What a great idea for a topic! Fun to read what others have said or to think about this on your own.
Let's see. Here goes....
***Tramping over the sand in Galveston while watching the waves from the Gulf come piling onto the beach..... I always feel like one of the inhabitants of Numenor who had so much but always wanted a little more. I stand looking out at the water, fascinated by the power of the waves and filled with longing, but can only get the tiniest glimpse of Tol Eressea,
***Sitting at my desk late at night or early in the morning when no one else is up. The house is dead silent, and I am working on a character or scene from a story.....For the life of me, I can't help but think of Tolkien in his garage study, or Frodo at Bag-end scribbling in the Red Book after the war, all linked together and dabbling in a sea of stories,
***Planning a big, crazy party for an extremely excited twelve-year old daughter (who is having a bat mitzvah) gives me considerable sympathy for poor Bilbo who was going nuts with all the last minute details while thinking of how he needed more time to write and wanted to escape to Rivendell....
,
***Here's one probably unique to me but I am instantly reminded of hobbits whenever I spend an afternoon at a baseball game in a minor league park accompanied by family or friends....The hobbits would have loved the hodgepodge of small town activity, the smell of sausages being grilled, the sack races and competitions to chow down the most moonpies in five minutes, children playing under the stands while their parents chat and root for their favorite team, even the young players not yet spoiled by success who will come over to the railing to talk with you before and after the game, offering sage tips on batting to middle-age wannabees,
***Barrelling down I-95 through the middle of New Jersey and watching all the belching smokestacks from the refineries, their lights twinkling in a grotesque wonderland of horrors, sadly makes me remember Saruman and his evil genius for despoiling the land....Why couldn't he have put that talent to use on other things? And why can't we stop doing this to ourselves. Sigh....,
***Standing in a sea of bluebonnets in mid-April, with blossoms stretching out as far as I can see, the scent from flowers heavy in the air....for a minute Texas becomes a little piece of Middle-earth, though I'm not sure precisely where,
***Reflecting on my life with a certain degree of longing and sadness....recalling so many places I would love to revisit and people with whom I'd like to talk again....But turning back the page isn't possible, so I remember Frodo on Tol Eressea as he turns eastward and wonders what Samwise is doing at that precis moment of the day,
***And, like Fordim, the ultimate epiphany comes through the eyes of my own children....They are older than his, so for me the tie-in is not the present ending of the book, but the discarded epilogue of Lord of the Rings where Samwise sits in glory among his young crew and tells stories of the old days, trying to capture the glow that still remains, even though so much has ended. I have a pre-teen and a teenager but they are still not to old to sit down and share stories, adding a few of their own....