Tolkien on cbeebies*****

The Road goes ever on and on

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Roads go ever on and on.
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever on and on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening rest and sleep to meet.

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

---J.R.R.Tolkien

Do take the golden Shire with you as we visit the next section -
the land of the curious and new.
(No new free rhyme here;
blogger trouble with formatting!)

Part II

Imagine my bookmarks hanging, like Rapunzel's hair, from the tallest tower of the witch's castle.

Imagine Rapunzel having a bad hair day. Hair so frazzled and irregular and frayed that instead of the silken rope, it looks like a mossy root.

Imagine this root suddenly sprouting leaves, shedding its own identity for another, becoming a tree in inverse.

Imagine this tree become real life, grow uneven extremes. Sections affluent in lush greenery, vivid flowers, buzzing bees and cooing birds. Many branches covered modestly with foliage, a trim of pretty buds here, of hovering butterflies there. And large areas denuded of all but the basic cover, winter in the clinging of tenacious leaves.

Ok, done? Now tell me, how do I classify these sites??? There are the singletons, the lone leaves, the single pages which have appeal for a young one, but are otherwise unencumbered of anything remotely approaching kid-sites. Like Mauki. Then there are the green branches all on their own, a cluster of games, or animations, or stories, but limited. No further. Like Fun baby games online. Or Kneebouncers. There are the flowering shrub like heavier ones, the well designed stand alone sites complete in themselves, like Poisson rouge and Uptoten. Each has many interlinked games or other components which make any other aid superfluous if using these for teaching. And then there are those which are trees in themselves, branching, bearing fruits, dedicated networks of education or fun, or both. Like most of the tv network sites, including today's BBC.



How can I even begin to talk of BBC in one post when each page deserves one? Is it fair to dedicate one post to one page which has no merit save its own, and another to a directory of pages, each better than the last? I truly don't know, and that is why I had been shying away from taking this up before. And yet, I don't want to waste time by posting just one page per post, because you can explore the site on your own, look up the links. For instance, go to cbeebies from the home page above, and you reach this -

Fun and games, music and songs, drawing and painting, arts and crafts - anything you can think of, all available according to the show, the theme, by name, by usage of keyboard or mouse. What more can you want? Links to the characters' websites when not on BBC itself. All of impeccable quality, and with detailed attention to details, including those necessary for the edification of your hapless toddler. Go spend a day, or two, exploring, and then I will talk of our favourite pages here. Go on!

URL - http://www.bbc.co.uk/children/

P.S. - "It had begun with a leaf caught in the wind, and it became a tree; and the tree grew, sending out innumerable branches, and thrusting out the most fantastic roots," said Tolkien of his master creation, the Lord of the rings. A leaf caught in the wind: what a beautiful metaphor! An idea blown soft as a dandelion in your vision, and in days or months or years of your age, but oh, in the magical twinkling of time within, there is a jungle standing, all gnarled roots and tangled boughs. At some point in time, the idea begins to have a life all its own, dictates its direction, determines its own validity. All you have to do, is to begin.

P.P.S. - Tolkien poetry has been rearranged in part I to allow for my theme to come through. I apologize to his soul with due reverence. I am sure he would understand. Lacking the hard copies of the books just now, I borrowed these lines from http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/4.html.

P.P.P.S. - Today's post has been topsy turvy in that the main thought became the post script and vice versa. Do you see why? While on questions, another one. Today's two sections are linked; do you see how?

P.P.P.P.S. - No post tomorrow, to allow for a bit of rest to my wrists suffering from RSI :) And to allow you to visit cbeebies :)