Dick Cheney?

As always, Plei cuts straight to the most horrible possible YES I AM STILL SCARRED BY HENRY KISSINGER, MISSY

Stop! stop! I finally stopped having Kissinger ptsd and now here you go again!

Pssst. Snyder/Joyce/I forget just who--Holland?

Beverly, I'm afraid you're right. I just got the most horrible flashback.

Good times, good times.

Please do not disturb my comforting belief that no human being within the last several decades has been desperate enough for sex to make Carrot Top a viable option.

Dick Cheney?

Even Carrot Top has standards.

Cheney is definitely a top. I don't know how compatible they would be.

I am very much a lurker at heart, and tend to feel silly when I post anything, but here goes anyway.

Tomorrow evening I will be singing a duet in a concert - the piece is Purcell's Elegy Upon the Death of Queen Mary. I will be singing it for ita instead of Queen Mary. I think the words work pretty well with some minor substitutions.

O dive custos auriacae domus
Et spes labantis certior imperi;
O rebus adversis vocande,
O superum decus in secundis!

Seu te fluentem pronus ad Isida
In vota fervens Oxonidum chorus,
Seu te precantur, quos remoti
Unda lavat properata Cami,

Descende caelo non ita creditas
Visurus aedes praesidiis tuis,
Descende visurus penates
Caesaris, et penetrale sacrum.

Maria musis flebilis occidit,
Maria, gentis deliciae brevis;
O flete Mariam! flete, Camoenae!
O flete, Divae, dea moriente.

O God, guardian of the House of Orange,
and surer hope of fleeting power,
O you who should be invoked in adversity,
O divine ornament in prosperity –

whether the eager choir of Oxford
by the river Isis calls
on you in prayer of they who are washed
by the swift stream of the distant Cam –

come down from heaven to visit with your help
the palace not thus entrusted,
come down and visit the chapel of our Monarch
and the sacred chamber.

Mary is dying, lamented by the Muses,
short-lived darling of her people,
O weep for Mary, O weep you Muses,
O weep you Goddesses, Weep for the dying divinity.

HENRY PARKER (1695),

TRANSLATED BY OLIVER TAPLIN

(Callaluna, are things okay where you are in Belgium? I cannot remember where you live but when I heard about what's been happening I thought of you and your adorable family)

I touched on this in Natter this morning, but it was long before most of you were awake. I don't think I personally am in immediate danger, but things are bad enough that I've been battling anxiety attacks all day. There were 12 raids on suspected terrorist cells last night. The raid that resulted in a shootout was in a town about 40 miles from me. And rather than being comforting, because hey, attempt thwarted, they keep mentioning that they don't think they have uncovered all of the cells in Belgium. They keep saying things like "an attack on Belgian soil is imminent." The evidence they have uncovered so far suggests they had planned not only random beheadings, but also kidnapping and public beheadings of police officials. The terrorist threat level was raised to a three overnight (out of 4). And (I swear I am not making this up!!), many local police stations are closed. Seriously. Isn't that comforting? They have closed Jewish schools throughout the country, but the rest of the schools are still open. So far we are still sending Luna to her public school. We live in a small town, and I guess its relatively safe. If a small town is safe - which I suppose is questionable, seeing as Verviers (where the biggest raid was) isn't exactly a booming metropolis. If that changes, if it gets to the point where I don't feel its safe to send my child to school, we are out of here. We're lucky enough to have a place to go.

Pshhhh. Carrot Top WISHES he made out with ita. No way, no how.