It must be said

[annathepiper]

risu is a goddess. Since she wasn't able to get prezzies for us over the holidays, and right now she can, she's been buying things for the household! I came home tonight to find a copy of the shiny new Tolkien release The Children of Hurin waiting for me, and, and!, the super-shiny deluxe 3-CD Complete Recordings edition of the Two Towers soundtrack!

I shall be enjoying these immensely. I have already hugged her and thanked her in person, but I will put out a big ol' THANK YOU here as well. With the awful events earlier this week, on which I have little to say that hasn't already been said eloquently in other venues, I needed this pick-me-up quite a bit.

Meanwhile, also in the Thankful Thursday things, some things I'm happy for in no particular order:

• The weather is delightful right now.
  
• I'm just about over the Bug From Hell--in fact, I've only got a bit of a lingering cough, and I slept better last night than I have in days.
  
• I get to downshift from three chiro visits a week to two, and my back is feeling better than it has in literally years.
  
• With the return of my brain, the writing is improving--or at least right now, the editing, since I'm editing the hell out of the third draft of Lament of the Dove. Closing in on the halfway point with that, so yay!
  
• Work has been peaceful and quiet for the last couple of weeks, which has been a welcome relief from the Crazy earlier in the year. Things are about to ramp up again, but I'm enjoying the laid-back state while it lasts.
  
• We have a new contractor who's working out well.
  
• I haven't been posting about it the last couple of weeks, but I've really liked the last several episodes of The Dresden Files. Also, I finally got around to listening to the last Butcher Block podcast, and noted with surprise that the show's actually been rating higher than BSG! Since BSG has been renewed for a fourth season, this bodes well for our chances of a Dresden Season 2. Fingers crossed.
  
• The last episode of Blood Ties also was quite surprising, and got to a point that I hadn't expected for a while yet. It'll be real interesting to see how that two-parter gets resolved this weekend.
  
• There was also a new Great Big Sea podcast, continuing the vein of Séan and Bob commenting on bands who have opened for them. The highlights of this were their comments on Leahy, who I've been eying anyway since they've been showing up on my Amazon Recommendations, and their comments on La Bottine Souriante!
  
• Robin McKinley has a new book coming out this year!

And just to get caught up on the exercise numbers, as long as I'm all a-squee about the Tolkien:

Miles since the 2nd: 42.3
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1922.7
Miles out of Isengard: 129.7
Miles to Minas Tirith: 656.3

Comments

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

I made this same comment to silme711 when the podcast first came out: Sean McCann...obviously bottle-fed as a babe! :D

Definitely check out Leahy! I don't know if I posted anything about this here, or just on the OKP, but I got to light their show when they were here a month or so ago. Great performers, and really sweet people. First time I've ever seen a pregnant woman clog. It was great!

[annathepiper]

Yes, I was particularly amused by Séan's commentary on how the dancing of Leahy's members involved so much bouncing of their upper parts. ;)

I shall poke around on the iTunes store and see what selection of albums are available for download, or perhaps check what's available in local stores. Thanks for the good word!