Pa has gone to "look if things are all right" at the kinship hall - but I think he is just hoping to find Miss Rowana there. I have some quiet time finally to sit down and write into my diary. Here I am, drinking some nice hot elder blossom tea and re-thinking the events of the last weeks while the little hobbit in my belly is practicing the Bywater Bouncing Dance. She or he seems to be rather fond of it. I like to think it will be a she, and I have decorated the small room in pink already. Hope it will be a she now, or I would have to re-decorate it. For the cold time, Pa put the little bed into the lower levels of the burrow and set up a wonderful snow globe. It looks lovely! There will be enough time to put the bed back since the little one is only due in early summer.
Finally we made the trip to Needlehole and despite her being a little grumpy at first because she had not been told about our wedding in advance, Auntie Iris liked Adrean a lot and was very generous with her famous biscuits. And I enjoyed to show Adrean around, to show him the little house where I had grown up, the jetty, my favourite fishing spot below the willow on the other side of the river and the dwarven house, of course, and even the door behind the stables where I used to sneak in as a little lass.
It seemed so much smaller! Must have shrunk within these last years. I was overwhelmed to be back in Needlehole, but at the same time having been away long enough to be able to see it "through a stranger's eyes"; and this lead to me writing a little song about it – a very little one, the Needlehole Polka. I do feel at home in Bramblebury, but Needlehole will always be my home, too.
Although I have been so happy all the time, Adrean could not help but notice that I was of short breath and quite exhausted from our little trip. So we decided that I would stay a few days with Auntie Iris before going back with her when she is visiting Uncle Bungo in Michel Delving - and that Adrean would go on his trip to the dwarves alone. He is enjoying it a lot and writes me letters almost every day about the new recipes he has found. Some sound a little ... well ... adventurous, but then there are hobbits who make slug ale or furry ale (dear me, that poor jury of the ale brewing competition), so I am sure when Adrean adjusts them a little to hobbit taste they will be grand. And maybe next time I will be able to go with him - or better, we will be able to go all three.
I had not been back for a week when the Historical Field trip brought me back to Needlehole again. As a little hobbit lass I had always thought Ulfar was exaggerating greatly when he told me about the dwarves' achievements in history, but now I was taught by Miss Lina and Miss Rowana that he had been right about everything! There I was, having grown up in Needlehole, and not even knowing half of its interesting history! It was a wonderful field trip, the food was great, too, we all enjoyed the music and the fishing and the interesting epic poem cousin Simbo cited about one of my ancestors, and I also sang my new Needlehole Polka.
Again I stayed a few days with Auntie Iris before going back to Bramblebury, where I found five letters from Adrean in my mailbox. He seems to want to research all dwarven recipes that were ever written.
And then there was another nice surprise at the Green Dragon: Master Lingard is back! He arrived at the Dragon almost at the same time Miss Ylissa and I arrived; and it was so great to see him again! When I was talking to him it was as if he had never left the Shire and as if we had last time met at the Dragon only yesterday. And then he said something about the two hobbit lasses he had liked most of all getting married while he was gone. And his friendly compliments about my dancing made me blush; but they also reminded me of my Adrean, who always says such nice things to me. I wonder if he is having some dancing there with the dwarves, too. I will ask him in my next letter. And while these days I am only jigging slightly when the Bouncing Song is played, the little youngling seems to know this song very well and is kicking it off already at the first few notes. Dear me, this will be quite a bouncing hobbit!
