Hilary Booth... of course!

Queen Elizabeth II is visiting Virginia for the Jamestown celebration. Hopefully she brought an appropriate hat for the trip down to Kentucky for the races. The old backstretch will have a somber air this year after Barbaro.

Some good news from Georgetown library: the bulk of their famous Peabody collection escaped damage during the blaze. The fire started on the other side of the second floor. While there's some material waterlogged and smokey, it isn't nearly as bad as they initially feared. The current reports think the fire was accidental, started by a construction worker using a heat gun to remove paint. The construction team tried to put it out themselves when it started to rage out of control. Add to the bonus some nonworking fire hydrants.

Sad news for the DC Nanowrimo community: the longtime DC Municipal Liaison Rise passed away. I only met her a few times when I could get to DC write-ins, but she was a tireless organizer. Even with all my health problems last year during Nano, her story puts it in perspective.

And astronaut Wally Schirra died. He was one of the original Mercury 7 and the only one to fly in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.

Monaco has received its double whammy. They've now lost both the pope and Prince Rainier, all in one week.