My mom's in remission! 

May she stay that way.

It only took eight hours for my comment on one of their articles to show up! 

Sheesh.

They need to hire more hamsters.

I had a truly great birthday.

My mother's feeling a little better (she started chemotherapy this week, and had a tough Thursday).  Out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants with family and friends. 

And I got a Kindle!

So Osama bin Laden is dead.

My goodness!

We are having a line of severe thunderstorms go through.

And she has found a new place to hide from the evil thunder gods!

She has crawled under the dishwasher.

Well, I have a dentist's appointment for tomorrow morning. 

I think I've chipped a filling, but the gum is unhappy, and I want to make sure whatever it is isn't worse than what I think it is.

It's been a very medical week; I saw my cancer specialist on Monday (good news: he says he doesn't need to see me for a year!).

I have been watching since Thursday the saga of Cooks (sic)  Magazine, Judith Griggs their editor-in-thief, the apple pie recipes, and copyright infringement.

I'm imagining that Ms. Griggs is wishing she had sent that $130 to the Columbia School of Journalism about now!

I wonder whose lawyers will be first with charges?  Martha Stewart's, Disney's, Paula Dean's (this story needs more butter, y'all!), or NPR's?

And the chief lessons: Do not plagiarize.  Do not be arrogant, pompous, and dismissive about it when caught.  Do not poke internet with a stick.

A good friend of ours died of pneumonia this morning.

Rich will be missed.

What a wonderful trip. I had a blast.

We had a week at Colonial Williamsburg. The last time I was there was December 1978, before the big change to Social History. They have done a great job. The street theater of their afternoon program, Revolutionary City, is the best that I've ever seen. We also thoroughly enjoyed a special program on the gardens of Williamsburg, and Cry Witch!, a reenactment of a 1707 witch trial, in the Capitol, by candlelight.

We made a side trip to Jamestown (horrible weather, cold and drizly), where the Archaerium (spelling a guess) of the archaeology that's been found there in the last 15 or so years is on display, and well worth a trip. We had a fabulous U.S. Park Ranger for a guide, and their introductory film is modern and first-rate.

We also made a side trip to Yorktown, where I must say that the U.S. National Park driving tour was good, but their film was embarassingly bad.  It was made in the 50s (at the latest), there were errors of fact and date in it, and misspellings in the subtitling.  We cringed, and I almost burst into laughter it was so bad.  The Virginia state part of the park I did not find "too Disneyland," and they have a nice living history farm.

We visited two James River plantations as well: Westover, the home of William Byrd (one of the founders of Richmond), and Berkeley, birthplace of American Bourbon, Taps, and the first Thanksgiving in America.

We then drove to Roanoke, via Lexington, which is cool and worth a visit (and we had a dandy lunch there), and then home the next day.

Am now tired but home and happy and had a great trip!

Off to Colonial Williamsburg in the morning!