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22 | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | JANUARY 2017 | Happy New Year! We had quite an eventful 2016, including an election that at the least made us pause to consider what core values Americans have, in our generation and in our children's generation. We are looking forward to 2017. J.R.R. Tolkien (Ronald to his family) was born Jan 3, 1892. The London Times rated Tolkien #6 in "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945." His father, a banker in South Africa, sent the family back to England but then he died of scarlet fever. His mother moved the family to her parents' home, outside Birmingham. Tolkien loved exploring as a child, including several sets of surrounding hills and at his aunt's farm. He enjoyed drawing landscapes and trees. His mother taught him and his brother; Ronald liked languages best. Two cousins introduced him to an invented language. His interest faded to Animalic but then the three of them invented a second language, Nevbosh. Somewhat later, while studying at St. Edwards School, he invented a language, Naffarin, by himself. At 19 he took a summer trip to Switzerland with 12 other teens. An extended hike of the 13, from Interlaken to Lanterbrunnen impressed him and inspired his scene of Bilbo's journey across the Misty Mountains. That fall he started at Exeter College, Oxford. Despite the start of the Great War, he was granted to finish his degree before volunteering for the army. More next month. The California Gold Rush started on Jan. 24, 1848 at Sutter's Mill on the South Fork of the American River in Coloma, California. The gold was actually discovered by James Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, who was employed by John Sutter to build a water- powered sawmill. During the next seven years about 300,000 people moved to California (about ½ by land and ½ by sea) to seek their fortunes. A few made money panning for gold, but many gave up the harsh, lonely life of gold mining and instead made their fortune selling supplies to other miners. Levis anyone? To visit the area go to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park where stands a replica of Sutter's Mill. Fun fact: the original flakes of gold are at the Smithsonian. Amazingly, San Francisco was a small settlement of 200 in 1846, but grew to a boomtown of 36,000 by 1852. This roughshod, dangerous time became the basis of many renowned writings. We all can recall Samuel Clemens travels through the west, including newspaper reporting, but his wit and capture of human nature came through in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. The Girl of the Golden West was a play that ran in 1905, then was adapted to an opera (Puccini!), then became a movie. Paint Your Wagon, the Lerner & Lowe musical, started on Broadway in 1951. Rewritten to utilize the stars (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood) the music was translated to film in 1969. Please visit the SLCC libraries and pick out one or more books for winter reading! Library Committee

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