With a little hobbit lad, one has always plenty to do and with me Pa frequently frequenting the Shire inns, I am always happy when someone comes and takes care of my little one, so I can have an evening off once in a while. Fridays are especially complicated, as everyone wants to go to the Green Dragon, but Master Bracegirdle has turned out to be grand with little hobbits, something he did not even know himself.
Spring is here, and so are the festivals - and with them a much greater need for babysitters. First of all was of course the Bullroarer Took Day. This year, there were not only us Greenbrambles playing, but a whole lot of hobbit bands, as famous as the Songburrow Strollers and the Pudding Riots! And grand songs we all played, too! Of course there was the "Wearing Of The Green" by Master Peppy, and my favourite sad song "The Town I Loved So Well" by Miss Lina which, as always, made us all shed some tears. And I believe I have never heard so many different songs about the Great Bullroarer in one day!
I missed the Fireworks Festival and Gandalf's visit in the Shire this year, but then, we do have the best fireworks in Middle-earth at our Green Dragon anyway, don't we? Especially when celebrating the sixth year of the Green Dragon Fridays, my, that was a firework! This year, I did not take part in the pie-baking competition and was also a little sad that I had forgotten to apply for the jury - until I saw the craban pie made by Miss Allegretta, that is. And I had believed that after the slug pie nothing could surprise me anymore.
And now, the Spring Festival is here. It is my favourite festival in whole Middle-earth, I simply love the Maze, and this year the gardeners have even recreated it, some new hedges were planted where there were none before and some others were torn down.
On Saturday, I took Lyshko first to the shrew pest garden in Duillond, and he had a lot of fun. When I told him about an hour later that we had to leave for the Maze, he did not want to, and the elves tried to talk me into leaving him there with the funny shrews and offered to take care of him while I could have time to enjoy the other spring festival activities. After Miss Lobster Oil or somet swore to feed him a large piece of pie every hour, I agreed. And then I spend the rest of the day alone in the Maze to get lost and found again and to dwell on happy memories.
When I came back, it turned out that Miss Lobster Oil or somet, oh, I think Lobethuil or Logethuil it was, had been a grand baby sitter and that Master Twofoot, who had happened to come by, had also taken care of my little one. He even taught him to say "shrew" and "Lina", which as good as doubled Lyshko's vocabulary. Now he can say "pie", "maaahmaaah", "gaffaaah", "noooh", "shew" and "Nina". I keep wondering though why Master Twofoot had been mentioning Miss Lina in connection with shrews.
The only thing is, on that day little Lyshko made friends with an especially importunate shrew. She seems to love him and follows him everywhere, even loves to sit in his hammock with him. But. When little Lyshko is asleep, which is quite a lot with a hobbit toddler, Shyla ("Shyna!") the Shrew is following me or Pa. Grand.
On Sunday, we decided to celebrate Lyshko's first birthday in Needlehole. It was a small family party with only Ryngo and Lyshko, and then Auntie Iris and Uncle Bungo, who had come over from Michel Delving, and me. Of course, there will be a larger party in July, where the trhee of us will celebrate our birthdays together. It quite reminded me of my own childhood birthday parties. When Lyshko and I went to see Ulfar and Onar, they were not home, only one lonely dwarf sitting outside the dwarven house, grumbling something about missing it all. It turned out there was a dwarven wedding on the same day and everyone had gone there. They had been drawing stones, and he had drawn the one with fool's gold and thus he had to stay behind as halls sitter.
We decided to stay a few more days in Needlehole to relax, and to enjoy the company of Auntie Iris and her biscuits. She is playing with the little one outside and I will take the chance to go down for some catfish fishing. The best catfish are still the ones here in the Rushock Bog. So, dear diary, for now I say "pie", which according to little Lyshko means pie, biscuit, cake, any kind of food, any kind of good things, hi, aye - and bye!
