strange and sad

i was sad to learn about the death of leslie harpold, who was apparently extremely well known and loved in both the real world and in the blogging/online world as well. i wasn't familiar with her, but i had heard about her annual online advent calendar, and i received an email from her about two weeks ago, after i submitted a silly christmas memory for this year's calendar. she loved my "christmas nose basket" story and was contacting a friend to illustrate it. i'd been checking the calendar daily (it was great -- a story, activity, poem, or recipe every day), when it suddenly just stopped on december 7th. i learned on monday, the 10th, that she died suddenly (from complications of bronchitis, at the age of 40) on thursday night.