Hello everyone. While new to Planet Tolkien I'm new neither to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien nor to conversing with people online about Tolkien. In fact, many years ago I ran the web site Valaquenta.com and its small but vibrant forum. It's been several years but now I've decided to get back involved in talking about Tolkien's works online.

Unrelated to Tolkien I live in Seattle, Washington, USA, with my two dogs and one cat. I work for Apple, do a lot of reading, and have recently begun studying medieval Italian swordsmanship. I'm also a fair photographer. I also love history and carpentry, though the latter takes more time and space than I've had time for lately. I'm looking forward to talking with you all.