It hasn't rained and there hasn't been even a puff of wind in weeks.  The smog is terrible.  My eyes and throat burn and the air is actually visible.  Bombs haven't killed me but pollution might.  A little gallows humor there.  We are all watching the events unfold and thinking that this is a unique and dangerous time in history.  But no!  Funnily, today at work I came upon some old history books called "Decades" in my struggle to reorganize the library.  They are short magazine-type books talking about the '60's, '70's and '80's.  That might seem like yesterday to many of us but is certainly considered "history" to our students.  If you look back, the '60's and '70's were rife with terrorist attacks and coups.  Especially in Europe.  They were mostly communist factions but dead is dead and there was a lot of that.  When GP was in school in the '70s, his bus had to go through road blocks in the city.  The Red Brigade was blowing up things left and right and there were assassinations and kidnappings weekly.  There were the Palestinian hijackings and bombings of airplanes and the attacks at the Olympic Games in Germany in 1972.  This isn't new.  But every time something happens it feels so raw and as though we've lost our footing.  One would think we'd smarten up but humanity seems determined to wipe itself out.  So we go on going on.  This weekend there is lunch with MIL at the clinic and then Sunday in Florence.  It will be a loooooong day as the drive is 4 hours each way but our friends the W's will be there and we think they're worth it.  Plus they are delivering Baking Soda, a rare commodity in these parts where people actually cook with yeast!  xxoo me