Happy (belated) Birthday, J.R.R Tolkien!

He would have been 129 yesterday, January 3, 2021. As we shake off the holiday cobwebs and prepare for a challenging next few months, here’s Tolkien on hobbits:

Nonetheless, ease and peace had left this people still curiously tough. They were, if it came to it, difficult to daunt or to kill; and they were, perhaps, so unwearyingly fond of good things not least because they could, when put to it, do without them, and could survive rough handling by grief, foe, or weather in a way that astonished those who did not know them well and looked no further than their bellies and their well-fed faces.

And happy new year, everybody!