other lives, I am told, else the Spirit wanders to learn. I do not speak of it often, and then only to a rare few.
So it goes. The days pass, time flows by, the Winter of my life moves on toward the Rebirth of a new Spring of the Spirit. The Cycle is never ending. All things in their time and as they are meant to be.
For now, making, watching, defending, patrolling..these are the orders of my life. Livened with some harp or lyre music, along with the flute now and then. It is, and has been, an interesting life. Full of learning. It has had its share of trials, yet also triumphs.
Today I shall, perhaps, wander through the slowly awakening forest, perhaps in the garments of the Rohirrim women, perhaps not. We shall see.
Nama'rië
The light grows longer, and stronger, with each passing day. Soon the Spring will take hold in earnest, as ever it does.
I wait now only for my Bow Horse to be sorted. I shall be in full operation before the month is out, most assuredly. I may have sorted a method for making a variety of interesting arrowheads using a very small forge. I will have to experiment when time allows. I shall soon be entirely self-sufficient in the matter of archery and related items. It does not mean I will not purchase things from time to time, only that I won't have to just to get things done. That is a relief.
In the City of Smiths I learned ways to shape the metal into arrowheads without having to weld much of anything. In the Bards' Keep I learned the working of wood for instruments. On the Island of Apples I learned to read the strands of existence. In the unnamed port I have been learning the making of ships. I cannot explain it to folk, although Wizardly types seem to find nothing strange in it. I dream, I know how to do something. Recalled from other lives, I am told, else the Spirit wanders to learn. I do not speak of it often, and then only to a rare few.
So it goes. The days pass, time flows by, the Winter of my life moves on toward the Rebirth of a new Spring of the Spirit. The Cycle is never ending. All things in their time and as they are meant to be.
For now, making, watching, defending, patrolling..these are the orders of my life. Livened with some harp or lyre music, along with the flute now and then. It is, and has been, an interesting life. Full of learning. It has had its share of trials, yet also triumphs.
Today I shall, perhaps, wander through the slowly awakening forest, perhaps in the garments of the Rohirrim women, perhaps not. We shall see.
Nama'rië
Friday, February 3, 2017
Of Archery
Mae Govannen! Wes thu hal!
Some of the Rohirrim wander through Randiromar from time to time. After all, their fathers are held to have come from the Northlands, albeit on the other side of Greenwood from here. I have more than a little in common with them, I find.
I am soon to assemble and set up my bow bench, which I will carve and customize to include a Hnefatafl board in the seat. This bench has been made to be easily assembled and disassembled such that I can easily take it out of doors on a pretty day, or work with it indoors in inclement weather. This one is made of high quality if not the strongest of woods, as it is pine for the most part. I am thinking I may make another one of, perhaps, oak, or maybe hornbeam, both of which are easily gotten here. Much, much, heavier, indeed, yet also a bit more robust. Still, what I have works and that is all I require of it for now.
The 'Northlands Archery' niche is taking shape, what with the string jigs, spine testers, fletching jigs, and so on present. Also a cresting 'spinner', flight cutters, glues, saws, draw knives, spoke shaves, scrapers, axes, and various other items needful in the making of bows and the arrows they launch.
In the meantime, forest wandering, to include along the river. I hope to have watercraft this year to aid in keeping the river free of dangers. Those that go on two legs, at any rate.
Eledhwen
Some of the Rohirrim wander through Randiromar from time to time. After all, their fathers are held to have come from the Northlands, albeit on the other side of Greenwood from here. I have more than a little in common with them, I find.
I am soon to assemble and set up my bow bench, which I will carve and customize to include a Hnefatafl board in the seat. This bench has been made to be easily assembled and disassembled such that I can easily take it out of doors on a pretty day, or work with it indoors in inclement weather. This one is made of high quality if not the strongest of woods, as it is pine for the most part. I am thinking I may make another one of, perhaps, oak, or maybe hornbeam, both of which are easily gotten here. Much, much, heavier, indeed, yet also a bit more robust. Still, what I have works and that is all I require of it for now.
The 'Northlands Archery' niche is taking shape, what with the string jigs, spine testers, fletching jigs, and so on present. Also a cresting 'spinner', flight cutters, glues, saws, draw knives, spoke shaves, scrapers, axes, and various other items needful in the making of bows and the arrows they launch.
In the meantime, forest wandering, to include along the river. I hope to have watercraft this year to aid in keeping the river free of dangers. Those that go on two legs, at any rate.
Eledhwen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)