Aussie Girl, the lovely writer of Ukraine affairs at Ultima Thule, including her wonderful coverage of the Orange Revolution, has died this weekend of cancer. She was only 59.

She was one of the sunniest and most insightful presences on the Internet. She was also one of the best bloggers – sharp, to the point and on target. She always was interested in my Russia coverage, which I blogged occasionally on due to my interest in the origins of communism. She always was on target on her observations and she occasionally sent me just the nicest notes.

Losing her is very sad. Thomas Lifson at American Thinker has some lovely recollections of her, as plenty of us do at Publius, too. Check out who she was and why she mattered in this post here. And see the last posted posts on her blog at Ultima Thule here.