Francis Scott Key

I was getting the kids to bed, and my youngest was belting out The Star-Spangled Banner for some unknown reason.


He then began to give me his version of how the song was written. He did a pretty good job remembering the story, and even was getting animated in acting things out as he was speaking, such as pretending to look through a telescope from a ship to see that 'our flag was still there'.


He couldn't quite remember, though, the name of the character and song-writer who was central to his story.  So he asked me, and I replied, "Francis Scott Key".


The strangest thing happened, though, when I said it. Rather than hear those words as a name, I heard them as a phrase: "France has got key".


This was so obvious, that I was saying "France has got key" and that this meant something, that I just kind of stopped and thought about what had just come out of my mouth. My son didn't notice anything different, and clearly heard just the name, because he said "Yeah, that guy - Francis Scott Key" and went on with his narration.


I mean, I don't know - try saying that name yourself a few times and see if you can hear that other phrase.


Back in the fall of last year, I came to the surprising narrative and conclusion that the Sawtooth Stone, recovered in Idaho in the spring of 2020, had been couriered to France of all places in the first half of 2021. Why? Because Tom Bombadil's house was there (France being where I now place the Hobbits' Shire) and it was a safe spot to house the Stone prior to it being taken to the Druedain/ Wose for some needed repairs. Anyway, I covered this whole line of thinking in the two posts "Exploring what happened in the time following Sawtooth, Part 2: Stone on the move" and  "Rolling the Stone:  Who were the couriers and where did they go?"   The Druedain also came up recently in my post "March 12 and 13 timelines: Shelob's Lair and a change in the wind", where I cited Ghan's comment about a change in the wind.


I thought it was interesting to hear myself say out loud that France has got (a) key, to make the connection that this key would be the Sawtooth Stone, and to come to the conclusion that this is a true or accurate thought. The Sawtooth Stone is in France.  It seemed remarkably clear as I said Francis Scott Key's name.


Also somewhat of note, this is the second word game in the past few weeks involving France. A few weeks ago, Francis Bacon came up. I can't remember exactly in what context, but as I read his name, I understood it as "France is bakin' " (bakin' meaning baking). I didn't know what to make of the word game at the time, but given events tonight with another Francis, I think maybe related.