tt post dec 17 2015 bq. _"JR: A new pair of sandals and a vacation in the Maldives."_ Thanks MJ, but you should know that my old Birks still work fine. They get near daily use, even in the winter. Macino's keeps them working. And I'm good with chilling at a B&B on Kelley's Island. But I'll take a skein or two of alpaca yarn from the Natural Fiber yarn store in Grand Rapids, OH. I need to crochet some socks in case it gets cold at some point this winter. bq. _"jr: a pleasant evening with interesting people in an interesting place talking about amusing things. With really, really good handmade beer."_ justread, are you an algorithm? That's scary-accurate. Damn internet. Sadly, two great friends of mine have died over the past two Christmas periods. We enjoyed many fascinating conversational evenings over the years that contained a lot of laughter. One got me interested in the arts, and the other got me interested in birdwatching. bq. All I can say is that my life is pretty plain. I like watchin' the puddles gather rain. And all I can do is just pour some tea for two and speak my point of view, but it's not sane. My gift for all: --"donated" to the web hosting company--