Out With The Old In With the New

Sadly as most of us have figured out by now House Elves were figments of J. J. Rowling's fevered imagination - though of course our belief in them probably gave her enough disposable income to actually hire an army of house elves.  Myself,  I waited and waited for one to appear and even suggested that the Hounds from Hell start earning their keep.  Nicky's reaction was to snap at the vacuum in an attempt to scare it back into the laundry room.  Finally I had to call a cleaning lady to sandblast the apartment and make it spic and span.

And I decided at the same time that maybe a little house cleaning on the blog is in order - but that I can do myself.   With a change of abode comes a few changes in how things are done here.  The celebrations for the 150th anniversary of a United Italy have come to an end - though hopefully not the national pride and enthusiasm it engendered - so that banner has disappeared from the sidebar.  Its been replaced by another event being celebrated this year - the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.  It is being celebrated on both sides of the border as a defining event in the histories of Canada and the United States of America.

I have also made a change to the way I date posts.  After the move to Italy in July of 2007 I went bilingual - Italian/English - and in deference to the rich influence of the church calendar on life there included Saints' Days from the Italian calendario.  Lord knows there was a saint - sometimes two or three - for every day of the year but I would dare say that each Saint  had his day - and a few even were mentioned each year.  However I felt to continue in this vein now that I am back in Canada would be a mite pretentious and anyone who knows me knows I am not pret...  okay I am but....   All to say that the date will now be in English and the events recorded will be momentous (?) occasions in the history of that particular day.

And I really must get around to cleaning up the sidebars - I really wonder if anyone does actually read sidebars or not?  Perhaps that would be a good survey to post in.... a sidebar????

So now things are a bit neater and a touch tidier on the blog - now all I have to do is find someone to iron the 22 shirts that are hanging in the laundry room.  Any offers?

04 Janaury - 1847 Samuel Colt sold his first revolvers to the government of the United States.