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Author Topic: The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring  (Read 135 times)

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Offline Luis Gonzalez

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The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
« on: January 17, 2026, 11:33:21 pm »
The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
Reflections on Tolkien’s Faith, Buffett’s Music, and the Worlds That Stay True

Boiling Frogs

I came back to the pond after being away longer than usual, cruising the Gulf of America. The water looked familiar at first glance, but it never is. A pond does not wait for you. It does not hold still out of recognition. It keeps its own order, and you return to it changed.

The cruise slowed everything down in the way only water can. Days stretched without urgency. Horizons stayed steady. I read more slowly than usual and listened without skipping tracks. There was time to sit with things instead of moving through them.

Most days, I did two simple things. I read Tolkien, I listened to Jimmy Buffett. Not with a project in mind. Just letting them keep me company while the ocean stayed mostly unchanged.

Somewhere between long afternoons and evenings that ended without clocks, I realized neither of them ever left the world they were building.

Continue reading at Boiling Frogs Blog

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"The growth of knowledge depends entirely upon disagreement." - Karl Popper

“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." - Frederic Bastiat

“You can vote Socialism in, but you’re gonna have to shoot your way out of it.” - Me

Online Smokin Joe

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Re: The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2026, 11:40:47 pm »
Nice!
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How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline roamer_1

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Re: The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2026, 01:47:29 am »
It's funny you mention 'not skipping tracks'...

I recently listened to Eagle's Greatest Hits (1971-1975) - One of my all-time favorite albums - And I purposefully, for the first time in a long, long time, listened to the whole album, in its proper order.

There is something missed in fast tracks, and serving one's self, electing only songs you prefer... A grander vision that an entire album might present... That's most evident in something like Willie Nelson's 'Redheaded Stranger' album, where the whole album tells a story - But any album does the same thing - it tries to set a mood in its total selection. Maybe that's it.

I have also gone back to listening to HANK FM (local country) with my eggs in the morning. There is something beautiful in not knowing what song comes next... In the non-selection. It's a comfort and something nostalgic and 'back in order' in the breaks, and the news at the top of the hour...It's a something. I don't even know exactly what it is, but it's there... And it's been missing.
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Offline Luis Gonzalez

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Re: The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2026, 02:01:59 am »
Quote from: roamer_1 on January 18, 2026, 01:47:29 am
It's funny you mention 'not skipping tracks'...

I recently listened to Eagle's Greatest Hits (1971-1975) - One of my all-time favorite albums - And I purposefully, for the first time in a long, long time, listened to the whole album, in its proper order.

There is something missed in fast tracks, and serving one's self, electing only songs you prefer... A grander vision that an entire album might present... That's most evident in something like Willie Nelson's 'Redheaded Stranger' album, where the whole album tells a story - But any album does the same thing - it tries to set a mood in its total selection. Maybe that's it.

I have also gone back to listening to HANK FM (local country) with my eggs in the morning. There is something beautiful in not knowing what song comes next... In the non-selection. It's a comfort and something nostalgic and 'back in order' in the breaks, and the news at the top of the hour...It's a something. I don't even know exactly what it is, but it's there... And it's been missing.

Awesome post.
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"The growth of knowledge depends entirely upon disagreement." - Karl Popper

“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." - Frederic Bastiat

“You can vote Socialism in, but you’re gonna have to shoot your way out of it.” - Me

Offline roamer_1

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Re: The Pond, the Bard, and the Ring
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2026, 02:38:11 am »
Quote from: Luis Gonzalez on January 18, 2026, 02:01:59 am
Awesome post.

 :beer:

And brownie points for the Jimmy Buffet... I'm a Parrot-head from way back.  :beer: :seeya:
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