Okay, now I’m officially shpooked. This morning I said to myself, “Gee, I wish I had a new Mercedes Lackey book to take with me to Toronto this weekend.”

Twenty minutes ago, our CanPar delivery man dropped off two boxes. One of which contained the new Mercedes Lackey hardcover Gates of Sleep, based on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

I’m almost afraid to take it out of the box.

Wow. Dudley Moore is dead. I was thinking about him completely out of the blue last week. No particular reason, just popped into my head. I spent a day or so trying to figure out why – had I seen a clip from a movie, heard a comedy sketch, or something of the sort. I didn’t come up with anything, so I let it go. Then on the news this morning, they announced his death. Eerie.

Moore was one of those people who was dreadfully, awfully talented. He trained as a classical pianist as well as developing a nasty wit. On Music & Company this morning Tom Allen played two different Moore musical sketches, but the one that sticks in my mind is the Same To You musical piece he did, which is Colonel Bogey a la Beethoven. I almost spilled my tea. It’s right up there with Peter Schickele’s baseball version of Beethoven’s Fifth symphony, Conductor vs Orchestra. (“My God! They’re reprising the opening theme! This has never been done before – listen to the crowd – they’re wild!”)

So I enjoy classical musical humour. Shoot me.