Some Ups and Downs and Sidewayses

Today has been kind of a weird day. Very changeable.

A sad thing, though not my own sad thing, was one of my coworkers coming in this morning to say that one of her cats had died suddenly overnight. So very sad for her, and for her husband, with whom the cat had bonded and very much vice versa. If a cat is going to die, that's about the best way for all concerned, but that doesn't help much.

Also a sad thing was a story I read at work this morning, among the health-related news stories we try to keep up on. Sometimes you read something that just hits you in the head, you know? I was struck dumb by the opener of this story:

Over a third of hospitals and clinics in developing countries have nowhere for staff or patients to wash with soap, and almost 40 percent have no source of water, according to a WHO-backed international review published on Tuesday.

Just, how is that possible? What kind of world ...? I don't know. Too horrendous for words.

In much more mundane noticings, the weather has been all over the place today. It was rainy this morning when I went in to work; not rainy but still overcast at noon; at least partly sunny later in the afternoon; then suddenly raining again, just in time for my drive home; and now the sun is out, but that is one cold, cold wind gusting out there. Jeez.

To end on a slightly up note, here's something I was just given:

Salted caramel vodka nip. Yes. I opened it tonight and poured just a little into a Coke, enough that I could taste it, but not enough to have much of an effect (on purpose: it's a work night, not a good night to experiment deeply). And you know what? It was nice!

Finally, I saw this when I was driving yesterday, and thought at first that it was a Yoda costume.

Turns out that a statue of liberty costume gazing at the ground looks like Yoda. Don't you think?