Been A While.

The blog is back. My absence was due to a number of conspiring factors: busy-ness, spotty internet service, the distraction of redesign, and a general malaise with the awful awful news that just kept pouring out of the screen.

Speaking of which, this probably unconciously started with the Beslan Massacre. Even though I'd rather wish she hadn't taken up lamb again, I was moved by Belle Warring's cooking blogpost reaction: You can smell their heads. Still alive. When Violet was just newborn she smelled a little like lamb, which made me somewhat disinclined to eat it. Now she just smells like milk and clean things. She's sleeping on the sofa next to me right now. Zoë is sleeping on a sheepskin on the living room floor. Safe. No one can get them, because the doors are locked and I'm watching them breathe.

Rational, unsentimental reactions are hard to pull off: when Matthew Yglesias tried, people jumped down his throat, and he finally closed off comments. Since its all old news now, anyway, my best contribution is to suggest you pay a visit to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent's donation page. Unfortunately, there almost certainly will be another terrorist crisis, and they will probably be there to help.