the shades of night were falling fast

Aha! I bet you thought I died! No, I didn't die. I had a long internet hiatus because my brother shot himself (he's okay now) and then my mother got ill, and I was Otherwise Occupied (you can see more of this intense soap-opera action in my #me Tumblr tag archive, if you're so inclined). Now I am living in the Era of Unreliable Internet Connections Under the Best Circumstances, and the Farmer's Almanac has predicted a bad winter for the Ohio Valley. I'm going to try to post more regularly again -- in fact, I have two actual, formal posts lined up, one about Tolkien and one about... something else... and I intend to make a capsule book review post tomorrow or the next day -- but my better nature may be thwarted by technical difficulties. Still I shall persevere! Excelsior, I say! Excelsior!

Anyway. I've just fixed up the layout a little (new header!), as well as changing my profile photo and et cetera.
I guess I get combative when I'm bored, Jesus :[

To tide you over (in anticipation of what?), I went out and took photos of the icky-fruited something-tree in my front yard, before the weather took all the leaves. No filters, because that didn't work so well last time. Also I would like to apologize for the shot of my unpainted fingernails; I really drop the ladyball when it comes to manicures. They're very uncomfortable and expensive, I don't care. (Content includes a bonus fishpond photo.)

Until next time, all you lovely people who continue to visit my blog even though it is very boring!