Wow, people, did you see how Kindle prices skyrocketed? In just a few months they’ve gone insane. What is happening?

Turns out that Rod Dreher is getting divorced. This is very sad. I did wonder how it was possible for him to travel so much without his wife. I’ve been away for a little over a week, and my husband nearly wilted away in my absence. He now appears next to me regularly, beams and makes happy cooing noises. My sister’s husband was away in Qatar for a few days, and he practically glued himself to her when he returned. They’ve been together for 20 years but the novelty has clearly not worn off.

Russians have started bombing Donetsk. This finally persuaded my cousins in Donetsk to leave.

I see people on social media express confusion as to why Russia would now start bombing the city it controls, so I’ll explain.

Russia has been sending the troops from the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (a puppet regime Russians established in 2014) to fight in the worst, hottest spots of the war. They are Ukrainians, so why spare their lives? The DPR soldiers have no interest in fighting anywhere outside the Donetsk region, though. They rebel and kill the Russian commanders.

How to motivate them to go and fight? If they have nowhere to go back, if there’s nothing to live for, if their city is razed to the ground, that will motivate them. Especially if you tell them that Ukrainians destroyed Donetsk. So Russia started shelling the city.

Klara and I traveled in business class from Canada (points). At first, the passengers weren’t happy because nobody pays for business class to put up with a small child. But she’s a great traveler. At the end of the trip, the flight attendant asked, “I’m sorry, are you a teacher?”

“Yes,” I said, surprised at how she could know.

“I knew it!” the attendant said. “I’ve never seen a child her age behave so well on a flight. She’s so calm! I knew she had to be a teacher’s child.”

As a reward, the pilot invited Klara into the cabin, let her sit in the co-pilot seat, and explained how everything worked.

The secret to her great in-flight behavior is books on tape. She was listening to her gigantic Wizard of Oz collection for the third time, and that kept her calm and occupied. It was a genius move to get her an Audible. She doesn’t have the reading skills yet to read by herself for hours. But Audible is the next best thing. It does wonders for her vocabulary and gets her in the habit of needing books like one needs air and water.

I’ve noticed several more Ukrainian flags in town since I came back. And I only just came back and haven’t done much driving.

When people put up Ukrainian flags, they invariably pair them with US flags. It will never be not touching to imagine an American in a tiny Midwestern town, preparing the July 4 decorations and thinking of putting up a Ukrainian flag, too. People absolutely don’t have to care, and when they do it means everything.

For some unfathomable reason, the most engrossing books are the ones bought in airport bookstores.