We forget that groups forbidding certain relationships are not new. Governments and religions have forbidden crossing religious, racial, cultural, and sexual lines for friendships, marriages, adoptions, even where you were allowed to work or live. (And still do.)

One couple in the Netherlands were married forty years (to the horror of their neighbors) yet when they died, it was illegal for them to be buried together. Anywhere.

So cemetery plots were purchased on either side of one wall, one in the Catholic cemetery, one in the Protestant cemetery. And a pair of clasped hands reach through the tombstones and meet across the wall.

I hope it amuses them still.

...a postcard for ordering a book search at Buccaneer Books in Laguna Beach, California.

Ah, history.

Trying a Live Journal Share here -- for Regency fans, take a look at Princess Charlotte's wedding dress. Amazing -- but probably not comfortable! The detail work was without doubt the crowning achievement of a seamstress's career, and may have contributed to blindness in some of her staff. Glad that people can still see it 195 years later.

Originally posted by janitesonjames at In Honor of the Royal Wedding: Princess Charlotte’s Wedding Dress, 1816

From Daily Kos: nationwide Dancing in the streets after Obama was declared the winner.

Getting the idea? There's more, but you already knew that.

It's a great day for Democrats and Republicans alike. For Democrats, Barack Obama was elected President. For Republicans, there was finally dancing in the streets and Americans greeted as liberators.

And almost as wonderful -- there were celebrations around the world. I think they missed us. Maybe we're finally back. PBS runs ads talking about Americans, who cheerfully re-invent themselves every few years, looking for hope and brighter futures. No one else does that, really -- it's one of the wonderful things we and we alone do.

Was the last time Americans cried in the streets with tears of joy Armistice Day?

I like that re-occurring history a lot better than "will there be a depression"?

marthawells has sent along a virtual gift in honor of Women's History month. Thank-you, Martha! The icons show up on your profile page, and there are many you can send to friends and loved ones. So, have you got a favorite woman from history, one you respect, admire, would have loved to meet -- or assist in their cause?

I will need to think about it awhile. Part of the reason I am who I am is that I didn't find very many role models for what I thought I wanted for my life -- so I improvised.