Thing I'm thankful for #4: I'm thankful that Terry Pratchett is still writing.
I spent a pleasant hour devouring a bit more of his most recent Discworld book, Snuff. I wasn't super excited about an all Sam Vimes all the time (vs a Vimes + Watch) story, but now I'm totally engrossed in it. He manages to do this to me every time. I've been reading his stuff literally since I was a kid-- the Discworld books were some of the earliest books that I borrowed from my Dad. It took me a couple of years to get into them, til I was 11 or 12, probably because my dad was adamant that I should start at the very beginning of the series and the first few are a bit dryer than the rest of the series. But when I got into them, I got into them in a big way and have stuck with them ever since... I've read every one of them. Several of them twice. And I am *not* a re-reader.
Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of early onset Alzheimer's in 2007. He has been frank (to the point of causing quite a bit of controversy in the UK, I gather) about the fact that he's considering assisted suicide rather than letting his condition deteriorate to the point that he's totally non-functional. I find both options heartbreaking-- it will be sad for the world to lose him whenever and however he goes. I'm tearing up a bit writing this. I don't know if he plans on writing another Discworld book after this or not, but I hope he manages to... personally, I'm not ready to let him go.
Phew. I know, I know, this doesn't sound mentally cleansing at all. But the reading definitely is uplifting, even if thinking about Sir Terry's condition isn't.
On to dinner, briefly. It didn't rain much today-- just for the last two minutes of my ride to work, and then for an hour or two afterwards-- but it's quite cold. Acceptable soup weather! So I made the Arabian Lentil & Rice Soup out of Appetite for Reduction, with swiss chard added in as a bonus.
Very tasty. I made this several times when the Emperor was younger but haven't pulled it out in months and months. He used to love it, but I wasn't sure how he'd like it now... turns out he still loves it. He sucked down a ton of it, while verbally admiring it. He made me spoon most of it into his mouth for him though. Finally, after an eternity of feeding him soup, he declared "my tummy is full!" and excused himself from the table, and I actually got to eat my own dinner.
Here he is outside before dinner, with a green tomato that had fallen off of one of our landlords' tomato plants:
I am also very thankful for Terry Pratchett! According to his own occasional posts in the Discworld newsletter, he now dictates his novels because that is easier (and faster) for him than typing. I haven't heard anything to indicate that Snuff was intended to be his last Discworld novel. Augh, I can barely handle the notion of there being no more of his wonderful books. Here's hoping medical science takes very good care of that marvelous man.
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