Athrabeth happily osgiliates from writing year end reports to voice her opinion on something that doesn't require referencing a performance standard..........
I would prefer to keep the Sil thread intact, as we do seem at times, to engage in some "rewinding" and "fast forwarding". Sometimes making a connection, or having one of those "Aha!" moments, comes from reconsidering what someone has said about a passage from another chapter (or even what we have said ourselves!). I like the idea of the discussion taking on the shape of a long, winding road, with lots of little rest stops and vistas and even some detours along the way, rather than many separate and "set" routes. Somehow, it just seems more "organic" and natural to me to meet up with new travellers along the way. I joined Teremia's thread somewhere around the Council of Elrond, and was generously welcomed into that company of wandering troubadors
. Since that day, for me, it's been more about the "journey" than the product. Some of our fellow travellers have found separate paths and no longer walk beside us, some go off on little detours of their own, only to meet up with us again, much to everyone's delight, and some (like myself) just quietly join the quest and doggedly refuse to abandon it (and our friends). Our journey (both there and here) is, after all, a leisurely one, and very well suited, I believe, to welcome all newcomers, even those who would like to talk about something they noticed "back there a-ways"..........we have the time to pause and listen and respond before moving on, hopefully with one more traveller beside us.