At the Duomo in Sienna, they had plastic poncho things that they handed out to people in skimpy tank tops. Usually blond, gorgeous European teenagers.

For those looking for Filament

US Stockists

It's in a few stores here in DC, I might pick up a copy this weekend.

In Turkey, I remember I also brought a sarong with me in case I needed to be covered to my ankles (usually I was wearing knee-length skirts). So something like that -- a piece of fabric that you can carry around with you and just put on as needed -- might be an option, too.

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul has a basket of scarves for covering one's head, but I don't recall extra skirts.

Love the tattoo, Allyson.

When I was backpacking around europe, we all kept long sleeved button ups, bandannas, and a broomstick skirt in our daypacks. I remember being in one church in eastern europe where the woman at the front was reluctant to let us in, but didn't speak english. When we saw the other people, we realized what was wrong and we just pulled on our skirts and button ups right there on the steps. She was so excited when we covered our heads, she kissed us on the cheeks. it was really cute.

My co-workers are talking guns again. Once just said, "Another piece of Communist trash, and I say that with the greatest respect." And then, "The thing with pieces of Communist trash, is that they just don't break." And the conversation continued on to pieces of Communist trash they've known and loved. Guns, not women. These are Mormon young men after all.

When I was in Israel, when we went to historic synagogues, we were told ahead of time that we needed to have at least everything from shoulders to knees covered, but some people wore tank tops or shorts. At most of the synagogues, there was a woman sitting near the entrance with a basket of scarves, and she'd run up and tie scarves around anybody who was showing too much skin. For some reason, at just about every synagogue, this woman was about 100 years old and just a bit over 4 feet tall.

So in another seventy five years if you haven't found a damn job yet you're all set?

Today at work...sheesh. And I'm not sure when it's going to ease up.

On the up side, I did get to come clean about my erstwhile Smurf obsession. That felt kinda good. Wouldn't have done it without a French guy in the room, though, I don't think.

After a "fun" day at work (MS Project is a BLAST), I came home and deep cleaned the kitchen. My manicure is ruined and I don't have time before karate to redo. Hopefully before bedtime.

Now if only rest of the apartment would magically clean itself to match the kitchen, I'd be a happy camper.

Sweet! Emmett just called me because he got his grade for his iSearch project. (Remember this is the 67 page thing on the U.S. Presidency I was up typing until 2:30 in the morning.)

He got an A+.

Which comprises a big chunk of his English grade for this term as well.