from J.R.R. Tolkien:

I am doubtful myself about the undertaking [to write The Silmarillion]. Part of the attraction of The L.R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background; an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. (Letters, p. 333)

From the foreword, The Book of Lost Tales 1, J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien

Given that Christopher allows that someone really told him that the Silmarillion was like the Old Testament, I can’t wait to get into this, but I’m making good progress in the last of the Walton Mabinogian tales. One thing I really like about them is that she’ll step aside, mid-plot to say that according to The Mabinogi, this or that happened. Sometimes it’s to say, that doesn’t really make any sense, so maybe this other thing is more likely or not but here’s what we can piece together. It’s a great device to remind the knowledgeable reader that sometimes the old writing or translation doesn’t parse very well and for the less-widely read reader it’s a reminder that there’s very old lore involved. OK, the latter reader probably thinks the word Mabinogi is made up along with the whole story.

I’d say there are about a dozen left to cut. And when I say cut, I mean slice into the two sizes agreed on and throw away anything smaller.

I wasn’t really doing much today so after some consultation with Mom, I started ironing all the novelty prints that my brother and sister-in-law gave me for christmas. I tried to iron and fold them into ways that I could easily cut into the size we agreed on and then I moved to the other room where I could watch downton abbey while cutting.

I figure I’m not halfway through and I’ve got 31 different fabrics cut into strips ready to cut squares. We’re cutting six and a half inch squares which I cut strips for first and then if it’s possible to cut anything else I cut two and a half inch strips. There’s generally not much left after that which is good.

Guess that’s all to report here. Had a little snow here but most of it melted away. Yesterday there was an avalanche off the roof which gave me and the cats a startle.

I do believe I know a little bit about way too much.

He must have been well-fitted for the task, for the Triads name only two who were as skilled in the study of these floating torches of the heavens as he: Idris, and Gwyn ap Nudd, the White One, a King of the Underworld.
– The Island of the Mighty, Evangeline Walton