Shir! Lovely to read your words. Much cat~ma and travel~ma for you and your feline companion. I hope Belgium treats you both with care and comfort.
Simon: I, uh... I never-never shot anyone before. Book: I was there, son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet.
'War Stories'
Natter 78: I might need to watch some Buffy for inspiration
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Karl - Aug 18, 2026 1:51:04 pm PDT #13622 of 14045
I adore all you motherfuckers so much -- PMM.
lisah - Aug 18, 2026 4:16:27 pm PDT #13623 of 14045
Punishingly Intricate
That’s so exciting!! Hope the cat endures the travel well and everything else goes smoothly! It’s been 30 years (HOWW??!!) since I’ve been there but I loved it. Hope you do too!
JenP - Aug 18, 2026 4:57:03 pm PDT #13624 of 14045
My sisters and I are on a call and doing some ancestry stuff, and one of them keeps saying “reports and charts,” and each time, I think, “files and records.”
JenP - Aug 18, 2026 4:58:56 pm PDT #13625 of 14045
Cereal to Shir:
A couple of friends were just in Bruges, and they report that it is just lovely. Another friend calls it a fairy tale city.
I would like to go to there.
dcp - Aug 18, 2026 5:19:12 pm PDT #13626 of 14045
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
in less than three weeks...Belgium
The fires should be out by then.
meara - Aug 18, 2026 6:08:49 pm PDT #13627 of 14045
Shir that is so exciting!!
I am in a cab on my way home—figured I’ve already spent SO MUCH MONEY may as well splurge on one more thing…(in other news, Iceland prices made everything in London seem cheap! It was not cheap)
Vortex - Aug 18, 2026 11:16:17 pm PDT #13628 of 14045
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman
Congratulations, Shir!! My brother is moving to Brussels for 8 months as soon as they sort out his security clearance, so if (when) I visit him, I would love to try to see you!
Laura - Aug 19, 2026 5:12:15 am PDT #13629 of 14045
Our wings are not tired.
Shir! Wonderful to see your post. Congratulations on the exciting move. I hope your cat travels well. Mine have easily endured long trips twice a year between Florida and New York.
I'm disappointed that Alex Vindman didn't win the Senate primary in Florida. I thought he at least had some chance in the general. I'll still vote for Angie Nixon, but it's a huge hurdle to get that seat. I think Jolly has a good shot at Governor, particularly with Gwen Graham running with him. Who knows. Florida has had quite a number of impressive blue-toned shifts lately, but I don't want to get my hopes up.
Laura - Aug 19, 2026 5:38:25 am PDT #13630 of 14045
Our wings are not tired.
Coffee:
Today would be my mom's 105th birthday. I surely have told the story before, but we figured out that her real birthday was the 14th when she was in her 60s, so we still continued to celebrate on the 19th out of habit. The handwritten birth record looked like 19, but she had heard stories all her life about her mom giving birth at home and her aunts going to fetch the doctor from his home after Sunday mass. Back 40 years ago or so, when we got a new fangled fancy calculator that would tell you the day of the week for any date we put in her birthday, and it came up Friday; she was adamant that she was born on Sunday. We believe her grandmother, aunts, and uncles over the 'official' record.
bennett - Aug 19, 2026 12:58:02 pm PDT #13631 of 14045
"The Senate today have voted to make me a god in Palmyra. They'll put a little statue to me in the temple, and people will bring offerings to me, asking me to bring rain or cure their father's gout. Tell me, Livia: if I'm a god, even in Palmyra, how do I cure gout?!" Augustus, "I Claudius"
Congratulations, Shir! What are your digital humanities plans? There are so many fascinating projects out there.