Rain Gryphon

And so the Pope returns, completely intact, from Iraq. I would not have bet a nickel on that. I expected him and his entourage to be blown to fragments in the first day or two. He's a brave man, and my virtual hat's off to him.

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Today I set the plants outside, and can leave them until at least Thursday afternoon. The plants were desperately needing some time in the sun. I've been swapping them in and out of the breakfast nook window, but it's not the same thing. Where I placed them, by the front door, was under several feet of snow three weeks ago.

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Alexandra (the cat) very much likes grape popsicles, the good ones that are made of grape juice and smashed grapes. (In all fairness, I have not yet tried her on any other sort, so it may be a more general taste). This is an unexpected discovery. There's something very fulfilling about sharing a treat with one's pet.

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Moderna vaccine apparently dramatically reduces viral shedding, by at least 60%. Not really a surprise, but certainly welcome news anyway.

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Thai sailors rescue cats from sinking ship. The boat was on fire and sinking, and the crew abandoned the ship's cats. Some Thai sailors swam across from their ship and rescued them. Again, not really surprising, but with all the nastiness in the world, it's nice to see people living up to the best traditions of their service.

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As heartily as I detest the modern concept of "cruise ships", and despite the schadenfreude that I feel to see them wreck their own boat against another of their fleet, my inner Grammar Nazi most heartily approves of their PR agent:

Carnival is referring to [the boat-wreck] as an allision as opposed to a collision (seeing as one of the ships was not actually moving at the time)

I wasn't even aware of the word, although (as with many things) it seems obvious once it's pointed out. Now, of course, I find myself newly and joyfully armed with an extendible array of terms to describe multi-vehicle pileups :D