cairistiona's place

I was reading about the towers that may have inspired Tolkien to create Orthanc, and I started to wonder: what is it about towers that are so creepy?

I grew up in St. Louis, and in a neighborhood not far from me there rose a big, imposing tower, which was part of a Catholic seminary. As you drove down the road, you'd see it rising above the trees, and though it looks like this in reality:



This is how my mind's eye saw it, especially if we drove by at night (thank you, photobucket editing tools):



I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely place, probably where the seminarians go to pray, or maybe it houses great bells that chime out across the hillside on joyful occasions. But... but... to me, it will always feel haunted. So I do not doubt at all that Tolkien was inspired to create a far more creepy version of the towers he saw in his own daily life.

It just seems to be what towers do to a person's imagination.

*shivers*

Do any of you get creeped out by towers or is this just my own weird idiosyncrasy? Is there a certain type of building or style of architecture that raises your neck hairs when you see it?

Or, in other words, more floral picspam!  Life is still a little big wonky for me, but you have to take time to smell the flowers!  (Or at least take pictures of them.)
( Lilacs and more... )

I've been going through the, um, 800+ pics or so that I took on the road trip.  Yikes, I guess I got a little trigger happy!  But don't worry, I'm not planning on sharing all of them (most aren't worth sharing anyway).  But I hope to go through the pics a bit each day and post the ones from each day of the road trip that are worth looking at. :)

So, key's in the engine, let's turn it on and start chasing those yellow lines...

( Vroom vroom... or maybe it should be zoom-zoom, since we were in a Mazda... )

Mixed bag this morning!
 
First off, it's fall, and we hit the local apple orchard for our year's supply of cider--we get about 8-12 gallons and then freeze it and drink it all year.  Works really well. 

Unlike last fall, when the previous spring's late killer frost wiped out the apple crop, they had a lot to choose from.  Yum!





( Now on to Kevin Costner, music, and guitars ... )

Mixed bag this morning!
 
First off, it's fall, and we hit the local apple orchard for our year's supply of cider--we get about 8-12 gallons and then freeze it and drink it all year.  Works really well. 

Unlike last fall, when the previous spring's late killer frost wiped out the apple crop, they had a lot to choose from.  Yum!





( Now on to Kevin Costner, music, and guitars ... )

Taken this morning while on a walk down by the river...

( Pictures of morning... )