October 24

A Middle-Earth holiday today:
Frodo Recovers and Awakens in Rivendell

J.R.R. Tolkien's descriptions of Rivendell are perfect, and if you read his lesser-known works there are fascinating historical "facts" about Rivendell and its owner. Of course it's inspired beautiful art, including in Peter Jackson's movie sets. Do a search for Rivendell images on google, or look at sites like http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/rivimages.html . And check out someone's Sims version! at http://tigger.ednixon.com/fun/simslotrriven.html . Here's a beautiful tiny sample from a site which didn't seem to say who did it; it looks like "Inbel 2008."
And if you'd love to pretend you're there, why not play some music like from the album At Dawn in Rivendell by the Tolkien Ensemble? Here's my favorite song by them -- I found a wonderful full set of what they've done -- hope they do another one based on The Hobbit's songs!:


The right place, as well as the right caregivers, can do so much toward healing up what ails you! I wrote up a place that even thinking/dreaming of makes me feel so much better when I have a headache or whatever...

My place of feeling better
...is some huge residence that I share with my love and our beloved cats, and a dear dog, and of course sometimes our favorite other people. In front it faces the sea, a huge dramatic ocean, though of course this favorite place is perfectly safe. In back it faces a woods with wide, easy paths. Far in the distance are purple mountains. My study, one of our speciality libraries, opens onto one of these paths into the woods. The residence is made of stone and is furnished with wooden, old furniture...